title: A systematic review of store audit methods for assessing tobacco marketing and products at the point of sale.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Over four-fifths of reported expenditures for marketing tobacco products occur at the retail point of sale (POS). To date, no systematic review has synthesised the methods used for surveillance of POS marketing. This review sought to describe the audit objectives, methods and measures used to study retail tobacco environments.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched 11 academic databases for papers indexed on or before 14 March 2012, identifying 2906 papers. Two coders independently reviewed each abstract or full text to identify papers with the following criteria: (1) data collectors visited and assessed (2) retail environments using (3) a data collection instrument for (4) tobacco products or marketing. We excluded papers where limited measures of products and/or marketing were incidental. Two abstractors independently coded included papers for research aims, locale, methods, measures used and measurement properties. We calculated descriptive statistics regarding the use of four P's of marketing (product, price, placement, promotion) and for measures of study design, sampling strategy and sample size.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified 88 store audit studies. Most studies focus on enumerating the number of signs or other promotions. Several strengths, particularly in sampling, are noted, but substantial improvements are indicated in the reporting of reliability, validity and audit procedures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Audits of POS tobacco marketing have made important contributions to understanding industry behaviour, the uses of marketing and resulting health behaviours. Increased emphasis on standardisation and the use of theory are needed in the field. We propose key components of audit methodology that should be routinely reported.
authors: Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, , Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors: Joseph G L
authors: JG
authors: Lee
authors: Lisa
authors: L
authors: Henriksen
authors: Allison E
authors: AE
authors: Myers
authors: Amanda L
authors: AL
authors: Dauphinee
authors: Kurt M
authors: KM
authors: Ribisl
mesh_terms: D003132:Commerce; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing; D012107:Research Design; D019460:Tobacco Industry; D062789:Tobacco Products; D064424:Tobacco Use
keywords: Advertising and Promotion; Price; Surveillance and monitoring; Tobacco industry