MARKET RESEARCH

LEARNING INTENTIONS Students will be able to:  Describe the basic terminology of statistics  Explain how ‘sampling’ can help marketers and others to make decisions without asking everyone in an entire population  Describe the influencing effect of question design on data collection

MARKET RESEARCH

SECONDARY RESEARCH

INTERNAL SOURCES Company Accounts Internal Reports and Analysis Stock Analysis Retail data - loyalty cards, till data, etc.

EXTERNAL SOURCES Australian Bureau of Statistics Trade publications Commercial Data - Gallup, Mintel, etc. Household Expenditure Survey Magazine surveys Other firms’ research Research documents – publications, journals, etc.

SAMPLING METHODS

MARKET RESEARCH Sampling Methods: Random Samples – equal chance of anyone being picked  May select those not in the target group – indiscriminate  Sample sizes may need to be large to be representative  Can be very expensive

MARKET RESEARCH Stratified or Segment Random Sampling  Samples on the basis of a representative strata or segment  Still random but more focussed  May give more relevant information  May be more cost effective

MARKET RESEARCH Quota Sampling  Again – by segment  Not randomly selected  Specific number on each segment are interviewed, etc.  May not be fully representative  Cheaper method

MARKET RESEARCH Cluster Sampling  Primarily based on geographical areas or ‘clusters’ that can be seen as being representative of the whole population Snowball Sampling  Samples developed from contacts of existing customers – ‘word of mouth’ type approach!

PURPOSE

MARKET RESEARCH Advantages of Market Research  Helps focus attention on objectives  Aids forecasting, planning and strategic development  May help to reduce risk of new product development  Communicates image, vision, etc.  Globalisation makes market information valuable (HSBC adverts!!)

MARKET RESEARCH Disadvantages of Market Research  Information only as good as the methodology used  Can be inaccurate or unreliable if done poorly  May stifle initiative and ‘gut feeling’  Always a problem that we may never know enough to be sure!

PRIMARY RESEARCH

MARKET RESEARCH Primary Research  First hand information  Expensive to collect, analyse and evaluate  Can be highly focussed and relevant  Care needs to be taken with the approach and methodology to ensure accuracy  Types of question – closed – limited information gained; open – useful information but difficult to analyse

WHAT IS STATISTICS?

A branch of mathematics dealing with collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation of data Statistical thinking is logical, uses data, recognises interdependence of activities (variables), and looks at how things vary.

WHAT IS STATISTICS? It is only a very recent concept/idea. Until the just prior to the renaissance no one on earth had any idea that you could measure the ‘odds’ of something occurring. And if no one believed you could measure the odds of something occurring, no one could predict the odds of something occurring.

WHAT IS STATISTICS? Example? Gambling with dice.

TWO MAIN KINDS OF STATISTICS Descriptive statistics Collecting, describing, presenting data Inferential statistics Drawing conclusions and/or making decisions concerning a population based only on sample data

KEY DEFINITIONS Population a collection of all members of a group being investigated Sample subset of the population

SAMPLES AND POPULATIONS By studying the behaviour of a sample we can get a good idea of the behaviour of the population. Not a perfect picture, but good enough to guide decision making. But why don’t we just check out the entire population to make sure we get it right?

WHY TAKE JUST A SAMPLE? 1.Less costly to administer 2.Less time consuming 3.More practical to administer than a census, & include more detail (for given resources) 4.possible that no product would be left if population tested (destructive) 5.possible that the population cannot be accessed

SAMPLES AND POPULATIONS We can make sure our sample is as likely as possible to be representative of the population though. We control the quality of information contained in the sample by controlling the amount of sample data collected (i.e., number of people surveyed) and the sampling design used to collect it (e.g., the way you collected the data – i.e. cluster sampling vs. snowball sampling).

MARKET RESEARCH Quantitative and Qualitative Information: Quantitative – based on numbers – 56% of 18 year olds drink alcohol at least four times a week - doesn’t tell you why, when, how Qualitative – more detail – tells you why, when and how!

QUESTION DESIGN An experiment.  I will hand out a question.  Record your answer on the piece of paper in front of you and hand it over to the designated person on your table.