Abstract:

For the sake of consistency across markets in today's global environment are we as researchers becoming insensitive to the subtle variations that exist in respondents' understanding and processing of the questions we pose to them? This question is pertinent not just across markets but within the same market itself... and gains even more significance in a large and diverse country such as India. This paper puts forth experimental work which re-examines the way quantitative research is done in India in the hope the learnings would find application in other countries which face similar issues. More specifically it brings the consumers' perspective in developing appropriate research design and framing of questions thereby permitting researchers to use scales that would be closer to the consumers' own response pattern and hence elicit a truer response. It also helps identify the differences in the capability to respond to a quantitative questionnaire amongst consumers representing various social strata.