Is becoming clearer and clearer that Market Research, as a member of Social Research, does not work exclusively for marketing firms any longer, but often works as well at resolving many types of social problems, this fertile duality seems to be all the more relevant, and this is what this paper attempts to illustrate.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theme "To what extent are there techniques which are specific to market research and to what extent are there techniques specific to 'social research'? What are the similarities and what are the differences?" We do not argue that there are techniques which of necessity are specific to social or market research, but that there are certain general distinctions between the types of technique used in practice. There is a tendency towards 'theoretical perfectionism' in social research, whereas in market or 'commercial' research, the trend has been towards the most economical collection of data within certain constraints of reliability, and a greater reliance upon empiricism. We attempt to pursue these distinctions further by investigating the special features of social research, and thus the extent to which the differences in technique may be justified.
This paper represents an application of a theory of social change to the area of increasing carpooling (ride-sharing) behavior among urban commuters. The paper at first briefly describes alternative strategies of changing social behavior as proposed by Sheth (1976). Then, an empirical study carried out in the metropolitan Chicago area is described. Finally, various strategies for target segments are proposed as a comprehensive plan with which policy makers can increase carpooling (ridesharing) behavior.
Market research is social research. If it is not - and every time it is not - social research it is not even "research", in that it cannot claim objectivity nor truth. In the past this has often been forgotten and has led to poor research. We have not realised that the objectivity we claimed for our research was actually objectivity of methods but not of the subject or issue studied.
In this paper we want to point out a number of characteristics of the marketing-research-machinery one has to take into consideration when applying this kind of research to another field. On the other hand we try to make an inventory and a comparison of the demands that are made on research and researchers in the social field.
Britain has been committed to public participation in Local Government planning since 1968. Few people were surprised by the initial reluctance of the British public to make use of their new statutory right to participate. However, ten years later, there is still no real indication that the commitment on paper to public participation has lead to an increase in public involvement. Research indicates that Local Authorities have failed to convince the public of the credibility of the participation process. Against this background social research techniques have a crucial role to play in providing Local Authorities with a way of obtaining a representative and objective view of public opinion.
The Danish National Consumer Union was formed in 1946. On this background the present project has been carried out. The major tasks were: a) Identification of major dimensions along which consumers perceive consumer policies and consumer tactics; B) Measurement of the extend to which various tactics and political views are adapted among different groups of consumers; C) Identification of different combinations of views on consumer policies and consumer strategies; D) An examination of the acceptance of various political views and tactics among consumer union officials, politicians, and members of local consumer groups.
This paper examines the role of the research worker in the formation of social policies. It explains the background to this by stressing that, in the UK at least, social policies, unlike economic policies, have no unifying framework. It also stresses that, so far, research directed at helping the decision maker has tended to be not basic but applied. This, together with certain conceptual problems has limited the value of some government research. There have also been, and still are, difficulties in studying small groups whose size cannot be reliably estimated from sample surveys.
This paper wants to point out the conditions for, and problems of social scientific research. Although conditions in the federal Republic of Germany are the paper's focal point, the paper also tries to pinpoint general political policies regarding science, and to make clear the consequences of these policies.
A previous ESOMAR Paper on domestic energy saving discussed an experimental study in which were tested the predictive values of simple attitude statements. This present paper discusses a second experimental study which aims to test the usefulness of re-interviewing versus independent samples and to indicate the predictiveness of attitude measures. It discusses problems of representativeness, conditioning and predictiveness. This second study is part of a total Central Office of Information programme which covers several areas of social behaviour - road safety and crime prevention and energy conservation.