Marketing Research Glossary - T
T-Scope: See Tachistoscope.
Tab Plan: A set of instructions specific to a particular survey, regarding table bases, banners, stubs, calculations, weighting, and formatting of tables.
Table: A set of cross-tabulated data with a banner and answer stubs.
Table Of Random Numbers: A table consisting of digits in completely random order.
Tachistoscope: Also called a T-Scope. A device to show ads, packages, etc., for brief intervals of time (1/10 of a second, 1/100 of a second, etc.).
Tally And Terminate (TT): A term that refers to the terminate point for a respondent. At Decision Analyst, a code of 0 in this field indicates a complete. A code of one or more corresponds with the DNQ (Does Not Qualify) point in the screener.
Target Audience: The group of consumers (or other audiences) that media advertising is trying to reach. Very similar to the term Target Market.
Target Market: The segment of the market that a particular brand is focusing its marketing activities on. Similar to the term Target Audience, but includes all marketing activities (not just media advertising).
Target Population: The population that is being studied and/or sampled.
Taste Test: A survey in which participants evaluate the taste of a product, either on its own or compared with other products. Taste tests are often conducted “blind” (i.e., brand names, packaging, and other identifying marks are removed). Taste tests are usually conducted at a central location or central facility. Taste tests are also conducted in homes. Learn More
T-Distribution: A distribution similar to the normal distribution but not as peaked and with thicker tails, most often used for hypothesis testing with small samples. Also called Student's T-Distribution, as it was first published by William S. Gossett under the pseudonym, “Student.”
Technology Advisory Board®: Decision Analyst's proprietary, worldwide Internet panel of 75,000 scientists, engineers, IT professionals, and technology executives. Learn More
Telephone Areas: Area codes and three-digit prefix calling areas.
Telephone Depth Interviews: Depth interviews conducted over the phone.
Telephone Focus Groups: Focus groups that are conducted via telephone conference calling.
Telephone Sample: A group of individuals selected to be surveyed by telephone.
Television Market: Arbitron's TV markets are called Areas of Dominant Influence (ADIs), while Nielsen's are Designated Market Areas (DMAs).
Temporal Sequence: Appropriate causal order of events.
Temporary Population: Temporary residents of an area, such as tourists, commuters, snowbirds, students, etc.
Terminate: An interview that is stopped at some point in the questionnaire because the respondent does not qualify, or the respondent's quota cell is completed.
Termination Rate: The number of screened respondents who do not qualify for the survey, or fall into a quota cell that is already complete. Also, see Incompletion Rate.
Test And Control: See Control And Test.
Test Market: A market chosen as a test area for a new product, a new promotion, or a new advertising campaign. This is testing in the real world. Generally, three or four test markets would be used.
Test Product: An improved version of an existing product, or a completely new product, that is to be tasted and/or evaluated by a respondent. After using the test product, the respondent answers a survey about the product. Learn More
Test-Ready Concept: A new product or service concept that is ready to be tested; when testing multiple concepts at a time, it's important that each concept is at the same state of refinement (test readiness).
Test Statistic: A statistic, calculated from the sample data that is used to test the hypothesis.
Testing Effect: An effect that is a byproduct of the research process itself and not the experimental variable.
Test-Retest Reliability: The ability of the same questionnaire/research design/sampling method to produce the same results when used a second time, or third time.
Tests Of Significance: Tests for determining whether measurements based on a sample are sufficiently large as to be caused by something other than mere chance.
Text Mining: The process of extracting hidden facts out of unstructured (textual) databases. A form of Data Mining. Learn More
Thematic Maps: Computer-generated maps that combine geography with demographic data and company information on sales. Also called GIS maps or Geocoded maps.
Theory-Construction Diary: A journal that documents in detail the thoughts, premises, hypotheses, and revisions in the thinking of a humanistic researcher.
Third-Person Techniques: A type of projective technique used primarily in qualitative research, by asking respondents to answer for a third party, such as "your neighbor," "most people," "your wife," etc.
TIGER: A comprehensive computerized mapping system developed by the Bureau of the U.S. Census for use in the 1980 Census of Population and Housing. The data allows users to build cartography files from which detailed maps for the entire U.S. can be made.
Time-Extended™ Online Depth Interviews: Decision Analyst’s proprietary methods of conducting depth interviews via an online bulletin board format. Learn More
Time-Extended™ Online Discussion Forums: Decision Analyst’s proprietary methods of conducting focus groups via an online bulletin board format. Learn More
Time Segmentation: The process of segmenting the market based on time of day (or month, year, etc.) in which products and services are utilized. A time segmentation might, for example, lead some stores to stay open later than others, or stay open on weekends, or even to open only at certain times of the year (e.g., stores selling Christmas cards, turkeys, fireworks, cranberry sauce). Learn More
Time-Series Analysis: The analysis of data over time, especially economic data. Time-series analysis is widely used in sales forecasting and econometric modeling. Learn More
Time-Series Cross-Sectional Models: Models in which a number of cross-sectional data sets obtained at various points in time are treated to a time series analysis. Learn More
Time-Use Survey: A survey of how people use their time, taken by asking people to record what they do and how they do it in a diary over several days or weeks.
Top-Box Score: The percentage of respondents who gave the highest rating or highest answer choice (i.e., the top score on a scale). Sometime the top-two or -three results may be aggregated to calculate a top-two box score or top- three-box score.
Topline: A summary of survey results given to a client shortly after completion of data collection.
Total Awareness: The proportion of people who are aware of (i.e., have seen or heard of) a product, brand name, company, or trademark. Includes both Aided Awareness and Unaided Awareness.
Total Error: The difference between the true value of a parameter in the population and a value derived from a survey using a sample. Total error is the sum of the sampling and nonsampling errors in a survey.
Touch-Tone Aided Telephone Interviewing (TATI): Interviewer-administered telephone surveying in which the respondent uses the touch-tone buttons of his or her phone to provide answers. Also known as Touch-Tone Data Entry (TDE).
Touch-Tone Data Entry (TDE): Interviewer-administered telephone surveying in which the respondent uses the touch-tone buttons of his or her phone to provide answers. Also known as Touch-Tone Aided Telephone Interviewing (TATI).
Tracking: Surveys repeated at time intervals, or conducted continuously, to monitor changes in a brand's awareness, market share, etc., over a period of months or even years. Learn More
Trade Area: Geographical area from which the customers of a business are drawn; it can be as small as a section of a city or as large as the entire country.
Trade Promotion: A type of promotion designed to induce some behavior, action, or support for a product or service. For example, a food manufacturer might offer supermarkets a dollar per case discount if the supermarket will grant more shelf space or run a newspaper ad supporting the product.
Traffic Counters: Devices used to measure vehicular flow over a particular stretch of highway.
Transaction Monitoring: A survey technique that requests that consumers complete a survey after a transaction; typically an invitation to an online survey that is printed on a receipt.
Transportation Models: A modeling technique used in Operations Research and Management Science that models the product distribution network. The model optimizes the transport of products from the manufacturer to the warehouse to the retail store. The model ensures that the demand for every customer is met while keeping the costs associated with the transport minimal. Learn More
Transmittals: An Internal document that keeps track of quotas and questionnaires for paper studies.
Treatment: The independent variable or variables manipulated in an experiment to measure effects on a dependent variable.
Triad: A qualitative research methodology in which a moderator interviews three respondents at the same time. Also see term Dyad. Learn More
Trial: The consumer's first purchase of a new product or new service.
Trial Rate: The percentage of a target market (i.e., all adults who consume popcorn) who buy a product at least once.
Trial Volume : The sales volume for a new product or new service accounted for during its first year in the market by trial purchases alone. See also Repeat volume.
Triangle Group: A group interview with three participants who each have differing viewpoints.
Triangular Product Test: A type of blind test that involves three products, where two are identical and the third is different. Participants are asked to taste all three and indicate which one is different. The purpose of the test is to determine the degree to which participants can differentiate. This is a common technique used with small samples in sensory research. Learn More
Trimmed Mean: Obtained by trimming a percent off the high and low ends of a distribution and finding the mean of the remaining distribution.
TRP (Target Rating Points): A ratio of the gross rating points times the ratio of a specifically targeted audience.
True Experimental Design: Research using an experimental group and a control group, where the assignment of test units to both groups is randomized. An extension of this design is the pre-post experimental design in which both the experimental group and the control group are measured before and after the treatment.
T-Test: A hypothesis test used to test for a difference between two means, or for a difference between a single mean and a known or hypothesized value, when the population variance must be estimated from the sample(s); or, alternatively, when the sample(s) is (are) too small to use the Z-test. Based on Student's T-Distribution.
TURF (Total Unduplicated Reach and Frequency Analysis): When overlapping choices exist, TURF analysis is a technique to optimize the choices so that reach and/or frequency are maximized. Originally, the TURF technique was developed to optimize media planning and scheduling, but TURF has also proved to be useful in selecting an optimal product line. In fact, TURF can be applied to the solution of many problems with overlapping choices.
Two-Stage Sampling: A simple case of multistage sampling, where a sample of primary sampling units (PSU) is selected from the population of interest in the first stage, and subsequent secondary sampling units are selected within each PSU in the second stage.
Two-Step Cluster Analysis: A clustering method in which observations are grouped based on some nearness, or similarity, criterion. The name derives from the fact that the data are passed once to find the cluster centers, and a second time to assign cluster membership.
Two-Way Focus Groups: A target focus group observes another focus group and then discusses what it learned through observing.
Type I Error: Rejection of a null hypothesis when, in fact, it is true. The Type I error rate is the probability that the null hypothesis (that there is not a difference between the experimental and control groups, for example) will be rejected when it is true.
Type II Error: Acceptance of a null hypotheses when, in fact, it is false. The Type II error rate is the probability that the null hypothesis (that there is not a difference between the experimental and control groups, for example) will be accepted when, in fact, it is false.
Contact Decision Analyst
If you would like more information on Marketing Research, please contact Jerry W. Thomas by emailing jthomas@decisionanalyst.com or calling 1-817-640-6166.