Marketing Research Process
i. Problem Awareness – make the definition of the problem precise
Ie. If a decline in sales – it’s really a symptom not the disease.
ii. Exploratory Research and Secondary Data Collection – product in decline
Funnelling Process to figure out problem
divide the subject into manageable variables, narrow further and further down.
Identify Product, Price, Place, Promotion
Promotion – is it advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, events and
sponsorships
Advertising – is it creative or media?
Creative – appeal techniques or effectiveness
Secondary Research methods – books, magazines, articles, databases, marketing research
companies, consultants, internet etc
iii. Primary Research – collecting and recording new data in order to resolve a specific
problem
You need a research objective: a statement to outline what your research is going to
accomplish
You need a Hypothesis: statement of predicted outcomes
Designing your sample
Sample is a representative portion of the entire population that is used to obtain info about
that population. Define your population – age, gender, lifestyle, family life cycle, economic
situation, culture
Determine your sample size – how many people would it take to get an accurate picture of your
market? Heritage Woods? Vancouver? Canada? Generally, the larger the sample size, the
greater the accuracy, but the higher the cost. Percentages or absolute minimums are used.
Collection methods
Survey research – fixed-response questioning
Structured surveys -> screening questions at beginning, central-issue questions (those dealing
with the nature of the research) in the middle, and classification (demographics) at the end.
Observation Research – hidden cameras, creeping on customers. Even using cultural
anthropologists to dig information on the lives of real people (cultural digs)
Experimental Research – monkey video – one or more factors are manipulated under controlled
conditions while other elements remain constant.
Ie test marketing – dairy queen grill and chill – updated store decor, table service, premium
burger patty, new style bun, and new grilled sandwiches.
Canada is often used as a test market for other countries – diverse population, product’s
performance can be assessed in urban vs suburban or east vs west markets.
Qualitative Data – small samples, controlled environment, asking WHY eg focus
groups. Average cost to companies for market research is $3500-$4500, topping out at $30000
for major packaged-goods companies.
Collected from small sample group, Question format is unstructured, Questions deal with why
people act, do purchase etc, small sample size poses reliability of data problems.
Quantitative – what, when, who, how many, how often.
4 main ways to contact customers – personal interviews, telephone interviews, mail interviews,
and internet.
Collected data from a truly representative sample (200-300 people from target market),
structured format questions, data are statistically reliable; degree of error can be calculated.
iv. Data Transfer and Processing
Check surveys for errors, transfer data to computer. Precoded answers for quantitative
questionnaires. Results are tabulated – counting the various responses for each question.
v. Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data analysis - Evaluation of responses on a question by question basis, giving meaning to the
data. Researcher makes observations and comparisons between groups
Data Interpretation – relating the accumulated data to the problem, objectives, and
hypothesis. Interpretation uncovers solutions to problems.
vi. Recommendations and Implementations
Once data has been interpreted, and various different solutions are suggested as alternative
actions, one recommendation must be implemented.