McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Marketing Research, Primary Data, Secondary Data, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Focus Groups, Long Interviews, Observational Research, Survey Research, Experimental Research, Mathematical Modeling, Cardinal Rule, Test Marketing Marketing Research: Process and Systems for Decision Making Chapter 2 Key Terms

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Role of Market Research  Process by which information about environment is generated, analyzed, and interpreted  Aids decision making and is not a substitute for it  Can reduce risks associated with managing marketing strategies  Vital for investigating the effects of various marketing strategies after implementation

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved The Marketing Research Process The Five Ps of the Research Process

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Purpose of the Research  At the end of this stage, managers and researchers should agree on  Current situation involving the problem to be researched  Nature of the problem  Specific question or questions the research is designed to investigate

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research  Critical issues that influence the research plan include  Whether primary or secondary data are needed  Whether qualitative or quantitative data are needed  Whether the company would conduct its own research or contract with a marketing research specialist

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research  Primary versus Secondary Data  Primary data – Collected for specific problem under investigation  Secondary data – Previously collected data that could be used for problem at hand  Usually more cost-effective  May not always be available for strategy-specific questions

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research Some Syndicated Data Providers

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research Some Syndicated Data Providers (Continued)

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research  Qualitative versus Quantitative Data  Qualitative – Typically involves face-to-face interviews  Focus groups  Long interviews  Quantitative – Systematic procedures to obtain and analyze numerical data  Observational research  Survey research  Experimental research  Mathematical modeling research

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research  Company versus Contract Research  Research is done internally, or through external sources

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research A Comparison of Data Collection Methods Used in Marketing Research

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Plan of the Research A Comparison of Data Collection Methods Used in Marketing Research (Continued)

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Conducting Research  Performance of research  Cardinal rule of collecting data – Obtain and record maximal amount of useful data  Time, money and respondent privacy constraints  Processing of research data – Includes preparation of data for analysis and their actual analysis  Interpret and assess research results by identifying relationships among variables or differences between groups  Preparation of research report  Clear and unambiguous, with strategic recommendations

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Conducting Research Eight Criteria for Evaluating Marketing Research Reports

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Research Limitations  Test market areas are not fully representative of the market  Sample size and design have been formulated incorrectly due to budget constraints  Pretest measurements of competitive brand sales have been not made or are inaccurate  Test scores do not give complete support to the study

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Research Limitations  Test market products are advertised or promoted beyond a profitable level for the market in general  Researchers ignore the effects of factors that influence sales  Test-market period is too short to determine whether the product will be repurchased

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Ethical Responsibilities  Responsibilities to respondents  Preserving respondent anonymity  Avoiding mental stress for respondents  Avoiding questions detrimental to respondents  Avoiding the use of dangerous equipment or techniques  Avoiding deception of respondents  Avoiding coercion of respondents

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Ethical Responsibilities  Responsibilities to clients  Providing confidentiality  Providing technical integrity  Providing administrative integrity  Providing guidance on research usage  Responsibilities to subordinate employees  Creating an ethical work environment  Avoiding opportunities for unethical behavior

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Marketing Information Systems (MIS)  Coordinated collection of data, tools, and techniques involving both computer hardware and software  Requires three types of software:  Database management software – For sorting and retrieving data from internal and external sources  Model base management software – Contains routines for manipulating data  Dialog system – Allows for exploration of data and uses models to produce information for decision making

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Marketing Information Systems (MIS)  Internal information includes such things as sales records  Investigates efficiency and effectiveness of various marketing strategies  External information concerns changes in environment

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Marketing Information Systems (MIS) Some Information Sources for Marketing Information Systems

McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Marketing Information Systems (MIS) Some Information Sources for Marketing Information Systems (Continued)