Research Methodology

With 40 years of experience in developed and emerging markets, Euromonitor International’s research methodology offers a unique combination of specialist industry knowledge and in-country research expertise.

Consulting
Countries and Consumers
Industrial
Market Analysis
Survey

 

Survey Methodology

Euromonitor International is now designing, executing and analyzing surveys, expanding its trusted global research. Survey responses allow for the comprehensive exploration and identification of evolving trends and their impact on the global marketplace.

Survey Methodology and Consumer Insights Expertise

Euromonitor’s Survey team includes experienced survey methodologists who ensure results meet or exceed industry standards in all aspects of design, fielding and data validity. Our survey team also includes consumer insights specialists working alongside Euromonitor industry managers to identify unanswered questions and hot topics in their industries. Working together, the survey team develops high-quality, original questionnaires seeking answers to these questions. After fielding, the survey team analyses results using multiple statistical techniques and contextual lenses to answer questions for which no other comprehensive, authoritative answer source exists.

Local Consumer Attitudes and Behaviours

A Euromonitor Survey response originates from a single individual answering questions—in his or her native language—about personal attitudes, behaviours, and lifestyle practices reflecting that individual’s reality at a particular moment in time and space.  

Individuals are surveyed in countries around the globe, including both the most established and the fastest developing consumer markets. Questions cover a wide range of consumer and economic topics. Euromonitor uses surveys to establish baselines and contribute to longitudinal tracking, as well as capturing the pulse of the moment. 

 

Each Survey is based on a core set of research techniques:

Survey Questionnaires

Euromonitor’s survey questions are wholly original, developed by the survey team and our industry managers to characterize aspects of consumer life and to capture existing and emerging trends. They are refined by survey methodologists, maximising clarity for respondents. Questions are then organized to maximise conceptual flow. Questionnaires are pre-tested for ease of understanding and response time, then revised to best minimize respondent fatigue. Once finalised, questionnaires are professional translated into respondents’ local languages and cross-checked for consistent meaning by native speakers.

Online Survey Methods

Euromonitor uses online surveys to reach respondents around the globe. In the last 10 years, as more people forego landline telephones and gain internet access, online surveys have grown into a reputable, trusted market research methodology. Online surveys allow for a flexible and cost effective means of reaching international populations simultaneously. They also allow rapid data collection and timely reporting of consumer trends. Their opt-in methodology yields more motivated and engaged respondents, a higher response rate and thus higher quality data.

Euromonitor administers its surveys online, distributed to analysts in-house and to consumers through leading panel providers who abide by the ICC/ESOMAR code for ethical market research. Consumer respondents include a mix of members of actively managed panels and recruits from river sampling. 

Consumer respondents are screened to ensure pre-defined, nested quotas are met. These quotas are typically set to match the broader population of the country of residence in terms of age and gender, but are sometimes set to match a specific sub-population (e.g., young people between the ages of 16 and 24). Only experienced Euromonitor analysts are asked to participate in analyst surveys.

Survey respondents are drawn from the online populace in a given country, not its population as a whole. Since no country’s population is 100% online, survey results do not accurately reflect all consumers in a given country. For instance, in developing countries such as Brazil, China and India, more than half of the population does not have internet access. Online respondents thus tend to be more educated, more affluent, and live in urban areas with internet infrastructure. However, because the population in these developing countries is so large, our online sample draws from pools of consumers that number in the tens of millions. Because of these large population sizes, according to the laws of probability, our sample is representative of online consumers in each market.

Data Validation

Survey methodologists program our online surveys to include real-time tests for professional survey takers, with such respondents being eliminated immediately. Responses are further checked for unusually fast or slow completion times and duplicate IP addresses and respondent IDs. Any problematic responses are deleted. Only unique, complete responses are used in analysis.

Statistical Analysis

Members of the team analyse responses using techniques that include: descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, cross-tabulation, correlation, analysis of variance, regression analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. Conceptually, team members examine consumer attitudes and behaviours in light of demographic consumer traits: country, age, gender, social class, household type, etc. They also analyse consumer behaviours in terms of attitudinal survey responses: opinions, feelings, personality traits.

Contextualized Interpretation

Findings from the statistical analyses of survey responses are then further interpreted in light of broader consumer realities. Consumer insights specialists contextualize survey findings with the aid of additional Passport information about consumer thought-processes, economic circumstances at the global, regional, and country levels, cultural frameworks at the global and local levels, consumer market realities, and other relevant demographic features. The consumer worlds thus revealed are condensed into articles and reports that present important findings in a clear, engaging, and well-substantiated form.