Market Research

Question 1

What is marketing and market research

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Why is research important

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Types of marketing research (3 main)

Answer 3

• 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)

Question 4

Other types of marketing research

Answer 4

• 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

Question 5

What type of info can be collected from research

Answer 5

-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

Question 6

What is the marketing research process

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What are the stages in the process

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What types of research information can be gathered

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Types of primary research

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Types of data gathering/research methods

Quantitative

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Qualitative research methods

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is sampling

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Sampling methods

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Research instruments

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Questionnaire design guidelines

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Questionnaire more guidelines

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Questionnaire

Sequencing and scale of qs

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Data analysis and reporting findings

Answer 18

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 )

Question 19

Big data

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Summarya

Answer 20

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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