Marketing 5450 Prob 5.9 - the Following Are Methods to Determine How Many People Eat in the Student Cafeteria

MKT5450 Applied Problem 5-9

The following are methods to determine how many people eat in the student cafeteria:

1. Observation: researcher could sit in cafeteria and count the number of people eating.

1. Pro: Would obtain specific results during measurement period
2. Con: Length of measurement period may not capture full data

1. Run daily report from POS device for number of transactions

1. Pros: Exact number of items sold recorded, data needs only to be tabulated
2. Con: Does not capture number of people associated with a transaction

1. Paper survey handed out to people on campus asking if they eat in student cafeteria

1. Pros: Could be easily collected, results easily calculated  
2. Cons: Not all surveys would be returned, doesn’t reach people who are not currently on campus

1. Automated telephone interview – answer single question: press 1 for yes or 2 for no

1. Pros: Not labor intensive, results easily tabulated, potentially reaches large number of possible respondents
2. Cons: People may disconnect without answering question, missed calls going to voicemail – no response recorded

1. Mail survey to home address

1. Pro: Will reach large number of people
2. Cons: Mail may not be delivered, may be tossed as junk mail, may not be considered important enough to return

1. Email survey

1. Pros: Will reach large number of people, no delivery delay, very low cost, can be answered at convenient time, participants used to receiving emails from school
2. Cons: may end up in Spam/Trash folder, may not be considered important enough to warrant a response  

The best method for gathering this particular data would be email survey and to incentivize the return, the cafeteria could offer a drawing for a gift card to increase participation.