Chapter 5 - Collecting relevant market information Flashcards
Secondary data
information that has been previously gathered for some purpose other than the current research
Positives of secondary data
Not expensive research
enables insightful info on primary data as well as comparative data
quick to acquire
can be search internally/externally
External secondary data sources
Competitor websites
academic journals
social media
company reports
Internal secondary data sources
sales figures customer enquiries/complaints product returns sale team reports production records call details -aids understanding of customers and performance of organisation
Limitations of secondary data
will not have everything can be out of date accuracy of findings unknown motivations of research unknown may not be in usable format not completely relevant
Primary data
Data collected for a specific project and not available from any other source
Broken down between qualitative and quantitive data
Qualitative data
answers 'why?' Group discussions depth interviews consumer panels social media research chat roms
Quantitate data
Answers 'how many?'- deals with aspects that can be expressed with numbers online surveys face to face surveys fields trials Hall tests
Observing behaviour - Qualitative research
No question asked to participants
measures behaviours through observation e.g.. brands in shopping bags
overcome high refusal rates of surveys
consumers unaware
Limitations of qualitative data
time consumer
small sample size
subjective opinions are difficult to quantify
Random Sample
Each individual in the population has a equal chance of being included in the sample
Adv- Clear-cross section of the population
Disadv- almost impossible to achieve, can be seriously BIASED
Quota Sample
analysis of the population is taken, then a quota for each category eg. ages, gender
interviewers fill the quota
Adv- clear cross section of the population
Disadv- a lot or respondents rejected as they don’t fit quota
Stratified Sample
Similar to quota sample but the final choice of respondents is almost taken by chance
Adv- less waste of respondents than quota, flexible, cheap
Disadv- not as accurate
Sources of bias
Sampling bias - taking a sample that is not representative of the population
Interviewer bias- interviewers can fake answers, body language can lead to specific answers