Quantitative Study Guide

What is a quantitative study?

A quantitative study is one form of primary research, research conducted internally for a given purpose. There are a variety of different methods for primary research, each with different strengths and weaknesses. The goal is answer specific questions that have been identified to solve a problem or need. Quantitative studies are designed to solve problems that are that require statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis.

Patagonia Reputation:

Patagonia is a unique company in that so many of its initiatives are driven towards productive causes. This organizational philosophy, giving back, makes it fundamentally easier to support the company as a consumer as the reputation is positive and therefore association with the product of the company is also positive. The website showcases various initiatives both that the company itself executes, and also that the company supports in local and even global areas. The idea of transparency within the company is evident, there is an effort to make their endeavors clear and easily procurable. Patagonia strives to do the right thing, whether donating funds, promoting causes, boycotting ads on social media, or more. The question remains, does the public see this and does the public care?

The quantitative study:

The quantitative study that will be done will take place in three parts:

1) Habit Survey

A survey will be distributed to anyone who signs up for an email list offering a coupon code for anyone that participates. The sample size is not huge, but this method would net a big enough sample to represent the population. The goal of the survey will be to gauge consumer opinion of Patagonia and how much of difference their opinion makes in their shopping habits. Examples of questions included are: Are you aware of Patagonia’s endeavors towards improving the planet?; Do you only shop at companies that are socially responsible?; Does Patagonia being socially responsible make you more inclined to shop here?; etc. The idea is that questions like these and other will allow the company to determine what the customers are aware of, guiding future promotion of Patagonia endeavors. The survey will also shed light on if customers that buy from Patagonia also shop with competitors, if they only shop with responsible companies, and more. Basically do they truly care about the Patagonia’s efforts to improve the plane or is it just a nice bonus.

2) Social Media Poll

A simpler an easier form of gaining insight, a social media poll would ask less questions but get a mass response allowing to get an insight into a greater sample of the population and thus more accurately representative. For this study we would do 2 one question polls that would be distributed on Twitter and Instagram. The first question would be, does impact on the planet matter to you when shopping? This is a simple yes or no question. The second question would be, what is most important to you when clothes shopping? For this question, options would be included (price, social impact, environmental impact, style, quality, etc.).

3) Competitive Analysis Survey/Ranker

The final piece of the puzzle will be a survey/ranker submitted to all members of the Patagonia loyalty program as well as distributed on social media, that will simply list a series of companies that Patagonia considers key competitors and those who participate will rank the companies, the competitors and Patagonia, based on their shopping habits and which ones they prefer the most/least. This will allow Patagonia to gain insight into where the public ranks the company in comparison to key competitors and guide key next marketing steps.