2.2 market reaserch

Question 1

What is market research?

Answer 1

The collection of data to help a business make decisions

Question 2

Why must market research be carried out?

Answer 2

•to find out customer needs and wants to help improve the quality of the decisions they make
•so that money and effort are not wasted on products people do not want to buy

Question 3

What is primary research/field research?

Answer 3

The process of collecting and analysing original information or data that has been planned and collected first hand through methods such as interviews or questionares

Question 4

what is secondary/desk research?

Answer 4

•the collection of data and information that has already been collected and published by someone else for a different piece of research e.g. competitor accounts or magazines

Question 5

what is qualitative data?

Answer 5

•it is collected when the opinion of the customer is needed, often collected through Primary research
•opinions may be more difficult to collate but give a good level of detail in responses

Question 6

what is quantitive data?

Answer 6

•data related to facts and numbers
•it is easier to interpret than qualitative data

Question 7

what are open questions?

Answer 7

•open questions allow customers to give any answer they wish too, they give qualitative data e.g. what do you think of my product?

Question 8

what are closed questions?

Answer 8

•selective questions with answers to chose from e.g. yes or no questions
•they give quantitive data

Question 9

what are the primary methods of market research?

Answer 9

Questionnaires, Interviews, Trials, Focus groups

Question 10

What are trials?

Answer 10

When a product is sold for a short period in one region or country

Question 11

What are focus groups?

Answer 11

A small group of people are asked to use a product or think about it and are then asked for feedback

Question 12

What are interviews?

Answer 12

A person or a set of people are asked questions by an interviewer

Question 13

What are questionnaires?

Answer 13

A set of questions sent out to selected people or online

Question 14

what are some advantages of using questionnaires?

Answer 14

•cheaper to carry out and cheaper than interviews
•can easily target particular consumers e.g. a questionnaire sent with a guarantee for a product

Question 15

what are some disadvantages of questionnaires?

Answer 15

•it is difficult to predict how many completed questionnaires will be available
•the people filling in the forms may not understand questions

Question 16

what are some advantages of interviewing?

Answer 16

•the interviewer can explain questions is there’s a misunderstanding
•customers can be targeted easily

Question 17

what are some disadvantages of interviews?

Answer 17

•they can be expensive as the interviewer would have to be paid
•customers may feel uncomfortable after being interviewed

Question 18

what are some advantages of trials?

Answer 18

*a good way to see if the product is what customers want before they start producing in large quantities so less capital is wasted if customers dont like it so they dont lose investments
-generates initial interest in the customers beforehad

Question 19

what are some disadvantages of trials?

Answer 19

•the area chosen must fully reflect the target market or money would be wasted
•businesses may conduct trials and only find out what they first thought meaning they do not gain new information

Question 20

what are the advantages of focus groups?

Answer 20

*focus groups are selected to represent the target market for a business so data is usually very accurate
-the interaction of the group may encourge people to speak who may have otherwise been reluctant

Question 21

what are some disadvantages of focus groups?

Answer 21

•data is more expensive per person
•the selection process is timely and costly

Question 22

what are some pros of using primary research?

Answer 22

•you can tailor questions to your business
•you can gain up to date information

Question 23

what are some cons of using primary research?

Answer 23

•there’s a possibility of bias
•time consuming
•expensive

Question 24

what are some examples of secondary research?

Answer 24

census data, websites, internal data,newspapers and magazines

Question 25

what are some pros of using secondary research?

Answer 25

*free/low cost
*good overview of the market as it may be based on large samples

Question 26

what are some cons of secondary research?

Answer 26

•may not be up to date
•not tailored to business’s needs