Multidimensional Scaling & Perceptual Mapping_Group G

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is a set of related statistical techniques often used in information visualization for exploring similarities or dissimilarities in data. MDS is a special case of ordination. It describes a family of techniques for the analysis of proximity data on a set of stimuli to reveal the hidden structure underlying the data. The proximity data can come from similarity judgments, identification confusion matrices, grouping data, same-different errors or any other measure of pair wise similarity.

Perceptual mapping is a diagrammatic technique used by asset marketers that attempt to visually display the perceptions of customers or potential customers. Typically the position of a product, product line, brand, or company is displayed relative to their competition. It offers a unique ability to communicate the complex relationships between marketplace competitors and the criteria used by buyers in making purchase decisions and recommendations. Its powerful graphic simplicity appeals to senior management and can stimulate discussion and strategic thinking at all levels of all types of organizations. Perceptual mapping involves two steps: 

(1) data collection and;

(2) data analysis and presentation.

 Eg. Of Perceptual mapping:-

Brand A	Brand B	Brand C	Brand D
Shares a few attributes with Brand B	Shares a few attributes with Brand A	Shares no attributes with competitors	Shares many attributes with Brand F
More Classy	More Sporty	Is conservative	More Practical
Less Sporty	Less Classy	Is Sporty	Less Conservative

Brand E	Brand F	Brand G	Your Brand
Shares no attributes with Brand G	Shares many attributes with Brand E	Shares no attributes with Brand E	Shares absolutely no attributes with any Brand
More Practical	More Conservative	More Classy	Exclusive
Less Classy	Less Practical	Less Practical	Unique

There are two methods of perceptual mapping:-

·         Overall Similarity – Here one has to ask people how different or similar 2 pair of objects is. Here we don’t mention any attribute i.e. on which we are measuring. Here one might reveal some dimensions not known to the respondents.

·         Attribute based- Here one has to take attributes of the things he is comparing. Its simple as one just has to list down the attributes and ask people about similarities.

S    Submitted by:-

      Sumedha Singla

      14114

      Group - G (HR-Batch)