General misconceptions about choosing mall intercept facilities

"Mall work, in my opinion, is the least understood and potentially most misused research methodology," says Maura S. Isaacs, executive vice president of QFact Marketing Research, Inc., Cincinnati. "There are many misconceptions about mall work that need to be illuminated for the infrequent user."

Isaacs outlines some general misconceptions and some basic things to look for when choosing a mall location for a test.

General misconceptions
1. Mall work is a representative base for market interpretation. Mall respondents are only representative of a geographic area of a given market. This is further skewed by the type of stores that draw in potential respondents. In essence, mall respondents are a universe that are only representative of the primary shopper of that particular collection of retail stores.

2. Mall work has faster turn-around time than other methodologies. While this may be true in many cases, low incidence or long questionnaires are huge factors to consider in the use of mall intercepts. Often under these circumstances, it can be much more time efficient to pre-recruit.

3. Mall work is less expensive than pre-recruit. Again, this statement has some basis in truth, but when one considers the low incidence or long questionnaire scenario, the savings may well be at the cost of validity. Understanding the mall environment means recognizing that respondents are shoppers and are not in the mall to participate in research. Anyone who has ever tried to complete a 30 minute questionnaire with a respondent whose husband is waiting will tell you how much thought is given to the questions during the last 10 minutes of the questionnaire.

4. All reputable mall agencies are basically the same. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Every agency is somewhat different in its approach to the fundamentals of training, supervision, validation, and overall management. Furthermore, many agencies have restrictions in the number of personnel for recruiting on the mall which leads to multiple screening procedures. The real key to successfully placing a mall project is knowing what questions to ask and weighing the ramifications of the varying procedures on the project.

Choosing an agency
1. Know your market. If you have an upscale product, ask about median income, ethnic balance, anchor stores, size of mall, and geographic location.

2. Ask about recruiting procedures or restrictions. Find out if multiple screening methods ("piggybacking") are used. This can have serious ramifications on the type of respondent that winds up in your sample.

3. Permanent mall locations can be anything from one large room with screens to carefully designed research facilities. Find out if your project will be secure from other clients or respondents on other projects.

4. Ask about working hours. Some mall locations work two or three shifts and cover both daytime and evening traffic while others may work one shift from 11-7. If working women need to be heavily represented in your sample, make sure the mall can provide evening and weekend hours.

5. Training procedures can vary widely. Try to determine what is in place.

6. Upon placing the project, get the name of a consistent contact who will be handling your project.

7. Since no industry standard exists for the implementation of mall intercept work, designate clearly in written form how the project is to be handled. Provide thorough supervisory and interviewer instructions and encourage questions.