Category codes

Before the data to be analyzed in a marketing research project the researcher has to assign category codes to all the possible responses of all the questions of a questionnaire. These codes should be assigned in case of structured and unstructured questionnaire. In assigning the codes the researcher should see to it that they should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. Categories are mutually exclusive if each response fits into one and only one category code. Categories should not overlap. Categories are collectively exhaustive if every response fits into one of the assigned category codes. This can be achieved by adding an additional category code of “others” or “none of the above” responses.