MARKETING

Marketing Research in Practice

is part of
Hello!

I AM YOUR INSTRUCTOR
JACOB HILER, PH.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MARKETING
DIRECTOR, CONSUMER RESEARCH CENTER
I’ve worked with some of the world’s largest brands.
1 The Principles of Marketing Research
Think Like a Researcher
Research Objectives

What are Research Objectives?

◦ Often the first building block to any research project
◦ Set what we want to accomplish, understand, or
explore
◦ Example Research Objectives:
◦ We want to better understand millennial grocery shopping
behavior.
◦ We want to understand what it will take for Millennial
consumers to buy Georgia Boots.
◦ We want to understand why people pirate music & movies.
Research Questions

What are Research Questions?

◦ The questions that we ask in order to achieve our
research objectives
◦ Questions that we ask move from big broad questions
to progressively smaller and more specific questions
◦ Example:
◦ Big: Why did you pick your university?
◦ Small: What programs were important to you?
◦ Small: How important was location in your decision?
◦ Small: How important was the cost?
Research Instruments & Methods

What are Research Instruments & Methods?

◦ Research Methods
◦ Qualitative Research
◦ Quantitative Research
◦ Quali-Quant Research
◦ Physiological Research
◦ Data Collection
◦ Who, What, Where, When, Why, & How
◦ Analytical Tools
◦ How do we analyze what we’ve learned?
◦ How do we know and understand what the data is telling us?
Qualitative Research

What is Qualitative Research?

◦ Collects data that is “descriptive”
◦ Qualitative Method Examples
◦ Focus Groups
◦ Individual Interviews
◦ Ethnography
◦ Qualitative Question Examples
◦ Tell me about a time you had difficulty finding what you
wanted in a store?
◦ What is most important to you when you’re shopping for a
car? Why?
Quantitative Research

What is Quantitative Research?

◦ Collects data that can be “quantified”
◦ Quantitative Method Examples
◦ Surveys
◦ Experiments
◦ Database Analytics
◦ Quantitative Questions Examples
◦ Likert Scale – Please tell us how much you agree with the
following statement on a scale from 1-7.
◦ Semantic Differential Scales – Are you more sad (1) or happy
(7)?
◦ Choice Questions – Are you 1-Male or 2-Female?
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research
QUALITATIVE
Qualitative Research is best suited
for questions that require rich and
detailed descriptions of reasoning,
processes, feelings, and emotions.
It is not well suited for predictive
questions, nor does it’s results
often well represent a sample or
population.
QUANTITATIVE
Quantitative research is best suited
for predictive questions, or
situations where generalizing to a
population or sample is important.
It is not well suited for questions
that require rich and detailed
descriptions of reasoning,
processes, feelings, and emotions.
Quali-Quant Research

What is Quali-Quant Research?

◦ Research that contains both
qualitative and quantitative methods.

◦ You get the analytical rigor and

breadth from quantitative, and the
rich descriptions and depth from
qualitative.
So why doesn’t everyone do quali-
quant research all the time?
Physiological Research

What is Quantitative Research?

◦ Collects unbiased or low-biased data that is
immediately observable during reactions
◦ Physiological Method Examples
◦ Eye-Tracking
◦ Facial Expression Analysis
◦ Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
◦ Electroencephalogram (EEG)
◦ Physiological Questions Examples
◦ All measures don’t require conscious cognitive response. The
subject merely has to look at, read, or watch the stimuli being
tested.
Things to Avoid in Research

Common Biases, Demand Artifacts, & Confounds

◦ Biases
◦ Researcher
◦ Sampling/Recruiting
◦ Confirmation
◦ Respondent
◦ Salience
◦ Availability
◦ Demand Artifacts
◦ Leading questions, etc.
◦ Confounds
◦ When items in your study impact others
Activity 1
(10 Minutes)
- Determine your
industry/company/product
- Write 1-2 core research objectives
- Write up to 5 critical research
questions to achieve your
objectives
2 Qualitative Research
Exploring and Understanding
The Purpose of Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research Objectives

◦ To explore interesting phenomenon
◦ To capture peoples responses to
interesting questions
◦ To examine how people behave with
various stimuli
◦ To uncover what reasons underlie a
specific emotion or behavior
◦ Perhaps most importantly:
◦ To address the WHY underlying many
different research questions
Two Basic Forms of Qualitative Research

FOCUS GROUPS INTERVIEWS (IDIs)

• Focus groups are typically 6-8 people, but it • An individual in-depth interview (one-on-one
depends on what works best for your research between an interviewer and a respondent
objectives
• An IDI is best used for when you need to:
• The respondents or informants in your focus
groups should be those that best help you • Talk about something
answer your research question emotional/controversial/personal
• Talk to someone about their own
• Good for seeing how people with different
opinions can react to each other, or processes/feelings
demonstrate that a group of people think • Develop a deep understanding about a
similarly single person (when the individual is more
important than a group)
• They can be a homogenous or heterogeneous
mix of people
• Both have advantages and disadvantages
• E.g. All similar ages vs. all different ages
How Many Qualitative Responses Do You Need?

How do you know you’re done?

◦ It depends:
◦ Objectives of the Research
◦ Is it to understand many individuals or
few
◦ Is the phenomenon being studied able
to be examined through a few deep
interviews or many short interviews
◦ Two primary decisions:
◦ Once you’ve exhausted your ability
(financial or workload limit)
◦ Once you’ve reached theoretical
saturation
◦ i.e You see no new or interesting findings
relevant to your research questions in
additional interviews.
Focus Group Team

Team Members
◦ All focus groups should be conducted
with at least two team members.
◦ Focus group roles
◦ Interviewer (Conducts the interview.)
◦ Assistant (Helps with stimuli, setting up
the room.)
◦ Observer (Passively observes the focus
group and takes notes, potentially
passing them on to the interviewer
during the focus group.)
Asking Good Qualitative Questions

The Right Questions

◦ Ask open ended broad questions
first.
◦ Follow up interesting responses with
“tell me more about that” or “why…”
◦ Try to avoid leading questions at all
costs.
◦ Try to order your questions naturally,
and let the conversation come to you
◦ When the discussion gets off track
try to find a natural way to bring it
back to the topic at hand
Discussion Guide

The “Qualitative Survey”

◦ A discussion guide should be written
to ensure research questions are
addressed.
◦ It should be brief and should only
include bullet points of the main
issues being explored.
◦ It should not include many and
detailed questions that constrict the
interviewer’s ability to let the
discussion flow naturally, but it
should provide guidance towards the
topics of interest.
Qualitative Techniques

Probing & Laddering

• Probing is asking follow up questions about
an interesting (different, conflicting, etc.)
response
• When interesting responses occur it is
important to probe further into the reasoning
for that response in order to better understand
it
• Laddering is a form of probing that involves
continuously drilling down into the deeper
meaning behind some thought or response
• Laddering can uncover various underlying
feelings, thoughts, and emotions about the topic
Qualitative Techniques

Stimuli
◦ What stimuli to bring into the room
or control for is an important
consideration when conducting your
focus group.
◦ Examples of stimuli include:
◦ Pictures around the room
◦ Product samples/examples
◦ Advertising clips and materials
◦ Diagrams to explain the phenomenon
being studied
Qualitative Techniques

Voting
◦ Voting can be used
both as a quick
way to collect
quantitative
responses, as well
as to ease
respondents into a
discussion.
Qualitative Techniques

Critical Incident
◦ The critical incident technique
involves having the respondent
describe a specific experience that is
related to your topic.
◦ E.g. Please explain a time when an
employee at a retail store really made
you mad.
◦ This is a great way to get a
respondent to ease into talking about
a specific topic and to think more
deeply about it.
Qualitative Techniques

Card Sort
◦ A technique that either involves
giving respondents predetermined
cards with text or pictures on it and
asking them to rank order or cluster
them into ideas that make sense
◦ Or allowing them to write their own
ideas on cards
Qualitative Techniques

Drawing Exercises
◦ Drawing exercises work well to help
the respondent:
◦ Describe themselves
◦ Uncover a process
◦ Think about a better way to do
something
◦ Design something
◦ Express an idea that’s difficult to capture
in words
Activity 2
(20 Minutes)
- 2 people will be your qualitative
research team, and the rest will
be participants for your partner
group
- Decide on one qualitative activity
to generate a conversation (5
minutes)
- Conduct that activity with your
partner group (15 minutes)
3 Quantitative Research
Confirming and Reinforcing
The Purpose of Quantitative Research

What is quantitative research good for?

• Quantitative research is best suited for
predictive questions, or situations where
generalizing to a population or sample is
important.

• It is not well suited for questions that

require rich and detailed descriptions of
reasoning, processes, feelings, and
emotions.
Survey Length

How many questions should be on a survey?

◦ As many as achieve and answer your
research questions, but paying specific
attention to:
◦ Respondents ability to comprehend the
ordering of the questions
◦ Respondent fatigue
◦ Survey and question flow
◦ Demand artifacts
Data Collection

How many responses do you need?

◦ It all depends on the type of analysis:
◦ Regression (~100 or more)
◦ T-Tests, ANOVA/MANOVA (>20 per cell)
◦ Structural Equation Modeling (>300)

◦ More sample = more power to support

significance
◦ With more sample you can get just about
anything to be significant, so there are
criticisms based on effect sizes rather than
significance
The Research Statistic Cheat Sheet
Means & Percentages
◦ The vast majority of what market
researchers report. They’re
understandable and easy to visualize.
◦ Reported as bar charts, pie charts, or
other graphics.
T-Tests
◦ Tell you if one average or percentage
is bigger than another.
◦ (e.g. Males vs. Females on Purchase
Intentions)
◦ (e.g. Does someone like Brand A or
Brand B better)
Correlations
◦ Tell you if one question is related to
another in three ways…
◦ As one moves up or down the other follows
◦ As one moves up or down the other does the
opposite
◦ There is no relationship between the two
variables
Regression
◦ Tells you what questions or independent
variables (e.g. attitudes, feelings, etc.)
have a direct impact on a single other
dependent variable (e.g. Sales, purchase
intentions, etc.)
◦ The effects are the same as in correlations
Survey Locations

Where should you conduct your survey?

◦ Online
◦ Computer
◦ Phone
◦ Tablet
◦ Paper
◦ Structured Setting
◦ Intercept
◦ Mail
Survey Question Types

Multiple vs. Forced Choice

◦ Multiple choice questions allow the
respondent to respond
independently on each item.

◦ Forced choice questions force the

respondent into picking one item.
Survey Question Types

Scales
◦ Scaled questions are all about
weighing options/statements etc. on
a continuum.
◦ There are many different type of
scaled questions:
◦ Likert (Agree-Disagree)
◦ Semantic Differential (Happy-Sad)
◦ Graphic Rating Scale (0-100 w/ Slider)
◦ Matrix Scales (Various questions on the
same scale)
Survey Question Types

Likert Scales
◦ Respondents may be offered a choice of five to seven or even nine pre-coded
responses with the neutral point being neither agree nor disagree. In it final
form, the Likert Scale is a five (or seven or nine) point scale which is used to
allow the individual to express how much they agree or disagree with a
particular statement.
Survey Question Types

Semantic Differential Scales

◦ Semantic differential is a type of a rating scale designed to measure the connotative
meaning of objects, events, and concepts. The connotations are used to derive the
attitude towards the given object, event or concept.
Survey Question Types

Graphic Rating Scale

◦ A graphic rating scale, also known as a continuous rating scale usually looks like the
figure drawn above. The ends of the continuum are sometimes labeled with opposite
values. Respondents are required to make a mark at any point on the scale that they
find appropriate.
Survey Question Types

Matrix Scales
◦ A matrix scale, refers to any grouping of questions that generally inquire about a
similar idea that are being evaluated on the same scale.
Survey Question Types

Rank Order Questions

◦ In a rank order question, the
respondent is asked to order various
items/thoughts/etc. that are
provided for them.

◦ This provides a better understanding

how these items relate to one
another.
Activity 3
(20 Minutes)
- Write one quantitative question
that you need the answer to to
achieve your research objective
from Activity 1 & write it on the
board (5 minutes)
- We’ll discuss and critique the
questions afterwards (15 minutes)
4 Physiological Research
A Better Research Method or Just a New Tool
Eye-Tracking

What It Does
◦ Determines where people are
looking, in what order, and how long
they fixate on objects in stimuli
What Its Good For
◦ By itself, only to see if customers are
looking at what you want them to be
looking at
◦ But in combination with FEA
◦ Menu-testing
◦ Ad-testing (Print & Video)
◦ Website testing
Facial Expression Analysis (FEA)

What It Does
◦ Tests for basic facial emotions being
expressed such as:
◦ Happiness
◦ Fear
◦ Angry
◦ Surprise
◦ Disgust
◦ Contempt
◦ Etc.
What Its Good For
◦ Seeing an unbiased read on how
people feel when looking at print or
video ads, storefronts, websites,
products, etc.
Data Collection
Eye-Tracking & FEA Conducted Together
Eye-Tracking & FEA Conducted Together
Eye-Tracking & FEA Conducted Together
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)

What It Does
◦ Measures skin conducants from your
hand (sweat) which indicates the
level of psychological arousal while
viewing stimuli
What Its Good For
◦ Higher arousal usually indicates a
higher desire and interest in
products, ads, etc. which can lead to
purchase likelihood
◦ Can tell you exactly what people are
interested in during video ads, i.e.
what they’re responding to
◦ Testing for addictive tendencies
Electroencephalogram (EEG)

What It Does
◦ Assess approach-avoidance
tendencies from brain waves
◦ Approach indicates – more likely to
look at, potentially purchase, etc.
◦ Avoidance indicates – less likely to
look at, potentially purchase, etc.
What Its Good For
◦ Adding an additional unbiased
measure from brain waves to
indicate if consumers would be
interested in your products, ads,
stores, websites, etc.
Physiological Measures

What They’re Good For

◦ Getting unbiased responses from a
few participants due to the really
slow data collection pace
◦ Confirming findings from other forms
of research such as a survey or focus
groups
◦ A great overall supplemental set of
research tool
What They’re Not
◦ A replacement for the existing
research methods
◦ Capturing true cognitive thought and
descriptions of reasoning
5 Communicating Research Findings
Keep It Simple & Actionable
 The majority of the industry doesn’t want

“
long paper reports, they want infographics,
presentation decks, videos, or something
else easily disseminated around the office.
DO THIS!
OR THIS!
NOT THIS!
Creating Insights from Information

Why Insights are Important?

◦ Report writing isn’t just about
reporting as much information as
possible, it’s about reporting
meaningful and useful information
called insights
◦ Insights are information that shed
light on something not and/or
misunderstood and/or helps solve a
problem
◦ If you can’t explain why the
information is useful and important
to the client, it’s not important
enough to include
“
Nobody wants to sit through a math
class during a research presentation.
- Almost every
business-person…
ever
Q&A
 Thank You!
You can find me on LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobhiler/)
& Email: hilerj@ohio.edu