This is representation of the ratio of the respondents who successfully complete a certain study to the respondents qualified for the study. It is generally denoted in percentage.

This is the research study conducted to comprehend the level of satisfaction of the customers for a certain product or service. This research study generally aims to cover all the attributes of a certain product or service.

Call disposition is the tabulation of the outcome of calls.

This is a research technique, which judges the mental attitudes of people. This is conducted with allowing the participants to compose dialogue for characters drawn in the form of caricatures.

Categorical data is the data, which cannot be assigned any numeric value. This data can be data pertaining to features of humans or other such data.

Causal research is the research study that attempts to decipher the relationships between two variables that may be the cause of one another, or in other words may be related in a causal relationship.

Census is the study pertaining to a population that is administered to the entire population.

Census tracts are the segments that identify similar social and economic households that fall within a certain zip code group. Tracts usually are a cluster of 2,500 and 8,000 households.

Central-Location Studies are those studies that are conducted at a venue, which is of convenience to all the participants.

In 1998 a law was passed in USA, whose objective was to protect the children using the Internet. Under this law it is necessary for the websites to follow certain guidelines and regulations to ensure security of the children using them. Under this law sone of the points covered are that the children would not be asked for any information, which could identify them or lead to them. And no attempts would be made to gather any information under false pretexts from the children.

The rules that outline the regulations used for COPPA are known as Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rules (COPPR). An example is the rule that requires privacy statements to be linked on all websites that children of the United States may be inclined to visit.

Choice Modelling is a research technique that involves conjoint research in which the results must match closely with the current market responses.

Choropleth Maps are the maps which use shading to specify certain characteristics in geographical areas. These maps use different colours and shadings to highlight these differentiations.

Churn refers to the number of respondents that leave a panel in a specific time.

Clarifying is also known as probing. Through this technique the respondents are asked many questions based on their earlier replies in order to clarify the responses and also to get further explanations on their actual meaning.

Click rate is the ratio between the number of people who actually click on an ad and the number of people who are exposed to the ad. It is generally mentioned in percentage form.

Clicks and Mortar companies are those companies, which have an existence both at physical locations and online. Most of these companies conduct businesses in traditional settings through their stores as well as through e-commerce. The term has been derived from bricks and mortar, which refers to the companies with only a physical location. Clicks and Mortar companies are considered pure-play companies if they operate online only.

Focus groups in which clinical techniques are used to explore the participants’ subconscious motivation levels are called clinical focus groups. These focus groups aim to expose the consumer behaviours and the subconscious motivations that go behind them. For online focus groups specialized softwares are available that can simplify the process for online research.

Cluster sampling is selecting a cluster of units in a population and then performance of the census on each cluster. The cluster samples can be selected randomly or the selection could be based on some desirable characteristic or feature.

Cognitive Dissonance is an after- purchase emotional behaviour depicted by the consumers in which they are in a process of re-thinking their decision after making a major purchase; when they are exposed to other alternate products or services. In this state of mind the consumers try to rationalize their purchase by focusing on the attributes and advantages of the products.

Comparative Scales are the scales that require the respondents to judge an object, concept or person as compared to another in the same category.

Interviews that have been completed are known as completes.

Computer-Aided Personal Interviewing (CAPI) is an interviewing technique in which the survey is administered through a computer. It is actually a computer based survey. The CAPI software can streamline the interview process.

Computer-Aided Self-Administered Interviewing (CASI) is a computer based survey that respondents complete usually on their own at a central location after they are recruited.

Computer-Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technique is the one where the interviews are conducted over the telephone. CATI software is available, which greatly reduces the manual inputs in this methodology. They tremendously increase the call centre productivity.

Computer-Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) is a form of interviewing, which is conducted over the Internet.

Concept testing means testing the market responses generated after the launch of any new marketing ideas. The technique of concept testing also involves generating new implementation areas for the new marketing plans.

Conceptual mapping is a type of qualitative technique used to understand exactly how the research participants view a product or service. This is done by asking the respondents to assign positions to product or services to certain areas on a diagram. This serves as a platform to initiate a discussion on the assigned products and services as to why they may be viewed in a certain way.

Conclusions refer to the findings that are presented in the final report of a research project. These deductions are explained in a rational, scientific and logical way in the project report. The conclusions give a final ending explanation to the new facts discovered through the research conducted.

Confounding in a research project happens when an independent and extraneous variable indistinguishably affects a dependent variable. To prevent this from happening generally control groups are used to stabilize the research results so that they can be matched up with the data of the group, which has not been exposed to the variables in question.

Conjoint Analysis is a technique to quantify the consumers’ values associated with different product attributes using multivariate techniques. Participants are asked to compare products to establish preferences so that they can then explain the importance of different attributes. Many different kinds of mathematical and analytical tools are used for conjoint analysis. Generally it is seen that conjoint analysis works better for functional brands and not so much for fashionable brands because they can benefit more from the usage of utility theory and consumer rationality theories used frequently in conjoint analysis.

Conjoint Association is a technique wherein the moderators present hypothetical products or services with different attributes to respondents of a research study in order to stimulate conversations on the importance of certain attributes in different products and services. This helps the researchers to better visualize and understand the value associated with each attribute.

Consumer Behaviour refers to the collective buying trends and patterns associated with the decision making of a consumer while choosing a product or service.

Consumer Drawings are the figurative techniques used in qualitative research. In this method the respondents are asked to produce some drawings as per their perceptions, of the products or services under scrutiny.

Consumer Expenditure is the amount that is generally put out towards the purchase of a certain product or service by the consumer. This is usually expressed in dollars, for uniformity of application.

The consumer expenditures are constantly monitored through an ongoing survey administered by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. This is called Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX).

Consumer Orientation is the technique which is used to determine the specific firms or individual buyers who may be potential clients in the sense that they may be interested in buying the company’s products or services. This is usually done after the target markets are identified.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a way of measuring inflation. In this technique a basket of goods and services are taken and their price is taken in a base year, and then their current price is taken. After computing in this way the values can be compared over several years to determine the increase in nominal value of the goods and services.

Consumer Unit is represented by the people who may be making consumer purchasing decisions together or in conjunction with each other. They may be individuals, related families, or unrelated people living together like roommates or others.

Contact is said to have happened when a researcher or interviewer has actually established an interaction with a research respondent.

The number of respondents who are contacted for a study who are responsible members of a household is called the contact rate.

In terms of market research contamination is referred to a situation where the sample contains an individual or a group which is not representative of the population.

Content Analysis is a process in which a prepared report based on predetermined criteria is examined and scrutinised to ensure that all the necessary information is included in the report. This technique is often applied to inspect advertising copy.

Continuous Variables are those variables, which have the potential to represent infinite numbers falling between given intervals. Continuous variables are usually used as part of a measuring process. Grade Point Averages are continuous variables (they can exist anywhere between 0.0 and 4.0).

In research studies the sample population is generally divided into two or more groups. One study group is not exposed to any extra stimulus; the other groups are exposed to the stimuli. The group that is not exposed is called the control group. The group or groups, which are exposed, are called test groups.

Control cell is the other name for control group. This group is not exposed to any external stimuli during the course of the study. The results of the test groups after the exposure to the stimuli are compared with the results of the control group.

Controlled substitutions happen when the current participants of a study have to be replaced with some others due to certain reasons. Care is taken that the substituted participants match all the attributes, desirable for the study in question, that were present in the initial subjects.

Convenience samples are non-random samples of the population that are conveniently available to the researchers. There are no quotas or qualifications necessary for sample selection in a convenience sample. The chances of error content are high in studies conducted with convenience samples because samples may not be accurately representative of the population.

Convergent Validity is the process of understanding how constructs that should be related to one another actually are related to one another through measurement processes that prove the relationships.

Co-op Payment refers to the incentives received by the respondents as a result of participation in market research activities conducted through focus groups, interviews or surveys. It is also known as incentives or honorarium. It is directly in consonance with the difficulty that is encountered in recruiting the participants.

Cooperation rate is the percentage of respondents that actually participate in the research project. The cooperation rate is subject to the research topic, length of interview and other various factors.

Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) is the trade organization for market research. The organization lays down guidelines, procedures and rules for market research organizations to follow. The organization also provides other support like consumer redress to respondents and agencies.

Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey administered by the United States Census Bureau to 60,000 households in an effort to monitor the changes that occur in them during the time that passes between the decennial censuses. These surveys help keep the information updated.

Custom Marketing Research studies are the research studies that are tailored to suit the clients’ specific requirements.

Customer Relationship Management/Marketing (CRM) is the process in which an organization keeps a track of its customers through various tracking methods. This helps in identifying and creating a long-term relationship with customers. It also helps gather important information about customers’ activities and preferences. For improving CRM, customer feedback research is very important.