Organizational Structure for Marketing

Research
Marketing Research Function

In-House Outside Agency

• Speedy • Fresh perspective

• Economical • Objective & Neutral

• Quick turnaround
• Special Expertise

• Better collaboration with other departments

• To maintain confidentiality

Not well-aligned to the organizational structure

Business Research positions
• Small firms (VP Marketing)
• Mid Sized Firms
Research Analyst (overseeing the entire research process, multiple projects)
Research Assistants (questionnaire preparation/data analysis)
Manager (Decision Support System)
Forecast Analyst to support DSS
Other personnel
Large Sized Firms (Marriott Corporation)
Centralised position or aligned with the marketing department
Director (Data Collection)
Focus Group Moderator
Manager- Data Processing
Director (MR) a part of the executive committee of the organization
Management-Researcher Conflict

•Time
Good research takes time
Time is money
•Money

•Intuitive decision making

Trust on experience & decision making skill
Research should rule out uncertainties and error proof
Researchers more focus on the technicalities of research
Too much past oriented while management application oriented

Need for inter-party understanding & cooperation

Role of a Research Generalist

Research Suppliers
Commercial providers of research services

• Syndicated Service (like a supermarket for research results)

Work for many clients for a fee

• Standardized Research Services

Unique methodology for business specialty areas (e.g. international market research)

• Limited Research Service

for custom research
field survey, datawarehousing, data processing etc.
Ethical Issues in Business Research

• Business Ethics is the application of morals to behaviour related to the

exchange environment

• Moral standards that reflects beliefs about what is ethical and what is
unethical

• Ethical dilemma- situation in which one chooses from alternative courses of

actions each with different ethical implications

• Idealism vs. Relativism

 Rights and Obligations of Participant

• Informed Consent

• Researchers assume that respondents make informed choice which is erroneous assumption

• Obligation to be truthful

• Right to refuse to answer/leave interview at any point of time

• Participants’ rights in passive research (ethics in digital footprint)

• Right to be informed in experimental designs (placebo effect & need for debriefing)

• Protection from physical/mental harm (test marketing of a drink and allergic reactions)
Rights and Obligations of Researcher

• Right to be paid timely and fully

• Code of Ethics for Researchers

• Maintain anonymity and confidentiality

• Avoid frugging & sugging

• Pseudo-research
Rights and Obligations of Researcher

• Objectivity

• Misrepresentation of research
should not be understated or overstated
Effects of control variables should be made clear

• Honesty in presenting results

• Honesty in reporting errors

• Maintaining confidentiality…..conflict of interest

Rights and Obligations of Sponsor (User)

• Ethical behaviour between buyer & seller

• Transparent and open relationship with research suppliers

• Maintaining confidentiality of participants….ethical usage of

participant information
SAMPLING
Sampling & Census

• Sampling a familiar part of our daily life (not in scientific sense)

• Sampling a complex process

• A critical aspect of business research

• Sampling means studying a portion of the population to make conclusions about the whole
population

• Sampling to estimate an unknown characteristic about a population

• Sample ‘statistic’ vs. population ‘parameter’

Benefits of Sampling

• Cost effective

• Time saving

• To draw conclusion if population is inaccessible

• Can provide accurate and reliable results

• Destructive nature of test units

Steps in Sampling

• Define the target population (household and not the individual members
of the household)

• Define the sampling frame

• Selection of sampling units (probability/non-probability)

Check for sampling & non-sampling errors

Sampling error mostly due to faulty sampling frame, insufficient sample
size
Non-sampling (Systematic Error) due to faulty research design, incorrect
research instrument, researcher’s bias
Types of Sampling
Probability Sampling
• Simple Random Sampling
• Systematic Sampling
• Stratified Sampling
• Proportional vs. disproportional
• Cluster sampling
• Multistage Area sampling
Non probability Sampling
• Convenience Sampling
• Judgemental sampling
• Quota Sampling
• Snowball Sampling
Characteristics of good sample

• Representative
• Cost effective
• Adequate size
• Obtained with minimum sample error
• Amenable for research analysis
Stages of Data Analysis

• Editing • Descriptive Analysis

Frequency table,
Process of checking consistency, completeness and
legibility of data to make data fit for coding histogram, pie chart

Pretesting edit • Univariate Analysis

measures of central tendency, variance,
interquartile
• Coding
• Bivariate Analysis
Process of assigning a numerical score or other
character symbol to previously edited data correlation, regression

• Multivariate Analysis
• Convert to data file Factor analysis
Report Writing
• Prepare the plan in advance

• Prepare the structure of the report

• Prepare an outline for the research

• Prepare a rough work

• Conduct a careful reading of the rough work

• Re-write the report

• Preparation of final bibliography

• Preparation of final draft