Certain Electric Power Tools, Battery Cartridges, and ... - USITC

tools within the past 12 months, the study is certainly biased in favor ofusers and has eliminated potential interviewees who have shopped but werenot also users. (FF 269-80). The degree to which the survey results areinflated by excluding relevant consumers is not precisely ascertainable. 241Nonetheless, it is readily apparent that the reported results reflect asomewhat inflated percentage of consumers that are familiar withcomplainants' design, color, and design color combination, as more fullyexplained below.b. fercwe of Profession&&Respondents allege that the survey is also faulty because the universecaptured a percentage of professional users that was larger than thepercentage of professional users among all tool purchasers as indicated incertain marketing data. (FF 281-83). This is especially significantbecause Dr. Sorensen testified that his survey revealed a strongcorrelation between professional users and correct Makita sourceidentification.Respondents' criticism goes to the heart of Dr. Sorensen'sdefinition of the relevant universe.If the relevant consumer group iscomposed of a certain percentage of professionals and the screenerquestions do not generate a sample of approximately the same percentage,either the sample is unrepresentative of the universe (sampling error), orthe universe is not coextensive with the relevant consumer group (nonrampleerror).W This is significant because Dr. Sorensen did not tabulate thepercentage of persons that qualified for the survey as either buyers andusers, or shoppers. (FF 278).222