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Data presented in this study indicates the various research techniques used by marketing practitioners in their research activities. As was pointed out in the introduction of this article, the survey is concerned with only the penetration of the techniques into the business research community, and not the frequency with which each firm used the technique. First. The findings indicate that "simpler" techniques are the most widely used. Of course, this is not to say that the use of simpler techniques indicates a lack of sophistication. Rather, it suggests that the more complex techniques are perhaps not necessary in many of the research problems in which the business community is involved. Second. The data contained in the various exhibits can lead one to the conclusion that the innovative techniques and their applications are diffusing into business research primarily through the large firms. These firms are the change agents-the innovators. Third. This study suggests that marketing research courses at the baccalaureate and master's levels should include intensive study of those simple, albeit less sophisticated, techniques currently and widely used by marketing research practitioners. In that way students will be more adequately prepared to cope with practical research problems when entering the business world. In addition, some emphasis should also be given to the more sophisticated techniques which are of interest to the innovators in the business community for it is among this group that many of today's students will eventually take their place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigate the relationship between personal and organizational characteristics and the attractiveness of various rewards to industrial salespeople. Data were gathered from 241 industrial salespeople and the sales managers of 17 participating industrial firms. Of the 84 relationships examined, 18 statistically significant relationships are found between such predictor variables as age, job tenure, income level, specific self-esteem, compensation plan base, promotion opportunity rate, and recognition rate and criterion variables which are the valences for various rewards. Organizational variables are found to be more promising than personal characteristics in terms of their relationship to the attactiveness of various rewards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few scholars would dispute the need to quantify and report the reliability of measurement in marketing research. There appears to be considerable confusion, however, about the appropriateness of various reliability measurement techniques. A comparison is made of the results from several alternative techniques applied to a lifestyle questionnaire. One technique rarely used to date in marketing research is suggested as superior to the others on the basis of the likelihood of its assumptions in an actual measurement setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successfully assimilating salespeople into an organization is a critical responsibility of sales managers, but little published research has explored this topic. The authors test a model of salesforce assimilation (socialization). The findings indicate that realism and congruence are important antecedents to several desirable job-related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article considers the assertion that the older population should become the healthcare industry's preferred customer. The article notes the statistics that the older population spends more per individual for healthcare, and notes the reasons that increasing marketing to this population is a sound strategy. The article discusses a study, conducted by the Center for Mature Consumer Studies at Georgia State University, on a segmentation model called gerontographics, that studied the consumer habits of mature consumers. The study looked at hospital and physician choice, and findings as they relate to marketing to geriatrics.

The authors investigated the effectiveness of two types of promised incentives in producing responses to a mail survey: a personal cash payment versus on identical (one dollar) contribution to a charity of the respondent's choice. The charity incentive resulted in an increased response rate (41% response with charity incentive, 26% with equal cash incentive, 23% with no incentive). In effect, charitable contributions reduced nonresponse bias, reduced the cost per respondent, and also provided a benefit to charitable organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]