Marketing Research

Formal studies relating to any specific

problems and opportunities in the field of
Marketing
Marketing research is a systematic
design, collection, analysis, and reporting
of data and findings relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing the company.

Marketing Research Process

Define the problem and research
objectives
Develop research plan
Collect information
Analyse information
Present findings
Make the decision

Research Objectives
Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal

Research Plan
A road map to guide the researcher
Most efficient plan to gather the needed
information
Need to know the cost of research plan
Decisions on data sources, research
approaches, research instruments,
sampling plan and contact methods

Data Sources
Primary: freshly gatherd data for a specific
purpose or research project
Secondary: data that were collected for
another purpose & already exist
somewhere

Secondary data sources

Statistical outline of India\Centre for monitoring Indian
economy
The Marketing whitebook
Readership surveys
National council of applied economic research
Indian Trade statistics
Websites- infraline for infra sector, Indiastats.com,
magindia.com & agencyfaqs.com provide data &
information on advertising & marketing
Euromonitor international

Research Approaches

Observational research
Focus-group research
Survey research
Behavioural research
Experimental research

Research Insruments

Questionnaire
Psychological tools
Mechanical devices
Qualitative measures

Types of questions
Dichotomous: a question with two possible
answers e.g. question whose answer could be in
yes, or no
Multiple choice: a question with three or more
answers; tick one or more which are applicable,
choices need to be exhaustive
Likert scale: a statement with which the
respondent shows the amount of agreement/
disagreement

Contd..
Semantic differential: a scale connecting two
bipolar words. The respondent selects the point
that represents his or her opinion; traditional-----modern, experienced----inexperienced
Importance scale: a scale that rates some
attribute . E.g. extremely important to not at all
important
Rating scale: a scale that rates attribute from
poor to excellent
Intention to buy scale: a scale that describes
respondents intention to buy ; definitely buy--definitely not buy

Open-end questions
Completely unstructured; what is your opinion about
public sector banks?
Word association ; what is the first word which come to
your mind when you hear
public sector bank
BOB
Sentence completion; an incomplete sentence is
presented and respondents complete the sentence;
I prefer to bank with public sector bank because------

Contd..
Story completion; an incomplete story is
presented and respondents are asked to
complete the story. I went to --- bank yesterday
and noticed a change in physical setup with
computers everywhere.This aroused in me the
following thoughts and feelings -----.
Picture; a picture of two is presented with one
making a statement . Respondents are asked to
identify with the other and fill in the empty
balloon/slot

Contd..
Thematic appreciation test; a picture is
presented and respondents are asked to
make up a story about what they think is
happening or may happen in the picture

Questionnaire dos & donts

Unbiased
Simple
Specific- advisable to add memory cues
Avoid jargon or shorthand
Avoid sophisticated or uncommon words
Avoid ambiguous words e.g.usually, frequently
Avoid questions with a negative in them
No misleading words
Personal & sensitive questions
No overlap of fixed responses, add others to make it
exhaustive

Sampling Plan
Sampling unit: who is to be surveyed?
Sample size: how many people?
Sampling procedure: probability, non
probability

Contact Methods

Mail
Personal interview
Online
telephone

Collecting information

Field investigation
Training
Controls
Response rates

Analysing information

Data analysis plan

Editing
Coding
Master table
Univariate analysis- frequency, %
Bivariate analysis- cross tabs
Multivariate analysis

Syndicated research services

They specialise in different types of information on
what types of products people buy & which
brands
Who buys
Demographics & psychographic distinctions
Comparision of heavy & light users
How people react to products & ads
Style of buying
What media reach them