Conducting

Marketing Research
Chapter Questions

• What is marketing research?

• What constitutes good marketing research?
• The marketing research process.
What is Marketing Research?

Marketing research is the systematic design,

collection, analysis, and reporting of data and
findings relevant to a specific marketing situation
facing the company.
Types of Marketing Research Firms

• Syndicated service research firms

• Firms gather consumer & trade information, which they sell for a
fee e.g. ACNielsen, National Council For Applied Economic
Research (NCAER)

• Custom marketing research firms

• They design & carry out research studies for various clients based
on specific briefs.

• Specialty-line marketing research firms

• These firms provides specialized research services such as
developing a research brief, collecting field data, preparing data
analyses & reports for other firms.
The Marketing Research Process
Define the problem, The decision
alternatives & the research objectives

Develop The Research Plan

Collect The Information

Analyze The Information

Present The Findings

Make The Decision

Step 1: Define the Problem

• Define the problem

• Problem should not be too broad or too narrow.
• Specify decision alternatives
• State research objectives
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan

• Data sources
• Research approach
• Research instruments
• Sampling plan
• Contact methods
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan
• Data sources
• Secondary data, primary data or both.
• Research approaches
• Observational Research
• Ethnographic Research
• Focus group Research
• Survey Research
• Behavioral data
• Experimental Research
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan…
• Research instruments
• Questionnaires
• Qualitative Measures
• Technological Devices
Questionnaire Do’s and Don’ts
• Ensure questions are free • Avoid negatives
of bias
• Avoid hypotheticals
• Make questions simple • Avoid words that could be
• Make questions specific misheard
• Avoid jargon • Use response bands
• Avoid sophisticated • Use mutually exclusive
words categories
• Avoid ambiguous words • Allow for “other” in fixed
response questions
Question Types (Closed End)-Dichotomous

In arranging this trip, did you contact

American Airlines?
 Yes  No
Question Types – Multiple Choice

With whom are you traveling on this trip?

 No one
 Spouse
 Spouse and children
 Children only
 Business associates/friends/relatives
 An organized tour group
Question Types – Likert Scale

Indicate your level of agreement with the

following statement: Small airlines generally give
better service than large ones.
 Strongly disagree
 Disagree
 Neither agree nor disagree
 Agree
 Strongly agree
Question Types – Semantic Differential

American Airlines
Large ………………………………...…….Small
Experienced………………….….Inexperienced
Modern……………………….…..Old-fashioned
Question Types – Importance Scale

Airline food service is _____ to me.

 Extremely important
 Very important
 Somewhat important
 Not very important
 Not at all important
Question Types – Rating Scale

American Airlines’ food service is _____.

 Excellent
 Very good
 Good
 Fair
 Poor
Question Types –Intention to Buy Scale

How likely are you to purchase tickets on

American Airlines if in-flight Internet access
were available?
 Definitely buy
 Probably buy
 Not sure
 Probably not buy
 Definitely not buy
Question Types (Open End)-Completely
Unstructured

What is your opinion of American Airlines?

Question Types –Word Association

What is the first word that comes to your mind

when you hear the following?
Airline ________________________
American _____________________
Travel ________________________
Question Types – Sentence Completion

When I choose an airline, the most important

consideration in my decision is:
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
__________________.
Question Types –Story Completion

“I flew American a few days ago. I noticed that

the exterior and interior of the plane had very
bright colors. This aroused in me the following
thoughts and feelings.” Now complete the story.
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
Question Types–Picture (Empty Balloons)
Qualitative Measures
• Word association
• Asks subjects what words come to mind when they hear the
brand’s name.

• Projective techniques
• Give people an incomplete stimulus & ask them to complete it.
• Visualization
• Requires people to create a collage from magazine photo or
drawings to depict their perceptions.

• Brand personification
• Ask subjects what kind of person they think of when the brand in
mentioned.

• Laddering
• A series of increasingly more specific “why” questions.
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan…
Sampling Plan
• Sampling unit:
• Who is to be surveyed?
• Sample size:
• How many people should be surveyed?
• Sampling procedure:
• How should the respondents be chosen?
Types of Samples
Probability Samples
• Simple random
• Every member of the population
has an equal chance of selection.
• Stratified random
• The population is divided into
mutually exclusive groups i.e. age
group & random sample drawn
from each group.
• Cluster
• The population is divided into
mutually exclusive groups i.e. city
blocks the researcher draws a
sample of the group.
Nonprobability Samples
• Convenience
• The researcher selects the most
accessible population members.
• Judgment
• The researcher selects population
members who are good prospects for
accurate information.
• Quota
• The researcher find & interviews a
prescribed number of people in each
of several categories.
Step 2: Develop the Research Plan…

Contact Methods
• Mail questionnaire
• Telephone interview
• Personal interview
• Online interview
Pros and Cons of Online Research

Advantages Disadvantages
• Inexpensive • Small samples
• Fast • Skewed samples
• Accuracy of data, even • Technological problems
for sensitive questions
• Inconsistencies
• Versatility
Step 3: Collect the Information

• The data collection phase of marketing research

is generally the most expensive and the most
prone to error.

• Data collection methods are rapidly improving

thanks to computers and telecommunications.
Step 4: Analyze the Information

• The next to last step in the process is to extract

findings by tabulating the data and developing
frequency distributions.
Step 5: Present the findings

• As the last step, the researcher present findings

relevant to major marketing decisions facing
management.
Step 6: Make the decision

• Research findings provide additional information

and help the managers in decision making
process.
What is a Marketing Decision Support
System (MDSS)?

A marketing decision support system is a

coordinated collection of data, systems, tools,
and techniques with supporting hardware and
software by which an organization gathers and
interprets relevant information from business
and environment and turns it into a basis for
marketing action.
Barriers Limiting the Use of
Marketing Research

• A narrow conception of the research

• Uneven caliber of researchers
• Poor framing of the problem
• Late and occasionally erroneous findings
• Personality and presentational differences
Bibliography
 Marketing Management – A South Asian Perspective
by Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy &
Mithileshwar Jha, 13th Edition, Published by Pearson
Education, Inc.

 Strategic Marketing Management – Meeting The

Global Marketing Challenges by Carol H. Anderson &
Julian W. Vincze Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

 Principles of Advertising & IMC by Tom Duncan 2nd

Edition, Published by McGraw-Hill Irwin.

 Principles of Marketing by Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong

Thirteenth Edition, Published by Prentice Hall
The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the
direction of the wind. But the goodness of a
person spreads in all directions!
- Author Unknown

The End…