1. An Introduction to
Research Methods

2. Marketing research provides information to help implement…
The Study of Marketing
The Use of the Marketing Concept
Marketing Strategy
Let’s look at each of these in turn

3. Marketing research provides information to help implement…
Marketing: process of all activities necessary for the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives

4. Marketing research provides information to help implement…
Marketing Concept: the business philosophy that holds the key to achieving organizational goals consists of determining the benefits sought by target market members and delivering these benefits more effectively & efficiently than competitors. This is to be done at a “profit.”

5. Marketing research provides information to help implement…
Marketing Strategy: consists of selecting one or more segments of the market as the company’s target market(s) and designing the proper “mix” of the “4Ps”

6. Key Point: To practice marketing; to implement the marketing concept; to carry out a marketing strategy, managers must make informed decisions.
Many decisions require additional information and marketing research may be needed in order to supply that information.

8. What is online research?
Online research: the use of computer networks, including the Internet, to assist in any phase of the marketing research process including development of the problem, research design, data gathering, analysis, and report writing and distribution

9. What is online research?
Web-based research: research that is conducted to evaluate various facets of Web applications; may use traditional methods as well as on-line research methods in conducting research on Web-based applications
Online survey research: collection of data using computer networks

10. Marketing Information System
Marketing Information System (MIS): a structure consisting of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers

11. Components of an MIS
Internal Reports System … existing organization/company reports and records (sometimes called “accounting information system”)
Marketing Intelligence System … everyday info about pertinent developments in the environment

12. Components of an MIS
Decision Support System (DSS) … collected data that may be accessed and analyzed using tools and techniques that assist managers in decision making (“playing what if?”).
Marketing Research System…provides information not available from other systems. When specific problem must be solved, marketing research may be needed. This is “project-based” not continuous as with other systems.

13. The Marketing
Research Industry

14. Marketing Research: A Brief History
Pre-Marketing Research Era: colonization to the Industrial Revolution
Early Development Era: Industrial Revolution to 1920
Questionnaire Era:
Quantitative Era: 1940 to 1960
Organizational Acceptance Era: 1960 to 1980
PC Technology Era: 1980 to 1990
Globalization-Online Era: since 1990

15. Some Figures for Marketing Research Sector
million USD (2002/WORLD)
ABD % million USD
AB %
39% is shared by 10 marketing research companies
51% is spent by the first 25 biggest companies
31% syndicated research
19% qualitative research
The rest is quantitative research

16. Top 10 U.S. Marketing Research Firms
U.S. Rank Organization Headquarters Website ($, in millions) ($, in millions) revenue
VNU Inc. New York $1, $3, %
IMS Health Inc. Fairfield, Conn $1,
Westat Inc. Rockville, Md —
TNS U.S. New York ,
Information Resources Inc. Chicago
The Kantar Group Fairfield, Conn * 1,136.3* 67.8*
Arbitron Inc. New York
NOP World US New York
Ipsos New York
Synovate Chicago

17. Marketing Research Sector in Turkey
Pazarlama ve Kamuoyu Araştırmacıları Derneği (1988)
Setting ethical and professional standards and measures
Organising seminars and making publications to up-date members about progresses in marketing research area
GAB: Guvenilir Arastirma Belgesi
-Bureau Veritas Audit
Individual members – approx. 400
Member companies - 52

18. Marketing Research Sector in Turkey
Syndicated Research
AGB : Daily, weekly and monthly reports
Percentages and other statistics about TV programme consumption habits of target segments  
Bilişim International Research Org.: Monthly advertising
expenditure research
HTP Research and Consulting Services: Household panels on consumption
Weekly visits, monthly reports, 12 major cities, 4500 households
Information Resources Inc/Panel : Retailer audits
Electronic data collection – Retailer information

19. Industry Structure: Internal Suppliers
Internal suppliers: an entity within the firm supplies marketing research
Methods of Organization:
Own formal departments: Organized around:
Marketing function: ad research, product research, pricing research, channel …
Research process: data analysis, data collection…
Area of application: brands, customers, etc.
Single individual or committee
In some cases no one is specifically assigned such tasks on a full time basis

20. Industry Structure: External Suppliers
External suppliers: outside firms hired to fulfill a firm’s marketing research needs
Methods of Organization:
Function: data analysis, data collection, etc.
Type of research application: ad research, etc.
Geography: domestic, international, etc.
Type of customer: finance, health
Combination of the above
Classification:
Full-service
Limited service…see next slide

22. Selected Marketing Research Career Descriptions
Analyst
Handles details in execution of project
Designs & pretests questionnaires
Conducts preliminary analysis of data
Junior Analyst
Secondary data analysis
Edits and codes questionnaires
Fieldwork Director
Handles selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of interviewers and field workers
Senior Analyst
Participates in the development of projects
Carries out execution of assigned projects
Coordinates the efforts of analyst, junior analyst, & other personnel in the development of research design and data collection
Prepares final report
Statistician/Data Processing
Serves as expert on theory and application on statistical techniques
Oversees experimental design, data processing, and analysis

23. Improving Industry Performance
Industry is performing well but could stand some improvements
Focus on diagnosing problems in the market instead of rushing to test a product/service (The Walkman, developed without MR, was created to solve need for portability. Sony diagnosed a need in the market).
Need to use IT to speed up MR process
Research efforts should be integrated..too splintered
MR needs to be involved in strategic decisions (Should we be in this business v. Is this the best product feature?) Too often, MR is used to test tactics.

24. Other Suggestions For Industry Improvements
Certification…Being promoted by AMA
Auditing…Being used in other areas, i.e. Advertising..audits websites via Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Education…MR industry has made much progress here. Examples include: AMA’s Notre Dame School of Marketing Research, Burke Institute, Advertising Research Foundation seminars, etc.

25. Criteria for Selecting a Research Supplier
What is the reputation of the supplier?
Do they complete projects on schedule?
Are they known for maintaining ethical standards?
Are they flexible?
Are their research projects of high quality?
What kind and how much experience does the supplier have? Has the firm had experience with projects similar to this one?
Do the supplier's personnel have both technical and non-technical expertise?
Can they communicate well with the client?
Competitive bids should be compared on the basis of quality as well as price.

26. Ethics and Marketing Research
AMA Code of Ethics
Prohibits selling (sugging) or fund raising (frugging) under the guise of conducting research
Maintaining research integrity by avoiding misrepresentation and omission of pertinent research data
Treating others (buyers and suppliers) fairly
Buyers: Being sold unnecessary research, supplier firms sharing buyer’s confidential information.
Suppliers: Being asked for quick answers, not being paid by buyers

27. Ethics and Marketing Research
The Public: Should researchers be asked to conduct research on consumption of potentially dangerous products?
For example, doing research to find ways to increase consumption of high-sugar and/or high-fat content products by kids or ways to increase tobacco use by teens?

28. Ethics and Marketing Research
Respondents – example, study finds that refusal rates are climbing often because public is wary of losing privacy.
Deception should be eliminated.
Respondents should not be identified if they are promised anonymity/confidentiality
Invasions of privacy (permission issue); marketing research should not invade a person’s privacy…
Respondents should have right to choose to participate

29. Ethics and Marketing Research
Invasion of Privacy
SPAM; sending unwanted
Industry currently debating opt-out vs. opt-in (“active consent”) standards (opt-in much stricter)
Online Survey Research: Abused respondents via SPAM initially.
Today, industry is a leader in anti-spam legislation. Researchers must have a preexisting relationship with potential online respondents and the respondents must have a reasonable expectation that they will be contacted via .

30. Ethics and Marketing Research
Your ethical views are shaped by your philosophy:
Deontology: concerned with the rights of the individual
Simply following the correct moral rules is often not sufficient; instead, we have to have the correct motivations.
Teleology: analyzes a given behavior in terms of its benefits and costs to society

31. Ethics and Marketing Research
Your ethical views are shaped by your philosophy: are these actions “ethical” or not – why?
Observation study – choosing product in supermarket
Observation study – buying shoes in store
Focus group with client representatives watching; participants not informed

32. Marketing Research Associations OnlineUS
AAPOR : American Association for Public Opinion Research (
AMA : American Marketing Association (
ARF : The Advertising Research Foundation (
CASRO : The Council of American Survey Research Organizations (
MRA : Marketing Research Association (
QRCA : Qualitative Research Consultants Association (
RIC : Research Industry Coalition (

33. Marketing Research Associations Online
International
ESOMAR: European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (
MRS: The Market Research Society (UK) (
MRSA: The Market Research Society of Australia (
PMRS: The Professional Marketing Research Society (Canada) (

34. The Marketing
Research Process

35. The Marketing Research Process: 11 Steps
Step One: Establishing the Need for Marketing Research
Step Two: Defining the Problem
Step Three: Establishing Research Objectives
Step Four: Determining Research Design
Step Five: Identifying Information Types and Sources
Step Six: Determining Methods of Accessing Data

36. The Marketing Research Process: 11 Steps cont…
Step Seven: Designing Data Collection Forms
Step Eight: Determining Sample Plan and Size
Step Nine: Collecting Data
Step Ten: Analyzing Data
Step Eleven: Preparing and Presenting the Final Research Report

37. The Marketing Research Process
Step One: Establish the Need for Marketing Research
Marketing Research is not needed when the:
required information is already available
decisions need to be made now
organization can’t afford the research
costs outweigh the value of the research

38. The Marketing Research Process Step Two: Define the Problem
The most important step in the marketing research process is defining the problem.

39. Chain Restaurant Study
One day I received a phone call from a research analyst who introduced himself as one of our alumni.
He was working for a restaurant chain in town and wanted help analyzing the data he had collected while conducting a marketing research study.

40. Chain Restaurant Study
When we met, he presented me with a copy of the questionnaire and asked how he should analyze the data. My first question to him was,
What is the problem being addressed?

41. Chain Restaurant Study
When he looked perplexed, I explained that data analysis is not an independent exercise.
Rather, the goal of data analysis is to PROVIDE INFORMATION RELATED TO THE PROBLEM COMPONENTS.

42. Chain Restaurant Study
I was surprised to learn that he did not have a clear understanding of the marketing research problem and that a written definition did not exist. So before going any further, I had to define the marketing research problem.
Once that was done, I found that much of the data collected was not relevant to the problem. In this sense, the whole study was a waste of resources. A new study had to be designed and implemented to address the problem defined.

43. The Problem Definition Process
Fig. 2.1
Discussion
with
Decision Maker(s)
Interviews
Experts
Secondary
Data
Analysis
Qualitative
Research
Management Decision Problem
Marketing Research Problem
Tasks Involved
Environmental Context of the Problem
Step I: Problem Definition
Step II: Approach to the Problem
Objective/
Theoretical
Foundations
Questions
Hypotheses
Step III: Research Design
Analytical Model: Verbal, Graphical, Mathematical
Specification of
Information
Needed

44. The Marketing Research Process
Step Three: Establish Research Objectives
What information is needed in order to solve the problem?

45. The Marketing Research Process Step Four: Determine Research Design
Exploratory Research: collecting information in an unstructured and informal manner
Descriptive Research: refers to a set of methods and procedures describing marketing variables
Causal Research (experiments and other approaches): allows isolation of causes and effects

46. The Marketing Research Process
Step Five: Identify Information Types and Sources
Secondary Data: information that has been collected for some purpose other than the research at hand
Primary Data: information that has been gathered specifically for the research objectives at hand

47. The Marketing Research Process
Step Six: Determine Methods of Accessing Data
Secondary Data: accessing data through sources such as the Internet and library
Primary Data: collecting data from participants through methods such as telephone, mail, online, and face-to-face (quantitative), and observation studies and focus groups (qualitative)

48. The Marketing Research Process
Step Seven: Design Data Collection Forms
The design of the data collection form that is used to ask or observe and record information in marketing research projects is critical to the success of the project.
It is easy to write a set of questions but very difficult to construct a questionnaire.
General types of “instruments” (forms)
Questionnaires
Observation Study forms (protocols)

49. The Marketing Research Process
Step Eight: Determine Sample Plan and Size
Sample plan: refers to the process used to select units from the population to be included in the sample
Sample size: refers to determining how many elements (units) of the population should be included in the sample

50. The Marketing Research Process Step Nine: Collect Data
Sound data collection is very important because, regardless of the data analysis methods used, data analysis cannot “fix” bad data.
Nonsampling errors may occur during data collection. These are related to poor design and/or execution of the data gathering.
Sampling errors may occur based purely on chance

51. The Marketing Research Process
Step Ten: Analyze Data
Data analysis: involves entering data into computer files, inspecting data for errors (data cleaning), running tabulations (frequencies), and conducting various statistical tests

52. The Marketing Research Process
Step Eleven: Prepare and Present the Final Research Report
Findings are presented, often by research objective, in a clear and concise way.
The need for a good report cannot be overstated. It is the report, and/or its presentation, that properly communicates the results to the client.

53. The Marketing Research Report
Executive summary
Background
Problem definition
Research objectives
Research design
Fieldwork/data collection
Data analyses
Recommendations
Cost and timetable
Research organisation and researchers
Appendices
Agreement

54. Department Store Project
Example Study
Department Store Project

55. Department Store Project
RQ: Do the customers of Sears exhibit store loyalty?
H1: Customers who are store-loyal are less knowledgeable about the shopping environment.
H2: Store-loyal customers are more risk-averse than are non-loyal customers.

56. Department Store Project
Specification of Information Needed
Component 1
The researcher identified the following factors as part of the choice criteria: quality of merchandise, variety and assortment of merchandise, returns and adjustment policy, service of store personnel, prices, convenience of location, layout of store, credit and billing policies. The respondents should be asked to rate the importance of each factor as it influences their store selection.
Component 2
The researcher identified nine department stores as competitors to Sears based on discussions with management. The respondents should be asked to evaluate Sears and its nine competitors on the eight choice criteria factors. 

57. Department Store Project
Component 3
Sixteen different product categories were selected, including women's dresses, women's sportswear, lingerie and body fashion, junior merchandise, men's apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, shoes, sheets and towels, furniture and bedding, and draperies. The respondents should be asked whether they shop at each of the ten stores for each of the 16 product categories.
Component 4
No additional information needs to be obtained from the respondents.

58. Department Store Project
Component 5
Information should be obtained on the standard demographic characteristics and the psychographic characteristics of store loyalty, credit use, appearance consciousness, and combining shopping with eating.
Component 6
No additional information needs to be obtained from the respondents.

59. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
United Airlines, as other major airlines, had to deal with passenger loyalty (management decision problem: how to attract more and more loyal passengers). The broad marketing research problem was to identify the factors that influence loyalty of airline travelers.

60. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
The basic answer is to improve service. Exploratory research, theoretical framework, and empirical evidence revealed that the consumers’ choice of an airline is influenced by: safety, price of the ticket, frequent-flyer program, convenience of scheduling, and brand name.

61. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
A graphical model stipulated that consumers evaluate competing airlines based on factors of the choice criteria to select a preferred airline. The problem was that major airlines were quite similar on these factors. Indeed, "airlines offer the same schedules, the same service, and the same fares.” Consequently, United Airlines had to find a way to differentiate itself. Food turned out to be the solution.

62. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
Secondary data, like the J. D Power & Associates' survey on "current and future trends in the airline food industry," indicated that "food service is a major contributor to customers’ loyalty." This survey also emphasized the importance of food brands.

63. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
The airline's Marketrak survey told United Airlines that "customers wanted more varied and up-to-date food.”
The following research questions and hypotheses may be posed.
RQ1 How important is food for airline customers?
H1: Food is an important factor for airline travelers.
H2: Travelers value branded food.
H3: Travelers prefer larger food portions, but with consistent quality.
H4: Travelers prefer exotic food.

64. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
Characteristics that influence the research design included the identification of competing airlines (Delta, American, etc.), factors of the choice criteria (already identified), measurement of airline travel, and loyalty.

65. At United, Food Is Uniting the Airline with Travelers
This kind of research helped United Airlines define their marketing research problem and develop the approach. Focus groups and surveys were conducted to check customers' perceptions of food in United Airlines' aircraft. The results provided support for all the hypotheses (H1 to H4). United Airlines then made a few changes: new "culinary menus," larger portions of food, new coffee, and branded products (e.g., Godiva chocolates). This resulted in better service, increasing customer satisfaction and fostering loyalty.

66. International Marketing Research Examining the impact of the Self-Reference Criterion (SRC)
Define the marketing research problem in terms of domestic environmental and cultural factors.
Define the marketing research problem in terms of foreign environmental and cultural factors. Make no judgments.  
Isolate the self-reference criterion (SRC) influence on the problem and examine it carefully to see how it complicates the problem.
Redefine the problem without the SRC influence and address it for the foreign market situation.