MARKETING-RESEARCH.pdf

Chapter 01: The role of marketing research Applied Research and the research process - Conducted when a decision must be made about a specific real-life problem....

Chapter 01: The role of marketing research Applied Research and the research process - Conducted when a decision must be made about a specific real-life problem. - Aimed to understand and answer questions about specific problems. Marketing Research Defined - Undertaken to make decisions about - The function that links the consumer, particular courses of action or policies. customer and public to the marketer through information that identifies and defines marketing opportunities and problems; generates, refines and evaluates marketing actions; monitors marketing performance; and improves the understanding of marketing as a process. - The systematic and objective process of generating information to aid decision-making through: - specifying the information required to address managerial decision-making - designing the method/s for collecting information - managing and implementing the data-collection process - analysing the results The Value of Marketing Research - communicating the findings and their - Effective marketing management requires implications. research. - Mastercard used marketing research The Dynamic Nature of Marketing Research to introduce and gain trust, acceptance and adoption of PromptPay (new mobile payment technology) in rural Thailand. - Marketing research helps fulfill the marketing manager’s need for knowledge of the market, leading to better outcomes. The Managerial Value Of Marketing Research for Strategic Decision-Making 1. Identifying and evaluating opportunities. 2. Analyzing segments and selecting target Basic Research markets. - Expand the limits of knowledge and to learn 3. Planning and implementing a marketing more about a certain concept. mix. - Not necessarily aimed at solving a particular 4. Analyzing market performance. problem. - Verify the acceptability of a given theory. When is Marketing Research Needed? Defining The Problem - The research process begins with the problem discovery. - Often, only symptoms of the problem may be apparent. - Example: sales may be declining, but management may not know the Marketing research in the twenty-first century exact nature of the problem. - Global Marketing Research - Problem definition stage - Marketing research has become - The stage in which management increasingly global. seeks to identify a clear-cut - Companies that conduct business in statement of the problem or foreign countries must understand opportunity. the nature of those particular - Allows the researcher to set the markets. proper research objectives. - Communication Technologies - An orderly definition of the research - Advancement in technology has problem lends a sense of direction to the changed the way people connect investigation. with one another, and acquire, share - Every marketing problem can be and distribute information, which is classified on a continuum ranging the essence of marketing research. from complete certainty to absolute Increased Globalization ambiguity. - Marketing research has become increasingly global. - Companies that conduct business in foreign countries must understand the nature of those particular markets and customize their - Statement of research objectives. activities accordingly. - After identifying and clarifying the Communication Technologies problem, the researcher should - The way people connect (acquiring, sharing make a formal statement of the and distributing information) with one problem and the research another in real-time provides a vast amount objectives. of data. - The best expression of a research - Marketing research (data accessibility) objective is a well-formed, testable potential as well as data privacy and research hypothesis. security concerns. - A hypothesis is a statement that can be refuted or supported by empirical Stages In The Research Process (numerical) data. - The systematic inquiry of research requires careful planning of an orderly investigation. Planning The Research Design The interrelated stages are: - A master plan specifies the methods and 1. Defining the problem procedures for collecting and analyzing the 2. Planning a research design needed information (i.e., a framework for 3. Planning a sample the research plan of action). 4. Collecting the data - The researcher must determine the sources 5. Analyzing the data of information, the design technique, the 6. Formulating the conclusions and sampling methodology, the schedule and preparing the report the cost of the research.  - Different methods and techniques are - For example, the National chosen for exploratory, descriptive or causal Drugs campaign used focus research design. groups to identify attitudes and motivations of youth Exploratory Research towards the use of illicit - Initial research conducted to clarify and drugs. define a problem, gain insights and discover - Case Studies new ideas. - Qualitative research technique that - It is not intended to provide conclusive intensively investigates one or a few evidence. situations/entities similar to the - Generally qualitative, but expectation is that problem situation. subsequent research will be required to - Refer to Chapter 3 for more provide conclusive evidence. coverage. - Narrowing of the research scope by: - Experience surveys - investigating any existing studies on - Interviewing a small group of people the subject who have knowledge (experience) - talking with knowledgeable surrounding a particular situation or individuals and experts issue. - informally investigating the situation. - Provide initial research direction. - Exploratory research techniques: Descriptive Research - Secondary data - Purpose is to describe characteristics of a - Pilot studies population. - Case studies - Example: Determining who - Experience surveys purchases a product, portraying the size of the market, identifying - Secondary data competitors’ actions etc. - Data previously collected and - Seeks to determine the answers to who, assembled for some project other what, when, where and how questions. than the one at hand. - Segmentation and target marketing. - Can be sourced from: - Revealing the nature of consumer - the company, library, Internet behavior. - firms specializing in providing - Descriptive studies are based on some data (ABS, EIU) previous understanding of the nature of the - literature reviews of journals research problem. and books - Note that this is distinct from - published reports and exploratory research. industry whitepapers. - Accuracy is of paramount importance. - Pilot studies - Collection of data from actual Descriptive Research Techniques research subjects to serve as a - Surveys guide for a larger study. - Most common method of descriptive - Data-collection methods are informal research. and findings may lack precision. - In this technique, information is - Focus group interview to obtain gathered from a sample of people qualitative information. using a questionnaire. - Sharing of ideas and - Research investigators may choose preferences of six to 10 to contact respondents by telephone people in a group or mail, on the Internet or in person.  - Each survey method has - Experimentation allows investigation advantages and disadvantages, and of changes in one variable (such as researchers need to decide on the sales) while manipulating one or two appropriate method for the data other variables (perhaps price or collection. advertising) under controlled - Secondary Data conditions in order to test a - An example of descriptive research hypothesis. using secondary data includes a - Experimental control provides a mathematical model to predict sales basis for isolating causal factors by on the basis of past sales. eliminating outside, or exogenous, - Generally, the quantitative analysis influences. of secondary data is more - Many companies in the fast-moving sophisticated than that of exploratory consumer goods industry conduct studies. experiments that simply determine - Observation consumer reactions to different - Observation methods involve types of packaging. recording behavior without relying on reports from respondents. The “Best” Research Design - Example: the number of cars that - It is argued that there is no single best pass by a proposed site for a petrol research design. station. - There are no hard-and-fast rules for good - Can be recorded mechanically or marketing research. observed by people. - This does not mean that the researcher faces chaos and Casual Research confusion. - Main goal is to identify cause-and-effect - Researchers can choose among many relationships among variables. alternative methods for solving a problem. - A typical causal study has management change one variable Sampling (for example, advertising) and then - A sample is a subset of a larger population. observe the effect on another - Sampling procedure uses a small number of variable (such as sales). items or a portion of the population to make - Exploratory and descriptive research a conclusion regarding the whole normally precede causal research. population. - Researchers seek certain types of evidence - Results of a good sample should have the to help them understand and predict same characteristics as the population as a relationships. whole. - No causal relationship exists if there - Researcher determines who is to be is no association between two sampled, how large a sample is needed and variables. how sampling units will be selected. - Marketing experiments (which allow for variable manipulation and control), such as Sampling Issues test marketing, hold the greatest potential - Three key sampling decisions: for causal studies. - Target population: Who is to be Sampled? Casual Research Techniques - Sample size: How big should the - Experiments sample be? - Experiments can establish - Sampling method: How should the cause-and-effect relationships. sampling units be selected?  - Sampling techniques The Research Process (Recap) - Probability sampling: Every member of the population has a known, non-zero probability of selection. - Non-probability sampling: Members of the population are selected based on certain judgment criteria of researchers. Gathering Data - Data may be collected by humans or recorded by machines. - Many Research techniques involve various methods of data collection. The Research Program Strategy - Two phases of data gathering: - The overall plan to conduct a series of - Pretesting: small-scale study on a marketing research projects. small subsample to determine the - Marketing research is not a one-shot activity appropriateness of the research but a continuous process. design and minimize errors. - An exploratory research (e.g., - Main study. interview, observation) study may be followed by a descriptive research Processing and Analyzing Data (e.g., survey) and/or a causal - Editing and Coding: research (e.g., market test) activity; - Checking the data-collection forms researchers may design specific for omissions, legibility and research projects for each aspect of consistency in classification: Editing the marketing mix etc. - Developing rules for interpreting, - Management should view marketing categorizing, recording and research as playing important roles at both transferring the data to the data the strategic planning and operational storage media: coding levels. - Analysis - Application of reasoning to Key Takeaways understand the data. - Marketing research is the systematic and - Analysis may involve summarizing objective process of gathering information to relevant findings, determining aid marketing decision-making. consistent patterns, and statistical - Extends to other not-for-profit areas; e.g., analysis. informing policy planning, health campaigns, road-safety campaigns etc. Drawing Conclusions and Preparing a Report - Similar underlying research process. - Researchers should look at the analysis of - Research skills applicable across information collected and ask, ‘What does different contexts and industries. this mean to management?’ - At the marketing management level, - Consists of interpreting information and marketing research helps to fine-tune making conclusions for managerial marketing mix decisions. decisions. - Helps minimize risk and reduce uncertainty - Research reports should effectively when making decisions. communicate the findings of the research. - Shift risky, intuitive decisions to - What is the story? How can I convey it systematic, objective-based meaningfully to my audience? decisions.  - Investments (e.g., marketing dollars spent) are backed by research evidence derived from data, ensuring well-informed decisions. - Two classifications of research - basic (pure) research vs applied research. - Marketing research may not always be useful - E.g., urgent decision needed, costs of research outweigh benefits. - Business and consumer environments are not static but dynamic (and real-time). - Digital (big, messy data) challenges ahead.