NAB Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does 'cume' (cumulative audience) measure in broadcast research?
- The total number of different people who tune to a station at least once during a time period (Correct answer)
- The average number of listeners at any given moment
- The total number of quarter-hours listened across all listeners
- The percentage of a market's population tuned to one station
Correct answer: The total number of different people who tune to a station at least once during a time period
Cume (or reach) counts the unduplicated number of individuals who listened to a station for at least five minutes during a measurement period.
Question 2: A station's research team conducts a pilot test before the main survey. What is the primary purpose?
- To identify unclear questions, technical errors, and estimate completion time (Correct answer)
- To pre-collect publishable data before the official study begins
- To train interviewers on how to persuade respondents to participate
- To determine which demographic segments should be oversampled
Correct answer: To identify unclear questions, technical errors, and estimate completion time
Pilot testing (pre-testing) uncovers flaws in questionnaire design, ambiguous wording, and logistical issues before full data collection begins.
Question 3: In Nielsen TV measurement, what does 'HUT' stand for?
- Households Using Television (Correct answer)
- Hours of Unrestricted Transmission
- Households Under Target
- Homes with Unverified Tuning
Correct answer: Households Using Television
HUT (Households Using Television) represents the percentage of TV-owning households with at least one set turned on during a specific time period.
Question 4: What is 'response bias' in broadcast audience surveys?
- When respondents answer questions in a way they think is socially acceptable rather than truthfully (Correct answer)
- When the survey instrument systematically excludes certain demographic groups
- When data collection errors cause some responses to be lost
- When interviewers inadvertently skip questions on the survey form
Correct answer: When respondents answer questions in a way they think is socially acceptable rather than truthfully
Response bias (social desirability bias) occurs when participants answer questions based on what they believe is expected or acceptable rather than their actual behavior.
Question 5: Which research approach is best suited for generating hypotheses about audience behavior rather than testing them?
- Exploratory qualitative research (Correct answer)
- Large-scale quantitative surveys
- Controlled experimental design
- Longitudinal panel studies
Correct answer: Exploratory qualitative research
Exploratory qualitative research (interviews, focus groups, ethnography) is designed to discover patterns and generate hypotheses, not confirm pre-existing ones.
Question 6: A television programmer uses 'optimum effective scheduling' (OES). What principle does this apply?
- Placing ads when target audience ratings are highest relative to cost (Correct answer)
- Broadcasting the most popular programs during peak dayparts
- Scheduling programming to maximize total household reach
- Airing promotions before the highest-rated competitor programs
Correct answer: Placing ads when target audience ratings are highest relative to cost
OES places advertising in time slots where the target audience rating is highest relative to the cost per point, maximizing ROI for advertisers.
Question 7: What distinguishes a 'longitudinal' study from a 'cross-sectional' study in broadcast research?
- Longitudinal studies track the same subjects over time; cross-sectional studies measure a population at one point in time (Correct answer)
- Longitudinal studies use larger samples; cross-sectional studies use smaller, targeted groups
- Longitudinal studies are qualitative; cross-sectional studies are quantitative
- Longitudinal studies measure attitudes; cross-sectional studies measure behaviors
Correct answer: Longitudinal studies track the same subjects over time; cross-sectional studies measure a population at one point in time
Longitudinal studies follow the same panel or cohort across multiple time points, enabling tracking of change, while cross-sectional studies provide a single snapshot.
NAB Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3
What does 'cume' (cumulative audience) measure in broadcast research?