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Advertisers of the leading brands of consumer goods were surveyed in Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and West Germany. The study found that Northern European advertisers generally follow worldwide patterns in their practices of budgeting, timing, creative approaches and measures of effectiveness. However, there were two major differences, namely: allocation of the budget by media, and agency compensation. Due to the absence of major commercial broadcast media, less money is spent on TV and radio advertising. This results in a more frequent use of the fee‐for‐service form of payment and less commissions from the media to compensate advertising agencies.

This article reviews research findings related to the “art” of constructing survey questionnaires. It discusses some of the important issues that should be considered in gathering quality data via questionnaires, provides general suggestions for their construction, includes a comprehensive list of important reference sources, and examines some of the survey‐based studies published in Integrated Manufacturing Systems. Constructing a good questionnaire requires a thorough grasp of the intricacies of the topical area and detailed knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of the different survey administration modes. In addition, questionnaire construction entails close attention to details about the wording of questions, their instructions, their response choices, and their sequence. Most importantly, the research instrument should be refined based on guidance from repeated pretests. Well‐constructed questionnaires can ensure the consistent meaning of the questions across respondents and can contribute to data quality by decreasing both item and unit nonresponse.