Research Methodology

Konrad Burchardt 11/13/12 Adv. Research Cameron Maddux

Buying Cars

INDEX 1.Simmons Run Description 2. Screener/ Interview Question Guide 3.Screener/Survey with logic 4.Screener/Group Discussion Guide 5.Social Chatter

1.Simmons Run Description Horizontal Diet Pepsi vs Diet Coke We run a Simmons description to see which Diet cola was more consumed in the US by mans and by woman. The total sample was 23,572 of male and females. And the projection of the study was 222,622,000. If we compare these two brands we could say that the number o respondents in the sample that chose Diet Pepsi was 2,404. The number of respondents in the sample that chose Diet Coke was 4,704.If we want to project this number to the entire US population we could say that 22,539,000 would choose Diet Pepsi and 40,145,000 would choose Diet Coke. Diet Coke has almost the double of consumers than Diet Pepsi. Vertical-‐ Diet Pepsi Of the people who chose Diet Pepsi 42.8% are male and 57.2% are Female. Our index numbers tells us that Male (89) are less likely to choose this product. Females (110) are more likely to choose Diet Pepsi. Of the people in this study that are male 8.99% choose Diet Pepsi as the brand they use more often. Off the people in this study that are female 11.2% choose diet Pepsi as the brand they use more often. Vertical-‐ Diet Coke

Of the people who choose Diet Coke 42.5% are male and 57.2% are females. Our index numbers tell us that male (88) are less likely to chose this product. Females (111) are more likely to choose Diet Coke. Of the people in this study that are male 15.9% choose Diet Coke as the brand they use more often. Of the people in this study that are Females 20% choose Diet Coke as the brand they use more often. Conclusion We can tell by this Simmons run that females are more likely to choose a Diet Cola than the males. We also learn that more people would consume Diet Coke instead of Diet Pepsi. Diet coke is the brand that both genders would choose.

2. Group Discussion Guide In this discussion guide, I wanted to understand the process that people were using to buy the perfect car. When I say perfect I mean the car that they actually have right now because perfect for what they were looking for. In my screener I went directly to the point if they didn’t have a car and if they didn’t do their research online I don’t need them. In my First question I wanted to hear different process people used to find a car online. My activity is also a good way to understand what tools are they using online and how long do they take to find the perfect match of what they are looking for. Screener 1) Do you have a car? a) Yes b) No 2) Where did you find your car? a) On the Internet b) Local Dealer c) By a Friend d) Other Group Discussion Guide 1) Can you explain the process you use for finding the perfect (the one that they have) car? 2) Can you tell me what was the most stressful or difficult part of the whole process? Activity Here are some Characteristics of a car. With these characteristics I want you to find a similar if not the same car that I want to buy. You have 15 minutes to complete this Activity. Characteristics.

Price: $12,000 limit Mileage: between 22,000 and 100,000 Color: Blue Type: Sedan Year: Not older than 2008. 3.Screener/Survey with logic I ran my survey online. My screener was also short and directly to the point. I am respectful so I wanted to let people choose if they want to participate in my survey if they click no it will link them to another page asking if they can send it to 4 people. In question 7 I wanted to see if the online tool is the most used tool now a days to find a car. If people selected that tool they went to a different page. That page was focus only in online research. I asked which website did they use to find a car. I asked this to see which websites are the most used and see if they are easy and good. Maybe people are using one that is very difficult to use and doesn’t give much information. In question number 15 I wanted to see how was the interaction with the sales person. Many people hate the sales person because they put pressure on people to buy a car that sometimes in not the perfect car. I also asked people to grade them too see how are the sales is the opinion of people about the sales man. Screener Hi, My name is _______________________ and I am conducting this survey for gathering information for an investigation about how people buy cars and how they make their research. The information gathered will be used only buy us and will not be shared or sell to anyone. In this survey there are no right or wrong answers. 1) Do you want to participate in this survey? a) Yes b) No [If selected, say thanks and end the survey] 2) Do you own a car? a) Yes b) No [If no, Say thank and end survey] Interview 3) Gender

a) Male b) Female 4) How old are you? a) Less than 18 b) 18-‐25 c) 26-‐30 d) 31-‐35 e) 36-‐40 f) Over 41 5) Education a) No school completed b) High school graduate c) Associate Degree d) Bachelor's Degree e) Master's Degree f) Doctorate Degree 6) When did you buy it? a ) Less than a year ago b) 1 year ago c) 2 years ago d) 3 year ago e) 5 years ago f) More than 5 years ago. 7) Where did you find your car? a) On the internet [If answer a go to question 8] b) Local Dealer [Go to question 11] c) Friend [Go to question 12] e)other:____________ [Go to question 12] 8) Which of these website did you use to search for your car? You can check as many as you want. ☐ Kellybluebook.com ☐ Craiglists.com ☐ Ebay.com ☐ Google.com ☐ Cars.com ☐ Craigsy.com ☐ Autotempest.com ☐ Other:_______________ 9) Did you make a list with the cars that you would like to buy?

a) Yes b) No 10) Do you think it was easier to find a good car online? ☐ Strongly agree ☐Agree ☐Neither ☐ Disagree ☐ Strongly Disagree [If answer is negative go to question 10]

11) Can you explain why? 12) What qualities you were looking in the car? You can chose more than 1. ☐ New Car ☐ Used Car ☐ Low Millage ☐ Warranty ☐ Clean Carfax ☐ Gas saver ☐ Certified Pre-‐Owned ☐ Automatic ☐ Manual ☐ Dealership ☐ Private party ☐ Other. 13) Can you rank these qualities from 1 to 10 being 1 the most important and 10 the less important? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

14) Did you test-‐drive the car that you wanted to buy? a) Yes b) No [If no go to question 15] 14) Can you explain why? [Go to question 17]

15) How was the interaction with the sales man? 1 2 3 4 5 Good ¢¢¢¢¢Bad 16) If you had to give a grade being A good and F bad what grade will you give the sales person? a) A b) B+ c) B-‐ d) C+ e) C-‐ f) D g) F 17) Do you agree or disagree that the sales man was useful in your buying decision? ☐Agree ☐Neither ☐ Disagree 18) Did you find the negotiation process stressful? a) Yes b) No 19) If you had to choose between not having the sales man and having the sales man what would you chose? a) Having the sales man b) Not having the sales man 20) When purchased the car. Did you find any details or things that the salesman never told you? a) Yes b) No 21) Do you think the sales mans will do whatever to sell you a car even if what they say is not true? ☐ Yes ☐ Maybe ☐ I don’t know ☐ I don’t think so ☐ No

Ok those were the questions. Thank you very much for your time, these answers will help a lot in our research and will be used only for research purpose. We will not sell, trade or share these answers with no one. If you would like to learn more about this research you can leave us your email address and we will send you results of this project. Email:_________________________. Link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?pli=1&formkey=dG5hWXV6NE8zX2JBd2owdkkxRTV5M3c6MQ#gid=0 4. Interview Question Guide In this interview I did a small screener that had few question. If people didn’t have a car and if they didn’t find it online they were not the matches I was looking. In my interview I asked some question as Can you tell me about the online research you did? Maybe some advantages or disadvantages? I asked this question to see what people think about online search. To see if there are more advantage or disadvantage. From the point of view of the consumer. I also asked about the interaction with the sales man. I wanted to hear what they have to say about to get some specific problems people are having. In the survey I asked this too but I cant get specific data that’s why I asked this again here. I also asked if they think if they would prefer not having the sales man there and explain why. I want to get as much feedback to see if sometimes the sales man is a problem when it comes to sell. Screener Name: Age: City: 1.Do you own a car? a) Yes b) No [Terminate] 2. Where did you find the car?

a) Online [If not selected then terminate] b) Local Dealer c) Friend d) Other 3.Did you search on nay of these webs sites? [You can choose more than one] a) Kelly blue book b) Auto trader c) Edmunds d) Cars.com e) Auto site f) Auto web. Discussion Guide Introduction

• (Set up your paper and recorder)

• Thank you for coming, my name is Konrad Burchardt and you are here to help in a research about buying cars online. This session will last no more than 15 minutes approximately and it will be just me and you talking. The questions that I am going to ask you are open questions and there is no right or wrong answer. Your answers have o be as detailed as possible. I am going to take notes of your answers and record this session, so I can analyze your answers deeply and in more detail. The data will be used for personal used and will not be shared with no body.

• (Start recording)

Questions

• (Check recorder)

• (Speak Slow with an audible tone of voice and control your body language.)

• Tell me about the last time you bought a car [Keywords

-‐Online Research -‐Better Price/Discount -‐Lists of cars] [If the interview speaks any of this themes ask them more -‐Online Research -‐Better Price/Discount -‐Internet offer -‐List of cars]

• Can you tell me about the online research you did? Maybe some advantages or disadvantages?

[If the interviewed speaks any of this themes ask them more: -‐Qualities of the car]

• What were the main qualities that you looked for the car online? I ask this because you are not physically seeing the car so you cant know in what condition is the car.

• Can you talk about price? Did they have a better price online than offline?

• Can you talk about any discount they made you because of buying the car

online?

• Can you tell me more about the list of cars that you did?

• After you did this list did you went and test-‐drive all of those cars?

• Can you talk more about your interaction with the sales person? Did you felt confortable?

• Would have been better not to have this sale person?

[If the interviewed answer yes ask to explain why]

• Would you buy a car on the Internet with out test-‐driving it? [If the answer is yes, ask next question]

• What qualities would you look for, in order to be confident about buying the car online?

Reflection [Free talk, Ask about the experience and if he likes the way the interview went.]

• Did you like the way he interview was made? [Let the interviewed talk]

• Is there any question that you didn’t understand?

• Is there anything else you would like to add?

• Is there anything you would like to ask? End

• Ok, those were the question I hope you had a good time answering, your answers will be very useful for my project. And I would like to thank you for your time and your help.

5.Social Chatter Buying a car online Trends Buy used Compact Safety Get insured Fuel economy Cheap Do not buy a car in the night Do not buy a car when it rains People don’t like salespeople Bad Credit Google.com/trends

California is the state with more searches on buying car by Internet.

Somthing curious about the keyword buying a car. Is that the city with most search was San francisco.

In google.com/trends, we can see that the peak of the keyword was between 2007 and 2008.

We could also see that the most searched keyword was buying used car. So we can tell that people look for used car more than new cars.

Popular Websites for information Edmunds Carspace: Popular forum. Good advises from other people. Too much Ads. AutoMedia: This website is by Topics. Auto media displays a lot of information about making the car you already have, better. Also there are driving tips, how to restore your car, how to get better car mileage. Yahoo Answers: This is a specific question site. It gives you the opportunity to ask question to a big community at once. Ask.car.com: This web site has one of the best interfaces of any forum that I visited. Once you start a thread, it goes right up to the home page. So many will see your topic. The problem is that most of the questions doesn’t have many answers. Cargurus: You can ask whatever question you have about your car. Answers will come in a few hours. This is like a car rating site. People that actually own the car you are looking can give you what they think of that car. Popular websites for buying -‐Craigslist’s -‐Kelly blue book -‐Autotrader -‐Edmunds -‐Cars.com -‐Autosite -‐Auto web. Dominating Terms/Ideas -‐Observe: Stay ahead of market research, on your products and on trends. Find out how customer behavior is changing. Are younger customers using your products in different ways, or talking and thinking about them differently? What competition is emerging—even if you think it’s way inferior to what you provide? -‐Understand: Find out why they’re going elsewhere to buy or research, if they are. Is it that they don’t trust your sales staff? Or they trust online information more? Or they see the purchase in a different way from an older generation? Don’t assume it’s all about price. -‐Act: Make it easy for customers to experience the product in some other way. If younger customers are less interested in your signature sales experience—whether that’s a test drive, or trying on a suit, or browsing books—can you train staff differently? Duplicate the experience online? Meet customers in a different way or place? -‐Buyers -‐Safe car

-‐Get insured -‐Fuel economy -‐Aware of financing. -‐Car history Where are they buying? People are buying everywhere. They have more information so they don’t use their local dealer as much as they used to use it. When are they buying? All the year Who are buying? Define target. Correlating words/ideas/ -‐Low Price -‐Low miles -‐Used Car -‐Financing -‐Insurance expensive. -‐Carfax -‐Test drive Verbatim Chris De La Madrid “The worst part of buying a new car is having to deal with car salespeople.” Nigeria Wyman “My search continues Craiglists, Kbb.com.. Still looking to buy a car. Smh” N/A “Where is a good place to buy a car in Az if you have bad credit? “ http://www.articlescholar.com/1509/top-‐5-‐tips-‐for-‐buying-‐your-‐teens-‐first-‐car/ http://www.kbb.com/car-‐research/ http://highwayinsurance.cgotr.com/10-‐things-‐to-‐know-‐before-‐buying-‐your-‐first-‐used-‐car/ http://tweetreach.com/reach?q=buy+a+car http://omgili.com/buy-‐your-‐first-‐car

Automotive

Research Methodology