Back Check (in Market Research)
A call made by a market research supervisor to check that the interview has been properly conducted. The call is made by telephone, writing or personal visit to a proportion of the respondents.

Back Data (see Research Techniques)

BAN
British Approved Name, for a product, based on drug class.

Base (in Market Research)
The base number of respondents who answered a question, which usually appears at the top of each column of percentages on a market research table. Where both unweighted and weighted bases are given, the unweighted base is the number of respondents in the sub-sample, and the weighted base is the number actually used for percentaging.

Behavior (see Rating Scale)

Benchmarking
Assessing performance, usually of a company, but also of a product against acknowledged leaders in different fields.

Benefits (Health)
The perceived and observed positive consequences of an intervention on the health status of individuals or populations.

Best Fit
The curve that best represents the trend in a data set over time. This can also be a straight line and is often calculated using a regression technique.

Bias
A tendency of the results of an investigation to depart in particular directions from their 'true' values.

Bioavailability (of Drugs)
The proportion of an administered drug that is absorbed into the systemic blood circulation in a chemically unchanged form.

Bipolar Scale (see Rating Scale)

Bivariate
Bivariate data consist of observed pairs of values of two variables or attributes, from which it is possible to evaluate the relationship between them. (see also Univariate and Multivariate)

Blind Testing
Testing of a product where the respondent is unaware of the particular brand or compound being tested.

Brand
A name, term or design, or a combination of these elements, intended to clearly identify and differentiate a product from that of its competitors.

Brand Awareness (see Awareness)

Brand Fingerprinting
Method of characterizing a brand on a series of attributes. The nine attributes proposed by Vyse (1999) are: Target, Insight, Competition, Benefits, Proposition, Values, Reasons to Believe, Essence, Properties.

Brand Image (see Image)

Brand Loyalty
Active support by consumers in continuing usage/endorsement of one particular brand in the face of competition by other branded substitutes. The loyalty is often subjective or subconscious.

Brand Manager
Usually known as product manager in the pharmaceutical industry. Executive responsible for the overall marketing and particularly promotion of a specific brand.

Brand Mapping
A qualitative or quantitative approach to understand the nature of brand perceptions. The relationship between brands are displayed visually on a 'perceptual map': brands which are seen as similar are situated close to each other, whereas brands which are dissimilar are located apart from each other. In qualitative research the map is derived by asking respondents to draw a map, whereas in quantitative research the map is generated from a series of questions which explore attitudes on a number of scales.

Brand/Price Trade Off (BPTO) (see Pricing Research)

Branding
Creation of brand image through visual and verbal elements. Includes, but goes far beyond, 'brand name' and 'logo' alone.

Brief
Summary of facts, objectives and instructions relating to the requirements for the creation of a proposal for a campaign, including market research, advertising, and other elements of marketing. Also known as an RFP (request for proposal).

Briefing
The process of providing a summary of facts, objectives, and instructions relating to the requirements for the creation of a campaign, advertisement, market research or any other element of a marketing operation. Can be oral, written, or both.