Market Research Glossary - T
Tab (aka Tabulate)
The process of counting the various responses to each question asked in a survey.
Tab Houses
Specialist suppliers of research data and simple analysis.
Tab Plan - see Code and Tab Plan
Tabulation
A frequency count of each question’s answers.
Tachistoscope
A device that allows a participant to look at some stimulus material (eg packaging or a brand name) for a pre-defined brief period of time. The aim is to investigate the stand out and/or recognisability of the material under investigation.
Tally Sheet
A form used by each interviewer on a job to track the results of each contact made for a study, whether by phone or in person. This form can also be referred to as a "call record sheet", "contract record", "dialling records" or a "tick sheet". A new tally should be used every day of a job by each interviewer.
Target Population - see Population of Interest
Taste Test
A test where participants evaluate the taste of a product, either on its own or compared with other products. Taste tests are often conducted "blind" where brand names, packaging and other identifying items are removed. Taste tests are usually conducted at a central location, although they can be carried out in participants' homes.
T Distribution
A symmetrical bell-shaped distribution that is used for testing samples smaller than 30.
Teleology
A consequential approach to evaluating ethics whereby the degree of ethicalness depends on the outcomes or actions that result from the decisions (rather than the decisions themselves).
Telephone Interview
An interview where participants are asked survey questions over the telephone. Telephone interviewing is usually conducted from a central telephone interviewing facility.
Telescoping
When respondents mis-remember when an event occurred, usually by stating that it occurred more recently than it really did.
Television Rating (TVR) (aka Gross Rating Point)
Television Rating (TVR) = (reach * frequency)One TVR represents 1% of a specified television audience or universe seeing an advert at least once. (At extremes, television ratings can be made from either many people seeing an advert only once, or just a few people seeing an advert many times.)
Temporal Ordering
When a variable X (or a change in X) must occur before the variable Y (or a change in Y) is observed and it is one of the three conditions that have to be met to infer a causal relationship.
Terminate
When an interview is stopped before completion. This may occur for one of three reasons:
- The respondent gives a non-qualifying response and the interviewer is instructed to TERMINATE AND TALLY.
- The interviewer decides to stop the interview because of a language problem or disability on the part of the respondent.
- The respondent refuses to complete the entire survey.
Termination Rate
The number of eligible respondents who do not complete an interview once started.
Test Marketing
A type of controlled experiment conducted in a carefully selected geographical area to understand the impact of a marketing programme on the sales or profits of a product or service.
Test-Retest Reliability
A method of estimating the reliability of a test by repeating the measurement using the same scaling device under conditions that are judged to be similar.
Test Statistic
A measure (derived from a formula) of how close the sample has come to the null hypothesis.
Theatre Test
An advertising testing procedure where participants are exposed to test and control commercials in the context of a TV programme or a film.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (aka Cartoon Test or Bubble Test)
A projective technique where participants are presented with one or more pictures or cartoons that depict a situation. They are asked to suggest what will happen or what one character may be saying or thinking in response to another character or a situation.
Third Person Technique
A projective technique where participants are presented with a situation and are asked to suggest the feelings and attitudes of other people to the situation.
Time Series Design
A type of quasi-experimental design where a series of periodic measurements is taken from one group of test units, followed by a treatment, then another series of measurements.
Top Box Score
The percentage of respondents who gave the highest or top score on a scale. Sometimes the top two or three scores may be aggregated to calculate a top boxes score.
Topic Guide - see Discussion Guide
Top-of-mind Awareness - see Front-of-Mind Awareness
Total Error
The difference between the true value of a parameter in the population and a value derived from a survey. Total error is the sum of the sampling and non-sampling errors in a survey.
Topline Report
A brief summary of the main findings of a study.
Trace Analysis - see Indirect Observation
Tracking Study
A study that provides periodic updating of company and competitor performances on criteria other than sales.
Trade Off Analysis - see Conjoint Analysis
Traffic Count
The measurement of a flow of people or vehicles past a particular point and it can be used in observation studies.
Transcribing - see Data Entry
Treatment
The manipulation of one or more independent variables during an experiment.
Triad - see Friendship Pair Interview
Triangle Group
A focus group with three participants who each have differing viewpoints.
Triangular Product Test
A type of blind test that involves three products where two are similar and the third is different. Participants are asked to test all three and indicate which two are similar to each other. The purpose of the test is to determine the degree to which participants can differentiate between the similar products and the different one.
True Experimental Design
A type of experimental design where the researcher randomly assigns test units and treatments to the experimental groups. Examples of true experimental designs are: pre-test - post-test control group, post-test only control group and a Solomon four group, six-study design.
T-Scope - see Tachistoscope
T Test
A statistical test that compares a sample mean with a hypothesised mean for a population of interest. The test is appropriate for small sample sizes (less than 30) or when the population variance is unknown. The test is also designed for comparing the differences between two means.
TVR - see Television Rating
Tweenager - see Pre-Teen
Two Stage Sampling
A simple case of multi-stage sampling where a sample of units is drawn from selected sub-groups of a population of interest. (Whereas with one stage sampling, data is collected from all available units in the selected sub-groups.)
Two-Tailed Test
A test where the null hypothesis is expressed in terms of a characteristic existing or not existing, eg a value is 50%. From the results of the test, it is not possible to determine on which side of the test value the true answer lies, therefore directional (or one-tailed tests) are used more often.
Two Way Classification
The classification of a set of observations according to two criteria.
Type I Error
A mistake that is made when a researcher rejects the null hypothesis and accepts the alternative hypothesis, when the null hypothesis is correct.
Type II Error
A mistake that is made when a researcher accepts the null hypothesis and rejects the alternative hypothesis, when the null hypothesis is incorrect.
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