MARKETING RESEARCH –
COLLECTING DATA
Marketing 360
Brian Gillespie
Marketing Information Systems

Determines what information marketing managers
need, then gathers, sorts, analyzes, stores, and
distributes information to system users
Internal Company Data

Information generated from within the company
 Sales
 Who
buys what, when and where
 Backorders
 Effects of marketing efforts
 Product returns
Marketing Intelligence

Method of gathering information about the
marketing environment
 Newspapers
 Internet
 Trade
publications
 Secret shoppers
 Futurists
 Marketers
that try to predict marketing trends through
contemplating different scenarios
Marketing Research
Collecting, analyzing and interpreting info about
customers, competitors and business environment to
improve marketing effectiveness

Syndicated research
 Collected by a different firm
 firm then sells information to other businesses
 Custom research
 Research conducted for a single firm to provide specific
information managers need

Acquired Databases
Marketing Information generated by other firms or
the government

Misuse has led to government restrictions



Do not call list
Opt-in and opt-out statements on websites
Data Mining


Sophisticated analysis techniques that take advantage of
large amount of customer transaction information, and
discover patterns for different customer groups
Marketing Decision Support System

Data plus analysis and interactive software allow
marketing managers to access MIS data and conduct
analyses
MIS vs. MDSS

MIS
 What

were our sales last month?
MDSS
 Is
increase in sales due to our new advertising
campaign or an increase in sales across the industry?
Marketing Research Process







Step 1: define the research problem
Step 2: determine the research design
Step 3: chose the method to collect primary data
Step 4: design the sample
Step 5: collect the data
Step 6: analyze and interpret the data
Step 7: prepare the research report
Define the Research Problem

Specify the research objectives
 What

questions will the research try to answer?
Identify the consumer population of interest
 What
are the characteristics of the consumer groups of
interest?

Place the problem in an environmental context
 What
factors in the firm’s internal and external business
environment might influence the situation?
Determine the Research Design

What information will you collect?

What type of research design will you use?
 Primary
 Data
data
collected specifically for this research
 Secondary
 Data
data
collected for a different research purpose but
applicable to the current research questions
Primary and Secondary Data
Three Types of Primary Research

Exploratory (qualitative) research
 Interviews
 Focus

groups
Descriptive (quantitative) research
 Cross-sectional
 Single
point in time
 Longitudinal
 Repeated

measures
Causal research
 Cause-and-effect
Choose the Method to Collect
Primary Data






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For a list of advantages and disadvantages, see
chapter 3, table 3 in the book.
Mail questionnaires
Telephone interviews
Face-to-Face interviews
On-line questionnaires
Laboratory experiments
Observational