Asking Questions - The Definitive Guide To Questionnaire Design ...

246 ASKING QUESTIONS
on demographics. They explained, for instance, why Anheuser-
Busch’s Natural Light failed and Bud Light was a huge success.
More common are studies of psychographic profiles that predict
preferences for one brand versus another. A study of VCR purchasers
compared those males who had purchased a higher-cost target
brand to males who had purchased more affordable competing
brands. After psychographically segmenting consumers into one of
eight categories, the researchers found that those who purchased
the higher-cost target brand were more likely to be “inconspicuous
social isolates,” “masculine hero emulators,” or “sophisticated cosmopolitans.”
Those who preferred less expensive alternatives were
characterized as either “silent conservatives,” “embittered resigned
workers,” “highbrow Puritans,” “rebellious pleasure seekers,” or
“work hard–play hard executives” (Weinstein, 1994, p. 122). Note
that a considerable degree of creative license is used in defining the
various psychographic segments.
One preference study wanted to predict what types of people
preferred bitter beer, malt beer, or other types of beer. Cluster analysis
was used to segment people into an “innovative, sports active,
self-confident” psychographic segment or into a “self-absorbed,
spontaneous, social drinking” segment. Researchers found that
members of the first cluster tended to prefer bitter beers that were
less malty and had less head creaminess (Wells, 1975). Clustering
methods have also been used to examine behavior. In an attempt to
group people by their food- and health-related tendencies and
behaviors, one study (Glanz and others, 1998) identified seven clusters
that could be used for segmentation purposes. These included
(1) physical fanatics, (2) active attractives, (3) tense but trying,
(4) decent do littles, (5) passively healthy, (6) hard-living hedonists,
and (7) noninterested nihilists. Subsequent follow-up studies
(Wansink, 2004) showed these lifestyle clusters related to certain
behaviors with some group members. For example, decent do littles
tended to be more interested in shelf stocking, cooking, and baking,
and hard-living hedonists tended to be more interested in impul-