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Had Too Much?

When has a customer had too much to drink? Health and government agencies are interested in marketing research on consumers’ reported consumption of alcoholic beverages. However, marketing research on the topic is complicated by multiple issues. Some respondents may view the topic as personally sensitive and be hesitant to respond or respond truthfully. Not only will this lead to respondent error but systematic sampling error may increase as these respondents opt out.
Moreover, if the intent is to represent the U.S. adult population, and the questions involve self-reported numbers of drinks and intoxication, what should the sampling frame be? Should the sampling frame take into account factors beyond demographics such as the height and weight of consumers? Should it account for situational factors and the types of service environments in which consumers drink? Research suggests large variations in the amount of drinks necessary for someone to become intoxicated based on these factors and other things, such as the amount and types of foods consumed while drinking. As in a lot of marketing research, what seems at first like a simple matter of asking a few questions, quickly becomes complex. In this case, trying to get a sampling frame and sampling scheme that adequately represents the relevant population is itself a question requiring a great deal of study.