Marketing Research Notes
Need to Know the Customers
The researcher has to study various demographic and psychographic factors of customers to
understand him or her in a better way.
Marketing Information System
A MIS consists of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and
distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketing decision makers.
Marketing
Managers
Analysis
Developing Information
Assessing
Information
Needs
Internal
records
Marketing
intelligence
Planning
Target
Marketing
Marketing
channels
Implementation
Organization
Marketing
Environment
Distributing
Information
Information
analysis
Marketing
research
Control
Competitors
Publics
Macroenvironment
Internal Records: it consists of information gathered from sources within the company to
evaluate marketing performance and detect marketing problems and opportunities (i.e., financial
statements, orders, cash flows, inventories). The problem with such information is that it may be
incomplete or in the wrong form. The benefit is that it is cheaper.
Marketing Intelligence: it is everyday information about developments in the marketing
environment that helps managers prepare and adjust marketing plans (i.e., sales force reports,
scientists, engineers, supplier, competitors or consultants firms like Dun & Bradstreet or Nielsen)
Competitor Intelligence: information gathered that informs on what the competition is doing or
is about to do (i.e. In Japan they feed information about competitors back to management). Some
sources of marketing intelligence are:

Getting information from published materials and public documents

Searching the Internet – www.companysleath.com

Getting information from people who do business with competitors

Asking competitors’ employees and recruits
Marketing Research:
It is the function linking the consumer to the marketer through information that identifies and
defines marketing opportunities, generating actions, and monitors marketing performance in
order to improve understanding of the marketing process.
Marketing Research Type
Basic
Applied
Basic
•
ATTEMPTS TO EXPAND THE LIMITS OF KNOWLEDGE.
•
NOT DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE SOLUTION TO A PRAGMATIC PROBLEM
Applied
CONDUCTED WHEN A DECISION MUST BE MADE ABOUT A SPECIFIC REALLIFE PROBLEM
The Marketing Research Process
The key areas where marketing research is applied are:
 Consumer research
 Advertising research
 Sales research (e.g. sales forecasting)
 Product & Brand research
 Public Relations Research
 Research for Sales Promotion
 Competitor’s research
 New product development
 Market research (e.g. assessing market potential)
Etc.
Research Proposal
A research proposal is a proposal in which researcher mention the detailed
program about his research investigation.
RESEARCH PROPOSAL OUTLINE
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - Introduction
(Need for the Study, Justification)
Problem Statement
Objectives/Research Questions/Hypotheses
Definition of Terms
Limitations of the Study
Basic Assumptions
Chapter 2 - Review of Literature
(Can have sections deemed necessary)
Chapter 3 - Procedures
Research Design
Subject Selection
Outcome Measures
Conditions of Testing
Treatments
Data Analysis
Chapter 4 – Results (presentation should follow the same sequence and topics as that presented
in Chapter 3)
Findings Relative to problem
Summary of Data
Tests of Significance
Chapter 5 - Discussion
*Bibliography
Appendices
Research Design
A framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It specifies the details
of the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure and/or solve
marketing problems.
Types of research design
 EXPLORATORY
 DESCRIPTIVE
 CAUSAL
descriptive and causal research is also called as conclusive research.
EXPLORATORY
To gain background information, to define terms, to clarify problems and develop hypotheses, to
establish research priorities, to develop questions to be answered.
DESCRIPTIVE
To describe and measure marketing phenomena at a point in time.
CAUSAL
To determine causality, test hypotheses, to make “if-then” statements, to answer questions.
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
 INITIAL RESEARCH CONDUCTED TO CLARIFY AND DEFINE THE NATURE OF
A PROBLEM
 DOES NOT PROVIDE CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE
 SUBSEQUENT RESEARCH EXPECTED
WHY CONDUCT EXPLORATORY RESEARCH?
Diagnose a situation
Screening of alternatives
Discover new ideas
CATEGORIES OF EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
 EXPERIENCE SURVEYS
 SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS
 CASE STUDIES
 PILOT STUDIES
EXPERIENCE SURVEYS
 ASK KNOWLEDGEABLE INDIVIDUALS
 ABOUT A PARTICULAR RESEARCH PROBLEM
 MOST ARE QUITE WILLING
SECONDARY DATA ANALYSIS
 DATA COLLECTED FOR A PURPOSE OTHER THAN THE PROJECT AT HAND
 ECONOMICAL
 QUICK SOURCE FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION
CASE STUDY METHOD
 INTENSELY INVESTIGATES ONE OR A FEW SITUATIONS SIMILAR TO THE
PROBLEM
 INVESTIGATE IN DEPTH
 CAREFUL STUDY
 MAY REQUIRE COOPERATION
PILOT STUDY
 A COLLECTIVE TERM
 ANY SMALL SCALE EXPLORATORY STUDY THAT USES SAMPLING
 BUT DOES NOT APPLY RIGOROUS STANDARDS
PILOT STUDIES
Focus Group Interviews
Projective Techniques
Depth Interviews
Focus Group Interviews
 UNSTRUCTURED
 FREE FLOWING
 GROUP INTERVIEW
 START WITH BROAD TOPIC AND FOCUS IN ON SPECIFIC ISSUES
Projective Techniques
 WORD ASSOCIATION TESTS
 SENTENCE COMPLETION METHOD
 THIRD-PERSON TECHNIQUE
 ROLE PLAYING
 T.A.T
Depth Interviews
Research Design: Descriptive Research
•
Descriptive research is undertaken to provide answers to questions of who, what, where,
when, and how – but not why.
Two basic classifications:
•
Cross-sectional studies
•
Longitudinal studies
Cross-sectional studies
•
Cross-sectional studies measure units from a sample of the population at only one point
in time.
•
Sample surveys are cross-sectional studies whose samples are drawn in such a way as to
be representative of a specific population.
•
On-line survey research is being used to collect data for cross-sectional surveys at a faster
rate of speed.
Longitudinal studies
•
Longitudinal studies repeatedly draw sample units of a population over time.
•
One method is to draw different units from the same sampling frame.
•
A second method is to use a “panel” where the same people are asked to respond
periodically.
•
On-line survey research firms recruit panel members to respond to online queries.
•
Two types of panels:
•
Continuous panels ask panel members the same questions on each panel
measurement.
•
Discontinuous (Omnibus) panels vary questions from one time to the next.
•
Longitudinal data used for:
•
Market tracking
•
Brand-switching
•
Attitude and image checks
Research Design: Causal Research
•
Causality may be thought of as understanding a phenomenon in terms of conditional
statements of the form “If x, then y.”
•
Causal relationships are typically determined by the use of experiments, but other
methods are also used.
Experiments (a kind of causal research)
AN
EXPERIMENT
IS
DEFINED
AS
MANIPULATING
(CHANGING
VALUES/SITUATIONS) ONE OR MORE INDEPENDENT VARIABLES TO SEE HOW
THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE(S) IS/ARE AFFECTED, WHILE ALSO CONTROLLING
THE AFFECTS OF ADDITIONAL EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES.
•
Two broad classes:
•
Laboratory experiments: those in which the independent variable is manipulated
and measures of the dependent variable are taken in a contrived, artificial setting
for the purpose of controlling the many possible extraneous variables that may
affect the dependent variable
•
Field experiments: those in which the independent variables are manipulated and
measurements of the dependent variable are made on test units in their natural
setting
The Research Report
–
Title page
–
Table of contents
–
Executive summary
–
Introduction
–
Results
–
Conclusion
–
Recommendations
–
4. Introduction
–
5. Body
–
Methodology
–
Results
–
Limitations
–
6. Conclusions and recommendations
–
7. Appendix
–
Questionnaire
–
Sampling methodology and definition
–
Other tables not in the report
–
Bibliography
Types of data

Primary: information collected for the specific purpose at hand

Secondary: information that already exists by having been collected for another purpose
(i.e. a database etc.)
Primary Research Collections
Research
Methods
Contact
Methods
Sampling
Plan
Observations
Mail
Survey
Telephone
Sampling size
Experiments
Personal
Sampling
procedure
Research
Instruments
Sampling unit Questionnaire
Mechanical
instruments
Internet
Designing The Questionnaire
A structured technique for data collection consisting of a series of questions, written or verbal, to
which a respondent replies, is construed as a questionnaire.
a questionnaire serves six key functions:
 It translates the research objective into specific questions that are asked of respondents
 It standardizes those questions and response categories so every participant responds to
identical stimuli
 By its wording, question flow and appearance, it fosters cooperation and keeps
respondents motivated throughout the interview
 Questionnaires serve as permanent record of the research
 They speed up the process of data analysis
 They contain the information upon which reliability assessments such as test—retest or
equivalent—form questions, may be made and they are used in follow up validation of
respondents’ participation in the survey
Flow chart for the process of questionnaire design:
Planning what to measure
•
Revisit the research objectives
•
Decide on the research issue of your questionnaire
•
Get additional information on the research issue from the secondary data sources and
exploratory research
•
Decide on what is to be asked under the research issue
Formatting the questionnaire
•
Is the question necessary?
•
Does the respondent have the information requested?
•
Will the respondent have to do lot of work to get the information required?
•
Will they give the information?
Decide on the format of each question
•
Close ended
•
Open ended
•
Dichotomous
•
Ranking
•
Paired comparison
•
Multiple choice
Question wording
•
Determine how the question to be worded
•
Evaluate each question on the basis of comprehensibility, knowledge and ability,
willingness / inclination of a typical respondent to the answer
Sequencing and layout decisions
•
layout the questions in a proper sequence
Pre-testing and correcting problems
•
Read through the whole questionnaire to check whether it makes sense and it measures
what it is supposed to measure
•
Check the questionnaire for error
•
Pre-test the questionnaire
•
Correct the problems
•
Revision and final draft
Types of questionnaire (studies)
•
Structured, non-disguised questioning
•
Non-structured, non-disguised questioning
•
Non-structured, disguised questioning
•
Structured, disguised questioning
Sampling
Sampling is the process of selecting a subset of units from the population. We use
sampling formulas to determine how many to select because it is based on the
characteristics of this sample that we make inferences about the population.
In preparing to take a sample, there many questions we might have, including:
• Can we make procedural errors that influence the results, but are not related to the
sample itself?
• Can we make errors in our sampling?
• How can we determine the size and the accuracy of the sample result?
Sample: a segment of the population selected for market research to represent the population as
a whole
Sampling unit: who is to be surveyed
Sampling size: How many people we include in the sample
SYSTEMATIC ERRORS (NON-SAMPLING ERRORS)
Systematic errors result from decisions that bias the sample selection or response to
your survey. Four common mistakes are made:
1. Population Specification Error: This error is one of not understanding who you should
be surveying. As a simple example, imagine you are preparing a survey about the
consumption of breakfast cereals. Who do you survey? It might be the entire family, the
mother, or the children. The family consumes cereal, the mother purchases, and the
children influence her choice.
2. Sample Frame Error: A frame error occurs when the wrong sub-population is
specified from which the sample is drawn. A classic frame error occurred in predicting
the 1936 presidential election between Roosevelt and Landon. The sample frame used
was from car registrations and telephone directories. In 1936, car and telephone owners
were largely Republicans. While the results may have reflected the sample, the
predictions were not accurate for the US as a whole and the results wrongly predicted a
Republican victory.
3. Selection Error: Selection error results when the respondents self select their
participation... those who are
interested respond. Selection error can be controlled by going extra lengths to get
participation. Typical steps include initiating pre-survey contact requesting cooperation,
actual surveying, post survey follow-up if a response is not received, a second survey
request, and finally interviews using an alternate modes such as telephone or person to
person.
4. Non-Response: Non response errors occur when non-respondents are different than
those who respond. This
may occur because either the potential respondent was not contacted (they did check
their e-mail) or they refused to respond (they were all grumpy old men or beautiful
young women afraid of strangers). Again, the extent of this non-response error can be
checked through follow-up surveys using alternate modes.
NON-SYSTEMATIC ERRORS (SAMPLING ERRORS)
Sampling errors occur because of variation in the number or representativeness of the
sample that responds. Sampling errors can be controlled by (1) Careful sample designs,
(2) Large samples, and (3) Multiple contacts to assure representative response. Two
types of samples may be drawn, a probability sample where every person in the sample
has an equal and known probability of being selected, and a non-probability sample
where the probability of a person being selected is unknown.
An Introduction to Sampling
Sampling procedure: (probability, non-probability samples)
TYPES OF SAMPLING
Probability Sampling

Simple random sampling: every member of the population has a known and equal chance
of selection

Stratified random sample: the population is divided into mutually exclusive groups (i.e.
age groups) and random sample is drawn from each group. A stratified sample is
sometimes desirable if the population is to be broken up into different groups based on
one or more characteristics of the population. In this case, the strata are identified. Strata
may defined as any groups: Credit card users Vs noncredit card users, by gender, age,
industry, purchasers Vs non-purchasers, current customers Vs past customers, etc. Once
the strata are identified, a simple random sample is drawn within each strata. Once the
survey is completed, the strata are then weighted back to the population proportions.

Cluster sample: the population is divided into mutually exclusive groups (i.e. blocks) and
the researcher draws a sample of the groups to interview.

Systematic Sampling: A systematic sample occurs all potential respondents have a known
and equal chance of being selected. Typically a systematic sample would select every nth
person from the list of potential respondents. For example, a systematic sample of 400
customers (out of the 3000 total customers) would be conducted by computing a
respondent selection frequency (N/n) = 3000/400 = 7.5. Then this number is rounded to 8
and a random number is selected from 1-8 (suppose the result is 3). We would select a
systematic sample by first selecting the third customer on the list and then every 8th
thereafter. This will form a simple random sample of respondents if the customer list is
not systematically ordered in some way.
Non-probability sampling

Convenience sample: the researcher selects the easiest population members from which
to obtain information.

Judgment sample: the researcher uses his or her judgment to select population members
who are good prospects for accurate information.

Quota sample: the researcher finds and interviews a prescribed number of people in each
of several categories.