Sample Universe Case Study:

Sample Universe Case Study:

Respondent Qualifying Criteria

• Respondent must be an amateur video and audio software editor.
• Respondent must own a video and/or audio editing software product; purchased under $200.

We could either go out to the general population to see what percentage would qualify or we could use available targeting like:

Available Counts/Possible Targeting Options

• Mac Users – As a group, they do more editing and creative manipulation projects than PC users
• Very Interested in Computers and Very interested in Fine Arts – higher incidence of editing
• Very Interested in Computers and Very interested in Music – slightly higher incidence of editing
• Very Interested in Computers and Very interested in Photography – higher incidence of editing

It would be important for us to know the end client of the research or at least to make sure that the targeting options we use are appropriate for your end client.  For example, if your end client was a PC software provider, then using Mac users as a targeting would not give an accurate indication of their customer behavior, perception in the marketplace, etc.

--Carter Cathey

2010 (c)

What is your ideal Sample Universe?

What is your ideal Sample Universe?

A sample universe can be defined in any number of ways.  Basically, we need to know from what group of people do you want us to search for your ideal respondent.  Do you want to ask questions of the general population to find your ideal respondent or do you want to use available targeting to reach them more efficiently and more directly.

We have two basic targeting options which both have pros/cons:

• General Population – US Census Balanced
• Pros:
• Able to project results to the general population
• Able to use for market sizing among different age, ethnic, geographic and other market segments.
• Able to apply weighting controls
• Cons:
• Very low incidence
• Much higher costs
• Could require longer field time
• Targeted Population Segments
• Pros:
• Higher Incidence
• Much Lower Costs
• Faster to field the study
• Cons:
• Only representative of the targeted group.  Ergo, not able to project the results to the general population
• Only able to use for market sizing among the targeted group.
• Difficult, if not impossible, to apply weighting controls accurately.

--Carter Cathey 2010