Mediamark Reporter is a database on CD ROM that contains the searchable results of a survey of over 25,000 consumers in the United States. This survey asked questions about demographics, brand use, lifestyles and consumer preferences. This library has the 2000, 2001 and 2002 data.

Similar information can also be found using Choices III. This product, unlike Mediamark Reporter provides both psychographic and demographic information. It also allows you to combine more options at the same time. On the other hand, Mediamark Reporter is a little easier to use.

The Mediamark Reporter CD ROM is available in the Reference Desk Collection HF5415.2 M39 2002. Please ask at the desk. This CD is a non-networked, single use database. Use on Workstation 1, 2, or 3 in the Reference area. To use the database, place the CD in the CD player and click on the icon on the desktop which is labeled Mediamark Reporter.

Step 1. Getting Started: selecting studies to research by loading, selecting, browsing, or searching

Mediamark Reporter is made up of a series of studies. Each study represents a broad product category. To begin, you will need to select the study or studies you need for your research.

Load/Change Study(s) The opening screen may prompt you to load /change a study. Enter the letter "d" beside CD-ROM and click Load. If you do not see this screen, go to Selecting Study(s).

Selecting Study(s) This screen presents a list of preloaded studies that are available to research. Use the scroll bar to view the entire list of selected studies. To add a study not already preloaded: Click the Add/Change/Delete button if you do not see the study you want. This will allow you to load new studies (outlined above). Choose an appropriate study by highlighting it and then either double click or press enter. Select all the studies you want (each selected study will have a · to the left. Then click OK. At the Load/Change a study screen, click Cancel.

Note: If there is a later study than the one you selected, it is also automatically loaded. It is recommended to preload as many relevant studies as possible because you will be able to search through them at the same time and find which particular study has your desired information. You will also see studies done before 2000 on the list. You can select the study, but it will generate an error message. Select only 2000-2002 studies.

Once you have loaded the studies you need, you can sort the loaded studies by year, name or date added by using the choices on the right hand side of the screen. Restrict the studies you see on the screen by choosing a year, type, or report from the pull down menus at the bottom of the screen. To select the study you want, click on it once to highlight it and press the Pick this Study button. You can only select one study at a time.

Searching the studies You may search through various studies for a specific product by selecting the search button and entering the item you are looking for. Then click on Search. In my example, I entered the word "gum". It is important to use the scroll bar on the right to view all the results. (You often cannot see them all from the top screen.) The wonderful feature of searching is that you can quickly see many more specific descriptions of your product and therefore can narrow your choice more readily.

You can also restrict this search to a particular year, report, or type in the Search Only portion at the bottom of the screen. Select the report by highlighting and then press "Load." This presents a Table of Contents screen to the appropriate report. If you have more than one study loaded, you may retrieve the wrong study accidentally. If this occurs, go to Change Study, highlight the study you want and click Pick this Study...

Step 2. Refining your search

Once you have selected a report, you will be presented with an alphabetic listing of all products surveyed and various subcategories. This is called the (Table of Contents) screen. Select the category you are searching by double clicking it. In the example "Gum: Chewing" has been selected.

Often you want a brief summary of a product giving brand use and possibly frequency of use. These reports do not give you detailed demographic information about the consumers that use this product or service.

Once you have selected a study, highlight the category you want to see, Click the Summary button in the upper right corner of the screen.

• To close the Summary report, click on the Summary button.

There are two types of detailed reports. These reports include:

1. The DemoMedia Report

2. The Target Report

1. The DemoMedia Report: -- The DemoMedia report allows you to see how many adults prefer which brands, preferences for certain packaging, how much they drink, or various other demographic statistics. Click on DemoMedia report icon at the bottom of the screen. Click on the dropdown arrow to the right of the base to view different demographic base options. Note that these base options may vary depending on the product you are researching.
In our example, I will choose Women. The following choices are then available.
To select a specific report, click on the report name to highlight it and then click OK. I choose medium (2-7 sticks a day), and a spreadsheet is generated.

 

Limiting what is displayed Use the scrollbar on the right side to view all the results. The default setting is to show you all the rows (age, sex, household income, etc.)   To further limit which data (rows) appears in your spreadsheet, click on Table Format (at the bottom of the page).   Select which rows you want displayed. Since all rows are pre-selected, highlight the rows you do not want and select "Clear". Rows with a small dot in front will display.

The Options Button allows you to restrict the rows on your spreadsheet to magazine (like health magazines) or media types (like radio). Click Clear to deselect all the row headings. Click on Options Select the magazines or media and then click on OK. The Report Headings button allows you to customize a title for your results table.

Sorting

If you have a large number of variables it is easier to sort by the index value to see which are more important to that particular product. To sort by index, click on the Table Options icon, then choose Index under the Sort By dropdown menu.

What do all these numbers mean?

The resulting spreadsheet has several columns. They include:

Total '000

The estimated number of women adults age 18+ in the United States at the time the study was published. Remember to add the three 000s to the end of whatever number is given.

Proj '000 = Projected

This number represents the projected total number of adults who fall into the category described by the table, and who meet the row criterion in question.  In the example above, a projected 12,646,000 women (5,226,000 of whom are household heads, 10,898,000 of whom are homemakers) in the United States consumed 2 -3 sticks of chewing gum in the last 7 days.

Percent Down

The percentage down are the percentage of women who have a certain characteristic.  Notice that 100% corresponds to the people meeting the table's criterion and not to the population as a whole.  In the example above, 23.3% of the projected total of 12,649,000 consumers who chewed 2-3 sticks of gum in the last 7 days graduated from college (projected graduated college divided by  projected total, 2949÷12649).

Percent Across

The percentage across is the percentage of women who have a certain characteristic as defined by a row heading.  In this example, 14.1% of women age 18-24 had chewed 2-3 sticks of gum in the last 7 days.  This is based on the projected population of that age group divided by the total population of that age group (1867÷13225).

Index

This number indicates the degree to which the group, compared to the total population of women, meet the criteria of the row and the column.  It's calculated by dividing the Percent Across of a group (e.g. Graduated College, 18-24, Employed Full Time ...) by the Percent Across of the universe concerned (e.g. total number of users of 2-3 sticks of gum).  In the above example, women who graduated from college are about 8% (the base is 100 so 108-100=8) more likely than the rest of the population to have chewed 2-3 sticks of gum in the last 7 days, (13.0÷12).  Women who did not graduate from high school are 19% (81-100) less likely to have chewed 2-3 sticks of gum in the last 7 days.

NOTE: Items with asterisks (*) indicate that the sample size is less than 50, so figures presented should be used with caution.

 

 

 

Target Reports Target reports allow you to pick a product and analyze it in relation to a media type or particular media, or a demographic feature. On the Table of Contents screen, select your product. For this next example I have chosen Boxed Chocolates from the Snack Report. From the report screen, click on the Target Report icon. On the Target Report Screen, pick a target. You have two choices:
a) Media-- select media if you are looking for cable programs, magazines, or other media. Selections can be specific to a particular program name or more generic.
b) Demos--Selects a demographic feature. In the example, I selected media and then selected Business Week. The bottom of the screen allows you to specify a base – either all adults, or male or females. I decided to choose adults. From the results I can see that adults who read "Business Week" are less likely to buy boxed Mauna Loa nuts than they are Macadamia nuts.

Printing and Saving Information To print information press the Print button. To save information, press the Worksheet button. This will bring up a new window. Insert your disk into the computer. Click on the .xls button to download to Excel, then choose Create Worksheet. In the save as window, name your file name, choose the a: drive and save it to a disk.