Are Students Real People?

Abstract

The general applicability of consumer research findings derived from student samples remains an open yet essential issue. The convenience and minimal cost associated with student samples make them a highly attractive data source, particularly for academic researchers. These factors combine to explain the significant proportion of consumer behavior research reported in business journals based on student data sources. A survey of business journals reveals that between 20 and 33 percent of articles reporting consumer research findings employed student subjects; in excess of 75 percent of these used convenience samples.1 Balancing the obvious advantage of using student samples, however, is the key caveat: Are students real people? Or, to be more precise, do student response patterns accurately reflect those of other consumers? Evidence is mixed,2 but the implications are clear: What we know about consumer behavior may be too closely tied to the sociopsychological and behavioral profile of the college sophomore. In an attempt to throw light on the controversy, several researchers have made comparative evaluations of student and nonstudent samples in a variety of behavioral situations. Clevenger, Lazier, and Clark, for example, found substantial congruity in factor patterns emerging with respect to student and metropolitan housewives' images of two corporations.3 Sheth's investigations revealed a remarkable degree of similarity in patterns of post-purchase-decision dissonance reduction between male