Case  Study  4.3  

Diet  and  Exercise  Campaign  Extension  –  North  Central  Region  

Brett  Henderson    

 

  Then  central  problem  facing  Ms.  Joan  Bennett  was  developing  

supplements  and  extensions  to  the  organization’s  national  campaign.  She  needed  

an  insight  into  the  attitudes  and  behaviors  of  young  professional  women  ages  

from  22-­‐34  who  were  college  graduates,  and  were  employed  outside  of  their  

home.  This  issue  that  she  was  most  concerned  about  was,  what  motivates  this  

targeted  group  of  women  to  take  action  on  health  related  issues.  How  can  they  

get  them  to  frequent  websites,  participate  in  outreach  programs,  and  support  

campaigns  related  to  the  field  by  either  donating  money  or  volunteer  hours.  

Problems  facing  the  Facebook  Survey  include  how  to  recruit  and  motivate  the  

participants  of  the  survey.  How  does  recruiting  friends  of  the  organization  reflect  

on  the  results  and  how  to  construct  the  survey  to  receive  the  answers  wanted.  

The  problems  facing  the  focus  group  are  pretty  significant.  The  main  problem  

she  will  have  is  trying  to  find  a  group  of  people  that  share  the  same  interest  that  

don’t  already  know  each  other.  Who  should  moderate  the  session  is  a  rather  it  be  

the  in  house  workers  or  higher  an  experienced  team  to  run  it.  All  of  these  

different  problems  with  the  research  are  things  that  need  to  be  decided.    

  Ms.  Bennett  chose  to  try  two  different  approaches  to  capture  the  

information  she  needs  to  find  a  solution  to  the  problem  she  has:  Facebook  

survey’s  and  a  focus  group.  These  two  ways  gathering  research  each  bode  critical  

factors.  Will  the  participants  answer  each  of  the  questions  in  the  survey  

appropriately  in  order  to  gather  enough  information  to  make  an  informed  

decision  moving  forward?  Can  she  that  the  information  received  be  trusted?  Will  

they  questions  in  the  focus  group  be  formatted  in  such  a  way  to  pull  out  the  most  

information  possible  from  each  group?  All  of  these  are  critical  factors  that  need  

to  addressed  in  order  to  make  this  research  study  worth  the  time.  The  choice  of  

research  methods  cause  a  hesitation  in  whether  she  will  get  all  of  her  answers  to  

create  the  program  she  wants  to.    

  This  case  is  pretty  difficult  to  get  the  exact  information  needed  to  run  the  

type  of  promotional  campaign  Ms.  Bennett  desirers.  I  think  that  the  Facebook  

survey  would  be  very  beneficial  if  done  the  right  way.  I  think  that  in  the  case  

study  it  poses  a  lot  of  questions  on  how  this  operation  should  be  run.  I  believe  

that  she  should  motivate  the  potential  participants  by  a  give  away.  If  you  feel  out  

the  survey  you  will  be  entered  in  a  raffle  to  win  a  prize.  I  also  believe  that  they  

should  do  a  follow  up  email  or  post  to  show  who  won  the  raffle  so  the  

participants  know  that  she  followed  through  with  her  promise.    Everything  

written  in  the  questionnaire  should  be  clear  and  concise  in  order  to  get  the  

information  desired.  I  really  like  using  SurveyMonkey,  I  found  it  to  be  the  easiest  

and  most  efficient  when  conducting  a  questionnaire  research  project.  The  pro’s  

for  using  an  online  survey  is  having  a  large  reach.  They  are  able  to  distribute  the  

survey  to  a  large  number  of  people,  and  with  having  Facebook;  they  are  able  to  

specify  their  target  market.  The  con’s  of  running  an  online  survey  is  having  to  

throw  out  some  responses.  Not  being  able  to  hear  the  participant’s  inflection  and  

tone  can  also  be  a  con.    

  I  think  a  depth  interview  type  of  qualitative  research  will  give  a  large  

amount  of  information  that  would  be  most  helpful  with  the  promotion  of  a  

healthier  life  style.  Conduction  a  one  on  one  interview  using  unstructured  probes  

of  underlying  motivators  with  let  the  interview  get  in  depth  about  this  situation.  

The  depth  interview  will  give  Ms.  Bennett  real  life  answers  into  how  they  can  

help  this  health  promotion  campaign.  The  people  who  will  volunteer  to  sit  down  

for  an  interview  will  have  a  connection  to  the  problem.  They  will  be  willing  to  

share  all  of  the  information  that  they  have  in  order  help  more  individuals  get  

educated  on  health  promotion.  There  are  pro’s  and  con’s  to  this  type  of  research.  

The  pro’s  being  the  vast  amount  of  information  as  well  as  correct  information  for  

each  interview.  They  will  also  be  able  to  interview  people  that  know  each  other.  

In  focus  groups  they  shy  away  from  having  people  know  each  other.  This  is  

difficult  to  do  for  Ms.  Bennett  because  every  one  in  the  health  promotion  circle  in  

their  specific  target  market  because  it  is  a  close-­‐knit  circle.  Doing  in  depth  

interviews  with  by  pass  the  rule  of  knowing  each  other  and  will  still  get  the  

information  needed.  There  are  a  few  cons’  that  precede  this  type  of  research  tool.  

The  first  being  that  it  can  be  difficult  to  get  the  participants  to  sign  up  for  a  time  

to  interview,  and  stick  to  their  time.  There  will  be  situations  that  come  up  and  

participants  will  want  to  reschedule.  This  can  cause  a  headache  for  the  firm  

doing  the  interviews.  The  second  con  is  the  time  period  that  individual  

interviews  can  take.  The  interviews  can  take  weeks  to  conduct  when  a  focus  

group  can  take  only  a  few  days.  I  think  that  the  in-­‐depth  interviews  can  provide  a  

wide  variety  of  information  and  it  will  give  Ms.  Bennett  an  insight  on  what  she  

needs  to  do  to  promote  her  project.  

  I  believe  that  half  of  what  Ms.  Bennett  is  doing  with  her  campaign  

research.  I  believe  that  the  online  survey  via  Facebook  is  a  really  smart  research  

method.  She  will  be  able  to  specifically  select  her  very  narrow  target  market  of  

young  professional  women,  ages  22-­‐34  who  were  college  graduates  and  who  are  

employed  outside  of  the  home.  I  believe  that  if  she  creates  a  clear  and  concise  

questionnaire  she  will  be  able  to  get  the  information  from  each  survey  needed.  

The  trick  will  be  getting  the  participants  to  fill  out  the  survey.  I  think  she  can  get  

the  participants  to  fill  out  the  survey  with  a  raffle.  I  also  believe  that  a  big  step  

would  be  the  follow  up  of  the  prizewinner.  This  will  show  the  participants  in  the  

survey  that  they  were  not  lying  about  the  prize.  This  will  keep  the  faith  of  the  

participants  and  hopefully  they  will  be  willing  to  participate  in  another  online  

survey  if  Ms.  Bennett  needs  more  information.  The  other  method  that  I  would  

choose  would  be  the  in-­‐depth  interviews  instead  of  the  focus  groups.  This  would  

give  the  group  a  wide  variety  of  information.  They  would  be  able  to  interview  

everyone  that  is  interested  one  on  one,  which  will  give  them  a  personal  

connection.  It  will  be  enhance  their  promotional  project  while  gaining  the  

respect  of  the  people  that  they  interview.  It  will  give  the  participants  a  feeling  of  

accomplishment  because  they  directly  affected  the  program.  These  two  research  

methods,  online  survey  and  in  depth  interviews,  are  they  two  research  methods  

that  I  would  choose  if  I  were  running  this  campaign.