Module 2
Macro/micro environment, scanning environment, Introduction to marketing research, objective,
scope limitations and applications of Marketing research.
1) Bring out the importance of both micro & macro investment in business and
explain its influence on the marketing programme of the company (10M)
2) The marketing environment offers both opportunities & threats; successful
companies know the vital importance of constantly watching and adapting to the
environment. Explain (10M)
3) List the internal & ext. environment forces, which influence the marketing
programmer of an organization (5M)
4) Explain the macro investment forces that affect the marketing strategies of an
organization (10M)
5) Discuss the relative importance of all the investment forces affecting the marketing
system of a firm (10M)
6) Bring out the importance of both micro & macro investment in business and
explain its influence on the marketing programme of the company.(10M)
7) Bring out the importance of external macro investment & internal micro investment
and its influence on the marketing program (10M)
8) Explain the macro investment force that affects the marketing strategies of an
organization (10M)
9) Discuss the factors that contribute to the importance of MR in India. (5M)
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1) List the internal and external environmental forces, which influence the marketing
programmer of an organization (5M)
DEMOGRAPHY
COMPETITION
SOCIAL
CONSUMER
NEEDS &
DESIRES
&
Cultural
INTERNAL
PRICE
P
R
O
D
U
CUSTOMER
ECONOMIC
PROMOTION
C
T
SCIENCE
&
TECHNOLOGY
Place
CONDITIONS
MARKETING MIX
ECOLOGICAL
& ENVIRONMENTAL
LEGAL & POLITI CAL
CONDITIONS
Forces or the variables affecting may be broadly classified as
1) External forces &
2) Internal forces.
External forces may be subdivided as
1) Non-controllable variables or forces &
2) Partially controllable variables or forces
The marketing environment consists of a microenvironment & a macro environment.
The microenvironment consists of the forces close to the company that affect its
ability to serve its customers-the company, suppliers, marketing channel firms,
customer markets, competitors, and publics. The macro environment consists of larger
societal force that affect the microenvironment-Demographic, Economic, Natural,
Technological, Political & cultural forces.
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Marketing Environment
I) External
II) Internal
a) Non-Controllable b) Partially
Variables/Forces
Controllable Variables/
Controllable
Variables/forces
forces
A) Corporate Resources
1) Demography
1) Suppliers
a) Men
2) Economic climate
2) Customers/
b) Money
3) Socio-Cultural
Climate
4) Technology
market
c) Materials
3) Market
d) Methods
Intermediaries
5) Ecology
B) Marketing mix
a) Product
6) Political & legal
b) Price
Climate
c) Place
7) Competition
d) Promotion
2) Bring out the Importance of both micro & macro environment in business and
explain its influence on the marketing programme of the company (10M)
OR
Discuss the relative importance of all the environmental forces affecting the
marketing system of a firm (10M)
OR
Bring out the importance of both micro & macro environment in business and explain
it’s influence on the marketing programme (10M)
Philip Kotler has defined marketing environment as “the external forces & factors
that affect a firm’s ability to develop & maintain successful transactions &
relationships with the target customers.”
Thus, marketing environment includes all forces that affect marketing policies,
decisions & operations of a company.
I) External Forces:a) Non controllable variables/forces
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1) Demographic Environment:Demography is the study of statistics of births deaths, diseases etc., in order to
show the state of population.
In marketing the term demographic environment refers to the level of
a)
population growth
b) Age
c) Sex
d) Education patterns etc.
Effects on the company:a) Adversely affects the growth rate of the economy
b) Effect on savings
c) Underutilization of labor (Professional education)
d) Pressure on land
e) Unhealthy environment
f) Unplanned urbanization
2) Economic climate:Economic environment comprises:
i)
Nature of economic system:a) Capitalist or communist or mixed
b) Nature of production relations
c) Price mechanism
d) Role of planning etc.
e) Industry life cycle – (i ) Recovery (ii) Boom (iii) Recession
ii)
Structural Anatomy:a) Balance or Imbalance b/w various sectors like agriculture, industry,
services etc.
b) Interaction of different sectors.
iii)
Role of Government:a) Fiscal policies
b) Industrial regulations
c) Economic controls
d) Import-export policies
Effects on the company:- If raw material prices, labor & utilities like electricity are
showing inflating trends, the firm may have no choice but to pass on like to the
consumers in the form of increased prices.
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3. Socio-Cultural Environment:It reflects the value system of the society which in turn affects the marketing of
products.
It includes: a) Customs & conventions
b) Caste structure
c) Cultural heritage
d) Respect for seniority etc.
Effects on the company:a) It decides the nature of goods & services demanded.
Ex:- In India attitudes of people have changed with respect to food &
clothing because of – Industrialization
- Employment of women (has led to the
growth of Food Processing & ready to eat food industries)
b) Code of conduct the business should follow
4) Technology:It’s impact is direct as well as indirect. It decides:i) The type and quality of goods and services in demand
ii) The type of plant & equipment to be used
iii) Technology policy pursued by the government.
Effects on the company:i)
Investment in technology
ii)
Consistent application of technology
iii)
Technological forecasting & updation.
5) Ecology:-It represents non-economic environment
-It represents physical & geographical factors
It measures the deterioration of physical environment around us –air pollution, Noise
Pollution, Water Pollution etc.,
Effects on the company:1) It has to assess social responsibilities:
2) Marketer has to calculate social net profitability (i.e. Social benefit minus social
cost)
3) Use “Eco-Mark” for the products.
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Example:a) Duracell & everyday battery companies have decreased the levels of mercury in
their batteries
b) Du Pont and P & G have tried to increase recycling of plastics reducing package
wastes.
6) Political & Legal climate:It denotes legal framework within which the marketer is to function.
Effects on the co:i)
Political organizations
ii)
Political stability
iii)
Constitutional provisions
iv)
Foreign policy etc
7) Competition:Competitors may be
i)
New entrants,
ii)
Existing competitors
iii)
Substitutes
iv)
National & international competition
b) Partially controllable various forces:1) Suppliers:
Suppliers may be raw material suppliers, energy suppliers, suppliers of labour and
capital. They can also alter its competition position & marketing capabilities.
The costs of supplying rank third in the total cost of goods. Economies achieved as
regards supplies will go a long way in reducing total cost of goods & increase profits.
2) Customers:It includes purchaser of the products or services. They may or may not be the ultimate
consumer. Retention of customers amidst the cut threat competition is an uphill task.
The companies are engaged in a processi)
Creating life time value
ii)
Maintain relationship through personalization & customization
iii)
Building company image through Brand royalty
iv)
Offering unique products to meet diverse needs & wants.
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3) Market intermediaries:These provide a link b/w the manufactures and the ultimate consumers or users
certain factors related to the intermediaries which influence the channel selection are
as follows:i) Timely availability of desired intermediaries
ii) Financial Ability
Iii) Attitude of intermediaries (in the context of middlemen)
iv) Sales potential
v) Cost
vi) Competition & legal constraints
II) Internal factors:1) Corporate resources:It includes 5 M’s of a firm. Namely, men, money, methods, machines and materials.
The organization or the firm can exercise greater degree of control over these 5M’s.
a) Men: - Organisation or the firm can have control over men by giving them with the
requirements they want to work at their highest level of efficiency. They can be
provided with training, inducements and other motivational programmes thus, the
firm can have greater control over them & mould them in the direction it wants.
b) Money: - The firm can raise or mobilize funds and allocate the funds so raised. The
various sources available to the firm can broadly be divided as internal & external
sources. Internal sources may be the retained earning, Reserve funds etc,
The external sources may be the stock markets i.e. Raising funds through the issue of
shares debentures, acceptance of public deposits and other modes.
c) Materials: - It is always necessary to maintain some inventory of raw materials,
work-In progress & finished goods for the smooth functioning of the techniques for
the purpose of controlling material input in an organization
For Ex. Economic order quantity, perpetual inventory control, periodical physical
checking, ABC Analysis, stock or Inventory Turn over Ratios etc.
d) Methods: - Methods of producing the product i.e., the degree of automation,
mechanization etc., are within the control of the enterprise.
2) Marketing Mix:Marketing-mix is a dynamic concept it concentrates on how to satisfy the
needs of customers. If the needs of the customers change, the marketing mix will also
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be changed. Thus marketing mix basically concentrates on the customer as shown in
the given figure.
Product
PRODUCT SERVICE
BRAND, PACKAGE
PRODUCT RANGE
STORAGE,
CREDIT,
ALLOWANCE
DISCOUNT,
PRICE
Price
Place
CHANNELS,
TRANSPORT,
STORAGE
INVENTORY
CONTROL
,
TARGET
CUSTOMERS
SALES
PROMOTION,
ADVERTISEMENT,
PUBLICITY,
PERSONAL SELLING
Prtn
Place
Marketing mix implies a firm’s total marketing programmes. It requires Decision
making with regard to:
1) Product
2) Place
3) Promotion and
4) Price
McCarthy has called these 4 marketing decision variables as the “four P’s’ of the
marketing mix (i.e., best combination of all marketing variables/ingredients) so that it
can realize it’s goals such as return on investment, sales volume, market share etc.,
Elements of marketing mix:-i) Product:- A firm can plan, develop and produce the
right type of products and services to be marketed by the firm. It is with regard to the
product range, durability, branding, packaging, color and other features.
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Packaging: - Packing is done with the main objective of protecting the goods. Now it
has acquired new dimensions to it. I.e., it is now being used by the manufacturer to
establish brand image as distinct from those of his rivals. Now it is a silent
salesperson of the manufacturer, it is a distinct identity creator. Ex: Kellogg’s corn
flake spends nearly 60% of its cost on packaging its products.
ii) Price: - Pricing strategy changes with competitive situation. Pricing strategy is
uncontrollable when management is unable to determine prices. At the other extreme
in those rare cases where marketer has a long-term monopoly, pricing is cent-per-cent
controllable. Monopolist sets his price to maximize profits by “charging what the
traffic will bear” but in the real world various external pressures prevent him from
having a pure monopoly type price.
In between cases show pricing as controllable becomes controllable through
combination of marketing skill and luck. Most modern marketers differentiate their
products hoping to reduce the buyers have for choosing competitors’ offerings on a
price basis.
ii) Promotion: - It deals with informing the customers about the firms product and
persuading them to purchase the same. It involves personal selling, advertising,
publicity and sales promotion.
iv) Physical distribution: - It is concerned with the choice of middlemen and the
place where the product should be displayed and made available to the customers. It
also involves decisions regarding warehousing and transportation. In this respect, firm
can use wholesalers or the retailers as a channel for physical distribution of goods.
But it should see that right products are provided to the customers at the right time
and at the right place.
CONCLUSION:Companies can passively accept the marketing environment as an
uncontrollable element to which they must adapt, avoiding threats & taking advantage
of opportunities as they arise or they can take an environmental management
perspective, proactively working to change the environment rather than simply
reacting to it. Whenever possible, companies should try to be proactive rather than
reactive.
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3) Explain the macro environmental forces that affect the marketing strategies of an
organization. (10M)
Refer Question no 2 with diagram and write only the external environmental variables
or forces with explanation.
4) “The marketing environment offers both opportunities and threats, successful
companies know the vital importance of constantly watching and adapting to the
changing environment” – explain.
Refer Question no 2 for definition of concepts- opportunities and threats
Examples:
Opportunities:

Reliance Company entering into info-com.

Reliance Company entering into the retail marketing business.

Reynolds Company introduced its product as a use and throw pen in India as it
did in other markets world wide. But it could not find the market response as it
was from other markets. It was because of the Indian consumers’ psychology.
Indians developed emotional attachment towards the pens that they used and
also because of the conservative mentality imbibed in them. The difference
between buying a new re-fill and a new pen was just Re 1 but even then the
Indian psychology works that a rupee saved is 2 rupees earned, so they came
up with the concept of re-fills in India.
Threats:

Lakme did not anticipate the threat of the entry of international players like
Maybelline and Revlon. As a result, it lost huge market share of high-end
users to them.

In the retail industry, the small kirana shops are facing the threat from the
possible entry of Reliance company into the retail market segment.
As a precautionary measure HLL is up to making it’s marketing through the
retailers more organized through investment in upgrading, providing merchandise
assistance to its retailers to make the retailers to sustain the competition from big
players like Big-Bazaar etc.
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Need for Environment Analysis:Environmental Analysis attempts to give an extensive insight as to the current market
conditions as well as of impact of external factors that are uncontrollable by markets.
These play an important role in convincing potential customers regarding changes in
the market trends, market conditions etc.
The five stages in the environmental Analysis as follows:
Audit the Environmental influences
Assessment of the nature of the environment
Identify key environmental forces.
Identify the opportunities & Threats with respect to the environmental forces
Format strategy
Importance of Environment Analysis:1) Awareness
2) Knowledge of matter relating to govt.
3) Market Analysis.
4) Diversification & resource allocation
5) Identify opportunities
6) Country threats
7) Competition bottlenecks
Environmental monitoring:Environmental monitoring is also called, as environmental scanning is the process
of i)
Gathering information regarding company’s external environment,
ii)
Analyzing it,
Forecasting as to whatever trends the analysis suggests
MARKETING RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH
What is Marketing Research?
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Marketing Research involves “the gathering, processing, analysis, storage &
dissemination of information in a very systematic way to market goods and services
and to improve decision making.”
Learning more about consumers and dealers and about marketing mix generally is the
heart of marketing research. Marketing management has to rely more heavily on
marketing research as a managerial tool in solving any problem in the field of
marketing.
“Marketing Research can also be defined as the systematic gathering, recording and
analyzing of data about problems connected with the market place i.e., problems
relating to product, price promotion and distribution of the 4P’s of the marketing mix.
While conducting Marketing Research the emphasis is on:
 OBJECTIVITY: i.e. determining the facts as they are instead of individual
hunches on what the facts are ought to be Ex: Those in the business think that
they know everything whereas, professionals check and ensure that
information is authentic, original, and reliable.
 COMPLETENESS: The availability of total data.
 RELIABILITY: depends on the manner in which research is conducted
OBJECTIVES OF MARKETING RESEARCH
1. Marketing research is used in the formulation of all marketing plans policies,
programmes and procedures.
2. It is employed for evaluation of these plans, policies etc when they are brought
into practice.
3. It is used in reducing and minimizing all marketing costs, particularly selling
advertising, promotion and distribution costs.
4. Programmes of marketing research incidentally provide insurance cover for
the survival and growth of the business in a dynamic economy.
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5. Marketing management through marketing research can bring about the sale of
right product (brand or package) through right channels to right customers at
right places by evolving right plans, policies, and programmes with the help of
right personnel.
6. The main objective of marketing research is to enable manufacturers to make
goods acceptable and saleable and to see that they reach the market more
easily, quickly, cheaply and profitably without sacrificing customer interest.
7. Marketing research finds out for the manufacturer where are his customers,
what they want, when they want it, and where and how much they are willing
to pay for it.
8. It enables producers, merchants, distributors and advertisers to avoid mistakes
either in manufacturing or in marketing. To that extent it can minimize
business failures and maximize profits.
9. Marketing research is responsible to provide good information. Managers base
their decisions on information, not on data. Good information is timely, up to
date, accurate, adequate, relevant, reliable, economical and above all
understandable, acceptable and usable by managers in decision making
process.
10. Ever expanding markets require numerous middlemen between producer and
consumer. The widening of communication gap is the chief single factor for
increasing importance of marketing to fill up the communication gap between
the consumer and the producer.
SCOPE OF MARKETING RESEARCH
 The scope of marketing research is very vast. Whether it is the Govt., travel
agency, Airlines, Business firms an even non-profit organization, all can
benefit from market research.
 Each ought to study consumer behavior, consumer demands and attitudes.
Moreover they have to understand the competition, the characteristics of the
market, promotion campaigns, impacts etc.
 Every organization can do the market research separately themselves or a
group may do the research jointly for the benefit of the members of the group.
 Every organization may do the research for information on how the
competition is performing, to understand its own performance and possible
ways to improve. This information may relate to pricing, relationship with
distributors and facilities provided (to end users and intermediaries)
Depending on their needs and level of sophistication, marketing managers make use
of 4 main sources of information
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a. Syndicated services - Regular scheduled reports that are produced and sold by
research firms. These are developed without a particular client in mind, but are
sold to anyone interested.
b. Marketing Information system (MIS) - Internally coordinated activity that
provides continuous, scheduled or on-demand standardized reports. Most marketing
information systems (MKIS) rely heavily on internal data such as sales reports,
inventory amounts, and production schedules, but they also often include information
purchased from research firms or trade associations.
“MIS is an ongoing, organized procedure to generate, analyze, disseminate, store and
retrieve information for use in making marketing decisions”
The ideal MIS:
 Includes real time data
 Generates regular reports and incurring studies as needed
 MIS is a consciously developed master plan for information flow. An ongoing
process operates continuously.
 Management gets a steady flow of information on a regular basis- the right
information, for the right people at the right time for a right cost.
 Research analysts offer solutions to the marketing problem with the help of
quantitative decision-making tools.
 Management gets a steady flow of information as the gathered data is
processed with management science, modern mathematical and statistical
tools for problems solving techniques.
 MIS is future oriented. It anticipates and prevents problems as well as it solves
marketing problems. It is both, a preventive as well as curative process in
marketing.
 Finally, firms are able to collect, store and manipulate larger amounts of data
to aid marketing decision makers.
THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS
Defining the
Problem
& research
Objectives
Developing the
Research
Plan for
Collecting
Information
Implementing
the
Research plan
-collecting &
Analyzing the
data
Interpreting
& reporting
the findings
The steps are as follows:
A) Defining the problem and research objectives:
Marketing managers and researchers must work closely together to define the
problem and agree on research objectives. It is often the hardest step in the research
process.
For example: In the New coke case, Coca-cola defined its research problem too
narrowly, with desirous results. Careful problem definition would have avoided the
cost and delay of doing advertising research.
After the problem has been defined carefully, the manager and researcher must set the
research objectives. A MR project might have one of three types of objectives: They
are:
i) Exploratory Research:MR to gather preliminary information that will help define
problems suggests hypotheses
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ii) Descriptive research: MR to better describe marketing problems, situations, or
markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes
of consumers.
iii) Casual research: MR to test hypothesis about cause and effect relationships.
B) Developing the research plan for collecting information:
Once the research problems and objectives have been defined, researchers must
determine the exact information needed, develop a plan for gathering it efficiently,
and present the plan to management. The research plan outlines sources of existing
data and spells out the specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans,
and instruments that researchers will use the gather new data.
To meet the managers’ information needs, the research plan can call for gathering
secondary data, primary data or both.
i) Secondary data – Information that already exists somewhere, is having been
collected for another purpose.
Researchers usually start by gathering secondary data. The
company’s internal database provides a good starting point. However, the company
can also tap a wide assortment of external information sources, including commercial
data services and govt. sources.
Ex: AC Nielsen Corporation, Securities and Exchange commission, Online data basis
etc.
ii) Primary data – Information collected for the specific purpose at hand.
The company also collects primary data. The researchers need to make sure that it
will be relevant, accurate, current and unbiased.
Planning primary data collection
Research approaches
Contact
methods
Sampling plan
Research instruments
Observation
Survey
experiment
Mail
Telephone
Personal
online
Sampling unit
Sample size
Sampling
procedure
Questionnaire
Mechanical
instruments
RESEARCH APPROACHES:
 Observational research- The gathering of primary data by observing relevant
people, actions and situations.
 Survey research– The gathering of primary data by asking people questions
about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior.
 Experimental research - The gathering of primary data by selecting matched
groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors
and checking for differences in group responses.
Contact methods:
 Mail questionnaires
 Telephone interviewing
 Personal interviewing – individual and group interviewing
 Online (internet)marketing research
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Sampling plan:
Marketing researchers usually draw conclusions about large groups of consumers by
studying a small sample of the total consumer population.
A sample is a segment of the population selected to represent the population as a
whole.
Types of samples:
Probability sample
Simple random Sample
Every member of the population has a known &
Equal chance of selection
Stratified random
Sample
Population is divided into mutually exclusive groups
(age) and random samples are drawn from each group
Cluster (area) sample
Population is divided into mutually exclusive groups
(area) & researcher draws a sample of the groups
to interview
Non Probability Sampling
Convenience
Sample
Easiest population members are selected, to obtain
Information
Judgment sample
Judgment is used to select population
Quota sample
Researcher finds and interviews a prescribed number of
people in each of
several categories
Research Instruments:
In collecting primary data, marketing researchers, have a choice of two main research
instruments. The questionnaire and mechanical devices.
C) Implementing the Research plan:
This involves collecting, processing and analyzing the information. Researchers must
process and analyze the collected data to isolate important information and findings.
They need to check data for accuracy and completeness and were it for analysis. The
researchers then tabulate the results and compute averages and other statistical
measures.
D) Interpreting and reporting the findings:
The market researcher must now interpret the findings, draw conclusions and report
them to management. The best research is meaningless if the manager blindly accepts
faulty interpretations from the researcher. Thus managers and researchers must work
together closely when interpreting research results, and both must share responsibility
for the research process and resulting decisions.
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Limitations of MR
In spite of the rapid growth of marketing research, many companies still fail to use it
sufficiently or correctly, for several reasons:
A narrow consumption of marketing research: Many managers see marketing
research as a fact finding operation. They expect the researcher to design a
questionnaire, choose a sample, conduct interviews, and report results, often without a
careful definition of the problem or of the decision alternatives facing management.
Uneven caliber of marketing researchers: Some managers view marketing research
as little more than a clerical activity and reward it as such. Less competent marketing
researchers are hired, and their weak training and deficient creatively lead to
unimpressive results.
Late and occasionally erroneous findings by marketing research:
Managers want quick results that are accurate and conclusive; yet good marketing
research takes time and money.
Personality and presentational differences: Differences between the styles of line
managers and marketing researchers often get in the way of productive relationships.
Applications of marketing research
Marketing Research covers:
Marketing Research
Sales Research
Product Research
Advertising & Promotion research
Research on Sale: methods and policies
Distribution research including the dealer’s research
Marketing Research is interested in 5 vital areas of marketing (1) Market (2) Product
(3) Price (4) Promotion (5) Distribution
Marketing Research may seek information on:
Market: Its size spread, growth in terms of volume and revenue share of competition,
segment wise.
Consumer: His profiles, habits, needs, preferences, expectations perception, both
quantitatively and qualitatively.
Products: To know differentials among competing products in same position, price
sensitively, packaging servicing, acceptability of features.
Promotion: Sales, effectiveness, of communication, reach of media reaction to
promotion strategies, effectiveness of sale force.
Distribution: Facilities available for stocking, merchandising outlets shelf space
usage, retailer loyalties.
Performance – Monitoring and Evaluation
What are Questionnaires and Mechanical Devices ?
Questionnaires are very flexible –there are many ways to ask questions. Closed-end
questions include all the possible answers, and subjects make choice among them.
Examples include multiple-choice questions and scale questions. Open-end questions
allow respondents to answer in their own words. For example what is your opinion
about this product? Or it might ask people to complete a sentence. These and other
kinds of open-ended questions often reveal more than closed-ended questions because
respondents are not limited in their answers. Open-ended questions are especially
useful in exploratory research, when the researcher is trying to find out what people
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think but not measuring how many people think in a certain way. Closed-ended
questions, on the other hand, provide answers that are easier to interpret and tabulate.
Researchers should also use care in the wording and ordering of questions. They
should use simple, direct, unbiased wording. Questions should be arranged in a
logical order. The first question should create interest if possible, and difficult or
personal questions should be asked last so that respondents do not become defensive.
A carefully prepared questionnaire usually contains many errors.
Although questionnaires are the most common research instrument, researchers also
use mechanical instruments to monitor consumer behavior. Nielsen Media Research
attaches people meters to television sets in selected homes to record who watches
which programs. And retailers use checkout scanners to record shopper’s purchases.
Other mechanical devices measure subjects’ physical responses. For example, eye
cameras are used to study respondents’ eye movements to determine at what points
their eyes focus first and how long they linger on a given item. IBM is perfecting an
‘emotion mouse’ that will figure out users’ emotional states by measuring pulse,
temperature, movement, and galvanic skin response.
What are the sources for secondary data.
For business data:
 CNN reports U.S. and global news and covers the markets and news-making
companies in detail.
 AC Nielsen Corporation provides supermarket scanner on sales, market
share, and retail prices: data on household purchasing: and data on television
audiences.
 LEXIS-NEXIS features articles from business, consumer, and marketing
publications plus tracking of firms, industries, trends, and promotion
techniques.
 American Demographics reports on demographic trends and their
significance for businesses.
For government data:
 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office allows searches to determine who has
filed for trademarks and patents federal Trade Commission shoes regulations
and decisions related to consumer protection and antitrust laws.
For internet data:
 Jupiter Research monitors Web traffic and ranks the most popular sites.
 Interactive Advertising Bureau covers statistics about advertising on the
internet.
Probability sampling
Merits
 Each population member has a known chance of being included in the sample.
 Researchers can calculate confidence limits of sampling error.
 More efficient in administrative convenience.
Demerits
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


Very costly
Time consuming.
If stratification is faulty, the results will be biased.
Non-Probability sampling
Merits
 The varied ways of drawing samples have different costs and time limitations.
 It has different accuracy and statistical properties
 If carefully executed and proper control or checks are imposed, it gives quite
reliable results.
Demerits
 Sampling errors cannot be measured.
 It may be biased because of the personal beliefs and prejudices in the selection
of the units and inspecting them.
 It may involve the bias due to the substitution of the sampled units from where
there is no response.
However deciding upon which is the best and suitable method depends on the
needs and the nature of the project.
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