Birmingham were pleased by the appearance 

 of Maine sardines in the open can; the 

 comparable percentage in Detroit is Qk 

 percent . 



MOTIVATIONAL ANADfSIS 



The motivational ansd^sis in this 

 svtrvey was carried out by two different 

 methods. The first method was to ask 

 respondents open questions as to why they 

 use or do not use sardines so that they 

 could mention spontaneously euiy reason or 

 motive. The interviewers, who were all 

 familiar with probing techniques, were 

 instructed to probe as deeply as possible 

 for any reasons which the respondents coxild 

 not bring out immediately. There was a 

 series of such open questions. The users 

 were asked what would induce them to serve 

 more ssurdines; nonusers were asked \rhy they 

 do not serve saxdlnes; those who had 

 stopped using sardines were asked vhy they 

 had stopped. The sporadic users were asked 

 why they used sardines so seldom; those who 

 now use sardines less often than in the 

 past were asked why they had reduced the 

 number of times they served them. Similar- 

 ly, there were open questions as to ^y 

 people use sardines packed in a particular 

 oil or sauce; why they used only domestic 

 or imported sardines; why they preferred 

 large or rnnall SEurdines. I^e responses to 

 these open questions ( as well as the re - 

 sponses to the more usuttl direct questions ) 

 have been summarized in the first part of 

 this report. 



Determining the 

 Product Image 



The second method >rtiich was used to 

 study motivations Is statistical and re- 

 quires some technical explanation. The 

 first step in this analysis was to deter- 

 mine the "image" of the product--that is, 

 what each respondent thought of sardines, 

 what characteristics she attributes to them, 

 what associations the product evokes. 

 Therefore, each respondent was asked ■vrfaether 

 she agreed or disagreed with a series of 

 statements, each representing a chsuracter- 

 istic of sardines; for example: "Sardines 

 have a good flavor." 



fTbe motivational technique used 

 in this phase of the anedysis is 

 known as the "guided association 



question." Although the respond- 

 ent is asked only whether or not 

 she agrees or disagrees with the 

 statement, the intenriewer actual- 

 ly records the intensity of the 

 answer. Thus, Strong agreement 

 or disagreement (as well as less 

 intensely expressed feelings or 

 opinions) is noted by the inter- 

 viewer. In addition, the state- 

 ments on the questionnaire were 

 sometimes phrased positively and 

 sometimes negatively — as for 

 example: "Sardines have an un- 

 pleasant smell." This was done 

 in order to minimize ^at is 

 called a "halo" or clustering 

 effect \rtiereby a favorable atti- 

 tude toward a product tends to 

 make respondents attribute all 

 favorable characteristics to 

 the product. "Hie skill and 

 training of the interviewer are 

 as important to the proper hand- 

 ling of guided association ques- 

 tions as these requirements are 

 when dealing with open questions 

 and the probing technique^ 



The product-image phase of the study 

 conducted in Blrmlng^iam revealed that more 

 than 90 percent of the respondents in that 

 city regard sardines as a convenient food 

 and that sardines usually sure not eaten 

 by children only. Between 73 and 85 per- 

 cent of the respondents were of the opinion 

 that saurdines are not too troublesome to 

 prepare; are used a great deal by Negroes; 

 do not have many uses; are not expensive; 

 and have em impleasant smell. 



In Boston, the image is scne^rtiat 

 different. Eighty-seven percent of these 

 respondents agreed that sardines usually 

 are not eaten only by children. However, 

 only 20 percent eigreed that they are used 

 a great deal by Negroes — 68 percent neither 

 agreed or disagreed. The only other lead- 

 ing characteristic on \rtiich there was 

 agreement between Birmingham and Boston 

 hcmemakers was on the statement "Sardines 

 do not have many uses." In each of those 

 cities, three-quarters of the respondents 

 agreed with the statement. Only one other 

 characteristic was agreed to by more than 

 70 percent of the respondents in Boston — 

 that sardines are good only if they are a 

 well-known brand. 



12 



