Lecture 5,Marketing Research
Lecture Objectives
?Research - Why?
?Processes Involved
?Analysis
?Reporting
The provision of information about markets and the
reaction of these various products,price,
distribution and promotion actions.
Why is marketing research important?
List 5 reasons
Marketing research
2
A marketing information system
Marketing
environment
The company
Customers
Competitors
Suppliers
Distributors
Economic
Social
Legal
Technological
Physical forces
Marketing information
system
Internal continuous data
Internal ad-hoc data
Environmental scanning
Marketing research
Marketing
decision-making
Strategic
? external continuous
data
? external ad-hoc data
? new products
and markets
? competitive
strategy
? sales force
monitoring
? advertising
copy
Tactical
4
Descriptive or
experimental
research
The Marketing Research Process
Initial
contact (1)
Research
brief (2)
Research
proposal (2/3)
Main data collection
stage (3/4)
Data analysis and
interpretation (4)
Report writing
and presentation (5)
Exploratory
research
Preliminary stage
Objective is to identify/understand the research
question and the background scenario
Initial contact
? Research brief
? Background information
? Sources of information
? Scale of the project
? The timetable
Marketing research - what is involved?
Objective - a firm decision is taken to go ahead with
research,Commence detailed background
studies and prepare data collection
methods/instruments.
Research proposal
? What will be done
? How much will it cost
? How long will it take
Exploratory research
? Literature review
? Secondary sources
? Publicly available data
The second stage
Choose methods (channel where applicable)
Decisions on
Quantitative methods
? Face to face interviews
? Mail surveys
? Telephone interviews
? Internet surveys (email and web based)
Identify population and select sample
?Simple random sampling
?Stratified random sampling
?Cluster sampling
Stage three
The objective is to design the data collection instrument
? Plan
? Design
? Ordering of topics
? Types of questions
? Wording and instructions
? Layout
? Scaling
? Probes and prompts
? Piloting (testing)
Qualitative methods
?Consultation with experts
?Observation
Stage four
The objective here is to collect data and carry out
subsequent analysis
? Administer the instrument
? Collect data
? Collate
? Input data into database
? Analyse
? Interpret
Stage five
The objective here is to present the findings of the research
?Report writing
?Presentations
5
The sampling process
Define the population
Search for sampling frame
Specify sampling method Determine sample size
Select the sample
Stages in the development of a questionnaire
Planning
Stage
Planning
Pilot
Stage
Definition of the research
problem
Exploratory research
Information required
Definition of population
Target groups
Survey method
Ordering of topics Type of question
Wording and instructions
Layout Scaling
Probes and prompts Coding
Pilot testing
Redesign
Final questionnaire
8
How to go about it?
? Do it yourself
? Commission a marketing research agency
Types of marketing research
? Ad-hoc research
? Custom designed studies
? Omnibus studies
? Continuos research
? Consumer panels
? Retail audits
? Television viewership panels
What is done with research output?
Marketing information systems
A system in which marketing information is formally
gathered,stored,analysed and distributed to
managers in accord with their informational needs on
a regular planned basis.
Some ethical issues in marketing
research
? Intrusions to privacy
? Misuse of marketing research findings
? Selling under the guise of marketing research
? Questionable practises in information gathering
? Using students
? Posing under an assumed identity
? Stealing/gaining access through dishonest
means to a competitors research data