Glossary of Market Research Terms (D to H)

Data collection A general term covering the collection of information such as: - face to face interviewing in-home, in the street, in a central venue, at place of work; - group discussions,
depth interviews; - telephone interviewing from a telephone centre; - telephone interviewing
from interviewers’ home; - auditors collecting in-store information; - evaluators conducting mystery shopping and client service work; - respondents completing self-completion/postal questionnaires; - through electronic techniques.

Data preparation A general term covering coding, data entry and editing/data cleaning that
prepares data for analysis.

Data processing (DP) Data preparation and data analysis.

Data protection The Data Protection Act 1984 regulates the maintenance and use of automatically processed personal information.

Database A set of computerized data available for analysis.

Demographics Demographic variables, e.g. sex, age, marital status and social grade, normally comprise a large part of the classification data obtained in market research interviews.

Diary A means by which members of panels may record their behaviour over a period of time, e.g. purchases, consumption, television viewing, journeys.

Editing

1. Procedures for tidying up survey data. These begin with inspections of returned questionnaires to ensure that they conform with sampling requirements and that key questions have been answered.

2. Comparison of actual responses with possible responses, as defined by questionnaire
   structure and logic and then, if necessary, rejecting or amending some responses.

Frequency The number of occurrences of some particular kind of event, e.g. answers to a question.

Head of Household That member of a household who either owns the accommodation occupied by the household or is responsible for the rent, or, if the accommodation is occupied rent-free, the person who is responsible for the household having it rent-free. If, however, this person is a married woman whose husband is also a member of the household, then the husband counts as the head of the household.

Home Audit A panel of households, used for regular measurement of product purchases and in some cases consumption. Data may be collected by means of diaries, interviewers, and dustbin checks.

Household A private household consists of one or more people living together, whose food and other household expenses are usually managed as one unit.