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Simmons: Choices II - Search Aid #4

Choices II is a consumer survey produced by the Simmons Market Research Bureau. It is used to develop profiles of consumer buying habits and usage of various products, and to detail consumer media preferences. It includes U.S. adults age 18 years and older. It will NOT give the market share of a brand or product.

START UP

Click on the icon for Choices II. The Launcher box will open.
Click on Run Choices II. No user I.D. is required.
When Search box appears, minimize Choices II Launcher Box
(this makes the screen less cluttered and easier to use).
The main screen is divided into three parts: Coding Area, Data Access Area and Worksheet.

DEFINE SEARCH

In order to run a search, you must select a Base Group, Columns and Rows.
This is done using the Worksheet.

BASE GROUP

This defines the population you want to research.
Click on the option button for Base.

  • Select Criteria:

    • In the Data Access Area, click on Dictionary.
    Scroll to select a word (or type a word in the Search box and click).
    Highlight the criteria you are interested in, such as Demographics.
    Single-click. The selected category will move to the Answer Grid.
    Select categories from the Answer Grid by highlighting and clicking on Send.
    Close Dictionary or click on Worksheet and the Dictionary will automatically close.

      Example:
      To select professional women as your target group:
      Select Demographics from the Dictionary box.
      Then select sex, click.
      Choose female from the answer grid.
      Single-click on female and this selection will move to the worksheet.
      Re-open Dictionary.
      Select Employment, then select Professional and Managers from the answer grid.
      Click on Send to move selections to the worksheet.

  • Use Criteria to Define Attributes of Base Set:

    • In the Worksheet, use the mouse to place the cursor between codes.
    Click on the appropriate boolean operator on the bottom of the worksheet.
    (For professional women, the AND operator would be placed between female and professional).
    Continue building the attributes of the sample, one at a time.
    Use appropriate boolean operators, and include parentheses as needed.

      Example:
      Professional women with incomes 20k and above would be:
      (professional AND female) AND (income 20-30K OR income 40-50K OR income above 50K)

    When finished defining Base set, click on OK at the bottom of the worksheet window.
    You will see the set # appear next to the Base option button under the worksheet, indicating that a Base set has been created.

      You might want to compare two bases, such as professional women and professional men. Follow the same steps as above to create the second Base (Select sex, occupation, etc.):
      Use the correct boolean operators.
      Click on OK.
      You will now see two bases and "2" will appear next to the Bases option button.
      To view results from both bases, use the Windows Tool at the top of the Results screen.

    COLUMNS

    Columns can be used to define the products or services that you are interested in, or to divide the Base set into smaller categories.

      Click on the option button for Columns. You will need to use the Dictionary to define your Columns just as you did for the Base set.

      For example:
      You want to know how many professional women in a certain income bracket (Base set) eat hot or cold cereal (Columns).

      As before, use the Dictionary to select the categories you need and put them in the Worksheet.
      To select hot cereal as one column and cold cereal as another, DO NOT use a boolean operator in the worksheet.
      Click on OK. The number "2" will appear next to the Column option button to indicate the creation of two columns.

ROWS

Rows can be used to determine media preferences or to determine what characteristics of the Base set (such as age, education etc.) tend to define the real users of a product or service.

    Click on the option button for Rows. Rows are selected in the same way as Bases and Columns.

      Example:
      We want to know which television shows are watched by professional women in a certain income range who eat hot cereal.

      Use the Dictionary to select radio, cable TV, etc.
      Click on Watched in the last 7 days.
      From the Answer Grid, select television shows to send to the Worksheet.
      To create separate rows for each show, DO NOT use boolean operators in the worksheet.
      Click on OK in the Worksheet.
      The number of rows will appear next to the Rows option button.

EDIT SEARCH

If changes need to be made in the Base set, column or rows, first click on the appropriate option button.
Highlight the set in the box below the worksheet.
Go up to the Menu bar over the work sheet.
Click on Worksheet.
Click on Send.
The formula will return to the worksheet, where it can be edited or replaced or deleted.

SAVE SEARCH CRITERIA

You may want to save your search criteria so that you can use them again later.
This will save re-keying all your variables for the bases, columns and rows.
Click on File, Save As, Input.
Give your file a name. It will be saved as an inp file.

CREATE SPREADSHEET

To create a spreadsheet, go to the Menu bar at the top of the screen.

  • Select FUNCTION.
    For a simple crosstab, select Crosstab from the menu.
    Select the Elements you would like to view.
    Generally, you will want to select the Projected Resps or projected respondents, Vert%, Horz%, and Index
    (Remember, this is a sample survey.)
  • View and Save Data as a Spreadsheet
    Click on View. Excel is automatically launched.
    However, the initial screen that displays is not in an Excel spreadsheet format.
    Select Data from the menu bar.
    Select Excel spreadsheet.
    The data is then formatted into an Excel spreadsheet and can be saved to a disk.
    Be sure to change the drive to C:\USER or A: before saving.

SORT DATA

You can sort by different categories (or Elements). Index is often used as a quick way to determine who is more likely to watch a TV program or read a certain magazine, etc.

    From the Data Menu, select Sort.
    Or you can select a Sort category when selecting Elements to view.
    Click on the Sort button to the left of the Element you want to use for sorting.

INTERPRETING THE DATA

Refer to the definitions below the table.

Be careful to assess the validity of your data.
One asterisk (*) means the projections are not stable. Use with caution.
Two asterisks (**) means the survey size contained 30 or fewer respondents. Any projections would not be statistically reliable.

  • (000)

    Projected Respondents, i.e.: there are approximately 16,137,000 professional women with incomes $20,000 or above. Approximately 10,038,000 eat hot cereal for breakfast.

  • Vert%

    Percentage of the column total, i.e.: 100% of the target audience eats hot cereal, but only 8.7 % of the target population watches "3rd Rock from the Sun."

  • Horz%

    Percentage of the row total, i.e.: 10038(000) is 62.21% of the Base total (16,137,000). The 1985(000) women in this sample that watch 20/20 are 65.81 percent of the total viewers of 20/20 (this number is not in the table).

  • Index

    The likelihood of a certain event by a certain group compared to the total (which is always 100), i.e.: Events with indexes over 100 are more likely. The CBS Sunday movie has an index of 123. This indicates that professional women who eat hot cereal are 23% more likely to watch the Sunday movie than the rest of the population. This index is determined by dividing the horizontal percentages, i.e.: 76.69 (movie viewers) / 62.21 (target group)=123.

NEW SEARCH

To begin a new search, click on File and then click on New.
(You may be asked if you want to save a format or other parameters; ignore or click on Proceed.)

MEDIA RANK

Another way to select media choices for an advertising campaign is to use the Media Rank. In Simmons, you can use this to measure magazines, but not other types of media. This will show which magazines would be most likely used by your target group.

    Example:
    We want to know which magazines are read by professional women in a certain income range who eat hot cereal.

    Use the same Base and Columns as before.
    Click on the Rows option button and use the Media tab.
    Click on Magazines, and select titles.
    To create separate rows for each publication DO NOT use boolean operators in the worksheet.
    Click on OK in the worksheet.
    The number of rows will appear next to the Rows option button.
    When you are done selecting your criteria and have created your worksheet, click on Function.
    Choose Media Rank.
    Select Elements to view including respondents, horizontal and vertical percentages and Index.
    Click on the Sort button next to Index.
    Click on View. The data will appear sorted by Index.
    Those magazines with an Index above 100 are most likely to be read by your target group.

    From this table it can be seen that the top five magazines have indexes well over 100 and would be good vehicles for the target group.

    REACH AND FREQUENCY

    Once you determine the best magazines for an ad campaign, you will want to determine your ad placement schedule. Using the Reach and Frequency function, you can compare different media plans. As before, select the Base and target population.

      Example:
      You want to determine the best media plan for a hair color product. The target audience is women 18-34 years old who currently use hair products. From running a media rank you know that Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Allure and Business Week are good vehicles. You now need to decide how many insertions per vehicle per advertising cycle would be most optimum.

      Your Base is 18-34 year-old females and your targets are the women in that group using hair products.
      Check the option button for Rows and then click on Media.
      Select the magazines that you want.
      Go to Function and choose Reach and Frequency.
      Under Costs, select an ad format (full page color, black and white, etc.)
      If available, costs will be displayed for the different magazines. Not all magazines have ad costs available in Simmons, but it is possible to add them or update those already included.

      The columns next to the titles numbered #1, #2 etc. can be used to create different plans.
      For plan #1, select 4 insertions for each magazine by typing 4 in the column next to each title.
      (You can try different numbers of insertions in other plans).
      Click on Frequency Distribution.
      The table will display the schedule (selected magazines and the number of insertions).
      You can also see the Frequency Distribution.
      Assuming optimum exposure to be 3 (a commonly accepted frequency level), you can see that in this media plan, you will reach 9.68% of your target population.
      This table may seem confusing at first.
      Keep in mind that you know 100% of the population can be expected to have no exposures to the ads.
      As you increase the number of exposures, the percentage of your target group to view an ad (reach) will decrease. Based on the costs of the ads, you can use the frequency distribution to determine the maximum exposure at the best cost.

    PRIVATE EYE

    This function allows you to create a report based on user-defined criteria. You can choose which criteria are most important. This is good to use when you have a lot of Rows and you would like to limit your results.

      Example:
      Your product is a new alternative to margarine spreads. You want to know the top magazines for married women over 45 years who use margarine spreads. You are only interested in those magazines with a respondent group over 200(000) with an index of 100 or more.

      Create your Base (women ages 45-55, with incomes above $60,000 and married).
      Remember to use the appropriate boolean operators.
      Your target (Column) is the women in this group who use some type of margarine spread.
      For your rows select magazines that seem appropriate for this group.

      Go to Function and select Private Eye.
      Click on Criteria.
      Using the appropriate menu choices, create the equation: respondents greater than 200.
      Click on Accept.
      Your search statement will appear at the bottom of the page.
      Now select the appropriate boolean operator to add additional criteria.
      In this case, select Index greater than or equal to 100.
      Click on Accept. Now, click on OK. You will see the first page of the Private Eye function.
      Choose View.
      Only those titles which meet your criteria will be displayed.

    There are other functions possible with Simmons, but these samples are of the ones most currently used at the Library. For further questions, please contact Cynthia L. Cronin-Kardon (croninkc@wharton) or call 898-5553.

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