Daniel Starch (1883–1979) was an American

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

and

marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative data, qualitative and quantitative data, quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how chan ...

er. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of marketing and consumer research in the early 20th century.

Life

Starch received a BS in mathematics and psychology from Morningside College in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. After that, he moved for postgraduation studies to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, where he completed his PhD in psychology in 1906. The advisor of his thesis was Charles E. Seashore. After that, he worked briefly as a lecturer in Iowa and then went on to teach at Wellesley College in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

while pursuing further studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. In 1908, he became a professor at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

where he stayed until 1919. From 1920 to 1926 he was a professor at Harvard University, and in 1923 he founded the marketing research company Daniel Starch and Staff. Later, he resigned from his position at Harvard to concentrate on his company and work in the private sector. In 1932, he worked as a consultant and director of a research department of the American Association of Advertising Agencies as well. Starch ran his own company for 50 years until his retirement in 1973 at the age of 90.

Work

Starch authored several books in the fields of psychology, advertising and marketing research. Best known are ''Experiments in Educational Psychology'' (1911) and his pioneering work about advertising ''Advertising: Its Principles, Practice, and Technique'' and its follow-up ''Principles of Advertising'' (1923). He researched and devised methods to assess the effectiveness of advertising, among them what was later to become known as the "Starch test" or "Starch recognition procedure". Also named after him is the "Starch formula", which describes how to determine the number of people recalling a full-page advertisement from the number of people recalling a half-page advertisement.

Works

* ''Experiments in Educational Psychology'' (1911) * ''Advertising: Its Principles, Practice, and Technique'' (1914) * ''Principles of Advertising'' (1923) * with Hazel Martha Stanton, Wilhelmine Koerth, Roger Barton: ''Controlling Human Behavior: A First Book in Psychology for College Students'' (1936) * with Hazel Martha Stanton, Wilhelmine Koerth: ''Psychology in Education'' (1941) * ''Measuring Advertising Readership and Results'' (McGraw-Hill, 1966) * ''Look Ahead to Life: How to be a Fine Person'' (Vantage Press, 1973) * ''Educational Measurements'' * ''How to Develop your Executive Ability'' (1943)

Notes

Merle Curti, Merle E. Curti, Vernon Carstensen: ''Univ Of Wisconsin: A History V2: Volume II: 1903–1945''. University of Wisconsin Press 1949, . pp. 334, 365 () Joan H. Cantor: ''Psychology at Iowa: centennial essays''. Routledge 1991, , p. 45 () Thorsten Szameitat: ''Praxiswissen Anzeigenverkauf: So gelingt die Kommunikation zwischen Verlag, Agentur und Kunde''. Gabler Verlag 2010, , pp. 66–67 () Pauline Maclaran, Mark Tadajewski, Barbara Stern, Michael Saren: ''The SAGE Handbook of Marketing Theory''. SAGE Publications 2009, , pp. 61, 76, 82 () Cathrine V. Jansson-Boyd: ''Consumer Psychology''. McGraw-Hill 2010, , p. 8 ()

External links

Daniel Starch at adage.com

* . Archives of the History of American Psychology of University of Akron (archived version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Starch, Daniel Consumer behaviour Advertising theorists Marketing theorists Market researchers 20th-century American psychologists 1883 births 1979 deaths