1. Exploring Marketing Research William G. Zikmund
Chapter 4:
The Human Side
of Marketing Research

2. Mission Statement
Identifies the research department’s purpose within the organization

3. Continuum of Marketing Research Sophistication
Intuition-Centered
Decision Making
Stage of intuitive
decision making
Stage of
sophistication
Research-Centered
Decision Making
Stage of development

4. Research Departments Perform a Staff Function
Clients
Director of research
Research analysts
Cross-functional teams

5. Medium-Sized Research Department
Director of marketing research
and sales forecasting
Research analyst
(project director)
Manager of
sales research
Research assistant
(entry-level trainee)
Forecast
analysts

6. Managers
Researchers
1. Decision oriented
1. Technique oriented
2. Intuitive
2. Analytical
3. Managers like to confirm
3. Researchers like to explore
4. Time orientation toward:
a. project immediacy (“I need
it now.”)
b. results about future behavior
(“what will sales be next year?”)
4. Time orientation toward:
a. Project prolongment (“later when
we have time for a complete
study”)
b. results about past behavior
(“our trend has been . . .”)
5. Frugal (“keep the cost down”)
5. Not cost conscious (“you get what you
pay for”)
6. Results orientation:
a. managers do not like surprises--when they are surprised they tend to reject the results
b. concern (“aren’t we number one yet?”)
c. certainty (“is it or isn’t it?”)
6. Results orientation:
a. researchers love surprises
b. abstraction (“our exponential gain. . .”)
c. probability (“may be”)
7. Reactive
7. Proactive

7. Top Management-Marketing Research Conflict
Research responsibility
Research personnel
Budget
Assignments
Problem definition
Research reporting
Use of research

8. Research Supplier
A commercial marketing research service that conducts marketing research activities for clients
Syndicated service
Standardized service
Provides customized research

9. Greenbook 2000-2001 : International Directory of Marketing Research Companies and Services (Serial)

10. Considerations for Hiring Outside Suppliers
Expertise
Urgency of the decision
Personnel resources
Economic factors
Objectivity
Confidentiality
Quality control

11. Ethical Issues Philosophical questions Societal norms
Codes of behavior

12. Rights and Obligations of the Respondent
The obligation to be truthful
Privacy
Deception
The right to be informed

13. Rights and Obligations of the Researcher
The purpose of research is research
Objectivity
Misrepresenting research
Protect the right to confidentiality of both subjects and clients
Dissemination of faulty conclusions
Advocacy research

14. Rights and Obligations of the Client Sponsor (User)
Ethics between buyer and seller
An open relationship with research suppliers
An open relationship with interested parties
Privacy
Commitment to research
Pseudo-pilot studies

15. Advocacy Research
Research to support a specific legal claim

16. Pseudo-Pilot Studies
The researcher is told that the study is the first of many in a more comprehensive study