he research that is the subject of this paper was conducted to gain insight into the extent to which the new tax return forms for income tax, developed by the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration, lead to an improvement of the way the forms are completed and to increased appreciation by the taxpayer. The new forms were tested in 1994 in an area in the South of Holland, namely Venlo. For the design and the carrying out of the research project a research team was formed in which the market research agency and the various services and divisions of the Ministry of Finance and the Tax and Customs Administration were represented. The team kept in close contact, especially where the content of the research was concerned. The market research agency especially delivered the research-technical input and the client delivered the specific knowledge on and experience with the field. A collaboration of this type was vital and contributed tremendously to the success of the research. Part of this collaboration was an intensive computer data exchange between the research agency and the local offices of the Ministry of Finance and the Tax and Customs Administration. As part of the data collection a state-of-the-art registration and communication instrument was developed. The research showed that the new income tax return forms can contribute to the process of improvement of income taxation in the Netherlands. The research yielded a number of possible amendments, that can further help improve the process. The Minister of Finance decided to introduce the form in the rest of the Netherlands, early 1995.
This paper is set up as follows. First the background and history of development of the measuring instrument will be described. Then we will go into the (present) design of the measuring instrument. This will be followed by a discussion of the results of some of the research projects in which the Sound measuring instrument was used. We will conclude the paper with our vision on the further development and possible application of Sound.
In this paper we go into the relations between Quality of Advertising, Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality and finally Brand Loyalty, on the basis of the large number of studies we did in this field. Our empirical evidence shows that advertising can produce brand awareness which is a necessary but of course not sufficient condition to have (a lot of) loyal buyers. A simple model is sufficient to describe these causal relations. We based on the strong empirical relationship between Brand Awareness and Brand Loyalty we further more derive the Brand Value Index. This shows both the value of the brand and functions as an overall measurement of advertising and other marketing effects.
In this paper we will discuss the quality of the data obtained by using computerised interviewing in a panel situation. For this form of research some extra advantages of computerised interviewing can be obtained. It will first be shown for data on income that the quality of the data is already on a high level, with important advantages because of the panel character when compared to ad hoc research. However from the same analysis follows that for policy relevant conclusions the quality of the data, and therefore of the questionnaire should be improved further. Another equally important aspect for panel research is that interviewees will become bored and irritated by exposure to similar questionnaires on a regular basis. Especially when they perceive little or no change in the answers they are providing. This may affect increased dropout and panel mortality, thereby reducing the usefulness and lifecycle of the panel. In the last part of the paper we will go into the improvements that may be obtained in computerised panel research by using information retained from previous interviews, when collecting new data.
From telephone interviewing and then computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) the last few years have brought along two new systems of datacollection by means of personal interviews. One is the Telepanel-system, which consists of a random sample of 1.000 households, of which the members answer questions that appear on their television set. The latter is connected to a home-computer they were supplied with by the research institute. By means of a modem and very userfriendly software the questionnaires are transmitted from the central computer to their home-computer and after the responses have been typed in, the data of the different members that were requested to respond in that particular weekend are transmitted back to the central computer. The data can then be processed immediately. The other development is CAPI, computer assisted personal interviewing in cross-sectional research. A group of specially trained interviewers visit homes or business addresses with portable personal computers. Questionnaires appear on the LCD-screen and the respondents themselves punch in the replies. In this paper we will focuss on extra advantages these methods have over existing procedures such as CATI and face-to- face interviews with paper and pencil. The first is obviously that the number of different response possibilities is more limited when using a telephone, the respondent will comprehend the question better if it can be read instead of heard and the third and in our opinion more decisive advantage is the reduction of the influence of the interviewer. The effects of these advantages will be shown to be of great value in: - getting more information concerning sensitive topics. - getting more and more valid information on difficult research topics. - getting more reliable data - enabling collection and analysis of non-sensitive data that write-in panels cannot produce.
The modem means of tele-communication and the rapidly decreasing prices of home computers allow for a new method of consumer panel research: tele-interview. Consumers are being interviewed following a very user friendly procedure which requires per household the following equipment: a tv set, a telephone extension, a home computer with a disc drive, a modem and the tele-interview and communication software on diskette. The Dutch Gallup Organization NIPO B.V. has set up a panel of 1.000 Dutch households which have been provided with the necessary equipment. In the next paragraph we will explain the task of the panel member.