Marketing Lab
Here we present our state-of-the-art research methods and their areas of application. For several decades now, our department has been conducting research and teaching in the field of advertising impact, buyer and consumer behavior, the analysis of brand and product images and much more. This requires both professional expertise and the appropriate infrastructure - our marketing laboratory and its equipment. In teaching and research, we use eye tracking, measurements of electrodermal activity, electron encephalography, focus groups and various forms of questioning.
Eye Tracking
Eye tracking (eye tracking) was already being used in the 19th century. At that time, researchers were still observing people's eye movements and gaze patterns directly. From 1905, film cameras were used for this purpose; the eye movements were recorded and subsequently analyzed. The development of modern eye tracking methods began in the 1970s.
Eye trackers are devices or systems that record and analyze eye movements. The aim is to find out where a person looks, how long they do so and in what order individual elements are viewed. A distinction is made between fixations (resting points) and saccades (jumps) of the eye.
Wearable eye tracking
In wearable eye tracking, the test subject wears the measuring device (eye and field of vision camera) on their head. In contrast to remote eye tracking, this allows the subject to be mobile. A camera is used to record the subject's field of vision and eye movements. While earlier versions integrated these cameras into helmets or similar headgear, the latest technologies enable eye tracking using feather-light glasses. In marketing research, wearable eye tracking is particularly relevant in retail. For example, a person's gaze can be recorded as they walk through a supermarket. Eye tracking has also become increasingly important in the context of shelf planning in recent years.
Remote eye tracking
In remote eye tracking, the components for eye tracking are built into (or attached to) a monitor. There is no contact between the person and the device (see photo). The test subject views an image, text or video on the screen while the eye tracker records the eye movements. In contrast to mobile measurement, the data obtained is more accurate and interpersonally comparable.
Eye tracking is used today in various disciplines, e.g. in marketing, neuroscience, psychology and usability research. The fields of application of stationary eye tracking range from the testing of websites, the viewing of advertising spots and posters, the analysis of documents or flyers to the recording of an order process in an online store or the development of new products. Eye tracking can be combined with a subsequent survey in order to query the subject's memory of certain elements. The latest eye tracking models specialize in mobile devices and enable eye tracking on smartphones or tablets, for example.
Wearable and remote eye tracking are among the latest and most robust research methods in the field of psychological consumer behavior research and are regularly used by our department in research and teaching.
EDR measurement
Skin resistance measurements (or measurements of skin conductivity) have been carried out since the beginning of the 20th century. Because this method is relatively inexpensive, it is still used today - despite the increasing importance of methods such as EEG, MRI, etc.
Skin resistance measurement is one of the methods used to measure the physical characteristics of test subjects. The measurement is carried out with the help of electrodes (see photo). Skin resistance serves as an indicator of the subject's psychological activation (in simple terms, it measures whether the subject is relaxed or tense).
Changes in skin resistance after the presentation of stimuli (e.g. images) indicate the degree of activation. The direction and quality of activation (e.g. positive or negative sensations) cannot be measured. This method is very sensitive and it takes a few minutes for the person to become accustomed to the test conditions before useful information is available without distortions occurring.
Activation measurement is used in consumer behavior research, for example, to investigate the effectiveness of posters, advertisements or commercials. In our laboratory, we have state-of-the-art technology for measuring electrodermal activity
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Modern electroencephalography is a neurological research method that measures the electrical activity emanating from the brain using electrodes on the scalp. The graphical representation of the measured voltage fluctuations is known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) or brain waveform. These currents are based on the signal transmission of the brain's nerve cells, which are dependent on various factors such as sleep vs. wakefulness or the person's age. Before the measurement, several electrodes are placed over the scalp with special conductive paste, the position of which is determined by an internationally standardized scheme (10-20 system according to Jasper, 1958). These voltage fluctuations are analyzed primarily in terms of their frequency, height (amplitude) and shape (slope).
In marketing, the EEG is used to test the reaction of test subjects to certain test stimuli (e.g. product images, brand logos). The effect of the test stimulus can be inferred from a change in electrical activity in the brain. Whenever a cognitive process takes place - e.g. the processing of commercials - the nerve cell networks (brain regions) involved leave behind patterns in the EEG signal.
Focus group discussion
Focus group discussions are a form of group discussion and have been used since the middle of the 20th century. Initially, they were used for general exploratory purposes and were soon also used in market and consumer behavior research. Today, they are a standard method of qualitative research whose importance has steadily increased in recent years and are used in many areas of market, opinion and social research.
Focus groups are moderated discussions between a group of four to twelve people on a specific topic under controlled conditions. The aim is to determine the opinions, experiences and attitudes of the participants and the group as well as to observe behavior and group processes. One advantage is that several people can be interviewed simultaneously at relatively low cost and that the group situation provides insights that do not always come to light in individual interviews.
In the field of marketing, focus groups are used, for example, when it comes to feedback on products, packaging, advertisements, brand names, services and the like. Focus groups can also be used to evaluate attitudes and opinions, e.g. on brands, companies or new product and service ideas.
The laboratory at the Department of Marketing offers optimal conditions for conducting focus groups. The room size is ideal for typical focus groups, the latest technical equipment for recording group discussions is available and researchers in our laboratory also have the opportunity to observe the focus group discussion from a separate room via a mirrored window (see photo).
Survey
Modern surveys are a method for systematically obtaining information and data about the people surveyed. Usually with the purpose of making generalizable statements about the population/basic population (requires a representative sample). Attitudes, behavioral intentions, opinions, values, memories, factual knowledge, demographic data of the respondents, etc. can be collected through surveys. In most cases, not every person in the population is interviewed (total survey) but only a sample. Various forms and types of survey can be distinguished. In addition to qualitative interviews (e.g. in-depth interviews), there is the larger field of quantitative survey forms. A distinction can be made here between personal (see photo), postal, telephone, but nowadays above all computer-assisted and electronic surveys. Each of these forms of survey differs in terms of costs, time required, typical response rates, possible survey scope, etc. In addition, surveys can be classified according to their degree of standardization and structuring as well as the time of implementation (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal survey). If the same sample is surveyed several times (at intervals) on the same topic, panel data is available. This allows changes over time to be measured.
Nowadays, surveys are mainly used by market reserach institutes and agencies and in the university environment. Due to the long and extensive use of surveys, a separate field of research has now been established under the heading of "survey methodology", which deals with question formulation, questionnaire structure, survey design, etc. In the field of marketing and consumer behavior research, surveys are used, for example, to survey product and brand images, to research advertising effectiveness, to measure customer satisfaction, to survey purchase and recommendation intentions and much more. Surveys also play an important role in intercultural marketing, for example when it comes to assessing the influence of cultural values on the evaluation of brands or purchase intentions.
The staff at the Department of Marketing have the relevant skills to create and conduct surveys in the field of basic and applied marketing research. Our students also conduct surveys as part of their Bachelor's and, in particular, Master's theses.
