Question

Fisher-Price conducted marketing research to discover how children play, how they learn and what they like to play with. As part of marketing research, the company invited children to play at state-licensed nursery schools. From behind a one-way mirror, toy designers and market researchers watched children use, abuse and play with toys. This information allowed the company to redesign products. Which type of data is illustrated in this example and which data collection methodology was utilized? Explain.

Answer 1

This is an example of qualitative data. Data are of two types - quantitative data and qualitative data. Quantitative data relates to measurable entities such as income, population, sales, market share, etc. Qualitative data deals with entities which can not be measured, such as customer satisfaction level, customers' attitude, brand loyalty, aggressiveness, etc. In this case, the company is collecting data regarding various behavioral aspects of children, which cannot be quantified. So, this is an example of qualitative data.

Qualitative data is collected using mainly 4 methods, which are Focus Groups, Individual depth interviews, Human observation, and Case studies. Here, 'human observation' method of data collected is involved. In human observation method, researchers observe and make note of happenings in a real and natural setting. Here, the behavior of the children is being observed in a natural setting by human observers.