Week 1:
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Market research: links customer, consumer, public to the market; identify and define
market opportunities and problems; data collection - analyse, find, communicate
findings
Importance of Market research:marketing growth and customer experience is data
driven, use market research to understand the long term effects of marketing,
understand current performance over time and how to introduce new products
(increased targeting strategies - exact time, location for launch of product on the
basis of target pop data)
Benefits:
- Improve financial performance (sales, profits, market share)
- Introduce new products (targeted strategy - target customers with appropriate
product offerings - time, location, features, channel tailored acc to target
population)
- Dynamic pricing (hotels, airlines) to cut costs, increase demand (manage
during high demand to maximise profits), lower prices and offerings during
low demand seasons
Importance of MArket Research:
- Improved accountability: helps marketing departments quantify the value they
create and justify their expenses
- Competitive advantage: better use their data than competitors, choose which
projects to take and which to avoid (cut losses instead of taking everything)
Deciding if mktg research should be done or not:
Trade off between cost of conducting marketing research and the benefit gained/
extra profit/ avoidance of losses ⇒ difficult to assess because a) total cost of
research is tough to estimate and b) potential risk of conducting research may not be
obvious
Consider:
a. Relevance: Is the research (topic, method, design) relevant to solving the
managerial problem and will it help in making a decision?
b. Type of Info obtained through research: does the info alr exist? Can the
company (with their existing experiences) make a decision without needing
more research?
c. Timing: is there enough time to collect required data (in the required sample
size to make the findings relevant)
d. Availability of resources: Does the company have the necessary financial and
human resources required to conduct the research
Types of Research Approaches:
Exploratory Research:
● Explore, gain insights into a problem where little is known or understood
● Main purpose: formulate research qn, identify relevant variables, clarify concepts
● Gather info, generate ideas, develop hypothesis
● Methods: literature reviews, in depth interviews, focus groups, case studies
Example: Researchers are interested in understanding the various ways in which
social media may affect mental health. They might conduct interviews, focus groups,
and literature reviews to explore potential factors such as online social comparison,
cyberbullying, or the influence of curated online personas. The goal is to identify key
themes and generate hypotheses for further investigation.
Descriptive Research:
● Describe characteristics (behaviour) of a particular phenomenon/ population
● Provide Accurate and detailed account of what is observed
● Describe and analyse current state of affairs
● Summarise and present data in a meaningful way
● Methods: surveys, observational
Example: The researcher aims to provide a detailed description of the current state of
social media use and its association with mental health in a specific demographic,
such as teenagers. Using surveys and observational methods, the study collects
data on the frequency and types of social media usage, mental health indicators, and
any observed patterns or correlations. The goal is to describe the relationship
between social media and mental health in the chosen population.
Causal Research:
● Identify cause and effect relationship between variables (how one variable impacts
another variable) by controlling other factors
● Structured and formal - Involves experimental designs
Example: Researchers want to determine whether there is a causal relationship
between increased social media usage and a decline in mental health. They design
an experiment where participants are randomly assigned to two groups: one that
limits social media use and another that continues with regular usage. After a
specified period, the researchers measure changes in mental health indicators to
assess whether the altered social media behaviour caused any significant effects.
The goal is to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.
Steps of Research Studies