D374 Task 2 Survey and Focus Group Design Example

Asking Without Leading: A Focus Group Guide and Customer Survey for a Composite Neighborhood Bakery Cafe, Each Question Tied to a Research Objective

Student Name

School of Business, Western Governors University

D374: Market Research, Task 2

Course Instructor

Month Day, Year

Asking Without Leading: A Focus Group Guide and Customer Survey for a Composite Neighborhood Bakery Cafe, Each Question Tied to a Research Objective

Purpose

Crumb & Kettle, a composite bakery cafe in Louisville, Kentucky, has seen three quarters of falling sales. The research plan set four objectives: identify why regulars visit less (Objective 1), estimate how widespread each reason is (Objective 2), understand what customers value most (Objective 3) and learn how customers would respond to ideas like rewards for frequent visits, ordering ahead and longer weekend hours (Objective 4). This paper presents the focus group guide and the survey, explains how each question serves an objective and describes how bias will be minimized.

Focus Group Guide

Two 75-minute focus groups will be held in the cafe's back room after closing, the first with people who still come in regularly and the second with former regulars who have drifted away. A trained moderator who is not the owner will lead, since participants may be reluctant to criticize the cafe in front of its owner. Focus group questions should move from general to specific, use open-ended wording and give everyone a chance to speak (Krueger & Casey, 2015).

Opening (all objectives, warm-up): Please tell us your first name and your favorite way to start the morning.

Introductory (Objective 3): Think about the places you get coffee or breakfast during the week. What makes you choose one over another?

Transition (Objectives 1 and 3): When you think of Crumb & Kettle, what comes to mind? Probe: What do you remember about your last visit?

Key question for lapsed customers (Objective 1): Tell us about how your visits to Crumb & Kettle have changed over the past year. Probes: What was different about your routine? Where do you go now instead, if anywhere? What would have to be true for you to come more often?

Key question for current customers (Objectives 1 and 3): Some people visit less than they used to. What do you think might explain that? What keeps you coming back?

Key question on changes (Objective 4): We are going to describe a few ideas. For each, tell us what you like and what concerns you. Ideas: ordering ahead on a phone with curbside pickup, a loyalty card with a free item after every ten purchases, and Saturday and Sunday hours until 3 p.m.

Ending: Of everything we discussed, what is the one change that would matter most to you? Is there anything we should have asked but did not?

Survey Design

The survey will take about five minutes and be available online through a scannable code printed on every receipt, by email and through a short link on postcards. Good survey design keeps questionnaires short, uses clear and neutral wording, orders questions logically and pretests them with members of the target population (Dillman et al., 2014). Questions will be finalized after the focus groups so that answer options reflect reasons customers actually gave.

Survey Questions

Q1 (screening, Objective 2): In the past year, about how often did you visit Crumb & Kettle? Options: more than once a week; about once a week; two or three times a month; once a month or less; I have not visited in the past year.

Q2 (Objective 2): Compared with a year ago, do you now visit more often, about the same or less often?

Q3 (Objectives 1 and 2, shown to those visiting less): Which of the following, if any, are reasons you visit less often? Select all that apply. Options: my work schedule or location changed; prices are higher than I want to pay; another coffee shop is more convenient; the hours no longer fit my schedule; the quality or selection changed; service is slower than I would like; another reason (please describe).

Q4 (Objective 1): Of the reasons you selected, which one matters most?

Q5 (Objective 3): How important is each of the following when you choose where to get coffee or breakfast? Rated on a five-point scale from not at all important to extremely important: price, speed, location, quality of baked goods, quality of coffee, friendly staff, a comfortable place to sit.

Q6 (Objective 3): How would you rate Crumb & Kettle on each of the same factors? Five-point scale from poor to excellent.

Q7 (Objective 4): How likely would you be to use each of the following if Crumb & Kettle offered it? Five-point scale from not at all likely to extremely likely: ordering ahead on your phone with pickup at the counter or curb; a loyalty card or app; weekend hours until 3 p.m.; a lower-priced coffee and pastry combination before 9 a.m.

Q8 to Q10 (classification): Do you work mostly at home, mostly away from home or a mix? What is your age range? What is your zip code?

Final open question (Objectives 1 and 3): Is there anything else you would like the owner to know?

Avoiding Bias

Several choices reduce bias. Questions ask about reasons neutrally, without suggesting that prices or the competitor are to blame. Each question asks about one thing; for example, coffee quality and baked goods quality are rated separately rather than combined. Rating questions use balanced scales with equal positive and negative options. Answer options for reasons will be presented in random order online to avoid favoring the first option. Pretesting with five customers will catch confusing wording before the survey is launched. Marketing research texts warn that leading questions, double-barreled questions and unbalanced scales are among the most common sources of measurement error in surveys (Malhotra, 2019).

Analysis Plan

Focus group transcripts will be coded by theme, noting how often each reason arises and how strongly participants express it. Survey results will be analyzed by comparing lapsed and current customers, calculating the share selecting each reason, and comparing importance ratings with performance ratings to find gaps where the cafe underperforms on what customers value most. Interest in each proposed change will be compared across customer groups, such as remote workers and commuters.

Conclusion

The focus group guide explores why customers' behavior has changed in their own words, and the survey measures how widespread those reasons are and how customers would respond to possible changes. Tying every question to an objective, using neutral wording and pretesting the instruments will give Crumb & Kettle's owner reliable evidence for deciding how to bring regulars back.

References

Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (4th ed.). Wiley.

Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2015). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Sage.

Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Pearson.