The Marketing Research Process

1. The Marketing Research Process

3. 1. Defining the Problem • Problem definition: when a business clearly identifies a problem and what is required to solve it • Determine objectives to be accomplished through marketing research activities • When formulating questions, determine which customers belong to which target market • A resort attracts customers from multiple possible target markets (vacationers, business meetings, company gatherings, family getaways, etc.)

4. 2. Obtaining Data Data is collected and examined based on relativity to the problem(s) being studied Primary data: originally collected based on the specific issue being studied (surveys, polls, forms) Secondary Data: originally collected for a different purpose; but is relative to the problem being studied

5. 2. Obtaining Data-Secondary Data • Secondary data is cheaper than compiling/gathering primary data • Internal sources: sources found within the company through information systems, which are used to measure monthly sales, determine geographic distribution of customers, track buying patterns, identifying popular items on the market • These are sources that have been previously recorded as primary data, and can be used to solve a different issue that it was not originally intended to sell (secondary data) • External sources: sources that are found outside the company’s information system (not gathered by the company itself)

6. Types of Secondary Data Collection Methods

7. Internet Sources • Offers widest variety and availability of secondary data • Company websites offer free information that give an accurate overall status of a company, its target market, product lines/width, distribution channel (however it is presented with a promotional intent) • Digital dossiers: online company profiles on publiccorporations, income statements, and balance sheets • Hoover’s Online, Mergent Online, Factiva

8. U.S and State Government (and Canada) State departments of commerce gather useful information to assist with business and economic development activities Demographics, specific markets, industries, products economic news, export information, and legislative laws data can be accessed through the internet for free Searching for data on specific government departments (agriculture, environment, etc.) Statistics Canada-provides free data (overviews and summaries) along with data that can be purchased (full detailed reports)

9. Specialized Research Companies Available secondary data: five-year forecasts, consumer purchase information, business data, census information, and consumer classification reports Syndicated services sell the above data in print and electronic formats Mediamark Research Inc. (MRI): provides comprehensive secondary data about multimedia audience for advertisers, agencies, and magazines (promotion)

10. Business Publications and Trade Organizations Business Publications: Forbes, Business Week, Wall Street Journal, and Sales & Marketing Management (more condensed-straight to the point, limiteddetail) Trade organizations: national and stat wide; often publish research in books, reports, articles (formaland in great detail-very specific)

11. Secondary Data-Analysis Advantages Disadvantages • Easily obtained - since it had been previously gathered • Easy to compare similar data from different sources • Many essential data has already been gathered by the state (provincial) and federal governments • Data does not necessarily fit the problem at hand; since the data had been previously collected for a different purpose • Can be inaccurate depending on the sources; due to collecting methods or simply outdated data (census)

12. How Primary Data are Obtained Can be originally obtained through company research projects or specialized research organizations Large firms tend to have their own marketing research staff, but small and large firms still utilize research organizations Often, national research companies contract with businesses to provide attitude & opinion, market, media, and product research services

13. The Three Main Methods for Collecting Primary Data

14. Survey Method • Is the data gathering method where information is gathered through surveys and questionnaires • Marketers need to determine how many people to include in the survey • Census • When marketers survey the entire target population • Used when the target population is small and is rare • Sample • When only a part of the target population is surveyed • Depends on the budget, time and man-power allotted by the company

15. Survey Method • Once the amount of test subjects has been decided survey type must be chosen • In Person (physical person) • By Phone (by physical person or recorded) • By Mail (standard mail and e-mail) • Internet Surveys

16. Survey Method • Technological Trend • Due to lower costs, larger markets as well as easier data management companies are trying to digitize the survey process • There is a large push on online surveys as well as focus groups • Automated telephone systems that use the keypad to answer questions

17. Interviews • Interviews are face to face interaction and provide the best data • They are expensive so companies centralize their interviews to a single location often in public places like malls • Another form of interview is the focus group interview, where 8-12 people are brought in to evaluate different aspects of the product

18. Observation Method • A research technique in which the actions of people are recorded by surveyors or cameras • One form of this is called “mystery shopper” where a surveyor goes into a store to judge the interactions between customers and employees • Is very efficient and quick and is more accurate as people don't know they are being surveyed so they act as they normally would • Point of sale research is when surveyors use observation to pick research subjects then to interview those select few

19. Experimentation Method • A research technique where the surveyor observes the results of changing one or more marketing variables while keeping the others constant • Often used for product modification such as: • New package designs • Media Usage • Promotion types

20. Analyzing the Data • Data Analysis • The process of compiling, analyzing and interpreting the results of data collection • Taking the data you collected and finding patterns • Data Mining • A computer process that uses statistics to extract new information form data

21. Recommending Solutions • Presented in a written report that includes: • Title Page • Acknowledgements • Table of Contents • List of Tables and sources of data • Introduction • Review of research data • Procedure of collecting data • Results • Recommendations • Summary and Conclusions • Appendixes • Bibliography

22. Applying the Results After all of these stages the business will have to act upon the information it has received. The business may also request more data or a retaking of the data

23. Thanks for listening • Homework is 29.1 • 1-4

24. Constructing the Questionnaire • When you need for form quantitative research questionnaires, the data should provide validity. • Validity is when the questions asked measure what was intended to be measured. • Questionnaires that are poorly written or what do not address customer service will not have validity • Research questions should have reliability

25. Continued...... • Reliability exists when a research technique produces nearly identical results in repeated trials. • The questions should be clear and easily understood so that all participants understand the question in the same way. • Example is if you ask the person “was the food hot”, they could interpret the question in two ways. • One way they could interpret is by thinking was the food spicy • The other way is was the food warm enough

26. Some more Continuation... For a questionnaire to have valid and reliable it must be clear, properly written, formatted and administered.

27. Writing questions • There are two types of questions that can be written in the survey • Open ended questions • Open ended questions ask respondents to construct their own response to a question. • Example is “what changes or additions to this coat would coat would you recommend?” after this could be a space for a person to write whatever they wanted. • These questions are very hard to organize since there could be many answers.

28. Continued...... • Forced-choice questions • Forced-choice questions ask respondents to choose answers from possibilities given on a questionnaire. • this is the choice of question you would put on a questionnaire since they are easier to organize • the answers could be multiple choice, rating, rating scale, and level of agreement scales

29. More Continued..... Yes/no questions • These questions will only have two answers. • Example: “was our facility clean?” or “was our facility well maintained?” • But you shouldn’t ask “was our facility clean and well maintained” • Because it could be two answers so people will get confused and the questionnaire will be pointless.

30. Continued…continued! Multiple-choice questions • Multiple-choice questions are questions with more than one answer • The options should be similar but different so that people can have their say • Also by adding a other section you can add a person’s opinion in the answer in case it’s not there • If there is no other area the answers could be misleading

31. Continued.. Rating scale questions • Rating scale asks a respondent to rate the question in a scale. • The scale could be from very satisfied to very dissatisfied or excellent to poor.

32. Rating Scale Questions

33. Formatting Rating scales are the most common, scales they are normally numbered from 1 to 10 but CAN GO TO WHATEVER YOU WANT Scales are supposed to havecool/attractive designs inorder to get your attention and convince you to try it (normally use black ink and light paper so it is easier to read) They are normally made quick so they are done fast. Heading and numbers have to be in their right locations; if it’s more than one page put a note saying next page on the bottom (make it easy to navigate through)

34. Administering the Questionnaire • All surveys have deadline a survey should be sent first class with the purposeof the survey and the deadline for it on the letter • Surveys that are not mailed should have a short overviewof the surveys purpose • Plans should be made to find the right people in an un biased way • examples are interviews reactions to designs

35. Incentives • Deliver an incentive/reasonto the audience in order to gain their time/opinions • Incentives can also be used to gainleads-contact information • Many surveys offer prizes or incentives as a gift for completing the survey • for example you could be entered into a draw for a big prize or each person who entered may receive a coupon  

36. Homework 29.2 Questions 1-4