Marketing Research Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Module Review

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Qualitative Research... Is any research conducted using an observational technique or unstructured questioning. Conducted: –when structured research is not possible, –when true response may not be available [embarrassing “touchy questions”] –to explain quantitative research results.

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Qualitative research Observation techniques Direct vs indirect: –Direct > observing behavior as it occurs –Indirect > observing the effects of behavior Disguised vs nondisguised –Nondisguised >Direct –Disguised > Indirect Classification of Observation Structured vs unstructured Structured >predetermine what to observe Unstructured>monitor all behavior Human vs Mechanical Human>observation done by human beings Mechanical>observation by machine

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Observation Appropriate Conditions –The event must occur in a short time interval, Avoid lag affect –Must occur in a setting where the researcher can observe the behavior Praying, cooking are not suitable things to observe –Necessary under situations of faulty recall Faulty recall - remembering things such as how many times one looked at his wristwatch.

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Observation: Advantages and Limitations Advantages –Greater data accuracy than direct questioning, in natural settings people behave naturally, –Problems of refusal, not at home, false response, non- cooperation etc. are absent, –No recall error, –In some situations, only way Number of customers visiting a store Studying children’s behavior Limitations –Time consuming, too many things to observe, –may not be representative, –difficulty in determining root cause of the behavior.

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Focus Groups Objectives: - Generate new product or service ideas –Understand consumer vocabulary Useful for ad campaigns –Reveal consumer needs, motives, perceptions and attitudes, Generating future research objectives –Facilitate understanding of the quantitative studies

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Other Qualitative Techniques Depth Interview: An unstructured interview that seeks opinions of respondents on a one-to-one basis. Useful for sensitive issues, politics etc. Protocol Analysis: Involves placing a person in a decision making situation and asking him/her to state everything he/she considers in making a decision. Useful in 1. Purchasing involving a long time frame (car, house) and 2. Where the decision process is too short (greeting card). Projective technique: Involve situations in which participants are placed in simulated activities hoping that they will divulge information about themselves that are unlikely to be revealed under direct questing.

PGDM Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Qualitative research can be used alone or as part of mixed research Main advantage is that is capable generating rich data on WHY? Useful when looking at NEW things Rich data may be difficult to analyse

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research SURVEY RESEARCH

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Based on simple idea: “”… the best way to find out what consumers think is to ask them.” Zikmund

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Survey Research A method of collecting primary data by communicating with a representative sample of people

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Survey Research Design The way the environment is controlled or organized Environmental variables to control When the survey is given How the survey is given ▫ The sample size ▫ Number of groups The more environmental control, the more accurate the results will be

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Properly conducted Surveys can be: Quick Inexpensive Efficient Accurate Flexible

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Problems with Surveys come from: ERRORS Non-response error Response bias Administrative error

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Types of Sampling: Personal Interviews Intercepts Telephone interviews Self administered questions Mail questionnaires

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research SAMPLING (Zikmund, Chapter 12)

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Examine a Part of the Whole In most surveys access to the entire population is near impossible, The results from a survey with a carefully selected sample will reflect extremely closely those that would have been obtained had the population provided the data.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Bias The one thing above all to avoid. - no way to fix a biased sample - no way to salvage useful information from it. Best way to avoid bias is to select individuals for the sample at random. Deliberately introducing randomness is one of the great insights of Statistics

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Probability Sampling Methods Probability or random sampling gives all members of the population a known chance of being selected for inclusion in the sample The selection of individuals does not affect the chance of anyone else in the population being selected. Many statistical techniques assume that a sample was selected on a random basis

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research There are essentiality two types of sampling: probability non-probability sampling.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Randomise - can protect against factors that you know are in the data. - can help protect against factors you are not even aware of. Randomising makes sure that on the average the sample looks like the rest of the population

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Randomisation - Individuals are randomly selected. - No one group should be over-represented. - Sampling randomly gets rid of bias. Random samples rely on the absolute objectivity of random numbers.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Four basic types of random sampling techniques: Simple Random Sampling Systematic Sampling Stratified Sampling Cluster or Multi-stage Sampling

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Simple Random Sampling This is the ideal choice as it is a ‘perfect’ random method. Using this method, individuals are randomly selected from a list of the population and every single individual has an equal chance of selection.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Systematic Sampling Systematic sampling is a frequently used variant of simple random sampling. When performing systematic sampling, every kth element from the list is selected (this is referred to as the sample interval) from a randomly selected starting point. For example, if we have a listed population of 6000 members and wish to draw a sample of 200, we would select every 30th (6000 divided by 200) person from the list. In practice, we would randomly select a number between 1 and 30 to act as our starting point.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Cluster or Multi-stage Sampling I s particularly useful in situations for which no list of the elements within a population is available and therefore cannot be selected directly. As this form of sampling is conducted by randomly selecting subgroups of the population, possibly in several stages, it should produce results equivalent to a simple random sample

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Cluster samples are generally used if: - No list of the population exists. - Well-defined clusters, which will often be geographic areas,exist. - A reasonable estimate of the number of elements in each level of clustering can be made. - Often the total sample size must be fairly large to enable cluster sampling to be used effectively.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Non-probability Sampling Methods Non-probability sampling procedures are much less desirable, as they will almost certainly contain sampling biases. Unfortunately, in some circumstances such methods are unavoidable. In Marketing Research the most frequently-adopted form of non-probability sampling is known as quota sampling.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Voluntary Response Sampling: Individuals choose to be involved. These samples are very susceptible to being biased because different people are motivated to respond or not. Often called “public opinion polls.”

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research It’s the Sample Size!! How large a random sample do we need for the sample to be reasonably representative of the population? It’s the size of the sample, not the size of the population, that makes the difference in sampling. Exception: If the population is small enough and the sample is more than 10% of the whole population, the population size can matter.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Calculating a Sample Size: Calculation of an appropriate sample size depends upon a number of factors unique to each survey and it is down to the researcher to make decisions regarding these factors. The three most important are: - How accurate you wish to be - How confident you are in the results - What budget you have available

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research The required formula is: s = (z / e)2 Where: s = the sample size z = a number relating to the degree of confidence you wish to have in the result. 95% confidence* is most frequently used and accepted. The value of ‘z’ should be 2.58 for 99% confidence, 1.96 for 95% confidence, 1.64 for 90% confidence and 1.28 for 80% confidence. e = the error you are prepared to accept, measured as a proportion of the standard deviation (accuracy)

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research (re. Zikmund, Chapter 14)

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research The main purpose of statistics is to accurately summarise the data into easily interpretable fewer numbers Why we need Statistics

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Descriptive statistics: -Convergence - Divergence Measures of: - Association

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research The Standard Deviation In principle, the standard deviation (often shortened to ‘sd’) is very similar to the mean deviation. It summarises an average distance of all the scores from the mean of a particular set.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Normal Distribution

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Attitude Scaling and Measurement (Zikmund, Chapter 10)

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Attitude: An enduring disposition to consistently respond in a given matter

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Measuring Attitudes Ranking Rating Sorting Choice

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research The Attitude Measuring Process: Ranking - Rank order preference Rating - Estimates magnitude of a characteristic Sorting - Arrange or classify concepts Choice - Selection of preferred alternative

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Physiological measures of attitudes … provide a means of measuring attitudes without verbally questioning the respondent. for example, galvanic skin responses, measure blood pressure etc.

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Simple Attitude Scaling: In its most basic form, attitude scaling requires that an individual agree with a statement or respond to a single question. This type of self-rating scale merely classifies respondents into one of two categories;

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Questionnaire Design (re. Zikmund Chapter 11)

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Major Decisions What to ask How questions are phrased Sequence of questions Layout Pretesting

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research What Questions? … will be determined by Type of Marketing Decision Problem definition Primary research objectives

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Two Main Types of Question: 1. Closed 1. Open

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Closed-ended questions can be: Dichotomous Multiple Likert scale Semantic differential Rank order Numeric

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Open-ended questions Unstructured Word Association Sentence completion Story completion

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Advantages of Open-Ended Questions Greater freedom of expression No bias due to limited response ranges Respondent can qualify their answers Disadvantages of Open-Ended Questions Time consuming to code Researcher / interviewer may misinterpret and therefore misclassify) a response

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research Questionnaire Layout (see Zikmund – page 265) Always Introduce questionnaire Move from general to specific Use “filter” questions

Bangor Transfer Abroad Programme Marketing Research PILOTING QUESTIONNAIRE Any questionnaire, should be "piloted" (i.e. test it) to check that it is going to function effectively. There are a number of reasons why it is important to pilot a questionnaire: To test how long it takes to complete To check that the questions are not ambiguous To check that the instructions are clear To eliminate questions that do not yield usable data