Hall Test
A Hall Test is where research participants are invited to a central location to participate in some (usually quantitative) market research.

Halo Effect
A form of response bias where a respondent carries an overall generalised positive or negative impression from one specific characteristic to the next, eg if a respondent considers a product to be excellent, then he or she is likely to rate the product highly on taste, appearance and texture etc.

Hand Tab
The simplest type of tabulation possible, consisting of a manual count of the answers to certain questions on the questionnaire.

Head of Household
The member of the household who is responsible for the household having that accommodation, either by owning, renting or having it rent-free. Where two or more people share this responsibility, the researcher should specify who to include in the study.

Hedonic Scale
A scale that indicates the extent of respondents' overall liking or disliking for something, eg a product they tasted or a concept they viewed.

Hidden Issue Questioning
 A technique used during depth interviews that aims to identify significant personal views that would otherwise not be revealed by respondents using a direct approach.

Hierarchy-of-Effects Model
A marketing behavioural response model consisting of stages through which a buyer is presumed to go, including: awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, intention to buy and purchase.

Histogram
A vertical bar chart where the height of the bars represents the data.

History Error
History Error occurs in experiments when an unexpected (but significant) effect occurs that has an impact on the dependent variable being measured.

Holistic Test
A test that aims to assess participants’ reaction to a product or concept as a whole (in contrast to an atomistic test that examines reactions to the individual elements).

Home Audit (aka Pantry Check)
A survey where an interviewer enters a participant’s home to take an inventory of specific products present at that time.

Home Use Test (aka Extended Use Test or Product Placement Test)
A home use test involves participants evaluating products in their own homes, or more generally, in a natural usage environment. The purpose of the test is to make an evaluation of a product after more experience with it than just some initial use.

Host or Hostess
The person whose major responsibility is the comfort of clients, guests and respondents at a focus group or central location test.

HTML Survey - see Website Survey

Hypothesis
An unproven statement that aims to describe a relationship or phenomenon that is relevant to a business.