BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

CERENITY: A SURVEY PROPOSAL

Submitted as per curriculum requirement to:

Prof. Dr. BART CAMBRE

OCTOBER 30, 2014

MARGARITA BOYARSKAYA :: SANJIT KUMAR SAHOO :: KRISTOFER OTOOLE :: LAURENS VAN
HOOREBEKE
3CMGM14, ANTWERP MANAGEMENT SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION
In India, the issue of hygiene and sanitation in common shared toilets is becoming a subject of
increasing concern caused by a transition from the traditional Indian style of toilets to Western
commodes. Women are particularly prone to illnesses emanating from bacterial infections from
toilet seats. Urinary tract infection is the most common form of infection due to unhygienic toilet
conditions. It is estimated to affect 150 million people every year and a majority of whom are
women.
As women increasingly take up jobs that require travel, the usage of common toilets has seen a
tremendous increase. This therefore automatically raises the need for a product that can protect
women from infections due to unhygienic toilet seats.
CERENITY is a one-stop solution for women in toilet hygiene category. CERENITY is a toilet seat
sanitizer disinfectant that comes in three distinct fragrances. The product can be used by
spraying on the toilet seat cover, which removes all the germs; It guarantees 99% germ free
usage and is particularly useful in the case of usage in common toilets. It is tested and certified
by SGS India and has been designed to be an easy to carry spray for women.
The purpose of the research is to help the company to better understand the consumer
purchasing behavior and help design the marketing strategy.

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RESEARCH QUESTION

Problem Statement: What marketing strategy should be pursued to attract the target audience
in India?
Research Question: Which drivers determine consumers propensity to buy this product?
Hypothesis: The main driver of consumer purchasing for this product is the medical necessity.
All other factors concerned with design of the product (smell, labeling, advertising, etc.), are less
impactful.

2. CONCEPTUAL MODEL
Dependent, Independent and Control variables:

Since the aim of our research is to compare the influence of the 8 factors [A1, A2, A3] on
purchasing decision, the research essentially includes 8 independent stages. In each stage a

particular variable Ai is chosen to be an independent variable, all of the rest {AJ}, where j is not
equal to i, are considered to be control variables. The dependent variable in each of the stages
is B: the buying decision.
A1: Price

B: Purchasing decision

A2: Smell
A3: Packaging
A4: Brand Image
A5: Promotions/Advertising strategy
A6: Public Opinion
A7: Previous Experience
A8: Medical/Hygienic concerns

Mediator and Moderator variables:

Mediator
Sex
Income
Awareness
o Education
o Product awareness
o Social Media Presence
o Profession
o Residence:[Rural or Urban]

Moderator
Age
Proximity to the retail shops

Awareness indicators have a direct influence on the purchasing decisions. They tend to explain
the co-relation between the independent and the dependent variables.
The hypothesis of our research [Medical concerns is the key driver of the purchasing decisions]
dictates that income should be treated as a moderator variable. However to reduce bias we
consider income to be a mediator variable, which could indeed be the case when examining price
in relation to buying decision.

3. OPERATIONALISATION
CONCEPT

DIMENSION
Absolute

Price

Relative to
substitutes

INDICATOR
MEASUREMENT
Binary
Do you perceive
answer[Reasonable/Unreasonable] the absolute
price to be
reasonable?
Binary
Do you perceive
answer[Reasonable/Unreasonable] the relative price
to be
reasonable?

Intensity

Smell
Preference

Packaging

Design

Brand Image

Reputation

How pleasing do
you consider the
intensity?
A number on ordinal scale of
desirability

A number on ordinal scale of

attractiveness

How pleasing do
you consider the
specific smell of
the product?
How attractive
do you consider
packaging?

To what degree
is your
perception of
brand positive or
negative?

Public Opinion

A number on ordinal scale of

satisfaction

To what degree
is your
perception of
public opinion
positive or
negative?

Advertisement

Previous
experience

Medical/Hygienic
concerns

Quality of
experience

Perceived
medical risk

To what degree
is your
perception of
advertisement
relatable to you?
A number on ordinal scale of
satisfaction

A number on the ordinal scale of

likelihood

To what degree
was your
experience
positive or
negative?
How would you
assess the risk of
contracting a
disease?

How useful do
you believe the
product to be
infection
prevention?

Perceived
medical
benefits

A number on the ordinal scale of

perceived effectiveness

Purchasing
decisions

Likelihood of
purchase

Would you buy

this product?

Sex

Gender

Income

Salary

A number on the ordinal scale of

likelihood of purchasing:
Very likely/Somewhat likely/
Somewhat unlikely /Very unlikely
Nominal binary:
Male/Female
A number on the interval scale of
values in local currency

Awareness

Education

A number on the interval scale of

years of education

What is the
highest level of
education
completed?

Product
awareness

A binary number[Yes/No]

Have you heard

of this product?

What is your
biological sex?
What is your
monthly salary?

Social Media
presence

A binary number[Yes/No]

Are you active on

social media?

Profession

A binary number[Medical /Nonmedical]

What is your
profession?

Residence

A binary number[Rural/Urban]

Do you reside in
an urban area?

Age

Year of birth

A number on the interval scale of

age

What is your
date of birth?

Proximity to the
retail shops

Distance

A number on the ordinal scale of

accessibility:

How easily
accessible is the
nearest retail
shop selling this
product?

4. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research will be conducted in three stages. The first stage involved exploratory research
aimed at identifying the needs for the product concept in the market.
The second stage is designing the research employing a cross-sectional approach, which
includes both qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. The quantitative approach
allows for identifying particular mathematical relations between variables and estimating its
strength. Qualitative analysis provides an insight into the motivation behind purchasing
decisions and helps understand complex relations between drivers.
The third stage is the surveying and data analytics. This stage will make use of secondary data
from Internet, Qualtrics along with the primary data collected from our target customers. The

survey sample will include 100 respondents that will give qualitative review on the product
attributes, their satisfaction or dissatisfaction level, the background on their awareness of
medical risks addressed by the product and the product concept. In order to address the
influence of such mediator variables as rural vs. urban residence and social media presence,
surveying will also be held in specific regions where we expect our product to be launched.
For an example of possible survey/questionnaire please refer to the appendices.

5. APPENDIX
QUALTRICS SURVEY PROPOSAL:

1) What is your year of birth?

------2) What is your biological sex?
a. Male
b. Female
3) What is your monthly salary?
------4) Which of the following best describes your area of residence?
a. Rural
b. Urban
5) What is the highest level of completed education?
a. None
b. Primary School
c. Secondary School
d. College
e. Graduate School
6) What is your current profession?
------7) How many people are sharing your home restroom?
a. 0-3
b. 4-7
c. 8-10
d. More than 10
8) How often do you use public restrooms per week?
a. 0-3
b. 4-7
c. 8-10
d. More than 10

9) Which types of public restrooms do you use? Check all that apply.
a. Friends home
b. School
c. Work
d. Gas station
e. Caf/Restaurant/Gym
f. Shopping Mall/Concert Hall/Athletic Stadium/Airport
g. Transportable outdoor restroom
10) How willing are you to use a public restroom?
a. Not at all willing
b. Somewhat unwilling
c. Somewhat willing
d. Very willing
11) Rank the following factors in order of importance to your restroom experience:
a. Smell
b. Cleanliness of toilet
c. Cleanliness of general area
d. Presence of toiletries
e. Privacy
12) How would you estimate the likelihood of contracting an infection from restroom use?
a. Not likely
b. Somewhat unlikely
c. Somewhat likely
d. Very likely
13) What measures do you usually take from protecting yourself against infection? Mark all
that apply:
a. Avoid contact with toilet seat
b. Wipe down toilet before use
c. Lay down paper before use
d. Flush before use
e. Other, please specify:____________
14) Do you believe the aforementioned measures are sufficient in protecting against
infection?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Other, please specify:_________
15) Have you heard of the Cerenity toilet seat sanitizer product?
a. Yes
b. No
16) If you answered yes in question 15, please answer the following: How did you hear
about Cerenity?
a. Print advertisements
b. Social Media
c. Internet publications

d. Friends/Family
e. Medical personnel
f. TV Advertisement
g. Other, please specify: ______________
17) Which of the following product attributes do you consider most valuable? Check the 5
most valuable:
a. Smell
b. Labeling
c. Brand image
d. Price
e. Availability
f. Ease of use
g. Portability
h. Packaging
i. Medical effectiveness
j. Other, Please specify:___________________
18) Of those 5, please choose the most valuable attribute:
a. ________________
19) What is your perception of this product?
a. Not at all favorable
b. Somewhat unfavorable
c. Somewhat favorable
d. Very favorable
20) How likely are you to purchase this product?
a. Not likely
b. Somewhat unlikely
c. Somewhat likely
d. Very likely
A PRELIMINARY REGRESSION ANALYSIS [SURVEY OF 10 PEOPLE]

Hypothesis 1: The likelihood of purchase is driven by the perception of lack of hygiene at Malls
and Public toilets; Airports and Workplaces are insignificant.

Hypothesis 2: The likelihood of purchase is driven by the actual frequency of issues encountered
at Malls and Workplaces; Public toilets and Airports are insignificant in this analysis as they are
rarely used due to the perception of lack of hygiene.
We were looking at what drives the customers willingness to purchase this product. We have
the following variables.

Likelihood of purchase
Frequency of toilets usage outside
Perception of toilet hygiene Public toilets
Perception of toilet hygiene Workplace / Study place
Perception of toilet hygiene Malls / Multiplexes
Perception of toilet hygiene Airports
Frequency of issues Public toilets
Frequency of issues Workplace / Study place
Frequency of issues Malls / Multiplexes
Frequency of issues Airports

Models considered verifying the hypotheses Multiple Regression

Hypothesis 1: Likelihood = A + B1*Perception_Public_Toilets + B2*Perception Workplace +

B3*Perception_Malls +B4*Perception_Airports

Hypothesis 2: Likelihood = A + B1*(Usage*Frequency_issues_Public_Toilets) + B2*(Usage*

Frequency_issues_Workplace) + B3*(Usage*Frequency_issues_Malls) +
B4*(Usage*Frequency_issues_Airport)
Or
Likelihood/Usage = A + B1* Frequency_issues_Public_Toilets + B2*
Frequency_issues_Workplace + B3* Frequency_issues_Malls + B4* Frequency_issues_Airport
Regression Analysis:
Analysis for Hypothesis 2:
After the data is cleaned up and the outliers are removed for the analysis, these are the results
we end up with:
The regression equation is:
Like/Usage = 10.8 + 2.37 Pub2 + 4.35 Work2 - 5.25 Malls2 - 1.47 Airport2

S = 4.35347

Predictor

Coef

SE Coef

Constant

10.78

2.057

5.24

Pub2
Work2

2.3672
4.348

0.9978
1.29

2.37
3.37

0.025
0.002

2.83
3.985

Malls2
Airport2

-5.2454
-1.472

0.9201
1.123

-5.7
-1.31

0.000
0.201

2.57
2.732

R-Sq = 57.1%

VIF

R-Sq (adj) = 50.5%

Analysis for Variance:

Source

DF

SS

MS

Regression

655.54

163.88

Residual
Error
Total

26
30

492.77
1148.31

18.95

P
8.65

Hypothesis has strong support as we can see that Public toilets and Airports are insignificant and the
frequency of issues at Mall toilets is driving the likelihood up.

Analysis for Hypothesis1:

Source

S = 1.72378

DF

SS

MS

Regression

11.388

2.847

Residual
Error
Total

29 86.171
33 97.559

2.971

R-Sq = 11.7%

0.96 0.445

R-Sq (adj) = 0.0%

The very high P value clearly shows that this regression analysis is invalid. So, this hypothesis can be safely
put aside.