A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

T

T1 Line Connection
A high-speed phone line composed of fibre optic cabling used by companies to access the Internet.

Talk Time
This is the period of time that a mobile phone can transmit using a single battery charge.

Target Audience
Generally used interchangeably with Target Market or Group. However, Target Audience is sometimes used to mean the nearest meaningful approximation to the Target Market or Group specified in the creative brief.

Target Group
See Target Audience.

Target Market
See Target Audience.

Target Ratings
Total number of ratings that a time-buyer aims to achieve by area in a given time. See Ratings (Rating Points).

Telephone Interview
When the respondent is interviewed by telephone either for the main interview or at the Screening stage of a survey. Telephone interviewing can be more economical than face-to-face research. Also it may make contact with individuals difficult to reach in face-to-face surveys

Telephone Screening
When eligible units (usually people or addresses) within the Sampling Frame are identified by telephone. These are then sampled. See Screening.

Telescoping
Telescoping occurs when a respondent overclaims behaviour or events, i.e. they believe they have seen/read/heard/done something more recently than is in fact the case. See Memory Effects.

Teletext
The reception of broadcast textual information on a specially adapted TV set. Transmission occurs in the vertical blanking interval of the normal over-the-air signal. Includes Ceefax and Teletext UK in Britain.

Television Rating Points/TVRs
See Ratings (Rating Points).

Teleworkers
Workers that operate from home, communicating with the office via telephone and the Internet.

Threshold
See Hurdle Question.

Through The Book
Methodology that establishes readership levels by showing the respondent copies of a specific issue of each title and asking him or her whether or not they have read or looked at that particular issue.

Time Shift Audience
For a particular broadcast, the timeshift audience is the cumulative audience who view that particular broadcast as video playback within seven days of its transmission

Time-Related Filter
The filter question screening in or out publications by reference to reading within a specific time period stated. See also Hurdle Question.

Time-Shift
Time-shift viewing is the recorded viewing of programmes or recordings on video and viewed in real time (i.e. not fast forwarded) within a week of transmission.

Title Confusion
This occurs when respondents mistake one title for another. They might confuse, for instance, two titles with similar-sounding names or two titles with similar-looking mastheads. Title confusion can be reduced by grouping titles on one card. See Extended Media List.

Top and Tail
Placing 2 creatively linked commercials for the same product within the same ad Break, usually at the start and the end.

Total Hours of Listening/Viewing
Total amount of time spent listening to the radio/watching television or a given radio/TV station by all individuals who watch/listen to it in, for example, an average week.

Touch Screen
Computer monitors that respond to either heat or pressure generated for example by a finger. This technology is used in such environments as kiosks. See Kiosk.

Town Type
On Postar there are fourteen selections available.  Metropolitan, London Borough, County Town, Market Town, University Town, Coastal Town, Port, Other, BR Station, LT Station, Eire, Airport, Motorway Services.

Tracking
Tracking studies monitor the extent to which a variable is changing over time. Advertising tracking, for example, monitors the recall of advertisements at different stages during a campaign. The research may be either continuous or else repeated at regular intervals.

Trade and Technical Publication
A publication designed for people in trade, technical, and professional occupations. Such publications are often distributed under controlled circulation. See Controlled Circulation.

Traffic Count
Counting the movement of people or vehicles past a given point.

Transmission Logs
Transmission logs are records (usually electronic) of exactly what was transmitted on television.

Transportable
A high-powered portable phone that can be used on the fringes of a networks' coverage. These are often used in remote areas.

TSA
The Total Survey Area of a radio station defined using its own criteria which will include signal quality and marketing elements. In the UK, each TSA is defined in terms of postcode sectors.

TVCR
The name given to a television set with a built in video recorder.

TVRs
Abbreviation of Television Ratings. See Ratings (Rating Points).

U

UMD
Abbreviation for Universal Media Disk, new “mini DVD” as used in Sony’s PSP

Underclaim
See Overclaim.

Unduplicated Net Readership
The part of the readership of a publication (or schedule of publications) which does not overlap with another specified publication (or other publications within the schedule). See Duplication.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) refers to the format used by World-Wide Web documents to locate other files, effectively the 'address' for a Web site. A URL gives the type of resource being accessed (e.g., ftp, telnet, web, etc.) and the path of the file.

Universal Remote Control
A remote control unit that is able to control more than one brand of Television, video recorder or set top box etc.

Universe
Either the collection of people whose total number represents the ultimate potential reach of a piece of activity or all of the people researched by a survey or any sub-group of it. Often used interchangeably with Population, which is the number of people in the universe.

Unweighted Base
See Base.

Unweighted Sample
Those survey respondents who were successfully interviewed or who returned usable questionnaires (i.e. the Analysis Sample) before sample weights have been applied. Sometimes called the Unweighted Base. The number of respondents in the unweighted sample is the Unweighted Count. See Weights.

UPS
Abbreviation of Uninterruptible Power Supply. A device that provides battery back up supply and protects against power surges. Computer owners often use these.

URL
Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator.

USB Flash drive
Abbreviation of universal serial bus Flash Drive being a memory storage device that are typically portable, removable and rewritable memory sticks, much shorter than a floppy disk (1-4 inches or 25-102 mm), and weigh less than 2 ounces (56g). Storage capacities typically range from 64MB to 32GB or more.

Usability Review
Analysis of users usage of a website through analytical tools or other market research.

User Session
Refers to the period of time that an Internet user spends online surfing the Internet in a single session. See Surfing.