Summary Basic Marketing Research lectures 1-6 PDF

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Summary

Notes collated from lectures 1-6 and the following Textbook chapters
1 - Introduction to Marketing Research
2 - Defining Market Research Problem and developing an approach
3 - Research Design
4 – Exploratory Research Design: Secondary Data
5 – Exploratory Resear...

Description

1 – Introduction to Marketing Research Marketing Research The systematic and objective identification, collection analysis, dissemination and use of information for the purpose of decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing Problem identification research - Research undertaken to help identify problems which are not necessarily apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future - Market share/characteristics/potential research, business trends research Problem solving research - Research undertaken to help solve specific marketing problems - Pricing, promotional, distributional, product and segmentation research Market Research Process 1. Defining the problem 2. Develop an approach to the problem 3. Formulate a research design 4. Doing fieldwork or collecting data 5. Data preparation and analysis 6. Preparation and presentation of the report Influenced by: - Internet and electronic commerce (primary and secondary data) - Gatekeeper technologies ad privacy legislation - Expansion of global markets Competitive intelligence: process of enhancing marketplace competitiveness through greater understanding of a firms competitors and the competitive environment 2 – Defining Market Research Problem and Developing an Approach Defining the Problem - Problem definition – statement of the general problem and identification of the specific components of the marketing research problem Management Problem - The problem confronting the decision maker (management) when a range of solutions are available - Action oriented, focuses on symptoms - Asks what do we need to do? Marketing research problem - Asks what information is needed and how can it best be obtained? - Actionable, information oriented Environmental context of a problem - Factors that have an impact on the definition of the marketing research problem, including past information and forecasts, resources and constraints of the firm, objectives of the decision maker, buyer behaviour, legal/economic environment, and marketing/technological skills of the firm Approach to the Problem Analytical framework and model - Analytical model: explicit specification of a set of variables and their interrelationships designed to represent some real system or process in whole or in part - Graphical models: visual picture of relationship between variables - Mathematical models: explicitly specify the relationships among variables

3 – Research Design

Research Design - A framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project that specifies the procedures necessary to obtain the information needed to structure and/or solve he marketing research problem Tasks Involved - Define information needed - Design the exploratory, descriptive and/or causal phases of the research - Specify the measurement and scaling procedures - Construct a questionnaire - Specify the sampling process and the sample size - Develop a plan of data analysis Basic Research Designs Exploratory research - Primary objective: the provision of insights into and comprehension of a the problem situation confronting the researcher - Survey of experts - Pilot surveys – less structured, more open ended questions, small sample - Secondary data analysed in a qualitative way - Qualitative research Conclusive research - Research design to assist the decision maker in determining, evaluating, and selecting the best course of action for a given situation - Includes descriptive and causal research - Causal research: understand which variables are the cause and which variables are the effect of a phenomenon – experiments - Descriptive – cross sectional (one-time collection of information) and longitudinal designs (repeated measures) Exploratory Provide insight and understanding

Conclusive Test specific hypotheses and examine relationships

Characteristics

Info needed loosely defined, flexible, unstructured

Sample Data Analysis Findings/Results

Small non-representative Qualitative Tentative Generally followed by further exploratory or conclusive research

Information needed clearly defined, process is structured and formal Large representative sample Quantitative Conclusive Findings used as input into decision making

Objective

Outcome

Objective

Characteristics

Exploratory Discover ideas and insights

Descriptive Describe market characteristics or functions

Causal Determine cause and effect relationships

Flexible, versatile, beginning of research design

Prior formulation of hypothesis, pre-planned and structured

Manipulation/ control of variables

Methods

Expert/experience Pilot surveys, case studies, secondary data: qualitative, qualitative research

Secondary data: quantitative, surveys, panels, observational data

Experiments

4 – Exploratory Research Design: Secondary Data Secondary data Collected for some purpose other than problem at hand Advantages and uses: - Identify the problem - Better understand and define the problem - Develop an approach to the problem - Formulate an appropriate research design - Answer certain questions and test some hypotheses - Interpret primary data with more insight Disadvantages - Limited by appropriateness/relatedness to current research problem - Concerns of accuracy - Compatibility of units or measurement, time frame Criteria for evaluation - Specifications/methodology o Data collection method, response rate, quality of data, sampling technique, sample size, design, fieldwork, data analysis o Data should be reliable, valid and generalizable - Error/accuracy o Examine errors in approach, research design, sampling, data collection, data analysis and reporting o Assess accuracy by comparing data from different sources - Currency o Time lag between collection and publication, frequency of updates - Objective o Why was data collected – determines relevance - Nature o Definition of key variables, units of measurement, categories used, relationships examined – reconfigure data to increase usefulness if possible - Dependability o Expertise, credibility, reputation and trustworthiness of source o Data should be obtained from an original rather than acquired source Classification of Secondary Data Internal data Data available within the organization for which the research is being conducted Customer databases o Psychographics: quantified psychological profiles of individuals o Demographic and psychographic data for individuals: gender, age, marital status, education, income, occupation o Organisational data for institutions – sales, number of employees Data warehousing o A centralized database that consolidates company-wide data from a variety of operational systems Data Mining o Technique involving the use of powerful computers and advanced statistical and other software to analyse large databases in order to discover hidden patterns in the data CRM and database marketing

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o

Customer relationship management: Decision support system that is used for managing the interactions between an organization and its customers Database marketing: The practice of using CRM databases to develop relationships and highly targeted marketing efforts with individuals and customer groups

External data Data that originate external to the organization Business/Nongovernmental data o Guides, indices, directories, statistical data Government sources o Census data Combining Internal and External Secondary data - Geo-demographic Coding o Involves merging internal customer data with external geographic, demographic and lifestyle data on the same customers - Syndicated services o Information services offered by marketing research organisations that provide information from a common database to firms that subscribe to their services - Geo-visual databases o Databases created by combining internal customer databases with geographic data – making use of appropriate computer mapping software. 5 – Exploratory Research: Syndicated Sources Syndicated sources - Companies that collect and sell common pools of data designed to serve information needs shared by a number of clients, including competing firms in the same industry - Timely and cost effective - Classified based on the unit of measurement o Households/consumers: surveys, purchase or media panels o Institutions: retailers, wholesalers, industrial firms/organisations Household consumers - Surveys: o Primary means of obtaining information about consumers motives, attitudes, and preferences, o Psychographic and lifestyle, advertising evaluation, general o Periodic surveys: collect data on the same set of variables at regular intervals o Panel surveys: measure same group of respondents but not necessarily on the same variables - Panels o Purchase panels: respondents record purchases in a diary o Information is useful for forecasting sales, estimating market share, assessing brand loyalty and brand switching behaviour o Media panels: television, radio, internet, mobile - respondents behavior is recorded electronically o Information helpful for establishing advertising rates, selecting appropriate programming, and profiling consumers - Electronic scanner services: o Scanner data o Volume tracking data: scanner data that provides information on purchases by brand, size, prices and formulation Institutions - Retailer and wholesaler audits o Audit: data collection process delivered from physical records or inventory analysis - Industrial firms/organisations o Provide secondary data useful for sales management decisions

Chapter 6 - Exploratory Research Design: Qualitative Research Qualitative Research - An unstructured, exploratory research methodology based on small samples that provides insights and understanding of the problem setting - Exploratory research Quantitative Research - A research methodology that seeks to quantify the data and typically applies some form of statistical analysis - Aims to generalize results from the sample to the population of interest - Includes descriptive (survey, observational) and causal data (experimental)

Objective

Qualitative Research To gain a qualitative understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations

Quantitative Research To quantify data and generalize the results from the sample to population of interest

Sample Data collection Data analysis Outcome

Small, non-representative Unstructured Non-statistical Develop a richer understanding

Large, representative Structured Statistical Recommend a course of action

Classification of Qualitative Research Procedures Direct Approach - Purposes of the project are disclosed to the respondent or are obvious given the nature of the interview Focus Group Interviews: o Interview conducted by a trained moderator among a small group of respondents in an unstructured and natural manner o 8-12 participants, homogenous group, respondents are pre-screened, relaxed informal setting, 13hours, usually recorded, observational, interpersonal and communication skills of the moderator are critical o Advantages: richness of comments, group interaction provides more information and insight o Disadvantages: researchers may regard findings as conclusive rather than exploratory, expensive and time consuming, must find good moderator In-depth interviews o An unstructured, direct personal interview in which a single respondent is probed by a highly skilled interviewer to uncover underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes and feelings on a topic o Exploratory research o Nondirective, semi-structured or focused individual interviews o Advantages: uncover deeper insights about underlying motives than focus groups, less social pressure than focus groups o Disadvantages: lack of structure – results susceptible to interviewers influence, dependent on interviewers skill, data can be difficult to analyse and interpret Focus Groups are better for: - Group synergy and dynamics - Generation of innovative ideas - Client involvement - Amount of information - Bias in moderation and interpretation - Cost per respondent

In-depth interview is better for: - Reducing peer pressure/group influence - In-depth probing - Uncovering hidden motives - Discussion of sensitive topics - Interviews with respondents who are competitors or professionals - Scheduling of respondents

Indirect Approach - Purposes of the project are disguised from the respondents Projective techniques: - Unstructured and indirect form of questioning that encourages respondent to project their underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes or feelings regarding the issues of concern - Advantages o May elicit responses that subjects would be unwilling or unable to give if they knew the purpose of the study – can increase the validity or responses o Use for sensitive, personal issues that may be subject to strong social norms or when motivations and attitudes are operating at a subconscious level - Disadvantages o Expensive, interpretation bias, may not be representative of population, difficult to compare findings Association techniques o Respondent is presented with a stimulus and asked to respond with the first thing that comes to mind o Word association – includes neutral and filler words (calculate frequency of word and latency) Completion techniques o Respondents must complete an incomplete stimulus situation, more directed by not as disguised: o Sentence or story completion Construction techniques o Respondent must construct a response – story, dialogue, description o Picture or cartoon technique Expressive techniques o Respondents are asked to related feelings/attitudes of others to a situation o Role-playing o Third-person technique o Assumes individual will reveal personal beliefs/attitudes while describing other/situation – reduces social pressure errors 7 – Descriptive Research Design: Survey and Observation Survey Method - A structured questionnaire given to a sample population and designed to elicit specific information from respondents - Advantages: easy administration, reliable responses (multi-choice), simple analysis and interpretation of data - Disadvantages: respondents may be unwilling or unable to complete desired information, sensitive/personal information, not consciously aware of motivations, structured data collection may result in loss of validity for data concerning beliefs and feelings. - Classified by mode of administration o Telephone – traditional vs. computer assisted o Personal interviewing – in-home, mall intercept, computer assisted o Mail interviewing – mail/fax, mail panel o Electronic interview – e-mail, internet Method Telephone In-Home

Mall intercept

CAPI

Advantages Fast, good response rate, sample control, moderate cost Complex questions can be asked, physical stimuli can be used, very good sample control and response rate, high quantity of data, longer interviews Complex questions, good physical stimuli and control of environment, very good response rate Complex questions, good physical stimuli,

Disadvantages No use of physical stimuli, limited to simple questions, low quantity of data High social desirability, potential interviewer bias, most expensive, samples may be difficult to access, time consuming High social desirability, interviewer bias, high cost, moderate quantity of data High social desirability, moderate quantity of

Mail

Mail Panel E-mail

Internet

control of environment, response rate, low interviewer bias No force-field problems, no interviewer bias, low social des, low cost, moderate/high quantity of data No force-field problems, no interviewer bias, low social des, low cost, good sample control Low cost, low social desirability, high speed, contact hard to reach respondents Low cost, no bias or social des, high speed, visual appeal and interactivity, personalized flexible questioning, contact hard to reach

data, high cost Simple questions, low sample control and response rate low speed Limited to simple questions, no control of environment, low speed Low sample control, no control of environment, security concerns, moderate quantity of data Low sample control, no environmental control =, low response rate, moderate quantity of data

Improving response rate - Prior notification - Incentive: prepaid or promised: coupons, money or another incentive included with/after survey - Follow-up: contact non-respondents 11 – Questionnaire Design Questionnaire - Formalised set of questions for obtaining information from respondents - Must translate information needed into a set of specific questions that the respondents can and will answer - Should minimize response error and motivate and encourage respondents to become involves and complete the interview Design Process 1. Specify information needed o Descriptive and causal research required previous knowledge for guidance o Consider respondent group 2. Specify type of interviewing method o Telephone, personal, mail, electronic – consider type of data required 3. Determine individual question content o Neutral questions, filler questions and duplication of questions (validity and reliability) 4. Design to overcome inability/unwillingness to answer o Do respondents have necessary information, are they informed, can they recall the information and are they able to articulate a response 5. Decide of question structure o Structured questions  Specify the set of response alternatives and the response format  Multi-choice, dichotomous or scale format o Unstructured questions  Open-ended questions answered in respondents own words 6. Determine question wording o Poor phrasing affects item non-response and measurement error (accuracy of response) o Use simple words, avoid ambiguous words and questions o Avoid leading questions, implied alternatives/assumptions, double barreled questions, generalisations and estimates 7. Arrange in proper order o Opening questions: simple, interesting and non-threatening o Basic information should be obtain first, followed by classification and finally identification information o Difficult or sensitive questions should be placed last o General questions should precede specific questions 8. Identify the form and layout o Divide questionnaire into parts, questions and questionnaires should be numbered

9. Reproduce the questionnaire 10. Pretest the questionnaire o Need to know whether: questions were understood, response categories are appropriate, how long is completion Questionnaire Evaluation       

Are several questions needed instead of one (avoiding double barreled questions) Are potential respondents likely to have the necessary information and knowledge to be able to answer the question, recall the information, provide the information or articulate the response? Is language use appropriate – uses simple words no marketing jargon? Are there any leading questions, implied assumptions, double-barreled questions? Are sensitive questions at end (e.g., demographics)? Are the responses mutually exclusive? Is the layout appropriate? 9 – Measurement and Scaling

Measurement - Assigning numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects according to certain pre-specified rules - One-to-one correspondence between the numbers and the characteristics being measured - Rules for assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly - Rules must not change over objects or time Scale -

A continuum upon which measured objects are located Characteristics o Description: refers to the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate each value of the scale o Order: the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors o Distance: the absolute differences between scale descriptors are known and can be expressed in units o Origin: A unique or fixed beginning or true to zero point of a scale

Primary Scales Nominal Scale - Numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and cla...