Lesson Element
Unit 5: Marketing and market research
Interpreting and presenting market research findings
Instructions and answers for tutors
These instructions cover the learner activity section which can be found on page 9. This
Lesson Element supports Cambridge Technicals Level 3 in Business.
When distributing the activity section to the learners either as a printed copy or as a
Word file you will need to remove the tutor instructions section.
The activity
In this lesson element, learners will be provided with data collected from a market research
questionnaire. Learners should assess the reliability and validity of the data, analyse how the
accuracy could be improved and then discuss how best to present the findings. As a tutor you
could lead them through this step by step as preparation for individually completing LO4.
Suggested timings
The lesson element is supported by a worksheet which has 15 questions/areas for discussion.
The worksheet is expected to take 6 hours to complete (including input from the tutor)
ABC – This activity offers an
opportunity for English skills
development.
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Activity 1
For this activity, learners are required to consider the market research findings provided in the
document ‘Market research data’ to answer the questions on the Lesson Element worksheet. By
discussing their ideas with their peers, either in pairs or in groups, they should begin to formulate
their own opinions of how to ensure that market research information is reliable and valid and then
be able to assess the most appropriate methods of presenting this data.
Please note: the information in the market research findings is not based on fact. The questions and
findings have been formulated to ensure that learners can identify potential issues within the
information.
Task 1
The information required is included on pages 3 to 9 ‘Market Research Data’. The questionnaire is
given, followed by the findings of this research. The research is divided into 2 sections; primary
research and secondary research. For Tasks 1-10 it is the primary research section that learners
should be guided towards.
OCR Business for A level – 26 Jun 2015 by Andy Mottorshead, Judith Kelt, Alex Grant
Hodder Education
Chapter 52: ‘Identifying customer needs – market research analysis’.
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Market Research Data
A UK company which offers a range of brands, many of which are sold in major
supermarkets are planning to expand their range by introducing a new coffee brand.
The marketing team have undertaken market research to gain an understanding of the
needs and wants of consumers. The questionnaire below has been completed by 1000
customers in supermarkets and convenience stores in the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire areas.
Researchers asked 100 people in each store to complete the survey although 126
questionnaires were either incomplete or were not taken seriously by the respondent.
Primary Research
1. What is your postcode?
…………………..…………………….
2. Age category

15-20

21-30

31-40

41-50

51-60

61+
3. Are you?

Male

Female
4. How often do you buy jar/packet coffee?
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
Weekly

Monthly

Never

Other
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5. Which brand of coffee do you usually buy?
…………………………………………………………...………………………
6. How do you choose which brand of coffee to buy?

I buy the one on offer

I always buy the same brand

I always buy the cheapest

I always buy the most expensive

Other – please state ……………………………………………………..
7. On a scale of 0-10 (where 0 is not important and 10 is very important) how important to you
is the advertising that you have seen when choosing coffee? Please circle your answer.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
8. Which form of advertising would you take the most notice of when choosing coffee?

Television

Billboards

Leaflets in store

Radio

I don’t

Other – please state ……………………………………………………..
9. How much would you be willing to pay for a 200g jar of premium coffee?
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
£1.50 - £2.00

£2.01 - £2.50

£2.51 - £3.00

£3.01 - £3.50

£3.51 - £4.00

£4.01+
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10. What special offers would attract you to try a new brand of coffee? Please tick all that apply.

2 for 1

Buy one get one half price

25% off

A competition to enter after purchase

Other – please state. ……………………………………………………….
Questionnaire results:
Question 1:
All respondents lived within 10 miles of the store in which they were surveyed.
Question 2:
15-20
92
21-30
163
31-40
249
41-50
157
51-60
84
61+
129
Question 3:
Male
236
Female
638
Question 4:
Weekly
265
Monthly
347
Never
59
Other
203
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Question 5:
Sainsbury’s own label
71
Asda own label
58
Waitrose own label
32
Morrison’s own label
52
Budgen’s own label
6
Marks & Spencer own label
17
Aldi own label
43
Lidl own label
35
Tesco own label
70
Tesco value
38
Sainsbury’s basics
25
Nescafe
127
Nescafe Gold Blend
45
Carte Noire
24
Kenco
36
Kenco Millicano
12
Dowe Egberts
84
Decaffeinated
7
Powdered
54
Maxwell House
10
Café Direct
Dowe Egberts decaffeinated
6
12
Kenco Rich
2
Cappuccino
6
Nisa
2
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Question 6:
I buy the one on offer
189
I always buy the same brand
243
I always buy the cheapest
216
I always buy the most expensive
72
Other – Like the packaging
24
Recommended to me
67
Seen it advertised
63
Question 7:
0
56
1
92
2
84
3
103
4
42
5
155
6
93
7
114
8
76
9
54
10
35
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Question 8:
Television
397
Billboards
40
Leaflets in store
236
Radio
98
I don’t
72
Other – Cinema
8
Not sure
5
Word of mouth
18
Question 9:
£1.50 - £2.00
377
£2.01 - £2.50
259
£2.51 - £3.00
82
£3.01 - £3.50
78
£3.51 - £4.00
31
£4.01+
47
Question 10:
2 for 1
842
Buy one get one half price
568
25% off
276
A competition to enter after purchase
214
Other – Free gift
92
Win a holiday
1
Cash back
7
Free trial
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Secondary Research
The marketing team also used the internet to research the UK coffee market.
1. British Coffee Association
http://www.britishcoffeeassociation.org/about_coffee/coffee_facts/
2. http://www.coffeechoiceguide.co.uk/coffee-brands.htm
3. http://www.coffeejudge.co.uk/coffee-league-table
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Task 2
a) Ask your learners to consider the good and bad points of the structure of these questions
e.g. are they open ended or closed questions? Are sufficient options given?
Examples of points which may be raised include:

Question 2 has an option £1.50 - £2.00. This is a very low price for a 200g jar of coffee,
especially a premium coffee. It is likely that some respondents will tick it because it is the
lowest priced option. This could skew the responses i.e. if the lowest price was £2.51 - £3.00
they would tick this figure. The lowest figure needs to be realistic and a cost-effective price
for Unilever.

Question 4 has an option for ‘other’ but if this is ticked there is no requirement to state how
often coffee is bought.

Question 5 is very open-ended which is supported by the range of results.

Question 10 requires respondents to ‘tick all that apply’. This has resulted in most
respondents ticking a range of options. Asking them to tick the most significant two, for
example, might have been more appropriate.
b) Ask your learners to then recommend improvements based on the points which they have
identified. Justifying their reasons should help to develop their skills prior to undertaking LO4.
By monitoring each group’s progress you will have the opportunity to ask ‘what if..?’
questions to prompt discussion.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/market-research-survey-templates/
This website provides survey templates for businesses to use for a range of different purposes.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/good-and-bad-questionnaire-examples-6229099
This resource gives examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ questionnaires.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/maths/statistics/questionnairesrev2.shtml
This resource gives examples of poor survey questions. This will also be useful for Task 3 below.
Task 3
a) Ask your learners to consider the findings of the market research survey to decide whether
appropriate information has been collected i.e. will it enable Unilever to make informed
marketing decisions?
Examples of points which may be raised include:
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We don’t know where the
stores were located. Were
they all close together or
were they spread out
between the two counties?
We don’t know what ‘other’ means. It could be daily, annually,
every two months etc. As a result the information isn’t very
useful, for example if Unilever were trying to forecast likely
sales of the new coffee.
As basic information this is useful, however
we don’t know the reasoning behind these
decisions. For example, someone might buy
the most expensive because they perceive
this to offer the best quality. Why do some
people always buy the same brand? What
could be done to attract them away from this
to try a new product?
http://www.audiencedialogue.net/kya3c.html
This article provides advice on how to write and structure questionnaires to maximise the likelihood
of appropriate, useful data being collected.
This is subjective information – one respondent might interpret a ‘3’ rating in
the same way as another respondent rates a ‘5’.
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Although this data clearly identifies that Nescafe is the most
popular brand, the respondent’s interpretation of the question
could have caused inaccuracies. For example:

71 respondents stated ‘Sainsbury’s own label’ and 25
‘Sainsbury’s basics’ – there is a possibility that come
of the 71 who said Sainsbury’s own label actually buy
their basics brand.

Similarly 54 respondents stated ‘Powdered’ but this
doesn’t tell us what brand of powdered coffee.

Although Nescafe overall was the most popular brand,
some of the respondents stating ’Nescafe’ could buy
‘Nescafe Gold Blend’ but didn’t make this distinction in
their answer.
b) Ask your learners to think about the factors which will affect the usefulness of the information
in the decision making process and then make recommendations as to improvements which
could be made to the wording of the questions. Providing them with examples of market
research questionnaires will help them to think about how the questions could be improved
as well as to identify any additional questions which would improve the usefulness of the
data.
The resources listed for Task 2 should also be useful in the delivery of this task.
Task 4
Your learners need to be aware of the reasons why a questionnaire might not be useable once it
has been completed. Finding or producing your own examples of surveys which would not be
acceptable will provide a starting point for their discussions.
http://woodwardblade.com/1573/opinion/to-survey-or-not-to-survey/
This article refers to some of the answers provided by students to a questionnaire which their school
asked them to complete.
In the context of this task, 126 questionnaires are 12.6% of the respondents which is a significant
proportion.
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Task 5
You could recap with your learners the sampling techniques which are available to businesses prior
to asking them to identify which technique they believe was used in this instance. Random sampling
is a fair judgement based on the information provide although other options, if well-justified, are
acceptable.
Possible responses include:

1000 respondents were asked to complete the survey. It could be argued that the sample
size should have been larger, particularly as this was conducted in only 10 stores.

The demographics/socioeconomic groups in different locations vary and therefore an
appropriate range of shoppers may not have been surveyed e.g. the sample was mainly
female and aged 31-40.

Similarly, the survey was carried out in only 2 counties, which geographically border each
other, which may not be representative of the whole country.
Tasks 6 & 7
You should discuss with learners the definitions of reliable and valid in terms of market research.
These are given in the delivery guide for this unit. This will enable them to then draw conclusions as
to how reliable and valid they believe that data to be.
http://www.knowthis.com/marketing-research/research-validity-and-reliability
This article contains further information about the distinction between valid data and reliable data.
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Task 8
You could use examples to explain to learners the methods of simple statistical analysis such as
mean, median and mode. Examples can also be used to illustrate that they may need to be selective
as to which is used depending on the data which is available to them.
https://www.purplemath.com/modules/meanmode.htm
A worked example of each method of simple statistical analysis.
Task 9
You should guide your learners to list the limitations of the research undertaken by Unilever.
Learners will need to draw on points which they have already considered for this Lesson Element
and then make recommendations for further research. You could task each group to consider one
limitation and their recommendation and discuss this as a whole class prior to completing the full
task.
Task 10
Your learners could complete this task using
either graph paper or a computer. They should
be encouraged to use all four presentation
methods for each question listed on their
worksheet. Once they have produced their
charts/graphs you could then reflect on whether
the findings ‘make sense’ using every method or
whether some presentation methods may
confuse the audience. For example, presenting
the data for Question 5 as a radar chart is could
be confusing whereas presenting it as a bar
chart should be much clearer to interpret.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBV2vvTFI84
J Fox
How to Make a Bar Graph in Microsoft Excel 2010 - For Beginners
This is a step by step guide which learners may find useful. The same steps can be used to insert
the data for other forms of graph/chart.
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Task 11
You could recap with learners the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary research in
the decision-making process. You could use this to lead into a discussion about the secondary
research findings which are included on the ‘Unilever market research’ Word document.
a) Your learners should consider the strengths and weaknesses of the information provided.
b) Ask your learners to then build on this by recommending areas for further secondary
research.
c) As an extension activity you could set learners the task of finding examples of information
which would be useful to Unilever in this scenario.
Possible weaknesses which could be identified are:

Coffee Choice Guide – the information is based on a report produced in 2007, as a result it is
likely to be out-of-date.

British Coffee Association – this lacks specific, useful detail which could be used in the
decision-making process.

Coffee Judge – it is unclear what the source of this information is and therefore it would be
difficult to check the reliability and validity of the data. It also includes a large number of
coffee brands which would not be bought from a supermarket and therefore these would not
be direct competition for the new Unilever product.
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/jd-sports/using-market-research-to-support-decisionmaking/secondary-market-research.html#axzz3kldyempS
This case study explains the secondary research undertaken by JD Sports.
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Task 12
4.3 of the teaching content identify the presentation methods which learners should be familiar with.
You could task learners with researching the format of reports and summarising what they believe to
be the do’s and don’ts of verbally presenting information. This could be done individually or you
could divide the class into two groups, one considering reports and one presentations.
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/present/presentation-tips.html
This resource considers how to prepare and perform an effective presentation.
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/ltd/campus/reportwr.pdf
Advice on how to structure a written report.
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Lesson Element
Unit 5: Marketing and market research
Learner Activity
Interpreting and presenting market research findings
In this lesson element, you will be provided with data collected from a market research
questionnaire. You will need to assess the reliability and validity of the data, analyse how the
accuracy could be improved and then discuss how best to present the findings. This will
provide you with an insight into the requirements of LO4.
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Activity 1
Task 1
Read the information and the market research findings included in the document ‘Unilever
Market Research’.
OCR Business for A level – 26 Jun 2015 by Andy Mottorshead, Judith Kelt, Alex Grant
Hodder Education
Chapter 52: ‘Identifying customer needs – market research analysis’
Task 2
a) Analyse the format/structure of the questions included in the survey.
b) Recommend improvements to the format/structure of the questions. Justify your
reasons for making these recommendations.
Task 3
a) Analyse the usefulness of the questions i.e. has appropriate information been
collected?
b) Recommend improvements to the wording of the questions and write any additional
questions which you think are needed in order to make accurate decisions.
Task 4
Do you think that it is an issue that the results of 126 surveys cannot be used? Explain your
answer.
Task 5
Is the choice of sample appropriate? Can you identify any issues?
Task 6
Overall, do you think that the findings are reliable? Justify your opinion.
Task 7
Overall, do you think that the findings are valid? Justify your opinion.
Task 8
Statistical analysis is one method of presenting and interpreting findings. Give an example of
when mean, median and mode could be used within the interpretation of market research
findings.
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Task 9
a) List any limitations of the research carried out which Unilever should to be made aware
of.
b) For each limitation which you have identified, recommend additional market research
that should be carried out and suggest appropriate market research methods for this.
Task 10
a) Present the findings of Questions 4, 5, 9 and 10 using each of the following data
presentation methods – pie chart, bar chart, line graph, and radar chart.
b) For each question which do you think is the most appropriate method to present the
information? Explain your answer.
Task 11
a) What are the strengths and weaknesses of the secondary research results?
b) Recommend areas for further secondary research.
Task 12
What are the strengths and weaknesses of using written reports to present the conclusions
drawn from market research findings compared with using presentations for this purpose?
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