Ms. Leland,If your survey and the proposed purpose of your survey reflect the teaching methodology of Harvard University, then the vaulted Harvard education reputation is highly overvalued. Not only does your questionnaire suffer from bias but your intended methodology for data collection is not statistically relevant. Any results from this survey are statistically insignificant. This virtual renders them invalid. This web site will not provide you with a statistically valid sample of any defined universe including but not limited to all people who live in the world, US citizens, or web surfers.
Having stated what would be the obvious to any professional researcher, I will assist you with your project. Best of all, the education that you are about to receive is truly a bargain vis-α-vis the arguably extremely overpriced Harvard education.
As to the proposed purpose of your project, "I am trying to get a sense of how people feel about McDonald's," I suggest that you look at several publicly available data sources. This examination will provide you with an understanding of the market dynamics.
Before undertaking any serious study, be sure you understand the difference between nominal dollars (current dollars) and real dollars (dollars discounted for inflation). Translate all of your figures to real dollars using the same base year for all numerical calculations. For example, you might choose to express all dollar figures in 1990 dollars or 1982-84 dollars. Also, of extreme importance is the examination of growth rates. In other words, you need to look at the rate of change and the rate of rate of change to be able to draw any meaningful conclusions. Finally, you need to set a basis of measurement for comparison such as per capita (person). Simply divide whatever the number is by the population for that year. Be sure to use the same divisor, say adults age 16 or over.
Clearly, if Mc DonaldÆs per capita advertising and promotion expenditures are flat or decreasing while their per capita profit increases, then you might conclude that the company employs effective marketing strategies. To substantiate this conclusion, you need to examine per capita food expenditures and per capita fast food expenditures over a defined period. In both cases, if the ratio of profit to advertising is rising faster than per capita fast food expenditures, then one can conclude that the marketing strategies of Mc DonaldÆs are effective.
Examine the market share that Mc DonaldÆs holds both in fast food and specifically burger restaurants. Are these figures increasing or decreasing? At what rate are these figures increasing or decreasing? How does the rate of change of Mc DonaldÆs profit to advertising expenditure ratio compare with their market share position?
Since I am not inclined to complete your work for you, you now have the starting blocks from which to write a factual examination of the effectiveness of Mc Donald marketing strategies.
Even though your survey from this site or any web site would be statistically invalid, here is a point by point critique and suggested question changes should you have the opportunity to select a statistically valid sample.
1) Your questions and potential responses are too vague. Employ the use of operational definitions to enforce the same meaning upon all respondents. Otherwise, youÆre collecting opinions of no statistical relevance.
2) You ask for people to unreliably report data when you can obtain accurate data such as number of Mc DonaldÆs restaurants in a personÆs town or population where they live. Just ask for their ZIP Code.
3) Save your demographic questions for the end of your questionnaire.
1. Do you eat meat more than once a week, once a week, less than once a week, never?
2. If you eat at Mc DonaldÆs, what is the frequency that you dine in or take out food from Mc DonaldÆs? more than once a week, once a week, once a month, less than once a month, never?
3. Thinking about the last time you ate food from Mc DonaldÆs what did you eat? Big Mac, French Fries, Soft Drink, Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Filet o fish (etc.) (also, this question is only relevant to those that report eating at Mc DonaldÆs).
4. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning the best and 10 the worst, rate the following for the last Mc DonaldÆs restaurant in which you ate:
taste of food
quickness of delivery
cleanliness of restaurant
(etc.)
5. Are you male or female?
6. What is your age range? Below 16, 16-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, above 64
7. Are you white, non-Hispanic; Hispanic; black; Asian; native American or Aleutian Island native?
8. Are you employed full-time, employed part-time, not employed looking for work, not employed not looking for work and not retired, retired?
9. Is your occupation professional, technical, clerical, skilled labor, unskilled labor? (note: this question is relevant only for labor force participants)
10. Are you a full-time student or part-time student?
11. Do you live in the United States or a US possession?
12. If you live in the US, what is your ZIP Code?
None.
