Session Objectives
• Overview
• Definition of Marketing Research
• A Classification of Marketing Research
• Marketing Research Process
• The Nature of Marketing Research
• Marketing Research Suppliers and
Services
• Selecting a Research Supplier
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Introduction to MR
•MR is a key to the evolution of successful marketing strategies &
programmes
•It is an important tool to study buyer behaviour, changes in consumer
lifestyles, consumption patterns, brand loyalty & also market forecast
changes
•Research is also used to study competition and analyze the competitors
product positioning and how to gain competitive advantage
•Of late, MR is also being used to help create and enhance brand equity
•However critics feel that MR conclusions are not dependable - eg : Coke
•Marketing Research has often been delinked from business strategy
3
Marketing Research
•An “investment” to
reduce uncertainty
•Can help guide decisions
on
–Whether to enter
–Product characteristics
–Promotional strategy
–Positioning
•Must weigh costs and
benefits of research
–Money
–Time spent
•No perfect method—
tradeoffs between
methods
4
Redefining Marketing Research
The American Marketing Association (AMA)
redefined Marketing Research as:
The function which links the consumer, the
customer, and public to the marketer
through INFORMATION
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Used to identify and
define market
opportunities and
problems
Generate, refine, and
evaluate marketing
performance
Improve
understanding of
marketing as a
process
Redefining Marketing Research
6
Definition of Marketing Research
Marketing research is the systematic and objective
identification
collection
analysis
dissemination
and use of information
for the purpose of improving decision making related to the
identification and
solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.
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The Role of Marketing Research
Controllable
Marketing
•Product
•Pricing
•Promotion
•Distribution
Variables
Marketing
Research
Marketing
Decision
Making
Providing
Information
Assessing
Information
Needs
Marketing Managers
• Market Segmentation
• Performance & Control
• Target Market Selection
• Marketing Programs
Uncontrollable
Environmental
Factors
•Economy
•Technology
•Laws &
Regulations
•Social & Cultural
Factors
•Political Factors
Customer Groups
• Employees
• Shareholders
Suppliers•
• Consumers
A Classification of Marketing Research
Marketing Research
Problem
Identification Research
Problem Solving
Research
•Market Potential Research
•Market Share Research
•Market Characteristics Research
•Sales Analysis Research
•Forecasting Research
•Business Trends Research
•Segmentation Research
•Product Research
•Promotion Research
•Distribution Research
Quantitative Research
•Descriptive in nature.
•Enables marketers to “predict” consumer
behavior.
•Research methods include experiments,
survey techniques, and observation.
•Findings are descriptive, empirical and
generalizable.
10
Qualitative Research
•Consists of depth interviews, focus groups,
metaphor analysis, collage research, and
projective techniques.
•Administered by highly trained interviewer-
analysts.
•Findings tend to be subjective.
•Small sample sizes.
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The Consumer Research Process
Develop Objectives
Collect Secondary Data
Design Qualitative Research
•Method
•Screener questionnaire
•Discussion guide
Prepare Report
Analyze Data
(Subjective)
Conduct Research
(Using highly trained
interviewers)
Exploratory
Study
Prepare report
Analyze Data
(Objective)
Collect Primary Data
(Usually by field staff)
Design Quantitative Research
•Method
•Sample design
•Data collection instrument
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Developing Research Objectives
•Defining purposes and objectives helps
ensure an appropriate research design.
•A statement of objectives helps to define
the type and level of information needed.
13
Secondary Versus Primary Data
•Secondary data:
data that has been
collected for
reasons other than
the specific
research project at
hand
•Primary data: data
collected by the
researcher for the
purpose of meeting
specific objectives
14
Major Sources of Secondary Data
Government
Publications
Internal
Sources
Periodicals
&
Books
Commercial
Data
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Data Collection Methods
Observation
Experimentation
Surveys
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Observational Research
•Helps marketers gain an in-depth
understanding of the relationship between
people and products by watching them buying
and using products.
•Helps researchers gain a better understanding
of what the product symbolizes.
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Observational Research
•Mechanical Observation – Uses a Mechanical or
electronic device to record customer behaviour or
response to a particular marketing stimulus
•Physiological Observation – Uses devices that
monitor respondents pattern of information
processing
•Eg: Electronic eye camera electronic sensors placed on
subjects heads
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Experimentation
•Can be used to test the relative sales appeal of
many types of variables.
•Only one variable is manipulated at a time,
keeping other elements constant.
•Can be conducted in laboratories (Controlled
Experimentation) or
•In the field (test marketing)
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Survey Data Collection Methods
Mail
Telephone
Online
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Personal Interview
•Most often take place in the home or in
retail shopping areas- Mall Intercepts
•Mall Intercepts advantage- Useful to
interview not-at-home working women &
the reluctance of many people today to
allow strangers at home
21
Telephone Surveys
•Used to collect consumer data- however
evenings & weekends are often the only
times to reach telephone respondents
– Less Responsive
–Hostile
•Difficulty of reaching people with unlisted
numbers
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Mail Surveys
•Conducted by sending questionnaires directly to
individuals at their homes
•Disadvantage
–Low response rates
•Researchers have developed new techniques for
higher return rate
–Stamped Self-addressed envelope
–Provocative questionnaire
–Pre-notification as well as follow-up letters
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Online Surveys
•Conducted on the internet
•Sample’s respondents are self-elected – hence
results cannot be projected to a large population
•Researchers have mixed feeling about the method
–Wide reach, affordable
–Internet encourages to be more forthright
–Data collected may be a suspect
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Comparative Advantages
MAIL TELEPHONE
PERSONAL
INTERVIEW
ONLINE
Cost Low Moderate High Low
Speed Slow Immediate Slow Fast
Response rateLow Moderate High Self-selection
Geographic
flexibility
Excellent Good DifficultExcellent
Interviewer
bias
N/A Moderate Problematic N/A
Interviewer
supervision
N/A Easy Difficult N/A
Quality of
response
Limited Limited ExcellentExcellent
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Quantitative Research Data Collection
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Data Collection Instruments
•Include questionnaires, personal inventories &
attitude scales
•DC instruments usually pretested & “ debugged”
to ensure the validity and the reliability of the
research study
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ValidityValidity
The degree to which
a measurement
instrument
accurately reflects
what it is designed to
measure.
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ReliabilityReliability
The degree to which a
measurement
instrument is
consistent in what it
measures.
29
Questionnaires
•Guidelines for wording questions
–Avoid Leading questions
•Eg: Do you often shop at such cost saving stores as Hypercity?
–Avoid two questions in one
•Eg: In your view did you save money and receive good service
when you last visited D Mart?
–Questions must be clear
•Eg: Where do you usually shop for your home supplies?
–Use words that consumers routinely use
•Rectify or Correct
–Respondents must be able to answer the question
•Eg: How many newspaper or TV ads of Hypercity did you see in
this month?
–Respondents must be willing to answer the question
•Eg: Questions about money, health issues, personal hygiene or
sexual preferences can embarrass respondents
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Attitude Scales
•Likert scales: Most popular, easy for researchers to
prepare and interpret, and simple for consumers to
answer.
•Semantic differential scales: relatively easy to
construct and administer, bipolar adjectives
( good/bad, expensive/inexpensive etc.)
•Behaviour Intention Scale: Measures the
likelihood that the consumers will act in a certain
way in the future
•Rank-order scales: subjects rank items in order of
preference in terms of some criteria.
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Example of a Likert Scale
Please place the number that best indicates how strongly you
agree or disagree with each of the following statements about
shopping online in the space to the left of the statement.
1 = Agree Strongly
2 = Agree
3 = Neither Agree or Disagree
4 = Disagree
5 = Disagree Strongly
_____ a. It is fun to shop online.
_____ b. Products often cost more online.
_____ c. It is a good way to find out about new products.
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Rank-Order Scales
Rank the following computer manufacturers in
terms of hotline help by placing a 1 next to the one
who provides the best telephone help, a 2 next to
the second best, until you have ranked all six.
_____ IBM _____Hewlett Packard
_____ Dell _____ Gateway
_____ Compaq _____ NEC
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Depth Depth
InterviewsInterviews
•Structured vs.
unstructured interviews
•Generalizing to other
consumers
•Biases
•Subtle, inadvertent
feedback
35
Focus GroupFocus Group
A qualitative research
method in which eight
to ten persons
participate in an
unstructured group
interview about a
product or service
concept.
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Selected Portions of a Discussion
Guide
1. Why did you decide to use your current cellular
company? (Probe)
2. How long have you used you current cellular
company? (Probe)
3. Have you ever switched services? When? What
caused the change? (Probe)
4. What do you think of the overall quality of your
current service? (Probe)
5. What are the important criteria in electing a cellular
service? (Probe)
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Projective Projective
TechniquesTechniques
•Research procedures
designed to identify
consumers’ subconscious
feelings and motivations.
•Disguised tests that
contain ambiguous stimuli
–incomplete sentences,
untitled pictures or cartoons,
ink blots, word- association
tests, & other person
characterization
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Metaphor Analysis
•Based on belief that metaphors are the most
basic method of thought and
communication.
•Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique
(ZMET) combines collage research and
metaphor analysis to bring to the surface the
mental models and the major themes or
constructs that drive consumer thinking and
behavior.
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Customer Satisfaction Data Collection
Instruments
•Customer Satisfaction Surveys
•Gap Analysis of Expectations versus
Experience
•Mystery Shoppers
•Critical Incident Technique
•Customer Complaint Analysis
•Analysis of Customer Defections
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Sampling Plan Decisions
Whom to
survey?
How many?
How to
select them?
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Probability Sampling Designs
Simple random
sample
Every member of the population has a known and
equal chance of being selected.
Systematic random
sample
A member of the population is selected at random
and then every “nth” person is selected.
Cluster (area)
sample
The population is divided into mutually exclusive
groups (such as blocks), and the researcher draws
a sample of the groups to interview.
Stratified random
sample
The population is divided into mutually exclusive
groups (such as age groups), and random samples
are drawn from each group.
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Nonprobability Sampling Designs
Convenience
sample
The researcher selects the most accessible
population members from whom to obtain
information (e.g., students in a classroom)
Judgment sampleThe researcher uses his or her judgment to select
population members who are good sources for
accurate information (e.g., experts in the relevant
field of study).
Quota sample The researcher interviews a prescribed number of
people in each of several categories (e.g., 50 men
and 5 women).
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Data Analysis
•Appropriate analytical tools must be used to interpret data
•Most elementary method is the arithmetic analysis using percentile and
ratios
•Statistical analysis like mean, median, mode, percentages, standard
deviation and coefficient & correlation should be used wherever
applicable
• Advanced statistical tools like tests of significance, factor analysis,
discriminant analysis, regression analysis, cluster analysis, conjoint
analysis & multidimensional scaling techniques can also be used
•Increasing use of MDSS ( Marketing decision support system) to help
managers make better decision
•MDSS is a system that consists of data collection & tools & techniques
for analysis with supporting software & hardware
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Report & Presentation
•It is important that the report has a summary- executive summary
, giving a birds eye view of the research and the major
recommendation
•The report should be structured and pages chronologically
numbered
•Structure of a good report :
–Intro to problem, the environment context, objectives, sample size,
stratification, sampling procedure adopted , tools for data collection,
sources of data, and data analysis tools
–Presentation of marketing research findings and survey findings
–Interpretation of Research findings
–Policy Implication
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