Marketing Research Report on Attitudes of Consumers towards Reality TV Shows

The report is based on the ‘Marketing Manager’ of the reputed television production company, NBN. The company has accomplished research for examining attitudes of the consumers towards Reality TV. The research report consists raw project data that includes both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The qualitative analysis is produced from a focus group transcript retrieved from online focus group. The quantitative analysis is produced from SPSS analysis of the responses of 300 participants. The report provides recommendations regarding the purpose of decision makers of the company, problems of marketing research problem and objectives of marketing research.

Running Head: MARKETING RESEARCH
Marketing Research
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Purpose of Decision-planners:.........................................................................................................2
Research Questions on Marketing:..................................................................................................2
Quantitative data analysis:...............................................................................................................2
Data Display:...............................................................................................................................3
Question 1:...................................................................................................................................5
Question 2....................................................................................................................................7
Question 3..................................................................................................................................12
Question 4..................................................................................................................................13
Question 5..................................................................................................................................14
Question 6..................................................................................................................................14
Question 7..................................................................................................................................15
Question 8..................................................................................................................................16
Qualitative data analysis:...............................................................................................................17
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................18
Recommendations:........................................................................................................................19
References:....................................................................................................................................20
Appendix:......................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction:
The report is based on the ‘Marketing Manager’ of the reputed television production
company, NBN. The company has accomplished research for examining attitudes of the
consumers towards Reality TV. The research report consists raw project data that includes both
quantitative and qualitative analysis. The qualitative analysis is produced from a focus group
transcript retrieved from online focus group (Life, 1994). The quantitative analysis is produced
from SPSS analysis of the responses of 300 participants. The quantitative data is collected from
an appropriate ‘Survey Questionnaire’.
The ‘Marketing manager’ ordered the researcher to interpret from the analysis of both
qualitative and quantitative data (Burns, Bush & Sinha, 2014). It provides recommendations
regarding the purpose of decision makers of the company, problems of marketing research
problem and objectives of marketing research.
Purpose of Decision-planners:
The purpose of decision-makers is to validate whether NBN would introduce a new reality TV
show or not.
Research Questions on Marketing:
 ‘What are the attitudes of consumers towards ‘Reality TV shows?’’
 ‘What are the factors of Reality TV that are important to consumers?’
Quantitative data analysis:
Data Display:

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Realization
Depicting real life
bahaviors
Fake and acting approach
Taking away the real life
elements
Just see as an
entertainment value
Passtime while bored
Lost privacy and rights
Vulnerable of nudity and
vulgarity
Enjoyable
Attractive
Set up from the
beginning
Participants
Trust/Belief
Behavioral Intention
Strong involvement and
devotion of life
Received negative
values instead of
entertainment
Intuding participants in
private life
Reality TV show
Attitude towards
authenticity of
reality TV show
Negative effect and
impact of reality TV
show
Unauthentic/
fake
Audiences
Question 1:
Gender:
Out of 100% students, 29.7% people are males where as 70.3% people are females (Field,
2009).

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Age:
Out of all the responders, 38.3% responders are 18-25 years old with maximum
percentage, followed by 26-35 years old with 26-35 years old. Only 11% people are more than
30 years old.
Preference of “Reality TV”:

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Responders mostly prefer ‘Big Brother’ movie (41.3%). ‘Survivor’ and ‘Jerry Springer’
are equally preferred by people (29.3%).
Preference of Reality TV shows with setups:
66% people prefer ‘Reality TV shows’ with ‘unfamiliar set ups’ such as ‘Tropical Island’
and ‘Isolated House’. On the contrary, 34% people prefer Reality TV shows with staged set ups.
The attitude of customers observed from the four demographic questionnaire is that-
females, 18-25 years old people and the people with unfamiliar set ups like reality TV shows
much. Also ‘Big Brother’ TV show is preferred mostly.

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Question 2.
The characteristics of reality TV those are crucial to consumers:
The characteristics of real-life TV shows that are crucial to the consumers are-
Relating the participants on ‘Reality TV shows’:
Most of the people are neutral about relating participating participants on Reality TV shows.

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‘Enjoy of watching Reality TV shows’:
Most of responders are either neutral or disagreed about watching reality TV shows.

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‘Reality TV shows’ represent behaviour observed in ‘real-life’:
A significant number of responders regard that ‘Reality TV shows’ depict behaviour observed in
‘real-life’.
Reality shows are selected on the basis of appearance:
A huge number of people either agree or strongly agree that participants on ‘Reality TV shows’
are chosen on the basis of appearance.

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‘Reality TV shows’ are selected on the basis of ‘Personality’:
A lesser percentage of people consider that participants on ‘Reality TV shows’ are chosen on the
basis of ‘personality’.

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‘Reality TV shows’ are set up:
Very insignificant number of responders informed that they either disagree or strongly disagree
that ‘Reality TV shows’ are set up.

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The participants of Reality TV shows actually act:
Most of the participants either agree or strongly agree that the participants on ‘Reality TV
shows’ are acting.
Scripted Reality TV shows:
Most of the responders cannot comment that the reality shows are scripted. Some responders
agree or strongly agree that Reality TV shows are scripted.

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Watching Reality TV while being bored:
Most of the responders cannot tell that they only watch Reality TV after being bored. Some
responders agree or strongly agree that they watch Reality TV shows only after being bored.

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Connection with participants on ‘Reality TV shows’:
Most of the responders disagree that they can connect with participants on ‘Reality TV shows’.
‘Attractive participants on Reality TV is crucial’:
Mixed responses are found about importance of having attractive participants on reality TV.

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The significance of depicting real life behaviours on ‘Reality TV shows’:
A significant number of responders agree or get neutral about the ‘Importance of depicting real-
life behaviours on Reality TV shows’.

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Overall the characteristics of ‘Reality television’ that are important to consumers indicate that-
 ‘Reality TV shows’ fail to depict behaviour observed in real-life.
 Participants on ‘Reality TV shows’ are not chosen on the basis of either appearance or
personality.
 Participants consider that most of the ‘Reality TV shows’ are set up and the participants
on ‘Reality TV’ shows actually acts.
 The idea of scripted ‘Reality TV shows’ is not false and many of them considered that
they watch ‘Reality TV’ while they are bored only.
 Most of the participants depict that ‘Real-life behaviours’ on ‘Reality TV show’ is
necessary.
Question 3.
‘Spearman’s correlation coefficient’ are found between two variables that are- enjoyment in
watching Reality TV shows and the importance of depicting real life behaviors on Reality TV
shows. The Spearman’s rank-order correlation is the nonparametric correlation coefficient (Yue,
Pilon & Cavadias, 2002). It helps of measure the direction and strength of association between
two ranked variables (Datta & Satten, 2005). The spearman’s rho is greater than 0.103.
Therefore, the correlation is very weak. The p-value of Spearman’s correlation coefficient is
0.076 that is greater than 5%. It is the reason why a researcher cannot reject the null hypothesis
of insignificant categorical correlation between these two factors. Hence, two categorical factors
are uncorrelated to each other (Davies, 1987).

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Question 4.
‘Mann-Whitney U-statistic’ is utilized to compare two categorical variables ‘Genders’ and ‘I
enjoy watching Reality TV shows’. ‘Mann-Whitney U-statistic’ is the non-parametric substitute
test of ‘Independent sample t-test’ (Nachar, 2008). It is a ‘Non-parametric test’ utilized for
comparing two sample averages.
The null hypothesis could be stated as, the mean enjoyment level of two different types of
genders are equal to each other.
From the analyzed data, null hypothesis is rejected as the p-value (0.0) of the test statistic is less
than 0.05. Therefore, it could be interpreted with that the enjoyment of preferring TV shows is
statistically and significantly greater for females than males (U = 3444, p = 0.0) (Milenovic,
2011).
Question 5.

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The ‘Chi-square’ test is applied to find the ‘association’ between ‘Age-groups’ and ‘Preferred
reality TV show’. ‘Chi-square’ test finds the independence or association between two
categorical variables (Test, 2009). The p-value of the Chi-square test-statistic (76.258) with 6
degrees of freedom is 0.0.
The null hypothesis could be stated as, ‘Age-groups’ and ‘Preferred reality TV show’ are
independent to each other. As, p-value (0.0) < level of significance (0.05), therefore, null
hypothesis of independence of two variables is rejected with 95% probability. It could be
interpreted that age-groups and preferred reality TV show have significant association.
Question 6.
‘Spearman’s correlation coefficient’ are found between two variables that are- enjoyment of
watching Reality TV shows and the importance of depicting real life behaviors on Reality TV
shows. The Spearman’s rank-order correlation is the nonparametric correlation coefficient. It
helps of measure the direction and strength of association between two ranked variables. The
Spearmen’s correlation coefficient between two variables are 0.038, hence, the correlation is
very weak. The p-value of the Spearmen’s correlation coefficient is 0.512 which is greater than
5% (Berger & Delampady, 1987). Therefore, null hypothesis of insignificant correlation
coefficient between two categorical variables cannot be rejected with 95% probability (Romano
& Lehmann, 2005). Therefore, the undertaken two variables are uncorrelated.
Question 7.

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‘Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test’ is applied to test the association of the importance of depicting real
life behaviors on ‘Reality TV shows’ and the importance of having attractive participants on
‘Reality TV shows’. It is a statistical comparison of the average of two dependent non-
parametric and continuous variables (Rosner, Glynn & Lee, 2006). It functions with either
ranked or ordinal data or metric (interval, ratio) data following multivariate normal (Conover &
Iman, 1981).
The null hypothesis is stated as, mean rank of ‘Having attractive participants’ is greater than
mean rank of ‘Depicting real life behavior’.
The test generates the z-statistic = (-7.06) with p-value = 0.0. Therefore, null hypothesis of
significant difference of these two variables is rejected with 5% level of significance (William,
2000). It could be interpreted that there do not exists significant difference between mean ranks
of the importance of depicting real life behaviors on ‘Reality TV shows’ and the importance of
having attractive participants on ‘Reality TV shows’.
Question 8.

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‘Kruskal Wallis Test’ is applied to verify the relevance of comparison of the importance of
having attractive participants between people as per age-groups that are ‘Under 18 years’, ’18-25
years’, ’26-35 years’ and ‘More than 36 years’ old. ‘Kruskal Wallis Test’ is a nonparametric test
that is used for both ‘continuous’ and ‘ordinal-level’ dependent variables (Vargha & Delaney,
1998). The mean rank is found highest for the responders of under 18 years old (177.62) and
lowest for responders of more than 36 years old (70.23). ‘Kruskal Wallis Test’ provides the ‘Chi-
square statistic’ = 42.118 with degrees of freedom = 3. The p-value of test statistic is 0.0 that is
less than 0.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis of independence of two categorical variables could
be rejected (Feir-Walsh & Toothaker, 1974). Hence, age-groups and comparison of importance
of having attractive participants are dependent to each other.
Qualitative data analysis:
Findings from Focus group transcript:
The online focus group involves five responders (R1, R2, R3, R4 and R5) and one
mediator. They are discussing about the aspects and effective prospects of Reality TV shows.
The feelings of R1 and R3 are almost same about watching Reality TV. ‘The big brother’,
‘Survivors’ and ‘Temptation Island’ are the popular TV shows. They majorly focus on
entertainment and not give any importance to the authenticity of the TV shows. R2 informed that
the focus of ‘Reality TV shows’ is taken away from the ‘Real-life elements’. He/she has same
consideration as R4. Both of them are missing test of love in ‘Temptation Island’, ugly truth in
‘Jerry Springer show’ or fugitive, challenges and suspense in the reality shows of recent days.

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R3 admits of being not a very fan of real-life TV show. ‘Survivors’ or ‘Temptation
islands’ are not too much appealing to the R3. R3 cannot find any real or genuine fact about TV
programs. Although all the programs are being telecasted regularly, the reality TV shows get
hiked to the customers because of sufferings, frustration and happy moments (occasionally).
There is no negativity found in the reality shows running in television. The interesting TV
programs as per R2 is dependent up on unpredictable development or outcomes. The
involvement to the TV shows is necessary as per R2. The emotions get involved and developed
around TV shows such as games till it ends. However. R2 suggests that the shows should be
more interesting and realistic. Another form of real life TV commercials such as movies and
sitcoms are expected from R2. Creation with the help of skills and technical concepts are
expected from the end of R2. The objective is that the real-life TV commercials should not be far
from real-life.
R1 is interested to put a focus on making a real-life TV program more interesting and
entertainment. The unconsciousness about TV commenting especially in TV advertisements
must be transparent. Similarly, R4 regards that TV programs must be more enriched with
interest, excitement and entertainment. When moderator asked to make the consideration about
engaging the viewers and safety of kids, R2 got afraid about it. The satisfaction and curiosity
about private life must be kept in mind from the end of producers. The filming and interaction
about normal daily life are required to sustain the publicity of real-life TV shows. R3 informed
that ethical concerns must be retained. The violation against privacy and rights should be
restricted. The misleading participants must not divert to trouble telling reality from fiction. The
real-life TV shows must walk in the road of moral principles. More openness and liberty are
required to up hold the value system of the society. R1 again highlighted the power of mass
media.
Finally, R2 agrees with R1 and R3. He/she concentrates on healthy real-life programs
like educational talk or game. It provides the encouraged viewers in the entertainment TV shows.
The societies and cultures might be different. Although, violent TV-shows and TV shows of
unacceptable level should be avoided. The higher authorities must play a crucial role in inventing
conservative societies. The real-life TV programs as per R2, has its own advantage of providing
‘info-attainment’ at times to create much controversy. For the participation of common people in
the real-life TV performance, R4 informed that spectators might not be able to distinguishable
‘Reality’ from ‘Fiction’. People of ‘Modern society’ used the ‘Cameras and Movie shootings’
should participate in maturity and appropriateness. The nudity and vulgar elements must be
disregarded. However, R5 do not keep same consideration. The quality of profile, entertainment
and audiences are the major aspects of a show to rejuvenate.
Conclusion:

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From both quantitative and qualitative data analysis about market research, it was found
that real-life TV shows must be interesting and entertaining. People generally refuses the nudity
and vulgar aspects of it. The fake screen plot and organized screening are not acceptable to the
viewers. These make real-life TV shows boring and uninteresting. Also, the personality and
appearance of the participants as well as the connection with real-life TV shows are needed from
all angles. Spectators are willing to investigate the behavioral challenges of the real-life shows.
Therefore, a new real-life TV show should keep these things in mind.
Recommendations:
It could be recommended that a newly launching real-life TV show of NBN would keep
the customer satisfaction and demand in mind. Any kind of harming or adult motion of the show
may not be acceptable. The participants must be presentable and they should keep personality
about appearance of the participants. The idea could be education or at least authentic. Nice
theme may attract more spectators. Besides, behavioral challenges must be avoided.

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References:
Berger, J. O., & Delampady, M. (1987). Testing precise hypotheses. Statistical Science, 317-335.
Burns, A. C., Bush, R. F., & Sinha, N. (2014). Marketing research (Vol. 7). Harlow: Pearson.
Conover, W. J., & Iman, R. L. (1981). Rank transformations as a bridge between parametric and
nonparametric statistics. The American Statistician, 35(3), 124-129.
Datta, S., & Satten, G. A. (2005). Rank-sum tests for clustered data. Journal of the American
Statistical Association, 100(471), 908-915.
Davies, R. B. (1987). Hypothesis testing when a nuisance parameter is present only under the
alternative. Biometrika, 74(1), 33-43.
Feir-Walsh, B. J., & Toothaker, L. E. (1974). An empirical comparison of the ANOVA F-test,
normal scores test and Kruskal-Wallis test under violation of assumptions. Educational and
Psychological Measurement, 34(4), 789-799.
Field, A. (2009). Discopering Statistics Using SPSS, Thrid Edition.
Life, R. S. (1994). Qualitative data analysis.
Milenovic, Z. M. (2011). Application of Mann-Whitney U test in research of professional
training of primary school teachers. Metodicki obzori, 6(1), 73-9.
Nachar, N. (2008). The Mann-Whitney U: A test for assessing whether two independent samples
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Romano, J. P., & Lehmann, E. L. (2005). Testing statistical hypotheses.
Rosner, B., Glynn, R. J., & Lee, M. L. T. (2006). The Wilcoxon signed rank test for paired
comparisons of clustered data. Biometrics, 62(1), 185-192.
Test, Chi-Square. "Chi-Square Tests." (2009).
Vargha, A., & Delaney, H. D. (1998). The Kruskal-Wallis test and stochastic
homogeneity. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 23(2), 170-192.
William, L. T. (2000). Null hypothesis testing: problems, prevalence, and an alternative. J.
Wildl. Manage, 64(4), 912-923.
Yue, S., Pilon, P., & Cavadias, G. (2002). Power of the Mann–Kendall and Spearman's rho tests
for detecting monotonic trends in hydrological series. Journal of hydrology, 259(1-4), 254-271.

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Appendix: