1. Chapter 10 Marketing Research
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2. Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 10.1 Identify the five steps in the marketing research process. Learning Objective 10.2 Describe the various secondary data sources. Learning Objective 10.3 Describe the various primary data collection techniques. Learning Objective 10.4 Summarize the differences between secondary data and primary data. Learning Objective 10.5 Examine the circumstances in which collecting information on consumers is ethical.
LO10-1 Identify the five steps in the marketing research process.
LO10-2 Describe the various secondary data sources.
LO10-3 Describe the various primary data collection techniques.
LO10-4 Summarize the differences between secondary data and primary data.
LO10-5 Examine the circumstances in which collecting information on consumers is ethical.
These questions are the learning objectives guiding the chapter and will be explored in more detail in the following slides.

3. Data: Marketing Research Collecting + Recording Analyzing Interpreting=
Decision-Making
Marketing research consists of a set of techniques and principles for systematically collecting, recoding, analyzing, and interpreting data that can aid decision makers who are involved in marketing goods, services, or ideas. The marketing research function links firms and organizations to their customers through data. By collecting data from customers, firms can better deliver products and services designed to meet their needs.

4. Exhibit 10.1: The Marketing Research Process
Defining the objectives and research needs
Designing the research
Collecting the data
Analyzing data and developing insights
Developing and implementing an action plan
The marketing research process consists of five steps. Although we present the stages of the marketing research process in a step-by-step progression, of course research does not always, or even usually, happen that way.
Researchers go back and forth from one step to another as the need arises. 

5. Step 1: Defining Objectives and Research Needs
What information is needed to answer specific research questions? How should that information be obtained?
To determine whether to conduct research, two questions must be addressed: What? How?

6. Step 2: Designing the Research
Identify type of data needed.
Determine type of research needed to obtain data.
In this step, researchers identify the type of data needed and determine the type of research necessary to collect it. The objectives of the project drive the type of data needed.

7. Step 3: Collecting the Data
Secondary Data
Collected prior to the start of the research project.
External as well as internal data sources.
Primary Data
Collected to address specific research needs.
Examples: focus groups, in-depth interviews, surveys.
Sample: Choose a group of customers who represent the customers of interest and generalize their opinions to the market segment.
After answering why and how, researchers must determine where they can find the data. Discuss how the types of data required determine the methods used to collect them. If you can connect to your college library, look at some of the data sources at your own school. Databases like mintel, tablebase, ABI Inform and Business Source Premier are excellent sources of data.
Group activity: As a group, tackle a problem for a company (e.g., local retailer who appears to be losing customers). For this problem, list several research questions that secondary data can answer. Then list several questions that require primary data.

8. Step 4: Analyzing the Data and Developing Insights
Converting data into information that is useful in making more effective marketing decisions.
Marketing Analytics 10.1: The Use of Analytics to Predict Box Office Revenues and Award Changes
The next step in the marketing research process—analyzing and interpreting the data—should be both thorough and methodical. To generate meaningful information, researchers analyze and make use of the collected data. In this context, data can be defined as raw numbers or other factual information that, on their own, have limited value to marketers. However, when the data are interpreted, they become information, which results from organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data and putting them into a form that is useful to marketing decision makers. Adding Value 10.1 Did You Hit the Weights or Swim a Lap Today? Your University Wants to Know—For a Good Reason details how universities leverage the data they gain from students’ uses of on-campus gyms and facilities to discover new insights into both what students want and how the schools can help them succeed.
Video: Tom Davenport discusses the importance of developing targeted questions to develop effective strategies from Big Data.
Video link:
©Moviestore collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

9. What Insights Can You Develop by Analyzing this Data?

10. Step 5: Developing and Implementing an Action Plan
Executive Summary Body of the Report Conclusions Limitations Supplements including tables, figures, appendices
A typical marketing research report would start with a two-page executive summary. This would highlight the objectives of the study, methodology and key insights. The body of the report would go through the objectives of the study, issues examined, methodology, analysis and results, insights and managerial implications. The report would end with conclusions and any limitations or caveats.
Many consultants today provide an executive summary, a PowerPoint presentation of the report, and questionnaire and tabulated study results.

11. PROGRESS CHECK (1 of 5)
What are the steps in the marketing research process?
What is the difference between data and information?
Define objectives and research needs, designing the research project, deciding on the data collection process and collecting the data. analyze and interpret the data, prepare the findings for presentation
Data can be defined as raw numbers or other factual information that, on their own, have limited value to marketers. However, when the data are interpreted, they become information.

12. Secondary Data
A marketing research project often begins with a review of the relevant secondary data.

13. Exhibit 10.4: External Secondary Data Syndicated Data (1 of 3)
Name
Services Provided
Nielsen (
With its Market Measurement Services, the company tracks the sales of consumer packaged goods, gathered at the point of sale in retail stores of all types and sizes.
IRI (
InfoScan store tracking provides detailed information about sales, share, distribution, pricing, and promotion across a wide variety of retail channels and accounts.
JD. Power and Associates (
Widely known for its automotive ratings, it produces quality and customer satisfaction research for a variety of industries.
Mediamark Research Inc. (
Supplies multimedia audience research pertaining to media and marketing planning for advertised brands.
Secondary data are plentiful and free, whereas syndicated data generally are more detailed but can be very costly.
Ask students: Why might firms subscribe to a data service and collect their own primary and secondary data at the same time?

14. Exhibit 10.4: External Secondary Data Syndicated Data (2 of 3)
Name
Services Provided
National Purchase Diary Panel (
Based on detailed records consumers keep about their purchases (i.e., a diary), it provides information about product movement and consumer behavior in a variety of industries.
NOP World (
The mKids US research study tracks mobile telephone ownership and usage, brand affinities, and entertainment habits of American youth between 12 and 19 years of age.
Research and Markets (
Promotes itself as a one-stop shop for market research and data from most leading publishers, consultants, and analysts.
Secondary data are plentiful and free, whereas syndicated data generally are more detailed but can be very costly.
Ask students: Why might firms subscribe to a data service and collect their own primary and secondary data at the same time?

15. Exhibit 10.4: External Secondary Data Syndicated Data (3 of 3)
Name
Services Provided
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research (
The General Social Survey is one of the nation’s longest running surveys of social, cultural, and political indicators.
Simmons Market Research Bureau (
Reports on the products American consumers buy, the brands they prefer, and their lifestyles, attitudes, and media preferences.
Yankelovich (
The MONITOR tracks consumer attitudes, values, and lifestyles shaping the American marketplace.
Secondary data are plentiful and free, whereas syndicated data generally are more detailed but can be very costly.
Ask students: Why might firms subscribe to a data service and collect their own primary and secondary data at the same time?

16. External Secondary Data Scanner Data
Data from scanner readings of UPC labels at checkout.
Provided and sold by leading research firms:
IRI
Nielsen
Information helps firms assess what is happening in the marketplace.
Students may not remember a time before grocery stores used scanners, but highlight how the installation of scanners created a huge new data source for marketers.
Ask students: What can researchers take from scanner data?
Students might note that researchers can discover which consumers purchase what products together and how often. They also can immediately track the impact of any price or promotional adjustments.
The web link brings you to the IRI homepage – explore their many products with the students.
IRI

17. External Secondary Data Panel Data
Group of consumers What are they buying or not buying and why?
Survey or sales receipts
In recent years, response rates to marketing research surveys have declined, which has increased usage of research panels.

18. Internal Secondary Data
Data Warehouses
Data Mining
Example: Identify Churn Rate
Every day, consumers provide wide-ranging data that get stored in increasingly large databases.
Ask students: How might firms and organizations collect information about you? Do you always know when you are providing such data? Who uses these data?
In the United States, firms use opt-out programs, so when consumers fill out a registration form or application, the firm automatically has permission to market to that customer and share information with its partners, unless consumers explicitly revoke this permission. In contrast, the EU regulations state that customers must opt-in to such information uses.

19. Big Data Changes in marketing research because of:
Increase in amount of data.
Ability to collect data from transactions, CRM, social media, websites.
Ease of collecting and storing data.
Computing ability to manipulate data.
Access to software to convert data into decision-making insights (Amazon, SAP, Splunk, GoodData, Google Analytics.
Big Data incorporates multiple sources of data.
The field of marketing research has seen enormous changes in the last few years because of (1) the increase in the amounts of data to which retailers, service providers, and manufacturers have access; (2) their ability to collect these data from transactions, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, websites, and social media platforms that firms increasingly use to engage with their customers; (3) the ease of collecting and storing these data; (4) the computing ability readily available to manipulate data in real time; and (5) access to in-house or available software to convert the data into valuable decision-making insights using analytic dashboards.
To specify this explosion of data, which firms have access to but cannot handle using conventional data management and data mining software, the term big data has arisen in the popular media. Amazon may be the poster child for big data.

20. PROGRESS CHECK (2 of 5)
What is the difference between internal and external secondary research?
Secondary data might come from free or very inexpensive external sources, such as census data, information from trade associations, and reports published in magazines. Secondary sources can also be accessed through internal sources, including the company’s sales invoices, customer lists, and other reports generated by the company itself.

21. Primary Data Collection Techniques
As its name implies, qualitative research uses broad, open-ended questions to understand the phenomenon of interest. Qualitative research is more informal than quantitative research methods and includes observation, following social media sites, in-depth interviews, and focus groups.
Once the firm has gained insights from doing qualitative research, it is likely to engage in quantitative research, which are structured responses that can be statistically tested. Quantitative research provides information needed to confirm insights and hypotheses generated via qualitative research or secondary data. Formal studies such as specific experiments, surveys, scanner and panel data, or some combination of these are quantitative in nature.
Jump to Appendix 1 long image description

22. Examining purchase and consumption behaviors
Observation
Examining purchase and consumption behaviors
Personal or video camera scrutiny
Tracking movements electronic- ally
Microsoft Kinect and heatmaps
Best method to determine how customers interact with and use product
Observation entails examining purchase and consumption behaviors through personal or video camera scrutiny, or by tracking customers' movements electronically as they move through a store. Example of observation: Using Microsoft Kinect sensors, firms such as Shopperception create heatmaps of shopper interactions with the products (touches, pickups, and returns). The red represents the hot zones where shoppers touch the most, yellow less, and blue not at all.
Video: “The Brave New World of Shopper-Tracking Technology”
Ask students: What are the advantages to a company in tracking a customer’s behavior inside a store?
Ask students: What are the advantages to a company of combining a customer’s in-store behavior with their online shopping behavior?
Web link: WSJ video:
In-Store Tracking Analytics

23. Social Media
Companies monitor, gather, and mine social media data. Virtual communities Sentiment mining
Social media sites are a booming source of data for marketers. Marketers have realized that social media can provide valuable information that could aid their marketing research and strategy endeavors. Blogs in particular represent valuable sources of marketing research insights.
The data gathered through the searches also undergo careful analyses: Are customer sentiments generally positive, negative, or neutral? Using a technique known as sentiment mining, firms collect consumer comments about companies and their products on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and online blogs. The data are then analyzed to distill customer attitudes toward and preferences for products and advertising campaigns.
Social & Mobile Marketing 10.1 discusses how companies use selfies as a source of data.

24. In-Depth Interviews and Focus Groups
Trained researchers ask questions one-on-one with a customer.
Expensive and time-consuming.
Focus group interviews
Small group of 8 to 12 people with a trained moderator.
Now often take place online.
Unstructured; qualitative data about new or existing products or services.
In an in-depth interview, trained researchers ask questions and listen to and record the answers and then pose additional questions to clarify or expand on a particular issue. In-depth interviews provide insights that help managers better understand the nature of their industry as well as important trends and consumer preferences, which can be invaluable for developing marketing strategies. In-depth interviews are, however, relatively expensive and time-consuming.
In focus group interviews, a small group of people (usually 8 to 12) come together for an intensive discussion about a particular topic. In particular, focus groups gather qualitative data about initial reactions to a new or existing product or service, opinions about different competitive offerings, or reactions to marketing stimuli, such as a new ad campaign or point-of-purchase display materials.
©wdstock/Getty Images

25. PROGRESS CHECK (3 of 5) What are the types of qualitative research?
Observation, in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, and social media.

26. Survey Research
The use of surveys or questionnaires. The most popular type of quantitative primary data collection method. A document that features a set of questions designed to gather information from respondents that will lead to more effective marketing decisions.

27. Survey Research Structured vs. Unstructured Questions
Arguably the most popular type of quantitative primary collection method is a survey—a systematic means of collecting information from people using a questionnaire. Marketing research relies heavily on questionnaires, and questionnaire design is virtually an art form. Unstructured questions are open ended and allow respondents to answer in their own words. Structured questions are closed-ended questions for which a discrete set of response alternatives, or specific answers, is provided for respondents to evaluate. Web surveys have steadily grown as a percentage of all quantitative surveys. Online surveys have a lot to offer marketers with tight deadlines and small budgets.
Ask students: What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type of question (unstructured and structured)?
Group activity: Create a questionnaire. First determine the form of the questions (i.e., structured versus unstructured). On the basis of these questions, what types of analysis will you be able to perform on your collected data?
Jump to Appendix 2 long image description

28. Exhibit 10.7: What to Avoid When Designing a Questionnaire (1 of 2)
Issue
Good Question
Bad Question
Avoid questions the respondent cannot easily or accurately answer.
When was the last time you went to the grocery store?
How much money did you spend on groceries last month?
Avoid sensitive questions unless they are absolutely necessary.
Do you take vitamins?
Do you dye your gray hair?
Avoid double-barreled questions, which refer to more than one issue with only one set of responses.
1. Do you like to shop for clothing?
2. Do you like to shop for food?
Do you like to shop for clothing and food?
This slide and the following slide offer some tips on what to avoid when designing a questionnaire.

29. Exhibit 10.7: What to Avoid When Designing a Questionnaire (2 of 2)
Issue
Good Question
Bad Question
Avoid leading questions, which steer respondents to a particular response, irrespective of their true beliefs.
Please rate how safe you believe a BMW is on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being not safe and 10 being very safe.
BMW is the safest car on the road, right?
Avoid one-sided questions that present only one side of the issue.
To what extent do you believe fast food contributes to adult obesity using a five-point scale? 1: Does not contribute 5: Main cause
Fast food is responsible for adult obesity: Agree/Disagree
This slide and the following slide offer some tips on what to avoid when designing a questionnaire.
Source: Adapted from A. Parasuraman, Dhruv Grewal, and R. Krishnan, Marketing Research, 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007), Ch. 10.

30. Panel‐ and Scanner‐Based Research
Can be either secondary or primary data.
Walmart’s subsidiary Asda uses an online customer panel to determine which products to carry.
Panel and scanner research can be either secondary or primary. An example of the use of a panel to collect primary data would be Walmart's subsidiary Asda, which uses an 18,000-customer panel, called “Pulse of the Nation,” to help determine which products to carry. Asda sends s to each participant with product images and descriptions of potential new products. The customers’ responses indicate whether they think each product should be carried in stores. As an incentive to participate, Asda enters respondents automatically in a drawing for free prizes.
©David Levenson/Alamy Stock Photo

31. Experimental Research
Systematically manipulates one or more variables to determine which variables have a causal effect on other variables. Can also be used on social media.
In an in-depth interview, trained researchers ask questions and listen to and record the answers and then pose additional questions to clarify or expand on a particular issue. In-depth interviews provide insights that help managers better understand the nature of their industry as well as important trends and consumer preferences, which can be invaluable for developing marketing strategies. In-depth interviews are, however, relatively expensive and time-consuming.
In focus group interviews, a small group of people (usually 8 to 12) come together for an intensive discussion about a particular topic. In particular, focus groups gather qualitative data about initial reactions to a new or existing product or service, opinions about different competitive offerings, or reactions to marketing stimuli, such as a new ad campaign or point-of-purchase display materials.
©wdstock/Getty Images

32. Hypothetical Pricing Experiment for McDonald’s
Using an experiment, McDonald’s would test the price of a new menu item to determine which is the most profitable.
Group Activity: An example of an experiment could involve two groups of subjects. One tastes cookies with a national brand and the other tastes cookies a store brand. Each group rates the cookie on a seven-point scale from poor to great taste. The group with the branded name tends to rate the cookie as better tasting, demonstrating the power of a brand name.
Group Activity: Ask students to design a taste test experiment for Coke vs. Pepsi.
©AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

33. Exhibit 10.9: Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary and Primary Research (1 of 2)
Type
Examples
Advantages
Disadvantages
Secondary Research
Census data
Sales invoices
Internet information
Books
Journal articles
Syndicated data
Saves time in collecting data because they are readily available.
Free or inexpensive (except for syndicated data)
May not be precisely relevant to information needs.
Information may not be timely.
Sources may not be original, and therefore usefulness is an issue.
Methodologies for collecting data may not be appropriate.
Data sources may be biased.
A summary of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of research.

34. Exhibit 10.9: Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary and Primary Data (2 of 2)
Type
Examples
Advantages
Disadvantages
Primary Research
Observation
Focus groups
In-depth interviews
Social media
Surveys
Experiments
Specific to the immediate data needs and topic at hand
Offers behavioral insights generally not available from secondary research
Costly
Time-consuming
Requires more sophisticated training and experience to design study and collect data.
A summary of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of research.

35. PROGRESS CHECK (4 of 5) What are the types of quantitative research?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of primary and secondary research?
Experiments, survey, scanner, and panel.
See Exhibit 10.9.

36. The Ethics of Using Customer Information
Strong ethical orientation
Adhere to ethical practices
A strong ethical orientation must be an integral part of a firm’s marketing strategy and decision making. It is extremely important for marketers to adhere to ethical practices when conducting marketing research.

37. AMA Ethical Guidelines for Conducting Marketing Research
1. Prohibits selling or fund-raising under the guise of conducting research. 2. Supports maintaining research integrity by avoiding misrepresentation or omission of pertinent research data. 3. Encourages the fair treatment of clients and suppliers.
Numerous codes of conduct written by various marketing research societies all reinforce the duty of researchers to respect the rights of the subjects in the course of their research. The bottom line: Marketing research should be used only to produce unbiased, factual information.
This web link brings you to the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) Code of Standards and Ethics.
Website:
CASRO

38. What Would You Do? Meet Aaron, a marketing researcher:
He has just finished giving a successful presentation to a major client.
The client has asked for a list of companies that participated in the study and copies of all the completed surveys.
Numerous codes of conduct written by various marketing research societies all reinforce the duty of researchers to respect the rights of the subjects in the course of their research. The bottom line: Marketing research should be used only to produce unbiased, factual information.

39. Threats to Personal Information
Facial recognition software Neuromarketing
Many firms voluntarily notify their customers that any information provided to them will be kept confidential and not given or sold to any other firm. As more firms adopt advanced marketing research technology, such as facial recognition software, they also are working to ensure they receive permission from consumers. Facial recognition software is used to detect individuals from a video frame or digital images. Consumers have little control over facial recognition software that allows companies to detect demographic information based on their appearances.
Going even deeper than using facial recognition software, neuromarketing is the process of examining consumers’ brain patterns to determine their responses to marketing communications, products, or services for the purpose of developing marketing tactics or strategies. One firm, NeuroFocus, used neuromarketing techniques with several global firms to garner customer information that would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain using more traditional research methods. The image on the slides presents some of their findings.
Jump to Appendix 3 long image description

40. PROGRESS CHECK (5 of 5)
Under what circumstances is it ethical to use consumer information in marketing research?
What challenges do technological advances pose for the ethics of marketing research?
Many customers demand increasing control over the information that has been collected about them. Companies must disclose their privacy practices to customers before using information.
As technology continues to advance though, the potential threats to consumers’ personal information grow in number and intensity.

41. Marketing Chapter 10
The End