CH05: Conducting Marketing Research

Question 1

marketing research

Answer 1

the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information

Question 2

the 4 goals of marketing research

Answer 2

1. identify and define marketing opportunities and problems
2. generate, refine, evaluate marketing actions
3. monitor marketing performance
4. improve understanding of marketing as a process

Question 3

marketing insights

Answer 3

how and why we observe certain effects in the marketplace

Question 4

who performs marketing research?

Answer 4

• marketing departments in big firms
• syndicated-service research firms (Nielsen, IRI); sold for a fee
• custom marketing research firms (hired for specific projects)
• specialty-line marketing research firms (e.g. field interviewing services)

Question 5

the 5 steps in marketing research process

Answer 5

1. define the problem
2. develop the research plan
3. collect the information
4. analyze the information
5. make the decision

Question 6

types of research

Answer 6

• exploratory
• descriptive (quantitative)
• causal (cause/effect relationships)

Question 7

marketing research problem components

Answer 7

• decision alternatives
• research objectives

Question 8

secondary data

Answer 8

data that were collected for another purpose and already exist somewhere

Question 9

primary data

Answer 9

data freshly gathered for a specific purpose or project

Question 10

observational research

Answer 10

observe unobtrusively as customers shop or consume products; sometimes include informal interview sessions

Question 11

ethnographic research

Answer 11

uses concepts and tools from anthropology and other social science disciplines to provide cultural understanding of how people live and work; goal is to uncover deeper, unarticulated desires

Question 12

focus group research

Answer 12

gathering of 6 to 10 people convened to discuss various topics at length for a small payment; professional moderator asks questions and probes based on an agenda; goal is to uncover consumers’ real motivations

Question 13

survey research

Answer 13

surveys to assess people’s knowledge, beliefs, preferences, and satisfaction

Question 14

behavioral research

Answer 14

experimental research designed to capture cause-and-effect relationships by eliminating competing explanations of the findings; analyses traces of purchasing behavior from store scanning data, catalog purchases, and customer databases

Question 15

dichotomous question type

Answer 15

two possible answers

Question 16

multiple choice question type

Answer 16

three or more answers

Question 17

Likert Scale question type

Answer 17

statement with levels of agreement/disagreement (1-5)

Question 18

semantic differential question type

Answer 18

scale connecting two bipolar words; respondent selects the point that represents his or her opinion

Question 19

importance scale question type

Answer 19

scale that rates the importance of some attribute

Question 20

rating scale question type

Answer 20

scale that rates some attribute from “poor” to “excellent”

Question 21

intention-to-buy scale question type

Answer 21

describes respondent’s intention to buy

Question 22

completely unstructured question type

Answer 22

respondents can answer in an almost unlimited number of ways

Question 23

word association question type

Answer 23

words are presented, one at a time, and respondents mention the first word that comes to mind

Question 24

sentence completion question type

Answer 24

an incomplete sentence is presented and respondents complete the sentence

Question 25

story completion question type

Answer 25

an incomplete story is presented and respondents are asked to complete it

Question 26

picture interpretation question type

Answer 26

a picture of to characters is presented, with one making a statement; respondents are asked to identify with the other and fill in the empty speech bubble

Question 27

the 5 types of qualitative measures

Answer 27

- word associations - projective techniques - visualization - brand personification - laddering

Question 28

components of the sampling plan

Answer 28

- sampling unit - sample size - sampling procedure

Question 29

ways of collecting information

Answer 29

- sampling plan - contact methods - data mining

Question 30

purposes of data mining

Answer 30

- to identify prospects - to decide which customers should receive a particular offer - to deepen customer loyalty - to reactivate customer purchases - to avoid serious customer mistakes

Question 31

market demand

Answer 31

the total volume that could be bought by a customer group under certain environmental conditions

Question 32

market insight

Answer 32

observation made or conclusion drawn after analyzing relevant market data

Question 33

company demand

Answer 33

company's estimated share of market demand at alternative levels of company marketing effort in a given time period

Question 34

market forecast

Answer 34

market demand corresponding to the action level of industry marketing expenditure

Question 35

company sales forecast

Answer 35

expected level of company sales based on chosen marketing plan and assumed marketing environment

Question 36

sales quota

Answer 36

sales goal set for product line, company division, or sales representative; generally set higher than estimated sales to motivate sales force

Question 37

sales budget

Answer 37

conservative estimate of expected volume of sales, used to make purchasing, production, and cash flow decisions; generally set lower than sales forecast to avoid excessive risk

Question 38

market potential

Answer 38

maximum sales available to all firms in an industry given certain environmental conditions

Question 39

company sales potential

Answer 39

sales limit approached by company demand as company marketing effort increases relative to that of competitors

Question 40

the 3 types of market demand forecasts

Answer 40

- macroeconomic - industry - company sales

Question 41

past-sales analysis

Answer 41

time series analysis that breaks past sales into four components (trend, cycle, seasonal, erratic) and projects them into the future

Question 42

market-test method

Answer 42

directly test the market to help forecast new-product sales or sales of established products in new distribution channels; used when buyers don't plan purchases carefully, or when experts are unavailable/unreliable

Question 43

marketing metrics

Answer 43

the set of measures that help marketers quantify, compare, and interpret their performance

Question 44

marketing-mix modeling

Answer 44

analyzes data from a variety of sources to understand more precisely the effects of specific marketing activities

Question 45

marketing dashboards

Answer 45

provide real-time information necessary to run the business operations for a company; e.g. sales vs forecast, brand equity evolution, etc.

Question 46

customer pathway

Answer 46

customer journey; how prospects become customers, from awareness to preference to trial to purchase

Question 47

unit metrics pathway

Answer 47

reflects what marketers know about sales of product/service units

Question 48

cash-flow metrics pathway

Answer 48

focuses on how well marketing expenditures are achieving returns; focused on ROI models, NPV, etc.

Question 49

brand metrics pathway

Answer 49

tracks the longer-term impact of marketing through brand equity measures that assess perceptual and financial health of the brand