Glossary of terms

Benchmark

Literally, the 'before' results in a 'before and after' study. For example, can be applied to studies in advance of an advertising campaign to assess the image of a company, in terms of brand awareness, product quality, delivery, service, etc., and for subse­quent comparison.

Brand awareness/preference

Perceptions of a company's products versus its competitors in a given sector — uses parameters such as delivery, price, technology; etc.

Cells

Part of the sample defined by two or more variables.

Census

A survey of all the mem­bers of a defined universe.

Comparative readership

Research which primarily examines the comparative penetration of an audience by publications in a particular market. By definition, must survey the 'universe' rather than one's own magazine's circulation.

Cross tabulations (sometimes 'tabs')

The tables which accompany a report, cross-referencing the answers to various questions and enabling the comparison of smaller sub-groups of the sample. For example, the questions 'Age' and 'Sex' can be broken down into cells such as 'Male, 21-25', 'Female, 60+' etc. See Cells, Tabulation.

Demographic data

Personal factual infor­mation about respondents such as job function, company size, industry sector, geograph­ical location, age, etc. Used to group people together, so that the characteristics of audience types can be assessed.

Fieldwork period

The time during which interviewing actually takes place.

Full disclosure

The principle that all details of a survey method­ology should be available to interested parties so that a judgement can be made on the validity of the results.

Joint industry committee (business-to-business publishing)

A committee set up to conduct comparative readership research in a particular area  and comprising represen­tatives of relevant media, advertisers and agencies.

Methodology

The overall strategy by which the survey is carried out, covering the techniques for sampling, interviewing and analysis.

Pass-on readership

Many magazines are read by a wider audience than just the circulation. Pass-on readership measures the average number of additional readers.

Pilot

The technique of testing a questionnaire on a smaller group of people for ease of completion, before using it on the whole sample. Pilot results may be incorporated in the main survey if no subsequent changes are made to the questionnaire.

Probing

A technique used by interviewers when the answer to a question is vague or needs more detail.

Prompts

Additional information given so that respondents can answer questions more easily or more definitively, e.g. using photographs of front covers to remind them about a particular magazine or issue.

Qualitative research

Research which seeks to discover in-depth 'feelings' about topics. Usually unstructured, using topic guides rather than questionnaires; mostly small-scale samples. Mostly used in the business press for magazine editorial development.

Quantitative research

Research which sets out to collect data which can be quantified, and then analysed statistically.

Quota

Selection of a sample to meet requirements for an adequate number of respon­dents in each sub-group.

Random

Selection of a sample so that each member of the universe has an equal chance of being chosen.

Response rate

The proportion of the sample who respond to an invitation to participate in a survey.

Sample

The people who have been selected for contact in a particular survey.

Sample frame

The list of possible par­ticipants from which the actual sample is drawn, e.g. a maga­zine's circulation or a de-dupli­cated list compiled from a number of directories.

Sampling

The technique. by which the individuals are selected from the sample frame for contact in the survey – See Random, Quota.

Screening

The process by which potential respondents are asked whether they qualify for participation in a survey. Mostly used when the sample frame uses bought-in lists.

Stratification

The division of the audience into sub-groups, called strata, by criteria such as company size, job junction, industry sector, etc.

Tabulation

The mechanical process of keying completed question­naires into a computer for subsequent analysis. See Cross-Tabulations.

Universe

The total audience which the research is designed to survey. For example, a magazine's circulation or a complete industry.

Weighting

Used to compensate for a disproportionate represen­tation of certain groups of people among respondents to a survey. Respondents in different groups may count as more or less than one to restore a balance.