College students targeted for market research
By Dmitri Pikman
May 13, 2003 9:00 p.m.
College students are a force to be reckoned with, at least in
regard to determining trends, according to experts in the field of
market research.
As more and more market research companies use UCLA students as
predictors of the “next big thing,” student opinion on
the new Jim Carrey movie or a pair of red-hot tennis shoes carries
quite a lot of weight.
So, why is it that students are such important tools in the
collection of public opinion?
According to Cindy Reyes from Reyes & Associates, a market
research company, one major reason for the importance of students
in market research can be attributed to their role as buyers of the
products.
“It is not necessarily their money; it can be their
parents’ money, but young people are the ones actively
spending dollars out there,” she said.
“Marketing research companies target them as the most
reliable source of information about future trends,” she
added.
Reyes said students are most likely to consume novelty items and
can, in fact, determine whether a certain product has potential
value.
Aimee Drolet, an assistant professor of marketing at the
Anderson School at UCLA, agreed.
“The 18- to 22-year age group are the trendsetters ““
they adopt the new products,” she said.
These new products will later be introduced on the market,
provided a favorable response came from the focus group, Drolet
said.
Students are also easy research targets, Drolet said, because
they need the money and can make a few extra dollars by answering a
few questions.
For those looking on campus, a multitude of schools at UCLA give
students an opportunity to sign up for different market research
and opinion groups, all for financial compensation.
“On the Anderson School Web site, students can sign up for
surveys run by professors,” Drolet said. “The data
collected would be analyzed and written up in different
journals.”
In regard to privacy, Drolet said all surveys done at UCLA are
confidential, and any personal information collected must be
relatively vague.
The only identifiable piece of information, usually student
identification, would have to be revealed while the subject is
dropping off his or her questionnaire.
This precaution is done so students do not take the surveys more
than once.
But Drolet warned that surveys taken for commercial purposes
often involve revealing personal information.
“Surveys done for commercial purposes are not confidential
since part of the survey is to find out how that specific
individual feels about something,” she said.
“The marketing companies are paying you, so they get to
know everything about you,” she added.
In fact, commercial research companies may refuse to use
students who refuse to write personal information in surveys.
Ultimately, marketing experts say the responses of students on
surveys and questionnaires may determine the difference between
what goes in the stores and what returns to the drawing board.
