VENTAJAS E INCONVENIENTES DEL USO DE MUESTRAS DE ESTUDIANTES EN CUESTIONARIOS ONLINE

Abstract

The use of student samples in consumer research has been widely used since the beginning of the discipline, although this practice has not been without criticism from the academy. In this paper we use the results of two studies conducted on a sample of college students and another obtained from the general population which answered the same questionnaire online. The results show that while the samples of students can provide better response rates, they present a problem because they do not get results similar to those that provide individuals with samples with greater diversity in age and educational level. Thus, while student samples are shown useful in the study of consumer behavior, researchers who use them should be cautious when extrapolating the results to larger populations.

Keywords

• Market Research
• Online Surveys
• External validity
• Ecological behavior