In any consumer marketing research study, the survey is the key element. It is with the survey that the consumer opinions are collected, driving the data that ultimately leads to the all-important research findings. As such, developing a good consumer survey is crucial. Marketing researchers use a variety of tools for brainstorming in order to come up with the correct format and effective questions for the survey. However, few of these tools contain the advantages found in a Mind Mapping software tool. With a Mind Map, researchers have the ability to “map out” their ideas for survey questions in a visually dynamic and creative manner. By making use of diagrams that contain several points of visual and mental association, Mind Mapping software allows researchers to organize their thoughts surrounding the survey more easily and intuitively.
What is Mind Mapping Software?
Mind Mapping software is any software that is used to create images, diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information.1 With Mind Maps, the key concept or main idea of the information being presented is represented by a central image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image, with subsequent themes of less importance attached by “child branches” or “twigs”. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information shown in a spatial, rather than linear, format. Moreover, along with the ideas shown on the map are images, visual graphics, and colors that the constructor of the “map” associates with each of the themes and ideas. Mapping out information in this manner is widely believed to allow the brain to process the information in way that is more consistent with its natural functioning.
Using a Mind Map to Construct an Effective Consumer Survey
A team of market researchers has just landed a big account for a cake company that wants to know what cake flavors their customers prefer most. In addition, the cake company wants to collect some relevant demographic information about its customers, such as education, income and age. The team must develop a survey that will allow them to collect of the information the client wants, and they decide to use a Mind Map to help them do so. The team first begins by representing the main purpose of the Mind Map, the survey questions, in the center of the map. They then list the main objectives, or key pieces of information, they want collect, such as “Preferred Cake Flavors”, and “Demographic Information”, on the “branches” that are attached to the central topic. The team then brainstorms possible questions for each of objective on “child branches”. When they have finished brainstorming, the team selects the best question from each group of possible questions to include in the survey, and lists them on “twigs” attached to the “child branches”. Throughout the map, the team has added visuals, colors, and graphics in order to make it easier to conceptualize. The attached Mind Map exhibits what the team’s described diagram might look like.
Finalizing the Consumer Survey
Once the team has selected the questions they will use in the survey, they can now begin constructing the format of the survey. In order to do so, the team decides to create another Mind Map to brainstorm about the order the questions should be presented in. Following a similar method as described above, the team collaborates about possible question order, and subsequently decides upon the appropriate question order for the survey. Thus, the team was able to use a Mind Mapping software tool to determine both what questions to include in the survey, and more importantly, how to list them, highlighting the usefulness of Mind Maps in helping researchers develop effective consumer surveys.
- Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.
Tags: business, consumer, marketing, mind mapping, surveys