Weighted market research sample

Arguably, weighted market research sample is an underused commodity, which can significantly impact the results of a research project and thus alter the business objectives which arise from the research.

A weighted market research sample refers to a sample which has been subject to a weighting adjustment. The purpose of this is to modify the responses so that it is more representative of the population that is being examined. Whilst effort is taken in the early stages of developing a sample to ensure it is representative, it is difficult to sustain primarily because of non-response or over response from particular groups.

Without a weighted market research sample, the conclusions derived cannot be deemed as being reliable, as the overall profile of participants does not reflect what is being investigated by the research project. The weighting adjustment process then, reapportions the value of different responses from different groups.

Put differently, a weighted market research sample will firstly lessen the weight of over-represented groups so that their responses do not disproportionately influence the findings.

Simultaneously, under-represented groups get a larger weighting so that their views have a proportionate influence.

Two specific tools are needed in order to create a weighted market research sample. There must, for starters, be auxiliary variable available which were measured in the survey. Typical examples of auxiliary variables include age, gender and marital status. In addition to this, information on the distribution of these particular variables within the studied population also needs to be available.

With access to both of these one can work out how much adjustment is needed in the weighting of the different groups to gather a more representative set of findings. In the absence of such information, weighted market research sample is best not applied as it will potentially lead to increasingly skewed results.

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Weighted market research sample