11-3d Interpreting Research Findings

After collecting data to test their hypotheses, marketers need to interpret the
research findings. They should allow for continual evaluation of the data during the
entire collection period. In this way, marketers gain valuable insights into areas that
should be probed during the formal analysis.
The first step researchers will take is to assemble the data into a table format.
Cross-tabulation may be useful, especially in tabulating joint occurrences, for data
that will be used across categories of things or people studied. For example, using the
two variables of gender and purchase rates of automobile tires, a cross-tabulation will
show how men and women differ in purchasing automobile tires.
After the data are tabulated, thy must be analyzed. Statistical Interpretation
focuses on what is typical and what deviates from the average. It indicates widely
responses vary and how they are distributed in relation to the variable being measured.
The analysis of data may lead researchers to accept or reject their hypothesis. Data
require careful interpretation and a firm may choose to enlist an expert consultant or
computer software to ensure accuracy. If a researcher improperly analyzes data, he or
she could reach wrong conclusion, leading to a cascade of effects that might render a
marketing strategy useless.
Consider the research conducted for a food marketer that asked respondents to
rate a product on criteria such as “hearty flavor” as well as how important each
criterion was to the respondents. Managers must understand the research results and
relate them to a context that permits effective decision making.

11-3e Reporting Research Findings

The final step in the marketing research process is to report the research findings.
Most research will not have answered the research question completely. Thus, the
researcher must point our deficiencies and their causes in the report. While writing,
researchers must keep the report’s audience in mind and ensure that findings are
relevant to the firm. They should also determine before writing how much detail and
supporting data to include. Research is not useful unless it supports the organization’s
overall strategy and objectives.
If an outside research agency was contracted, it is important that it fully
understand the client’s business. The report must be helpful to marketers and
managers on an ongoing basis.
The report id usually a formal, written document. Researchers must allocate
sufficient time when they plan and schedule the project for compiling and writing it,
since this task can be time-consuming. Report writers should keep in mind that
corporate executives prefer reports that are short, clear, simply expressed. To address
this desire. Researchers often give their recommendations first, in an executive
summary, followed by details on how the results were obtained. This way, executives
can easily see the results of the report without spending time on the details. A
technical report allows its users o analyze the data and interpret recommendations
because it describe the research methods and procedures and the most important data
gathered.