1. Conducting Market Research Market Research : Is the process of designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting information that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem.

2. Role of Marketing Research Provide information to assist marketing managers in decision making process. –Decisions the marketing manager may need to make: Advertising, pricing, promotion, etc. Identify market opportunities. –Who is the target audience, how are they spending their money? Help monitor performance. –How well is the product doing in the market environment Sales, customers response, etc.

3. Role of Marketing Research cont… Extend knowledge (Basic Research) –Learn more about the product on a general level Solve a specific problem (Applied Research) –Determine what problem the company or product is having.

4. Market Research Process Establish need for research Define the problem Establish research objectives Determine research design Identify information types and sources Determine methods of accessing data Design data collection forms Determine sample plan and size Collect data Analyze data Prepare and present the final research report Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6 Step 7 Step 8 Step 9 Step 10 Step 11

5. Market Research Process Step 1: Establish need for research –Is information already available? –Is there enough time to conduct market research? –Are resources available? (funding) –Do costs outweigh the value of research? Step 2: Define the Problem –Most important step –“A well designed problem is half solved”

6. Market Research Process Step 3: Establish Research Objectives –What do you want to learn from this research? –What information is needed to solve the problem? Step 4: Determine Research Design –Three types of design you may use in conducting research: –Exploratory: collecting information in an unstructured informal manner. –Descriptive: a set of methods and procedures that describe marketing variables. (observation) –Causal: isolate cause and effects, that usually rely on experiments.

7. Market Research Process Step 5: Identify Information Types and Sources –Primary Data: is data gathered specifically for the research objectives at hand. –Secondary Data: is data that has been collected for some other purpose. i.e. Stats CanadaStats Canada Step 6: Determine Methods of Accessing Data –Databases (Stats Canada) –Telephone surveys –Mail surveys (direct mail 2% response rate) –Door-to-door personal interviews –Focus Groups (usually 8-12 people)

8. Market Research Process Step 7: Design Data Collection Forms –Two basic methods:Asking or observing –Both use Questionnaires to determine info. –Questions on the questionnaires can be either structured or unstructured which means the person being interviewed is either given answer choices or asked to give an individual response (open ended questions). Step 8: Determine Sample Plan & Size –Three issues: Who is to be sampled and how to select them What the sample element is, including supermarket shopper, head of household, etc. Sample size: how many sample elements that need to be studied.

9. Market Research Process Step 9: Collect Data –Because many errors can occur while collecting data, trained interviewers usually conduct data collection. Telemarketers have strict guidelines to follow to conduct their research without error. Step 10: Analyze Data –To analysis data it can be inputted into software programs that process the information. You can create your own data analysis by putting your information onto a spread sheet and compare responses.

10. Market Research Process Step 11: Prepare & Present Final Research Report –Conducting report involves: Describing the process used to conduct research Create tables and charts to support findings Present graphs and data clearly Conclude your findings with suggestions or alternatives to solve the outlined problem.

11. Questionnaire Design The five “Shoulds” of Question Wording: 1.Focus the question on a single issue or topic. (I.e. “what type of hotel do you like to use?” Is not specific enough because it doesn’t focus on particulars. A better question would be…”When you are traveling on business and you arrive at your destination, what type of hotel do you typically use?” 2.Questions should be brief. 3.All questions should be interpreted the same way by all being interviewed. They should be clear. 4.Questions should use everyday vocabulary. 5.The question should be as grammatically simple as possible.

12. Questionnaire Design Approaches to question flow –Funnel Approach: general-to-specific question flow. Questions on age, sex, location, etc. are general Specific questions would relate directly to the product. –Work Approach: difficult to answer questions are placed deep into the questionnaire. –Sections Approach: arrange questions according to topic.

13. Questionnaire Organization What you (the surveyor) should do before conducting questionnaire: Introduction: –Identify the surveyor/sponsor Introduce yourself –Identify the purpose of the survey Tell the participant why you are conducting the survey. –Tell the respondents how they were selected –Ask for participation –Remind Respondents of their rights The respondents have the right to be anonymous Conduct questionnaire.

14. Assignment In your group create a questionnaire with at least 8 questions for the product provided to determine general information (basic research): Who is the target audience? What gets the customer to buy this product? How often does the customer use the product? Where do they live? What sex are they? Who does the shopping in their household? Etc. Use one of the 3 approaches for your questionnaire. Write the questions as if you were speaking to the person being interviewed.