Abstract:

An attempt has been made in this article - after introductory critical considerations about the lack of reliable and valid investigations into the techniques now in use in market research - to discuss two scales which have been made use of for measuring the sharing of purchasing decisions. What has been found is an inconsistency caused by the time span for both scales which can be traced back to the object bought and the resultant varying memory of the decision making phase rather than to the technique. In addition, it was found that statements about behaviour are slightly improved when a longer, and, for the respondents, more difficult scale , the barometer scale , is used rather than the 5 item scale. In the final summing-up, it can be said that examination shows that both scales reflect the actual share in the buying decision in a global way, but that in interpreting individual results, the distorsion of statements through personality conditioned and role specific over-estimates (or respectively under-estimates) of personal importance in buying decisions must be borne in mind.