Many terms in the world of Market Research stem from their namesakes. From testing methodologies, question types and analytical approaches, many contributions are known by their monikers. Let’s take a closer look at Rensis Likert, Jan Stapel, Thomas Bayes, Peter Van Westendorp and Ivan Konanykhin (Have you heard of him yet? He’s famous within AYTM!).

Rensis Likert

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In 1932, psychologist Rensis Likert developed a principle to measure attitudes.  The Likert Scale is a widely used rating scale that requires people to indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement with a series of statements about a topic. Response categories, ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree” are used with a neutral point in the middle.  Respondents may be offered a 5, 7, or 9-point scale. You can find many pre-populated Likert Scales on AYTM in the drop-down menu of progressive matrix questions.

Jan Stapel

The Stapel scale was developed by Jan Stapel in the 1950’s.  It is a unipolar rating scale with 10 categories numbered from -5 to +5 without a neutral or zero point. The scale is normally presented vertically as seen below. Respondents are asked to indicate how accurately or inaccurately a word or words describes the object. Assume you were asking about a car, you would select a plus number for words which best describes the car accurately and a minus number for words you don’t think describe the car accurately. The higher the number, the more accurately the term describes the object.  

Thomas Bayes

Thomas Bayes[/caption]Thomas Bayes was an English theologian and mathematician who established a mathematical basis for probability inference in the 1700’s.  It is a means of calculating the probability that something will happen in the future based on the frequency with which an event has occurred in the past. Bayes Theorem, in very simple terms, helps you use a known outcome to predict the sequence of events leading up to that outcome. Other extension terms are Bayes’ Rule, Bayesian analysis, Bayesian statistics, Bayesian modeling, etc. AYTM’s Conjoint Based Segmentation test uses Hierarchical Bayesian modeling.

Peter Van Westendorp

Peter Van Westendorp was a Dutch Economist who created a four-question pricing model in 1976, now known as the Van Westendorp pricing sensitivity meter.  These open-ended questions address both quality and value of a good or service to determine when the price is perceived as too expensive, expensive, cheap, or a bargain. The answers to these questions can then be used to determine the best go to market price for your good or service.  The four questions are as follows:

       
1. At what price would you consider the product to be so expensive that you would not consider buying it?  (Too Expensive)
       
2. At what price would you consider the product starting to get expensive, so that it is not out of the question, but you would have to give some thought to buying it? (Expensive)
       
3. At what price would you consider the product to be priced so low that you would feel the quality couldn’t be very good? (Cheap)
       
4. At what price would you consider the product to be a bargain? (Bargain)

Ivan Konanykhin

Ivan Konanykhin is one of AYTM’s very own talented statisticians who took the Van Westendorp to the next level and it is now available as one of our unique advanced research tests. By supplying some additional information about your specific product or service and its market, the VanKonan model will construct Revenue and Profit curves for different price settings, identifying the Maximum Revenue Price, Maximum Sales Frequency Price, and Maximum Profit Price on top of the Van Westendorp Price Sensitivity output. Results will be presented with auto-generated executive summary findings and interactive charts allowing you to run unlimited “what if” scenarios after fielding.