Market Research Flashcards
What is marketing and market research
Marketing research- the gathering of information on all activities or marketing
Market research - the gathering of research on a particular market for a product or service
Why is research important
Provides info that:
- can be a critical strategic asset (knowledge is power)
- lets companies understand consumers better and gain deeper insights
- enhances understanding of larger marketing environment so they can shape marketing strategies and decisions accordingly
- helps managers make more informed and effective marketing decisions
Types of marketing research (3 main)
- Ad Hoc research : focuses on a specific marketing problem,collecting data at one point in time from one sample of respondents
- custom designed studies are based on the specific needs of the client (customised questionnaires etc)
- omnibus surveys are regular surveys operated by a market research specialist company which asks questions of respondents (mintel,yougov)
Other types of marketing research
- Continuous research- repeated interviewing of same sample of people
- consumer panels consist of household consumers who provide information on their purchases over time
- retail audit - continuous research that tracks the sales of products through specific retail outlets
- television viewership panels- measure audience sizes on a minute to minute basis for tv programs
- marketing databases consist of stored data collected on consumers personal and shipping info
- CRM systems - single database created from customer info to Inform all staff who deal with customers
- website analysis is done on companies website to track customer behaviour
What type of info can be collected from research
-General market info- trends,current and predicted demand,characteristics etc
specific information on aspects of marketing:
- promotion research - effects of advertising on sales,media trends,types of marketing comm channels etc
- product research- info about proposed/improved product,competing products, customer acceptance and preference etc
- price research - customer perception of price/quality/value profit margin,customer willingness to pay
- place or distribution research- location and design of distribution centre, costs of transportation/storage,consumer access to products etc
What is the marketing research process
Businesses will either have it commissioned in house or hire an expert from a marketing research firm to carry it out and collect data and analyse info
Process can be conducted either
- before the development of specific marketing strategies
- to assess the effectiveness of marketing strategies after they have been implemented or
- as a process of continuous monitoring market performance or sales
- the process has a number of stages
What are the stages in the process
1) initial contact-identify marketing problem and the type of info required to solve
2) research brief- written doc stating clients requirements - 1) background and source of info 2)scale and timetable of project
3) research proposal-doc defining what the marketing research agency promises to do and how much for
4 research design -I)specify the objectives, ii) identify the target consumer population,iii) assess the impact of internal and external environment , IV) determine info needs and types of data
5) exploratory research - preliminary exploration of research area prior to the main data collection
6) main data collection stage - sampling process who and how many people to interview , data collection methods : deciding approaches
7) data analysis and interpretation -use of statistics / analytics
8) report writing and presentation
What types of research information can be gathered
Secondary research and information :
Data that has already been collected and exists as information accessible (gov,databases, websites,reports etc)
-Advantages:obtained quickly, less expensive than primary data
-disadvantages: accuracy, currency, relevance and impartiality
Primary - data that is collected for the purpose of the research where raw material is gathered first hand
-can be expensive and time consuming
Types of primary research
Exploratory research: preliminary exploration of research ideas, small scale
-consumer depth interviews,focus groups , observation, mystery shopping
Descriptive research- more systematic,large scale:
- cross sectional
- longitudinal
Causal research : to understand cause effect relationship and will include experimental type of research methods :
-surveys, questionnaires,lab tests
Types of data gathering/research methods
Quantitative
Quantitive research : data collection methods where data is expressed in numerical terms as statistics,percentages,tables etc
Can be done face to face,online,email or phone
Experiments - use of control groups
Useful to obtain information about opinions,feedback,attitudes,rankings and determine relationships between two variables
Qualitative research methods
Qualitative research - data collection methods where data is expressed as opinions, thoughts and feelings - more in depth research as it provides insights that cannot normally be captured through straightforward research methods
Interviews-1 on 1 convos elicit descriptive info
Focus groups- 6-10 people discussing and
airing opinions moderated by neutral observers
Observation-observing people in their environment, how they behave, and draw conclusions
What is sampling
Sampling represents a small subset of individuals who are drawn from a wider population amongst whom research can be conducted,data collected, and the results of that data analysis can be generalised to the whole population
Census : when population is small, highly variable
The sample drawn should be relevant to the wider population in that the characteristics of the sample should be representative of the wider population so that valid generalisations can be made
Sampling methods
Probability - random process.each member in the pop has a known nonzero chance of being included in the sample
Non probability-non random , subjective , each member does not have a known , non zero chance of being included
Research instruments
Qualitative
Interviews
Focus groups
Other forms of research
Quantitive
Lab test and control group
Questionnaires / surveys
Quantitive methods are intended to measure something so measurements must be accurate
Questionnaire design guidelines
1) plan what to measure : use secondary and exploratory research to collect background info
2) determine format and content of each question
3) use mix of questions and question types
4) determine the question wording- do not ask loaded questions keep it neutral
5) determine sequencing of questions
6) pre test the questionaire
Questionnaire more guidelines
Provide background info to the respondent about the purpose of the research and assure them of the anonymity and data confidentiality
Filter questions - age gender etc
Mix of qs- open with and without classification,closed , negative and positive statements , ratings
Use a number of categories and organise questionnaire into segments
Avoid - ambiguity/double barrelled qs/ biased,judgemental pre loaded qs
Questionnaire
Sequencing and scale of qs
Opening q - simple Basic info - research focused Explore ideas Explore attributes,opinions,perceptions,feelings Identify rankings,choices Respondent demographic profile
Scales
Liked scales
Semantic differential scales
Data analysis and reporting findings
Description of research methodology-methods,techniques , and samples used (how was the research carried out)
Results of the study- key highlights,major findings (what are people saying,what did they say,numbers , stats , percentages, graphs , photos etc)
Conclusions and recommendations - implications from research for theory and practice , recommendations for future research , and limitations (what does it mean, what does it imply , how does it affect theory , how does it affect practice ,strategies , what can be done in future )
Executive summary - brief summary of research project,findings, and implications (a short,succinct brief for the quick reader )
Big data
Large and complex data sets that are too difficult to process using conventional data procession or management applications
Refers to data gathered by government intelligence,social media networks, search engines,email providers , census data, surveillance networks,data storage on the cloud , user generated content on socks media
Social media analytics can be an effective tool to uncover consumer sentiment dispersed across online environments including social networks
Summarya
Market/marketing research is the process of collecting information about the market and consumers
Links marketing as a management process to consumer behaviour as the drivers for marketing
Research enables firms to tailor their marketing strategies accordingly
Research process can be ongoing/continuous or customised for specific problems. Involves many stages from formulating objectives to designing a plan to specifying methods of collecting info to analysis and presentation
There are diff types of research approaches and methods for collecting info and diff types of research instruments for collecting data
The influence and reach of tech is having far reaching impacts on the way data is collected
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