Marketing Research III

Marketing Research III

​Marketing Research Recap

​Trends v. Fads

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​Qualitative V. Quantitative Research

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​Primary V. Secondary Research

​Research Process

•Informal and formal research methods help businesses understand what customers really want and need

•Informal research might take place with little or no planning

–Talking with customers about what they think of products and services

–Asking customers questions about the products and what they are buying

​Research Process

​•Formal research involves a strategy and requires planning

1.Define the problem.

2.Conduct background research.

3.State a hypothesis.

4.Develop a research plan.

5.Collect the data.

6.Analyze the data.

7.Draw conclusions and make recommendations.

8.Follow up.

Multiple Choice

A conversation between a store manager and a customer in the bread isle would be an example of what type of research?

• pre-meditated

• informal

• semi-casual

• formal

Multiple Choice

A questionnaire asking about how the store may decrease lines at the registers that store manager hands to you and asks you to complete is an example of what type of research?

• complex

• formal

• informal

• complacent

​Research Process

​1. Define the problem

–Ask the questions for which answers are needed

–Create a written statement precisely defining the problem

Analyze the problem or situation

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​2. Conduct background research

–Personal interviews with current and potential customers

–Gather research about the competition and industry

​Research Process

​3. State a hypothesis

–A hypothesis is a statement that can be tested and proved to be either true or false

–Always stated in the positive-"We believe that people WILL buy an item that is 99¢ more often than an item priced at $1." NOT "We believe that people WON'T buy an item for 99¢ more often..."

–Test the hypothesis before creating a marketing plan based on it

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​Research Process

​4. Develop a research plan

–Necessary to test the hypothesis and produce a desired outcome

–Must be in place to accommodate the requirement of quantitative date, qualitative data, or both

–Choose and design research instruments

–Develop budgets to accommodate costs

–Identify the type of data needed and where it can be found

​Research Process

​5. Collect the data

–Might be done by internal marketing employees or by hiring an external firm

–Requires training for the people who are doing the research

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​6. Analyze the data

–Research that has not yet been analyzed is called raw data

–Data mining is searching through large amounts of digital data to find useful patterns or trends

–After data is analyzed, it can presented in:

•A table , a graph or a chart depending on needs.

​Research Process

​7. Draw conclusions and make recommendations

–Based on data analysis

–Share results of research with others in the company

–Usually written in a formal report

8. Follow up

–Determine if the recommendations from the research were implemented

–Give feedback to the researcher on the results and if the goals were met

Multiple Choice

All of the following are steps in the formal research planning process except...

• state a hypothesis

• follow up

• define a problem

• designate a scapegoat

Fill in the Blank

The part of the formal resarch process that involves creating a statement that can be tested and proved is known as...

Multiple Choice

Personal interviews are part of which step in a formal research study?

• state a hypothesis

• conduct background research

• follow up

• analyze the data

​Reliability of Marketing Research

​•Reliability is the quality of providing consistent and dependable measurement and results

•Marketing research can be unreliable for several reasons

–Research sample

–Question structure

–Data analysis

Reporting errors

​Reliability

​•Research samples

–Might be too small

–Might include people who are not in the targeted market

–The wrong target market might have been used

​•Question structure

–Validity is the extent to which questions address the intended marketing-research topic

–Order bias is the skewing of results caused by the order in which questions are placed in a survey

​Reliability

​•Data analysis

–An error is a mistake, usually unintentional, that can cause misinterpretation or misunderstanding

–Some researchers say that a gut feeling gives them better results than costly marketing research

​•Reporting errors-Nostradamus

–Most common is misrepresenting the research results

–Can be as simple as poor grammar and sentence structure

–Can be as complex as choosing poor visuals to show research results

Open Ended

Why is accuracy important in Marketing Research?

Open Ended

What are some reasons that marketing research may be unreliable?