Consumer Segments and Behavioral Patterns

This scholarly article shows a rather extensive survey of consumer purchases of clothing from 4 countries and involving over 4600 survey respondents. View the full text of the article or download the pdf file.

Data and Methods

Data Collection

The survey was administered between October 2016 and January 2017 by the private research software company, Qualtrics, which was responsible for contacting potential participants and collecting data in collaboration with its local panel partners. The questionnaire was first developed in English and then translated into German, Polish, and Swedish by ISO17100 certified translators. These translations were proofread by native speakers and all ambiguities resolved in collaboration with the translators before the survey was implemented online. The survey employed numerous quality measures to maximize data quality and screen out careless responses, including instruction-based attention filters ("Please select strongly agree"), bogus items ("I always sleep less than one hour per night"), response pattern indicators (e.g., straight-lining), time filters, and self-reported data quality checks (e.g., "I gave this study enough attention"). Participants failing the instruction-based attention filters were eliminated automatically while those failing multiple quality checks were replaced. All participants received an incentive for taking part in the study in the form of points redeemable for rewards such as airline miles or gift cards.