1. Chapter 4 Marketing Research
Idil Yaveroglu
Lecture Notes

2. Marketing Research
A marketing plan starts out with a good understanding of consumer needs and wants, as well as competitors, resellers, and other environmental forces.
Marketing Information System consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.
The MIS must balance needs against feasibility:
Not all information can be obtained
Obtaining, processing, sorting, and delivering information is costly

3. Marketing Information System

4. Developing Marketing Information
Sources of Information:
Internal Data: Electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network (e.g. accounting, customer service, sales force, operations)
Advantages include quick/easy access to information
Disadvantages stem from the incompleteness or inappropriateness of data to a particular situation
Can be outdated
May have to manage a vast amount of information
Marketing Intelligence: Systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment.
Benchmarking, researching on the internet, trade publications, business publications etc.
Marketing Research: The systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization.

5. Marketing Research Process

6. Step 1. Defining the Problem
The manager and the researcher must work together. These objectives guide the entire process
Exploratory Research: gathers preliminary information that will help define problems and suggest hypothesis
Descriptive Research: Marketing research to better describe problems (e.g. demographics/attitudes of buyers, where they are located etc)
Causal Research: Tests cause-effect relationships e.g. Does a change in package design lead to an increase in sales?

7. Step 2. Developing the Research Plan
Research plan is a written document which outlines the type of problem, objectives, data needed, and the usefulness of the results. It includes:
Secondary data: Information collected for another purpose which already exists
Primary data: Information collected for the specific purpose at hand

8. Sources of Secondary Data
Internal company data
Internal corporate information
External data:
Information from trade associations (NAR, NAHB)
government agencies
Marketing research firms
Syndicated data - collected by a third party and sold to industry members (Nielsen - TV ratings, scanner data)
Commercial publications
News media

9. Sources of Data Advantages Disadvantages Secondary Data Primary Data
Saves time and money if on target
Aids in determining direction for primary data collection
Pinpoints the kinds of people to approach
Serves as a basis of comparison for other data
May not be on target with the research problem
Quality and accuracy of data may pose a problem
May be outdated
Primary Data
Answers a specific research question
Data are current
Source of data is known
Secrecy can be maintained
Expensive
Reluctance to participate

10. Primary Data Collection
Research approaches for obtaining primary data include:
Observational Research: Involves gathering data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations. It is best suited for exploratory research
people watching people
Ethnographic research
people watching an activity
machines watching people
Nielsen ratings
Surveys: The most popular technique for gathering primary data. It is best suited for descriptive information.
Experiments: Studies cause-effect relationships. It is best suited for causal research. In experiments the researcher manipulates one or more of the marketing mix variables and compares the effect on the experimental group to a control group that did not receive the manipulation
Attempt to assess cause-and-effect
Laboratory - very controlled environment
Taste tests, packaging, ads
Field - less control, more generalizability
new products (test marketing), new ad campaigns, pricing changes

11. Contact Methods in Primary Data
Mail surveys
Telephone surveys
Personal interviewing:
Individual or focus group
Online research

12. Primary Data Sampling Plan
Sample: subgroup of population from whom information will be collected
Sampling Plan Decisions:
Sampling unit – who is to be surveyed?
Sample size – how many should be surveyed?
Larger samples give better results but cost more
Sampling procedure – how should the people in the sample be chosen?
Probability samples - Probability sampling involves using precise rules to select the sample such that each element of the population has a specific known chance of being selected.
Non-probability samples – usually there is a researcher bias

13. Errors Associated with Sampling
Measurement Error
Sampling Error
Frame Error
Random Error

14. Step 3: Implementing the Research Plan
Data is collected by the company or an outside firm
The data is then processed and checked for accuracy and completeness and coded for analysis
Finally the data is analyzed by a variety of statistical methods

15. Step 4: Interpreting and Reporting the Findings
The research interprets the finding, draws conclusions and reports to management
Managers and researchers must work together to interpret results for useful decision making