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eTextbook 978-0135078228 Basic

Marketing Research with Excel


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vi CONTENTS

Classifying External Supplier Firms 27


Full-Service Supplier Firms 28
Syndicated Data Service Firms 28
Standardized Service Firms 28
Customized Service Firms 28
Online Research Services Firms 28
Limited-Service Supplier Firms 29
Challenges Facing the Marketing Research Industry 30
Issues with the Economy 30
The Lifeblood of the Industry—Consumer Cooperation 30
Marketing Research No Longer Represents “Voice of the Consumer” 31
Marketing Research Is Parochial 31
Marketing Research Operates in a “Silo” 32
Marketing Research Is Tool Oriented 32
Using IT to Speed Up Marketing Research 32
Other Criticisms of Marketing Research 33
Certification and Education: Means to Improving the Industry 33
Certification 33
Education 34
Ethics and Marketing Research 34
Ethical Views Are Shaped by Philosophy: Deontology or Teleology 34
Ethical Behavior in Marketing Research Is a Worldwide Issue 35
Codes of Ethics 35
Sugging and Frugging 35
Research Integrity 37
Treating Others Fairly 38
Respondents 39
Summary 40 • Key Terms 41 • Review Questions 42
• Application Questions 42

Chapter 3 The Marketing Research Process—Defining the Problem


and the Research Objectives 46
The Marketing Research Process 47
The Process: Eleven Steps 47
Step-by-Step Process: Words of Caution 48
Why Eleven Steps? 48
Not All Studies Use Every Step 49
Steps Are Not Sequential 49
Introducing “Where We Are” 49
Step 1: Establish the Need for Marketing Research 49
Company Policy Regarding the Use of Marketing Research 49
When Is Marketing Research Not Needed? 50
Step 2: Define the Problem 53
Step 3: Establish Research Objectives 53
Step 4: Determine Research Design 53
Step 5: Identify Information Types and Sources 54
Step 6: Determine Methods of Accessing Data 54
Step 7: Design Data-Collection Forms 54
Step 8: Determine Sample Plan and Size 55
Step 9: Collect Data 55
Step 10: Analyze Data 55
Step 11: Prepare and Present the Final Research Report 56
CONTENTS vii

Defining the Problem 56


What Is the “Problem” and the “Research Objective”? 56
The Problem 56
The Research Objective 57
The Importance of Properly Defining the Problem 57
A Process for Defining the Problem and the Research Objectives 58
Problem Sources 58
Failure to Meet an Objective 58
Opportunity 58
Recognizing the Problem 60
Systems Needed to Recognize Problem Sources 60
Control System 60
Opportunity Identification System 60
The Role of Symptoms in Problem Recognition 60
Problem Definition 61
The Role of the Researcher in Problem Definition 61
When Management Defines the Problem in Terms of a Decision to Be Made 61
The Role of ITBs and RFPs 62
When Management Does Not Define the Problem in Terms of a Decision to Be Made 63
Conduct a Situation Analysis 63
Validate Symptoms of the Problem 63
Determine Probable Cause of the Symptom 63
Specification of the Decision 64
Specify Decision Alternatives to Alleviate the Symptom 64
Consequences of the Alternatives 65
Identify the Manager’s Assumptions About the Consequences of the Alternatives 65
Assess the Adequacy of Information on Hand to Specify Research Objectives 65
Research Objectives 67
Defining Research Objectives 67
From Whom Are We Gathering Information? 68
What Construct Do We Wish to Measure? 68
What Is the Unit of Measurement? 69
Word the Information Requested in the Respondents’ Frame of Reference 70
Completing the Process 70
Action Standards 70
Impediments to Problem Definition 71
Failure to Change Behavior for Problem Definition Situations 71
Differences Between Managers and Researchers 72
Formulate the Marketing Research Proposal 72
Summary 73 • Key Terms 74 • Review Questions 74
• Application Questions 75

Chapter 4 Research Design Alternatives and Qualitative


Research 78
Research Design 80
The Significance of Research Design 80
Three Types of Research Designs 81
Research Design: A Caution 81
Exploratory Research 81
Uses of Exploratory Research 82
Methods of Conducting Exploratory Research 83
viii CONTENTS

Descriptive Research 84
Classification of Descriptive Research Studies 84
Causal Research 85
Experiments 86
Experimental Design 87
How Valid Are Experiments? 89
Types of Experiments 89
Test Marketing 90
Types of Test Markets 91
Selecting Test Market Cities 91
Pros and Cons of Test Marketing 92
Qualitative Research 92
Methods of Conducting Qualitative Research 93
Observation Techniques 93
Types of Observation 93
Direct Observation 94
Indirect Observation 95
Disguised Versus Undisguised 95
Focus Groups 95
How Focus Groups Work 95
Advantages of Focus Groups 96
Disadvantages of Focus Groups 96
When Should Focus Groups Be Used? 96
When Should Focus Groups Not Be Used? 96
Depth Interviews 96
Protocol Analysis 97
Projective Techniques 97
Word-Association Test 97
Sentence-Completion Test 98
Cartoon or Balloon Test 100
Role-Playing Activity 100
Ethnographic Research 101
Summary 101 • Key Terms 102 • Review Questions 103
• Application Questions 103

Chapter 5 Information Types and Sources: Secondary Data


and Standardized Information 106
Secondary Data 107
Primary Versus Secondary Data 107
Uses of Secondary Data 108
Classification of Secondary Data 109
Internal Secondary Data 109
External Secondary Data 110
Advantages of Secondary Data 110
Disadvantages of Secondary Data 112
Incompatible Reporting Units 112
Measurement Units Do Not Match 112
Class Definitions Are Not Usable 112
Data Are Outdated 113
Evaluating Secondary Data 113
What Was the Purpose of the Study? 113
Who Collected the Information? 113
What Information Was Collected? 114
CONTENTS ix

How Was the Information Obtained? 114


How Consistent Is the Information Among Sources? 114
Key Sources of Secondary Data for Marketers 115
Census 2010 and American Community Survey 116
American Community Survey 116
What Is Standardized Information? 117
Advantages and Disadvantages of Standardized Information 120
Syndicated Data 120
Standardized Services 120
Applications of Standardized Information 120
Summary 123 • Key Terms 124 • Review Questions 125
• Application Questions 125

Chapter 6 Data Collection Methods 128


Four Alternative Data Collection Modes 130
Person-Administered Surveys 130
Advantages of Person-Administered Surveys 130
Disadvantages of Person-Administered Surveys 131
Computer-Administered Surveys 131
Advantages of Computer-Administered Surveys 131
Disadvantages of Computer-Administered Surveys 133
Self-Administered Surveys 133
Advantages of Self-Administered Surveys 133
Disadvantages of Self-Administered Surveys 134
Mixed-Mode Surveys 134
Advantage of Mixed-Mode Surveys 134
Disadvantage of Mixed-Mode Surveys 134
Descriptions of Data Collection Modes 135
Person-Administered Surveys 136
In-Home Interviews 136
Mall-Intercept Interviews 136
In-Office Interviews 138
Central Location Telephone Interviews 138
Computer-Administered Surveys 140
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews 140
Fully Computerized Interviews (Not Online) 141
Online Interviews 141
Self-Administered Surveys 142
Mail Surveys 143
Group-Administered Surveys 143
Drop-Off Surveys 144
Deciding Which Survey Method to Use 144
How Much Time Do I Have for Data Collection? 145
How Much Money Do I Have for Data Collection? 146
What Type of Respondent Interaction Is Required? 146
Are There Special Considerations to Take into Account? 146
Summary 147 • Key Terms 148 • Review Questions 148
• Application Questions 149

Chapter 7 Measurement Scales 152


Question–Response Format Options 153
Open-Ended Response Format Questions 154
Categorical Response Format Questions 154
Metric Response Format Questions 155
x CONTENTS

Basic Measurement Concepts 155


Open-Ended Measurement 156
Categorical Measurement 156
Metric Measurement 157
Why the Level of a Scale Is Important 158
Commonly Used Synthetic Metric Scales 160
Symmetric Synthetic Scales 160
Nonsymmetric Synthetic Scales 165
Whether to Use a Symmetric or a Nonsymmetric Scale 166
Choosing Which Scale to Use 167
Summary 170 • Key Terms 170 • Review Questions 170
• Application Questions 171

Chapter 8 Designing Data Collection Forms 174


Types of Data Collection Forms 176
Survey Questionnaires and Observation Forms 176
The Functions of a Questionnaire 176
The Questionnaire Design Process 177
Developing Questions 178
Four “Do’s” of Question Wording 179
The Question Should Focus on One Topic 180
The Question Should Be Brief 180
The Question Should Be a Grammatically Simple Sentence If Possible 180
The Question Should Be Crystal Clear 180
Four “Don’ts” of Question Wording 182
Do Not “Lead” the Respondent to a Particular Answer 182
Do Not Have “Loaded” Wording or Phrasing 182
Do Not Use a “Double-Barreled” Question 182
Do Not Use Words to Overstate the Condition 184
Questionnaire Organization 184
The Introduction 185
Question Flow 188
Computer-Assisted Questionnaire Design 190
Questionnaire Creation 190
Data Collection and Creation of Data Files 190
Data Analysis and Graphs 191
Coding the Questionnaire 191
Performing the Pretest of the Questionnaire 192
Summary 193 • Key Terms 193 • Review Questions 193
• Application Questions 194

Chapter 9 Determining Sample Size and the Sample Plan 196


Basic Concepts in Samples and Sampling 198
Determining Size of a Sample 199
The Accuracy of a Sample 199
Formula to Determine Sample Accuracy 200
How to Calculate Sample Size When Estimating a Percentage 201
Variability: p times q 201
Level of Confidence: z 202
Desired Accuracy: e 202
Explaining the Logic of Our Sample Size Formula 202
CONTENTS xi

How to Calculate Sample Size When Estimating a Mean 203


The Effects of Incidence Rate and Nonresponse on Sample Size 204
How to Select a Representative Sample 207
Probability Sampling Methods 207
Simple Random Sampling 208
Systematic Sampling 210
Cluster Sampling 211
Stratified Sampling 212
Nonprobability Sampling Methods 214
Convenience Samples 215
Judgment Samples 216
Referral Samples 216
Quota Samples 217
Online Sampling Techniques 217
Summary 218 • Key Terms 219 • Review Questions 220
• Application Questions 220

Chapter 10 Data Issues and Inputting Data into XL Data Analyst 224
Data Matrix, Coding Data, and the Data Code Book 226
Errors Encountered During Data Collection 226
Types of Nonresponse Errors 227
Refusals to Participate in the Survey 228
Break-Offs During the Interview 229
Refusals to Answer Specific Questions (Item Omission) 229
Preliminary Data Screening 230
What to Look for in Raw Data Inspection 230
Incomplete Response 230
Nonresponses to Specific Questions (Item Omissions) 230
Yea-Saying or Nay-Saying Patterns 230
Middle-of-the-Road Patterns 231
Other Data Quality Problems 232
How to Handle Data Quality Issues 232
What Is an “Acceptable Respondent”? 232
Introduction to Your XL Data Analyst 232
The Data Set and Data Code Book Are in the XL Data Analyst 233
Case Data Sets and Building Your Own XL Data Analyst Data Set 234
Special Operations and Procedures with XL Data Analyst Data Sets 235
Selecting Subsets of the Data for Analysis 235
Computing or Adding Variables 235
Summary 236 • Key Terms 236 • Review Questions 236
• Application Questions 237

Chapter 11 Summarizing Your Data 240


Types of Data Analyses Used in Marketing Research 243
Summarizing the Sample 244
Generalizing the Findings 244
Finding Meaningful Differences 245
Identifying Relationships 245
Summarizing Your Sample Findings 246
Summarizing Categorical Variables 247
How to Summarize Categorical Variables with XL Data Analyst 248
Summarizing Metric Variables 248
xii CONTENTS

How to Summarize Metric Variables with XL Data Analyst 253


Flow Chart of Summarization Analysis 255
Summary 256 • Key Terms 257 • Review Questions 257
• Application Questions 257

Chapter 12 Generalizing Your Findings 262


Generalizing a Sample’s Findings 264
Estimating the Population Value 266
How to Estimate a Population Percentage (Categorical Data) 266
Calculating a Confidence Interval for a Percentage 266
Interpreting a 95% Confidence Interval for a Percentage 268
How to Obtain a 95% Confidence Interval for a Percentage
with XL Data Analyst 270
How to Estimate a Population Average (Metric Data) 271
Calculating a Confidence Interval for an Average 271
Interpreting a Confidence Interval for an Average 273
How to Obtain a 95% Confidence Interval for an Average
with XL Data Analyst 273
Flow Chart of Generalization Analysis for Confidence Intervals 274
Testing Hypotheses About Percents or Averages 275
Testing a Hypothesis About a Percentage 276
Why Use the 95% Significance Level? 280
How Do We Know That We Have Made the Correct Decision? 280
Testing a Directional Hypothesis 280
How to Test a Hypothesis About a Percentage with XL Data Analyst 280
Is It t or z? And Why You Do Not Need to Worry About It 282
Testing a Hypothesis About an Average 282
How to Test a Hypothesis About an Average with XL Data Analyst 283
Interpreting Your Hypothesis Test 284
Flow Chart of Generalization Analysis for Hypothesis Tests 285
How to Present Generalization Analyses 285
Guidelines for Confidence Intervals 285
The General Case 285
The Findings-Specific Case 285
Guidelines for Hypothesis Tests 286
Summary 286 • Key Terms 286 • Review Questions 286
• Application Questions 287

Chapter 13 Finding Differences 290


Why Are Differences Important? 291
Testing for Significant Differences Between Two Groups 292
Differences Between Percentages for Two Groups 293
Differences Between Averages for Two Groups 298
Testing for Significant Differences for More Than Two Group
Averages 303
Why Use Analysis of Variance? 303
Flow Chart of Differences Analyses for Groups 307
Testing for Significant Differences Between the Averages of Two
Variables 307
How to Present Differences Analysis Findings 310
Summary 311 • Key Terms 311 • Review Questions 311
• Application Questions 312
CONTENTS xiii

Chapter 14 Determining Relationships 314


What Is a Relationship Between Two Variables? 315
Categorical Variables Relationships 316
Cross-Tabulation Analysis 317
Types of Frequencies and Percentages in a Cross-Tabulation Table 317
Chi-Square Analysis of a Cross-Tabulation Table 318
How to Present a Significant Cross-Tabulation Finding 319
How to Perform Cross-Tabulation Analysis with the
XL Data Analyst 320
Correlation: Assessing Metric Variables Relationships 324
Correlation Coefficients and Covariation 325
Statistical Significance of a Correlation 327
Rules of Thumb for Correlation Strength 327
The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient 327
How to Perform Correlation Analysis with the XL Data Analyst 328
How to Present Correlation Findings 328
Regression Analysis 330
Computing the Intercept and Slope for Bivariate Regression 330
Testing for Statistical Significance of the Intercept and the Slope 331
Making a Prediction with Bivariate Regression Analysis 331
Multiple Regression Analysis 332
Working with Multiple Regression 333
Using “Dummy” Independent Variables 335
Three Uses of Multiple Regression 335
How to Use the XL Data Analyst to Perform Regression Analysis 335
How to Present Regression Analysis Findings 337
Final Comments on Multiple Regression Analysis 338
Flow Chart on Relationship Analyses 338
Summary 339 • Key Terms 340 • Review Questions 340
• Application Questions 341

Chapter 15 Preparing and Presenting Your


Research Report 344
The Importance of the Marketing Research Report 346
Improving the Efficiency of Report Writing 346
Organizing Your Written Report 347
Front Matter 347
Title Page 347
Letter of Authorization 348
Letter/Memo of Transmittal 349
Table of Contents 349
List of Illustrations 350
Abstract/Executive Summary 350
Report Body 352
Introduction 352
Research Objectives 352
Method 352
Findings 352
Limitations 353
Conclusions and Recommendations 353
End Matter 353
xiv CONTENTS

Following Guidelines and Principles for the Written Report 353


Form and Format 354
Headings and Subheadings 354
Visuals 354
Style 354
Using Visuals: Tables and Figures 356
Tables 356
Pie Charts 356
Bar Charts 356
Ensuring Ethical Visuals 357
Presenting Your Research Orally 361
Summary 362 • Key Terms 363 • Review Questions 363
• Application Questions 363

Endnotes 366
Credits 383
Indexes 384
Preface

What Makes Basic Marketing Research:


Using Microsoft® Excel Data Analysis,
3rd Edition, Unique?
This book provides:
䊉 a concise presentation of the fundamentals of marketing research
䊉 an improved software package, XL Data Analyst™, which runs using
Microsoft® Excel 2010 or earlier versions
䊉 input from many professionals in the marketing research industry
䊉 an integrated case complete with a data set that gives students an experiential learning
exercise throughout the course

What’s New in the 3rd Edition?


䊉 Significantly more information about qualitative research with a new section in the chapter
on research design covering qualitative vs. quantitative research and new material
discussing several methods used in qualitative research.
䊉 Secondary data analysis is now combined with standardized information into one chapter
and we have extensive coverage of the new, annual census information available through
the American Community Survey. The text features a complete illustration of how to use
the ACS for a marketing research objective.
䊉 New Chapter (Chapter 10) on data issues and inputting data into XL Data Analyst,
describes data matrices and data coding plus data quality issues. We also describe the
organization of data and variables in the XL Data Analyst.
䊉 New flow charts on data analysis identify key considerations such as categorical or metric
data and provide guides to the selection of proper analyses.
䊉 iReportWriting Assistant is an online tool to help students with the report writing
process. It contains PowerPoints, templates for various aspects of a marketing
research report, grammar and citation help, and an example marketing research
report to use as a model. The iReportWriting Assistant can be accessed through any
chapter by clicking on the Companion Website at http://www.pearsonhighered
.com/burns.
䊉 Numerous tweaks and small improvements to make the presentation as understandable
and useful as possible have been made after a careful examination of every section of
the text.

xv
xvi PREFACE

Why Excel for Data Analysis?


Most students will not become marketing researchers and only a small percentage of them, in
their future careers, will have access to powerful software programs designed specifically for data
analysis. By having this book, they will continually have access to our Excel add-in program,
XL Data Analyst™. In this course students will learn how to use this powerful software program,
which they can access as long as they can access Excel. Instructors told us they want to teach stu-
dents a software program they will have and use in the future. Once students learn to use XL Data
Analyst™ they can use it with their Excel programs for years to come.
Microsoft Excel is a powerful computing tool that is widely used and understood by students.
Developers commonly program applications, called add-ins, that simplify Excel spreadsheet
operations. Our add-in, XL Data Analyst™, opens up Excel’s computing capabilities for market-
ing research applications in an easy-to-use format. Many features of XL Data Analyst™ make it
more desirable than some of the most widely used dedicated stat packages because it takes the
mystery and confusion out of data analysis.

Who Should Use This Textbook?


This book is written for the introductory marketing research course at the undergraduate level.
We assume students have not had a prior course in marketing research, and that they have had at
least one elementary statistics course. We focus on teaching the process of marketing research so
that students will be better users of marketing research. They should be able to evaluate the need
for marketing research and also determine the adequacy of research proposals. At the same time,
we give the students of this book the tools to conduct basic analysis techniques on their own.

A Concise Presentation
We wanted to provide a book with the basics of marketing research. Adopters have told us they
want to teach the basics of marketing research in depth as opposed to covering a large amount
of material superficially. Many professors desire to teach a course with less text material,
allowing them to supplement the course with projects or to spend more time on the basics. Basic
Marketing Research: Using Microsoft® Excel Data Analysis is shorter in length but covers the
essential, basic components of marketing research. We made every effort to write a shorter book
without sacrificing knowledge on what we consider the “basics.”

Features of XL Data Analyst™


XL Data Analyst™ is unique in that it only requires Excel, to which many students have access,
and it is written expressly for the purpose of conducting marketing research data analysis. When
we wrote the first edition of this book we knew we didn’t want to just write a shorter version of a
marketing research book. We wanted a new approach to data analysis. Specifically, we wanted a
program that would operate without statistical terms that are difficult for students to navigate. We
wanted the program to operate in a user-friendly format that was intuitive. Secondly, with many
years of teaching marketing research experience, we wanted our program to offer output in a way
that allowed students to interpret the output correctly and more easily. Those who have studied
statistics realize that many of the presentations of statistical output are based upon tradition. We
offer users an alternative. The XL Data Analyst™ has both traditional and classical statistical
format as well as output in our new easy-to-interpret format. However, the essence of our new soft-
ware is output that students can immediately interpret without a need to consult the statistical
values: our program generates polished tables with “plain English” presentations of the various
findings. This allows students to have greater focus on using marketing research to make decisions;
the purpose of marketing research. The XL Data Analyst has been tested and is fully compatible
with Excel 2010. Students may download XL Data Analyst™ at http://www.xldataanalyst.com.
PREFACE xvii

About the Text: Key Strengths


Aside from being the first marketing research text to fully integrate Excel for data analysis, this
book offers several key strengths.

Time-Tested, 11-Step Approach


The framework of our best-selling SPSS® text is the same framework for our Excel version. Our
logical 11-step process is a time-tested process used throughout this book.

New Examples
In every chapter we searched for new examples for opening vignettes that would wake the
students’ interest and understanding of marketing research. Several of these vignettes were sup-
plied from our professional contacts in the marketing research industry. Several of them reflect
current marketing research practice. In addition to these all-new chapter-opening vignettes, new
examples, many from marketing research industry sources, are integrated throughout the text.

(New) Integrated Case with Data Set


As with our previous textbooks, we wanted an integrated case which relates to students’ interests
and which was realistic. Consequently, for the 3rd edition, we developed “Advanced Automotive
Concepts,” a fictitious case about a major automobile manufacturer attempting to develop fuel-
efficient and environmentally friendly vehicles. The case addresses consumer concerns about ris-
ing gasoline prices, global warming, and their reactions to automobile concepts the company is
capable of manufacturing. The case is integrated throughout the textbook. The case resonates with
students’ interests and, at the same time, is an excellent example of teaching the marketing
research process. The cases and topics covered are:
䊉 Chapter 1, Case 1.2: The Need to Conduct Marketing Research
䊉 Chapter 2, Case 2.2: Searching for a Marketing Research Firm
䊉 Chapter 3, Case 3.2: Putting It All Together Using the Integrated Case for This
Textbook: Defining Problems and Research Objectives
䊉 Chapter 4, Case 4.2: Understanding Research Design
䊉 Chapter 5, Case 5.2: Using Secondary Data
䊉 Chapter 6, Case 6.2: Advanced Automobile Concepts Data Collection
䊉 Chapter 7, Case 7.2: Turning Measurement Principles into Survey Questions
䊉 Chapter 8, Case 8.2: Questionnaire Design
䊉 Chapter 9, Case 9.2: Balancing Sample Error with Sample Cost
䊉 Chapter 10, Case 10.2: The Advanced Automobile Concepts Survey Data Quality
䊉 Chapter 11, Case 11.2: Advanced Automobile Concepts Summarization Analysis
䊉 Chapter 12, Case 12.2: The Advanced Automobile Concepts Survey
Generalization Analysis
䊉 Chapter 13, Case 13.2: The Advanced Automobile Concepts Survey
Differences Analysis
䊉 Chapter 14, Case 14.2: The Advanced Automobile Concepts Survey
Relationships Analysis
䊉 Chapter 15, Case 15.1: Advanced Automobile Concepts: Using iReportWriting Assistant
䊉 Chapter 15, Case 15.2: Advanced Automobile Concepts: Making a
PowerPoint® Presentation
Also, we use the Advanced Automobile Concepts case data set to illustrate all of our data
analyses procedures discussed in our four data analyses chapters. Of course, we have an Advanced
Automobile Concepts XL Data Analyst data set for students to use in applying the various types
of data analysis covered in the textbook.
xviii PREFACE

Our Approach to Teaching Data Analysis


When we introduced the first edition of this book we said “Finally there is an alternative!” After
many years of teaching marketing research and talking with dozens of colleagues who do the
same, the authors decided it was time to do some things a different way. Weary of students strug-
gling with levels of measurement, we present measurement in terms of categorical or metric vari-
ables. Instead of having students baffled by data analysis, we present data analysis in an
easy-to-learn process. In this edition, we have provided flow charts that instruct students on the
key factors to consider when deciding what analysis to use. In addition, data analysis keystrokes
are illustrated through colorful, annotated screen captures. Experience has shown us that the
students, using XL Data Analyst™, quickly learn the tools of data analysis and complete their
projects much faster than with traditional software programs. They focus more on getting the
answers and writing their reports instead of staring at hard-to-interpret output.

Datasets
In addition to the Advanced Automobile Concepts dataset (AAConcepts.xlsm), we have a dataset on
retail store target marketing, Case 14.1, “Friendly Market Versus Circle K” (Friendlymarket.xlsm).
Chapter 10 describes how students can set up their own datasets, such as those obtained with a team
marketing research project, in the XL Data Analyst.

Ethics, Global Marketing Research, and Practical Applications


In our Marketing Research Applications, when we touch on ethical issues or give examples of the
global use of research, we use icons to alert readers to these special topics. When we illustrate a
practical application we denote this with an icon as well.

Marginal Notes, Key Terms, Review Questions, Application


Questions, and Case Studies
These proven pedagogical aids are included in Basic Marketing Research: Using Microsoft®
Excel Data Analysis, 3rd Edition.

Teaching Aids
PowerPoint Presentations (0135078261)
A comprehensive set of PowerPoint slides that can be used by instructors for class presentations
or by students for lecture preview or review.

Instructor’s Manual (0135078245)


A complete instructor’s manual, prepared by the authors, can be used to prepare lecture or class
presentations, find answers to end-of-chapter questions and case studies, and even to design the
course syllabus.

Test Item File (0135078253)


The test bank for the 3rd Edition contains over 50 questions for each chapter. Questions are
provided in both multiple-choice and true/false format. Page numbers corresponding to answers
to the questions are provided for each question.
This Test Item File supports Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business
(AACSB) International Accreditation. Each chapter of the Test Item File was prepared with
the AACSB learning standards in mind. Where appropriate, the answer line of each question
indicates a category within which the question falls.1 This AACSB reference helps instructors
identify those test questions that support that organization’s learning goals.

1
Please note that not all test questions will indicate an AACSB category.
PREFACE xix

What Is the AACSB?


AACSB is a not-for-profit corporation of educational institutions, corporations, and other organ-
izations devoted to the promotion and improvement of higher education in business administra-
tion and accounting. A collegiate institution offering degrees in business administration or
accounting may volunteer for AACSB accreditation review. The AACSB makes initial accredi-
tation decisions and conducts periodic reviews to promote continuous quality improvement in
management education. Pearson Education is a proud member of the AACSB and is pleased to
provide advice to help you apply AACSB Learning Standards.

What Are AACSB Learning Standards?


One of the criteria for AACSB accreditation is the quality of the curricula. Although no specific
courses are required, the AACSB expects a curriculum to include learning experiences in such
areas as:
䊉 Communication abilities
䊉 Ethical understanding and reasoning abilities
䊉 Analytical skills
䊉 Use of information technology
䊉 Dynamics of the global economy
䊉 Multicultural and diversity understanding
䊉 Reflective thinking skills
These seven categories are AACSB Learning Standards. Questions that test skills relevant to
these standards are tagged with the appropriate standard. For example, a question testing the
moral questions associated with externalities would receive the Ethical understanding and rea-
soning abilities tag.

How Can I Use These Tags?


Tagged questions help you measure whether students are grasping the course content that aligns
with AACSB guidelines noted above. In addition, the tagged questions may help to identify
potential applications of these skills. This, in turn, may suggest enrichment activities or other
educational experiences to help students achieve these goals.

Instructor’s Resource Center


All your teaching resources in one place. Electronic versions of the instructor’s manual, test item
file, TestGen test generating software, plus PowerPoints are available online at http://www
.pearsonhighered.com/burns. (Select Instructor Resources.)

Companion Website for Students


At http://www.pearsonhighered.com/burns, students should go to the “Companion Website.”
Here, by clicking on a chapter, they can take the self study quiz. The self study quizzes are
automatically graded. To get the most out of the self study quizzes, students should study
the chapter first, and then take the sample test to assess how well they have learned chapter
material.
Also, at the “Companion Website” students will have access to: a. iReportWriting Assistant,
b. a link where they can download the XL Data Analyst™ software, and c. find information about
careers in marketing research.

CourseSmart for Students


CourseSmart goes beyond traditional expectations providing instant, online access to the text-
books and course materials students need at lower cost. They can also search, highlight and take
notes anywhere at anytime. See all the benefits to students at www.coursesmart.com/students.
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Acknowledgments

It takes many people to create a book. First, we wish to acknowledge the expert assistance we
have received from the professional staff at Pearson Prentice Hall. First, we thank our editor,
Melissa Sabella. Meeta Pendharkar served as our Editorial Project Manager. Meeta, you could
not have been more helpful, thank you! Also, thank you to Elisabeth Scarpa our Editorial Assis-
tant and Becca Richter Groves, our Production Product Manager. We owe Becca a very special
thank you for her capable assistance. We have been with Prentice Hall now for over a decade and
we are forever grateful we found such a great partnership. The entire Prentice Hall staff is cour-
teous and professional. Thank you all for being so good at what you do!
In the 3rd Edition we again benefited from the capable experience of Heather Donofrio,
Ph.D. Heather has been involved in different aspects of helping with our textbook for several
years. Her highly qualified editorial assistance is reflected throughout this book. We also wish to
thank Ashley Roberts who cheerfully and professionally helped us with many tasks during the
preparation of this book.
We both enjoy keeping up with industry trends and practice through our extensive con-
tacts in the marketing research industry. The following professionals made contributions to
the 3rd Edition:
Baltimore Research—Ted Donnelly
Burke, Inc.—Ron Tatham
Decision Analyst—Jerry W. Thomas
ESRI—Brent Roderick & Lisa Horn
Experian Simmons—John Fetto
Inside Research—Jack Honomichl & Laurence Gold
Intercampo—Luis Pamblanco
Ipsos Forward Research—Richard Homans
Ipsos Public Affairs—Paul Abbate
Moore Research Services—Colleen Moore-Mezler
MRA—Kristen Darby
NewProductWorks, GfK Strategic Innovation—Marilyn Raymond and Penny Wamback
Ozgrid Business Applications—Raina Hawley
QRCA—Shannon Pfarr Thompson
Qualtrics, Inc.—Scott M. Smith
SDR Consulting—William D. Neal
Socratic Technologies—William H. MacElroy
Sports & Leisure Research Group—Jon Last
Survey Sampling International—Kees de Jong, Ilene Siegalovsky
Talking Business—Holly M. O’Neill
TNS Global/Retail & Shopper Practice—Herb Sorensen
United States Census Bureau

xxi
xxii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We’d like to thank the professors who took part in our focus groups and shared their ideas
for this text and XL Data Analyst:
Reviewers
Brian Buckler Avila University
Aslihan Cakmak Lehman College
Doug Grisaffe University of Texas at Austin
Steven Moff Pennsylvania College of Technology
Mike Petrochuk Walsh University
Emanuel Stein Queensborough Community College, CUNY
James Swartz California State Polytechnic University-Pomona
Diane Whitney University of Maryland-College Park
As always, we wish to thank our life partners who put up with our book writing exploits and,
no matter what, always smile. Thank you, Jeanne and Libbo, for your steadfast support of our pro-
fessional endeavors.
Al Burns
Louisiana State University
alburns@lsu.edu
Ron Bush
University of West Florida
rbush@uwf.edu
About the Authors

Alvin C. Burns is the Ourso Distinguished Chair of Marketing and Chairperson of Marketing in
the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University. He received his doctorate in
marketing from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Tennessee. Professor
Burns has taught undergraduate and master’s level courses and doctoral seminars in marketing
research for over 35 years. During this time period, he has supervised a great many marketing re-
search projects conducted for business-to-consumer, business-to-business, and not-for-profit or-
ganizations. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business
Research, Journal of Advertising Research, and others. He is a Fellow in the Association for Busi-
ness Simulation and Experiential Learning. He resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with his wife
Jeanne and Yellow Labrador Retriever, Shadeaux (it’s a Louisiana thing).
Ronald F. Bush is Distinguished University Professor of Marketing at the University of
West Florida. He received his B.S. and M.A. from the University of Alabama and his Ph.D. from
Arizona State University. With over 35 years of experience in marketing research, Professor Bush
has worked on research projects with firms ranging from small businesses to the world’s largest
multinationals. He has served as an expert witness in trials involving research methods, often
testifying on the appropriateness of research reports. His research has been published in leading
journals including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertis-
ing Research, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Business, among others. In 1993 he was named a
Fellow by the Society for Marketing Advances. He and his wife, Libbo, live on the Gulf of Mexico
where they can often be found playing “throw the stick” with their Scottish Terrier, Maggie.
1 An Introduction
to Marketing Research

Why and How We Conduct Marketing Research


LEARNING OBJECTIVES at the Sports & Leisure Research Group
䊏 To know the relationship
of marketing research to
marketing, the marketing
concept, and marketing
strategy
䊏 To define marketing research
䊏 To understand the purpose and
uses of marketing research
䊏 To classify different types of
marketing research studies
䊏 To describe a marketing
information system (MIS) What do organizations like Callaway Golf, Unilever, Carnival Cruises,
and understand why marketing Time Inc., and the PGA of America have in common? They are all
research occupies a place actively seeking to efficiently communicate with their target market,
in an MIS
many of whom are heavily involved in sports or recreation activities.
As these organizations seek to optimize their product offerings, and
the ways in which they communicate the benefits of these offerings,
they face numerous marketing decisions. At the Sports & Leisure
Research Group (SLRG) we help our clients make these decisions and
devise optimal marketing strategies, going “beyond the numbers”
by using marketing research to better understand what customers
want and how to position their products and services most effec-
tively to meet those needs.
Marketing research is the tool that we use to bring information
to our clients which allows them to make the best decisions. At
SLRG we use a variety of marketing research: qualitative and quan-
titative techniques such as focus groups, one-on-one interviews,
telephone interviews and online surveys, and purchase diaries. We
custom design research studies so our clients receive the best value
from our service. In this book you will learn about these and other
marketing research techniques.
2
Jon Last has over twenty years in marketing research including experience with Conde
Nast’s Golf Digest Publications Division, PGA of America, and a major cruise ship line. He
holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated
magna cum laude from Tufts University. Last has served as president of the Marketing
Research Association and is a recipient of the MRA’s Award of Excellence.

Visit Sports & Leisure Research Group at www.sportsandleisureresearch.com.

Source: Jon Last, Sports & Leisure Research Group.


Jon Last, Founder
and President, Sports
and Leisure Research
Group

W e wish to welcome you to the world of marketing research! Any time business managers
need to make decisions and they lack adequate information, they are likely to need mar-
keting research. In our opening vignette, Jon Last, CEO of Sports & Leisure Research, collects
marketing research information that is needed by magazine executives, advertisers, manufactur-
ers of sports equipment, and service providers such as the lodging and restaurant business to make
better decisions. In this chapter we introduce you to marketing research by (a) examining how
marketing research is a part of marketing, (b) exploring definitions, purposes, and uses of mar-
keting research, (c) learning how to classify marketing research studies, and (d) providing you
with an understanding of how marketing research fits into a firm’s marketing information system.
You will find in this book a successful statistical analysis software program that is easy to
use and interpret. The program runs off Microsoft’s Excel® spreadsheet program, so as long as
you have access to Excel® you will be able to use this. We have developed XL Data Analyst™ to
allow you to easily tap the power of Excel for purposes of marketing research analysis.
Because marketing
Now, we will show you why you conduct marketing research analyses by introducing you to research is part of
the field of marketing research. marketing, you cannot
fully appreciate
marketing research and
Marketing Research: Part of Marketing? the role it plays in the
marketing process
Before we discuss marketing research, we need to first discuss marketing. The reason is, marketing unless you know how it
fits into the marketing
research is part of marketing, and you cannot fully appreciate marketing research and the role it plays
process.
in the marketing process unless you know how it fits into the marketing process. What is marketing?
3
4 CHAPTER 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH

The American Marketing Association [AMA] has defined marketing as an organizational function
and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for man-
aging customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.1

This definition recognizes that marketing is an organizational function. The other basic
functions of business include production, finance, and human resources. It also recognizes that
marketing is a set of processes that creates something of value such as products and services,
communicates or promotes the value, and delivers or distributes the value (which includes the
notion of pricing) to consumers. This definition recognizes the domain of marketing, namely,
the four Ps (product or service; promotion, distribution (also known as “place”) and pricing).
This definition also recognizes that marketers need to manage customer relationships. This
means it is not wise for a marketer to think of a one-time transaction. “Making the sale” is not
the end of marketing if marketers want repeat buying and positive word-of-mouth promotion
of their products and services. In addition, the AMA definition points out that marketing is car-
ried out for the benefit of the organization and its stakeholders. A for-profit organization, for
example, must earn a respectable return on investment (ROI) in order to remain in business.
For many years marketing focused on providing the customer with value through a physi-
cal product that emerged at the end of the distribution channel. Marketing managers focused on
creating a physical product and then making efficient promotion, distribution, and pricing deci-
sions. Current thinking, proposed primarily by Vargo and Lusch,2 calls for a framework that goes
beyond a “manufacturing-tangible product” view of marketing (e.g., Ford creates value by
building cars). Rather, Vargo and Lusch argue that we should adopt a service-centered view of
marketing which (a) identifies core competencies, the fundamental knowledge and skills that
may represent a potential competitive advantage; (b) identifies potential customers who can ben-
efit from these core competencies; (c) cultivates relationships with these customers, allowing
them to help create values that meet their specific needs; and (d) allows one to gauge feedback
from the market, learn from the feedback, and improve the values offered to the public.
One implication of this new framework is that firms must be more than customer oriented
(making and selling what firms think customers want and need). Rather, firms must collaborate
with and learn from customers, adapting to their changing needs. A second implication is that
products are not viewed as separate from services. Isn’t Ford really marketing a service, a service
that happens to include a by-product called a car?3 This framework is referred to as the service-
dominant logic for marketing.
We do not wish to provide a discourse on how marketing thought is evolving. After all, we
are still trying to answer the question: Why do we need to know about marketing in order to better
Why do we need
to know about marketing understand marketing research? The answer is, in order to practice marketing, marketing decision
in order to better makers need information in order to make better decisions. And, in our opinion, current defini-
understand marketing tions and frameworks of marketing mean that information is more important, not less important,
research? The answer is, in today’s world. For example, the service-dominant logic for marketing implies that decision
in order to practice
makers need information to know what their real core competencies are; how to create meaningful
marketing, marketing
decision makers need relationships with customers; how to create, communicate, and deliver value to customers; how
information in order to to gather feedback to gauge customer acceptance; and how to determine the appropriate responses
make better decisions. to the feedback. Keeping these information needs in mind, think about the information needed by
Ford, as the company prepared to produce the Fusion hybrid to compete with the Prius and other
successful hybrids already on the market; or by the managers at Sony, as they decided to go head
to head with Apple with an online service to compete with iTunes®; or at Apple as they prepared
Current definitions and
frameworks to launch the iPhone and the iPad. Think about all the decisions managers made at General Mills
of marketing mean that when they launched their successful organic food line, Small Planet Foods, or how the managers
information is more at CBS’s highly watched television show, 60 Minutes, have continued to make good decisions
important, not less regarding their broadcasts year after year. The same applies to not-for-profits such as the American
important, in today’s
Red Cross, which earns donations and support by creating value in the sense that it provides
world.
donors with “piece of mind for helping others.” In order to make the decisions necessary for
MARKETING RESEARCH: PART OF MARKETING? 5

such actions, the decision makers in these organizations needed information. As you will learn,
Not all firms “hear the
marketing research provides information to decision makers. voice of the consumer.”
The phrase “hearing the voice of the consumer” has been popularized to mean that compa- They do not conceive of
nies have the information they need to effectively satisfy wants and needs in the marketplace. products or services that
While we just cited some successful firms, we recognize that not all firms hear this voice. They meet the needs and
do not conceive of products or services that meet the needs and wants of the market. They do not wants of the market.
provide value, and their sales come from short-term exchanges, not enduring customer relation-
ships. These companies produce the wrong products or services. They have the wrong price, poor
advertising, or poor distribution. Then they become part of the many firms that experience prod-
uct failure. The Irridium telephone needed 500,000 customers to break even yet attracted only
50,000 subscribers.4 General Motors’s first electric vehicle, the EV1, was a failure. McDonald’s
veggie burger, the MacLean, was taken off the market.
The GfK Strategic Innovation’s NewProductWorks® studies product failure in order to help
clients glean ideas for successful new innovations. For example, a firm introduced scrambled
frozen eggs in a push-up tube. The eggs came with cheese, bacon, or sausage and the idea was
to quickly heat it up and take it with you for a convenient, eat-on-the-go breakfast. You could
have eggs and bacon while driving to work! Although this sounded great in the board room,
IncrEdibles were taken off the market as buyers found the eggs often ended up in their lap as
they tried to push up another bite. There was inadequate information on how real consumers
would use the product. Out! International, Inc. came up with what sounded like a cute name for
a new bug spray: “Hey! There’s a Monster in My Room!” What information did the company How can a marketer
fail to pick up on? The name alone scared kids when Mommy told them there was “a monster in know and understand
how to deliver value to
the room!” The product failed. Marketing Research Application 1.1 illustrates other examples
the customer so well?
of product failures supplied to us from the marketing researchers at NewProductWorks®. The answer is, by
Of course, it is easy to play “Monday morning quarterback” and keep in mind that all these having information
companies have many successful products to their credit. Peter Drucker wrote that successful about consumers. So to
companies are those that know and understand the customer so well that the product conceived, practice marketing
correctly, managers
priced, promoted, and distributed by the company is ready to be bought as soon as it is available.5
must have information,
Drucker is on target with his statement, but how can a marketer know and understand how to and this is the purpose
deliver value to the customer so well? The answer, as you can now see by our examples, is by of marketing research.
having information about consumers. So to practice marketing correctly, managers must have This is why we say that
information, and this is the purpose of marketing research. This is why we say that marketing marketing research is a
part of marketing;
research is a part of marketing; it provides the necessary information to enable managers to market
it provides the necessary
ideas, goods, and services properly. But how do you market ideas, goods, and services properly? information to enable
You have probably already learned in your studies that you must begin by having the right phi- managers to market
losophy, followed by proper marketing strategy. We call that philosophy the “marketing concept.” ideas, goods, and
services properly.

The Marketing Concept: The “Right” Philosophy


Often we find that students do not understand how important philosophies are to them. First, what
Philosophies are
is a philosophy? We can think of it as a system of values, or principles, by which to live. But, more principles, values by
importantly, why is one of your philosophies important to you? The answer may be a surprise. which to live. They are
Your philosophy is important because it dictates the decisions you make and what you do every important because they
day. Think about your philosophy regarding the importance of higher education. Isn’t this dictate how we behave
philosophy affecting your daily decisions? every day.
You go to college classes daily, you listen to professors lecture daily, and you are reading this
book, aren’t you? Well, the same is true for business managers. A manager’s philosophy will affect
how he or she makes day-to-day decisions in running a firm. There are many different philosophies
that managers may use to guide them in their decision making. “We are in the locomotive business;
we make and run trains.” Or, “To be successful, we must sell, sell, sell!” The managers who guided
their companies by these philosophies guided them right out of business. A much better philoso-
phy that grew in popularity in the mid-1950s we call the marketing concept.6
6 CHAPTER 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH

MARKETING RESEARCH APPLICATION 1.1

Practical Could Better Information Have Helped to Avoid These Failures?


Applications

Practical Application lightly carbonated iced coffee beverage. Customers were will-
ing to try it once, based on the Starbucks name alone, but the
Ice Breakers Pacs went into distribution in November
drink failed to encourage repeat sales.
2007. Pacs were small, dissolvable pouches with a
One question is whether it was the carbonation or the coffee
flavored-powder sweetener, in orange and cool mint fla-
that put consumers off. It is true that premium coffee sales have
vors. By January 2008, The Hershey Company stopped the
boomed and carbonated beverages are still a mainstay in the U.S.
marketplace, and Coke saw
that in Japan the combination
of coffee and carbonation
was popular. Causes for fail-
ure may include (a) consumers
in the United States were not
ready to accept the taste;
Ice Breakers Pacs (b) there may have been some
confusion as to when and
production in response to criticism that the mints looked
how this type of blended bev-
too much like the tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell pow-
erage could meet the needs
dered illegal street drugs (cocaine). Hershey stated the
currently being provided by
mints were not intended to resemble anything of the sort.
coffee and soda separately;
CEO David West disclosed the decision to stop produc-
and (c) perhaps consumers
tion: “We are sensitive to these viewpoints and thus have
love their coffee and they love
made the decision that we will no longer manufacture
their colas, but they don’t
Ice Breaker Pacs.” What seemed like a breakthrough,
want a combination. Would
innovative way to deliver a mint form turned out to be the
better information, prior to
opposite when consumer behaviors toward safety (for
Coca-Cola C2 the launch of Blak, have been
self, community, world) made this product unacceptable
helpful?
to the marketplace. Would better information as to the
Coca-Cola spent an esti-
market’s reaction to the packaging been helpful?
mated $30 to $50 million to
Introduced in April 2006, Coca-Cola’s Blak entered the
promote C2, a cola-flavored
U.S. marketplace as a carbonated fusion beverage, a taste
beverage introduced first in
blend of Classic Coke and coffee “essence.” Coke spent two
Japan, then later in the
years developing Blak in hopes of
United States in June 2004,
making inroads into consumers’ grow-
in response to the low-
ing taste for coffee and a booming
carbohydrate diet trend. This
premium beverage market, targeting
was Coca-Cola’s biggest
over-thirty, savvy, sophisticate-achiever
product launch since Diet
consumers. Weak product performance
Coke in 1982. Despite this
in the United States resulted in its being
support, C2 (as well as
discontinued seventeen months after
its competitor Pepsi Edge)
launch. Coke would have benefited by
failed to meet sales expecta-
taking a look at more information on
tions and was pushed out a
product history in this category. Blak
year later. This failure is due
was not the first of its kind; similar
mostly to the decline of the
blends were released in the past and
low-carb fad, and partly to
failed as well. In 1994, Pepsi began to
the success of Coca-Cola
test-market a soda called Pepsi Kona, Wolfgang Puck’s Self-Heating
Zero, a zero-calorie version
which tasted more like coffee than Latte
launched within the same
soda. In 1995, Starbucks partnered
time frame. Zero-calorie beverages had already been
with Pepsi and began to market a cof-
established, and with the advancement in the taste of
Coca-Cola Blak fee product called Mazagran. It was a
MARKETING RESEARCH: PART OF MARKETING? 7

MARKETING RESEARCH APPLICATION 1.1 (continued)

Practical Could Better Information Have Helped to Avoid These Failures?


Applications

sweeteners, the combined effect made reduced-carb bever- from stores nationwide after complaints of faulty technology,
ages obsolete. ranging from the product’s failure to reach an appropriately hot
Sources reported the Wolfgang Puck self-heating coffee temperature to it actually overheating, and spurting or leaking
containers technology took ten years and $24 million to develop. product from the can. While self-heating and self-chilling tech-
The self-heating can technology is by OnTech and is based on a nology could help meet the needs of many on-the-go con-
two-part container. The outer chamber holds the beverage and sumers, any future use of an improvement in the technology will
the inner chamber holds calcium oxide and a water puck, which have to face an even higher hurdle to regain consumers’ trust.
when its seal is broken mixes with the calcium oxide and creates
a heating effect. Launched in the spring of 2005, the product was Visit NewProductWorks® at www.gfkamerica.com.
quickly picked up for distribution by Kroger, Albertsons, and
Sam’s Club. Less than a year later, Puck’s namesake company Source: NewProductWorks®, the innovation resource center of GfK
demanded brand-licensee BrandSource Inc. to pull the products Strategic Innovation (formerly Arbor Strategy Group).

Kotler and Keller characterize the marketing concept as one that “senses and responds. The
job is not to find the right customers for your products, but to find the right products for your
customers.”7 They define the marketing concept as follows:
The marketing concept is a business philosophy that holds that the key to achieving orga-
nizational goals consists of the company’s being more effective than competitors in creating,
delivering, and communicating customer value to its chosen target markets.8

For many years, business leaders have recognized that this is the “right” philosophy.
Although the term marketing concept is often used interchangeably with other terms such as
Although the marketing
customer oriented or market driven, the key point is that this philosophy puts the customer first.
concept is often used
Time has proven that such a philosophy is superior to one in which company management interchangeably with
focuses on production, the product itself, or some promotional or sales gimmick. If you satisfy other terms such as
consumers, they will seek to do business with your company. Thus, we’ve learned that having customer oriented or
the right philosophy is an important first step in being successful. Still, just appreciating the market driven, the key
point is that this
importance of satisfying consumer wants and needs isn’t enough. Firms must put together the
philosophy puts the
“right” strategy. customer first.

The “Right” Marketing Strategy


The term strategy was borrowed from military jargon that stressed developing plans of attack that
would minimize the enemy’s ability to respond. In other words, using strategy involves a plan,
and that plan should anticipate competitors’ reactions. Firms may also have strategies in different
areas, such as financial strategy, production strategy, and technology strategy. So, what exactly is
marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy consists of selecting a segment of the market as the company’s target
market and designing the proper “mix” of product/service, price, promotion, and distribution sys-
Managers must make
tem to meet the wants and needs of the consumers within the target market. many decisions in order
We have to develop the “right” strategy—the strategy that allows our firm to truly meet the to implement a strategy
wants and needs of the consumers within the market segment we have chosen. Think of the many and they need good
questions we now must answer: What is the market? How do we segment the market? What are information in order to
make the “right”
the wants and needs of each segment? How do we measure the size of each market segment? Who
decisions.
are our competitors, and how are they meeting the wants and needs of each segment? Which
8 CHAPTER 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH

segment(s) should we target? Which model of a proposed product will best suit the target mar-
The bottom line of this
discussion is that to ket? What is the best price? Which promotional method will be the most efficient? How should
make the right we distribute the product/service? In order to make the right decisions, managers must have
decisions, managers objective, accurate, and timely information; and, because environments are forever changing,
continuously need marketers constantly need updated information about them. A strategy that is successful today
information. may need to be changed as the competitive, economic, social, political, legal, global, and tech-
nological environments change. Therefore, the bottom line of this discussion is that to make the
right decisions, managers continuously need information. As we shall learn next, marketing
research supplies much of this information.

How Do We Define Marketing Research?


At this point you understand something about marketing, the marketing concept, and marketing
strategy. You also know that marketing managers need information to carry out marketing, to
implement the marketing concept, and to design the “right” strategy. What, then, is marketing
research? Marketing research is the process of designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting
Marketing research is
the process of information that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem.
designing, gathering, This definition tells us that marketing research is a process that results in reporting infor-
analyzing, and reporting mation that can be used to solve a marketing problem (e.g., price determination or advertising).
information that may be The focus is on a process that results in information that will be used to make decisions. (We
used to solve a specific
introduce you to this eleven-step process in Chapter 3.) Notice also that our definition refers to
marketing problem.
information that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem. We explain the importance
of this later on in this chapter when we discuss marketing information systems. Ours is not the
only definition of marketing research. The American Marketing Association formed a commit-
tee several years ago to establish a definition of marketing research. The AMA definition is:
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer
through information—information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and prob-
lems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and
improve the understanding of marketing as a process.9

Each of these definitions is correct. Our definition is shorter and illustrates the process of
marketing research. The AMA’s definition is longer because it elaborates on the function (we call
it the purpose) as well as the uses of marketing research. Note that market research, a part of mar-
keting research, refers to applying marketing research to a specific market area. One definition of
market research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data with respect to a
Market research refers
to the systematic particular market, where market refers to a specific customer group in a specific geographic
gathering, recording, area.10 The Marketing Research Association (MRA) defines market research as “the process used
and analyzing of data to define the size, location and/or makeup of the market for a good or service.”11 Notice the focus
with respect to a on a geographical market area. The MRA defines marketing and opinion research in a manner
particular market,
consistent with the way we have defined marketing research: “a process used by businesses to
where market refers
to a specific customer collect, analyze and interpret information used to make sound business decisions and successfully
group in a specific manage the business.”12 In the next two sections, we will talk more about the purpose and uses of
geographic area. marketing research.

What Is the Purpose


of Marketing Research?
The AMA definition of marketing research includes a reference to the consumer: The purpose
of marketing research is to link the consumer to the marketer by providing information that can
be used in making marketing decisions. The AMA definition expands our definition by telling
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MARKETING RESEARCH? 9

us that the information provided by marketing research for decision making should represent the
consumer. In fact, by mentioning the consumer, this implies that marketing research is consis-
tent with the marketing concept because it “links the consumer . . . to the marketer.” The AMA
definition is normative. That is, it tells us how marketing research should be used to ensure the
firm is consumer oriented. We certainly agree with this, but what should be done isn’t always
followed. Our examples of poor product decisions we discussed previously illustrate this point,
and managers have been implored to use marketing research instead of their own intuition to
make decisions. Even though the AMA definition makes the point that marketing research links
the firm to the consumer, we want to point out that marketing research information is also
collected on entities other than the consumer. Information is routinely gathered on members of
distribution channels, employees, and competitors as well as the economic, social, technological,
and other environments.13
One could argue that the point of all this research is to do a better job of satisfying consumers.
To illustrate how marketing research helps link managers to consumers, imagine what is taking
place in the golf industry during the economic slowdown we have experienced since 2008.
Managers of firms that market golf clubs and equipment, clothing, and managers in related
industries, such as the lodging and resort industry, want to know how the recession is affecting
golfers’ attitudes and buying practices. Marketing Research Application 1.2 shows how one mar-
keting research firm is linking these managers to their consumers.
Sometimes marketing research studies lead to the wrong decisions. We should point out here
that just because a manager uses marketing research doesn’t mean that the decisions based on the
research are infallible. In the examples of “failed” products we examined earlier, some marketing
research was conducted but may have been inaccurate. There are plenty of examples in which mar-
keting research showed a product would fail, yet it turned out to be a resounding success. Stella
Artois beer appealed primarily to people in urban areas. The company’s advertising agency devel-
oped an advertisement showing a peasant selling flowers in a rural setting, but the marketing
research results showed the ad to be a failure, citing below-average brand awareness and the fact
that the ad positioned the beer away from the group to which it primarily appealed. Management at
Stella Artois, however, believed that the ad was good and the marketing research was flawed. The
ad was so successful it is credited with helping to turn the company’s product from a niche beer to
one of the top-selling grocery-store beer brands in the United Kingdom.14 Another example occurred
when marketing research showed the pilot for the Seinfeld show, starring Jerry Seinfeld, was “bad.”
Later, however, a doubting executive resurrected the show, which became one of the most suc-
cessful shows in television history.15 Likewise, marketing research studies also predicted that
hair-styling mousse and answering machines would fail if brought to market.16
As we’ve mentioned, there are plenty of failures where marketing research predicted success.
Most of these failures are removed from the shelves with as little fanfare as possible. Another
classic example of this was Beecham’s cold-water wash product, Delicare. The new product
failed even though marketing research predicted it would unseat the category leader, Woolite.
Beecham sued the research company that had predicted success.17 When Duncan Hines intro-
duced its line of soft cookies, marketing research studies showed that 80% of customers who tried
Soft Batch® cookies stated that they would buy them in the future, but didn’t.18 Sainsbury’s, the
U.K. grocery chain, had an ad prepared by their agency that tested favorably in marketing
research testing. However, the company received negative reactions from customers and staff
alike when the ad ran. Sainsbury’s switched ad agencies.19
These examples do not imply that marketing research is not useful. Remember, most mar-
keting research studies are trying to understand and predict consumer behavior—a difficult
task, indeed. The fact that the marketing research industry has been around for many years
means that it has passed the toughest of all tests to prove its worth—the test of the marketplace.
If the industry did not provide value, it would cease to exist. For each one of these examples
of “failure” there are tens of thousands of success stories supporting the use of marketing
research.
10 CHAPTER 1 • AN INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH

MARKETING RESEARCH APPLICATION 1.2

Practical Using Marketing Research to Better Understand Customer Attitudes


Applications

Practical Application included a sample of 1,050 golfers and a control sample


of 900 nongolfing sports fans. Key findings of the research
Golf is a multibillion-dollar industry. Managers in both manu-
include:
facturing and retailing of golf clubs and equipment, golf
apparel, golf courses, resorts, lodging, and restaurants that 䊉 A large percentage (94%) of the golfers expect to play
serve golfers are greatly concerned about golfers’ attitudes. the game the same or more in 2010, which is up from
The Sports & Leisure Research Group has conducted market- the 2009 figure (77%).
ing research studies to help these managers better understand 䊉 Golfers expect to pay more for irons, drivers, and
golfers. What if you were a manager in this industry today? wedges in 2010 than they did in 2009.
How will golfers react to harder economic conditions? Are 䊉 More golfers are purchasing from sporting goods retailers;
they likely to play less golf? Are they likely to buy less golf brand loyalty is not as important. Technology is a
equipment, clothing, and other items? What will keep them “trigger” for purchasing and the ability to demo
interested in following the PGA tour? the clubs, especially “on-course trial” is important.
The SLRG regularly provides answers to these questions. 䊉 Golfers view magazines as trustworthy, television
This research not only provides current golfer attitudes, but ads as entertaining and memorable, and the Internet
because of multiple studies, they also identify how attitudes as informative and unique.
among golfers are changing. For a regular series of studies, 䊉 Golfers showed an improved outlook toward being
SLRG focuses on (1) golfers’ expectations to play golf, and better off in retirement years, an important segment
spending and retail channel preferences; (2) how clubs are for the golfing industry.
purchased; and (3) attitudes for the year ahead and how these
attitudes will affect the industry. Source: Jon Last, Sports & Leisure Research Group.
SLRG collected data during three time periods: January
2009, July 2009, and January 2010. The 2010 online survey
WHAT ARE THE USES OF MARKETING RESEARCH? 11

What Are the Uses of Marketing Research?


Now that you understand the purpose of marketing research, let’s take a closer look at its uses. In
our short definition, we simply refer to the use of marketing research as providing information to
solve a specific marketing problem, and the AMA definition spells out what some of these prob-
lems may be.

Identify Market Opportunities and Problems


For example, the identification of market opportunities and problems is certainly a use of market-
ing research. Today many managers are asking, “What opportunities are in the market?” When
everyone saw the music industry facing a terrible decline due to pirating of songs on the Internet,
Apple saw an opportunity for iTunes, which has been an overwhelming success. Some auto
manufacturers are contemplating a future where auto buyers will greatly value emission-free auto-
mobiles. Even though there is no existing infrastructure to recharge totally electric cars, Nissan sees
an opportunity for this and has designed the Leaf ® to capitalize on it. There are all sorts of oppor-
tunities, but companies must be aware and determine if they can provide a good or a service to fill that
opportunity while achieving company objectives such as ROI. Problems are typically defined as times
when we fail to meet objectives. Companies experience problems when market share, sales, profits,
customer satisfaction, among others, fall below expectations. In either case, when there are opportu-
nities or problems, managers need information to help them make the right decisions.

Generate, Refine, and Evaluate Potential Marketing Actions


Marketing research can also be used to generate, refine, and evaluate a potential marketing
Marketing research is
action. When Apple created the iPhone, both Apple and AT&T had to evaluate the proposed used to generate, refine,
strategy of offering the wireless service for the iPhone only through AT&T. This turned out to and evaluate a potential
be a good strategy as the iPhone was a huge success and both companies benefited from the part- marketing action.
nership. Sometimes research is needed to generate actions. For example, a series of focus groups
generates information that many consumers want cookies flavored with “dark chocolate.”
Additional research could help the company refine a strategy of bringing out a line of “dark
chocolate” cookies by testing a proposed appeal that the “cookie is heart-healthy.”20 Once
several strategies are in consideration, research can be conducted to evaluate each.

Monitor Marketing Performance


The AMA definition also states that marketing research may be used to monitor marketing perfor-
Marketing research is
mance. Many research dollars are spent by firms to simply “see where we are.” They not only want used to “see where we
to know how they are doing, but also they want information about their competitors. So, marketing and our competitors are.”
research may be used to monitor marketing performance. After companies have implemented their
marketing strategies, they want to monitor the effectiveness of their ads, sales force, in-store pro-
motions, dealer effectiveness, competitors, and customer satisfaction. Companies may also wish to
monitor sales and market shares. This monitoring is often done through what is called “tracking
research.” Tracking research is used to monitor how well products of companies such as Hershey’s,
Campbell’s Soup, Kellogg’s, and Heinz are performing in the supermarkets and other distribution
outlets (e.g., in mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart or drugstores or convenience
stores). These “consumer packaged goods” firms want to monitor the sales of their brands, and sales
of their competitor’s brands. Research firms Nielsen and IRI are two of several firms monitoring
the performance of products in supermarkets and other retail outlets. They monitor how many units
of these products are being sold, through which chains, at what retail price, and so forth.

Improve Marketing as a Process


The AMA definition says that one use of marketing research is to improve marketing as a process.
To improve our understanding of the marketing process means that some marketing research is
conducted to expand our basic knowledge of marketing. Typical of such research would be
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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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