Recruiter's Glossary

Examples: Psychographics • Survey Design • Customer Journey Mapping

MaxDiff Analysis

Term from Market Research industry explained for recruiters

MaxDiff Analysis, also known as Maximum Difference Scaling, is a market research method used to understand what customers prefer most and least from a list of options. It's like having shoppers pick their most and least favorite items from a group of products. Companies use this to make better decisions about products, features, or marketing messages. It's more reliable than just asking people to rate things from 1 to 10, because people are better at picking extremes (best and worst) than middle ratings. You might see it mentioned alongside other research methods like conjoint analysis or choice modeling.

Examples in Resumes

Conducted MaxDiff Analysis to determine most appealing product features for new clothing line

Led MaxDiff studies to optimize pricing strategies across 5 product categories

Used Maximum Difference Scaling to identify key marketing messages for national campaign

Typical job title: "Market Research Analysts"

Also try searching for:

Market Research Analyst Consumer Insights Manager Marketing Research Manager Research Consultant Customer Experience Analyst Marketing Analytics Manager Consumer Behavior Analyst

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Example Interview Questions

Senior Level Questions

Q: How would you design a MaxDiff study to understand customer preferences for a new product line with 20 potential features?

Expected Answer: A strong answer should discuss breaking features into smaller sets, ensuring balanced design, sample size considerations, and how to interpret and present results to stakeholders in a clear way.

Q: How do you handle stakeholders who want to add too many items to a MaxDiff study?

Expected Answer: Should explain the practical limitations of MaxDiff studies, how to prioritize items, and ways to communicate trade-offs between comprehensiveness and respondent fatigue to non-research stakeholders.

Mid Level Questions

Q: What are the advantages of MaxDiff over traditional rating scales?

Expected Answer: Should explain how MaxDiff forces choices and prevents rating bias, provides clearer differentiation between items, and gives more actionable results for decision-making.

Q: How do you determine appropriate sample size for a MaxDiff study?

Expected Answer: Should discuss factors like number of items being tested, desired level of accuracy, subgroup analysis needs, and practical budget constraints.

Junior Level Questions

Q: Can you explain how MaxDiff works in simple terms?

Expected Answer: Should be able to explain that respondents see sets of items and pick their most and least preferred options, and how this helps determine overall preferences.

Q: What software tools are commonly used for MaxDiff analysis?

Expected Answer: Should know common market research platforms and analysis tools used for MaxDiff studies, such as Sawtooth Software, Qualtrics, or similar platforms.