PrepTest 106, Section 3, Question 9
Market research traditionally entails surveying consumers about why(42 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(11 more words not shown)
- AEven consumers who(29 more words not shown)
- BMarket researchers find(20 more words not shown)
- CConsumers are becoming(20 more words not shown)
- DMarket researchers say(23 more words not shown)
- EConsumers are more(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
What people say they buy and what they actually buy might differ. Someone could describe a grocery cart full of vegetables and meat while leaving out the snack crackers that also went into it. Watching the shopping trip could reveal that omission.
The discrepancy needn't be a deliberate lie. People might want to present themselves a certain way, or they might not understand why they prefer one brand to another. Think of a shopper explaining a preference for one soft drink: is it the taste, habit, or loyalty to the brand their family bought? The shopper's explanation might leave something out without any intent to mislead.
What we’re looking for
So the researchers' claim makes sense to me. They say observation supplies information that surveys alone cannot provide. To strengthen it, I'd look for something a survey response misses and observation reveals. Deliberate dishonesty would be one possible reason, but it isn't the only way a person's account could be incomplete.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
Picking up and putting down products reveals which brands a shopper considers, even when the shopper cannot explain a preference or rejection. Imagine someone picking up one brand of cookies, returning it to the shelf, and choosing another. Observing those actions tells the researcher about a considered alternative that may be absent from the shopper's explanation.
That is additional information of the kind the researchers claim observation provides. It doesn't have to expose a lie, and it doesn't reveal every private reason behind the decision. Seeing a part of the decision process that the shopper's account fails to explain is enough to support using observation alongside surveys.
- B
Being willing to participate makes the research easier to conduct. It doesn't establish what information the research supplies. Even if hourly pay recruits plenty of shoppers, we still need a reason observation reveals something surveys miss.
- C
This changes what people buy, not necessarily what they say about it. A self-conscious consumer might stop buying an item and then accurately report the new habit. If C said people continued buying it while denying that on surveys, it would address our concern. As written, it doesn't establish an information advantage for observation.
- D
Enjoying the work more doesn't establish that the work reveals additional information. The researchers could prefer creative judgment without their observations supplying anything unavailable from surveys. Their enjoyment is a different benefit from the one their claim concerns.
- E
Both options here are surveys: spoken questions and written questionnaires. A difference in response rates between those methods doesn't tell us what watching shoppers adds. E compares two ways of asking people questions instead of supporting the claim about observation.
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