In-hall testing is one of the special cases of personal interviewing. Here participants answer questions in a properly furnished and equipped room or on an online questionnaire after testing a product or an advertisement. This type of survey provides an opportunity to collect quantitative, numerical data as well as certain types of qualitative results. This method enables primarily the evaluation of consumers’ decision making mechanisms, the factors behind their shopping habits and their opinions and attitudes concerning the product. Besides the traditional method NRC carries out online in-hall tests as well.
In-hall test are carried out by personal questioning or – increasingly – by online data collection. While traditional surveys are done in frequented areas of larger cities by random selection of people considered by the interviewer to be members of the target group, if the types of product/service do not require direct connection and in case of advertisements commissioners apply online questioning. Online data collection is not only more cost-effective and quicker but also provides more authentic and reliable data than the offline method as the sample of the target group is the result of a controlled selection from an online panel so the sample represents the whole country, not only big cities.
In this type of survey the target group needs to be at least 20% of the whole population whereas in case of online data collection a 30% target group penetration is considered important. In case of offline data collection the sample consists of at least 100 people while for online research 300 is the threshold level.
Product tests:
- product test, product concept test
- tasting test, taste test
- package test
- name test, logo test
Advertisement tests:
- commercial test
- poster test
- slogan test
- tests of other types of marketing materials
