Age Demographics in Survey Research

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At the AMA 2008 Market Research Conference in Boston yesterday, two of the presentations I attended discussed generational differences.  J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich, focused on Boomers with From One Generation to Another: A Yankelovich MONITOR Perspective on the Resurging Marketplace Importance of Cohorts, and Brad Karsh of JB Training Solutions focused on Millenials with Dude, What's My Job? Managing Millennials in Today's Workforce.

Here's Smith's segmentation of generations:

Both speakers did a good job at presenting the differences between generations in an entertaining way, from the serious to the silly.  Smith again:

(As an older X-er, I would have said my doctor was Dr. McCoy.)

Here are some stats that contrast Boomers and Generation X-ers, showing X-ers' greater focus on the financial:

• In 1974, 51% of Boomers were interested in saving for retirement; at a comparable age, in 1998, 73% of X-ers were interested in saving for retirement. 
• Where 63% of Boomers were concerned "about understanding my own reasons for doing things", only 27% of X-ers were in 2002, at a similar age. 
• In 1967, as incoming college freshman, 82% of Boomers were going to college to "develop a meaningful philosophy of life" (the number one reason); in 2003, that was the last reason for X-ers, 74% of whom said "being very well off financially" was why they were attending college.

So, a compelling case can be made for looking at survey data by generations.  I hope some attendees went back to the office and wanted to analyze some of their surveys to tease out these generational differences in their own industries.  Unfortunately, too many times, that can't be done, because the age question used won't support it. 

The following is a popular type of demographic question for age, this one taken from the profile questionnaire for the American Marketing Association itself:

Age Range
[ ] 21 and Under
[ ] 22 to 34
[ ] 35 to 44
[ ] 45 to 54
[ ] 55 to 64
[ ] 65 and Over
[ ] Decline

Moral of the story:  If you want to be able to analyze your survey data by generational cohorts, make sure to ask the respondent for their birth year rather than their age range.