Chapter-1.

Formulate a problem or define

a problem more precisely
Identify alternative courses of
action
Develop hypotheses
Isolate key variables and
relationships for further
examination
Gain insights for developing an
approach to the problem
Establish priorities for further
research
To describe the characteristics of
relevant groups, such as consumers,
salespeople, organizations, or market
areas.
To estimate the percentage of units in a
specified population exhibiting a
certain behavior.
To determine the perceptions of
product characteristics.
To determine the degree to which
marketing variables are associated.
To make specific predictions
Secondary data analyzed in a
quantitative as opposed to a qualitative
manner (discussed in Chapter 4)
Surveys (Chapter 6)
Panels (Chapters 4 and 6)
Observational and other data (Chapter
6)

Survey of experts (discussed in

Chapter 2).
Pilot surveys (discussed in Chapter 2).
Secondary data analyzed in a
qualitative way (discussed in Chapter
4).
Qualitative research (discussed in
Chapter 5).
Involve the collection of information from any
given sample of population elements only
once.
In single cross-sectional designs, there is only
one sample of respondents and information is
obtained from this sample only once.
In multiple cross-sectional designs, there are
two or more samples of respondents, and
information from each sample is obtained
only once. Often, information from different
samples is obtained at different times.
Cohort analysis consists of a series of surveys
conducted at appropriate time intervals,
where the cohort serves as the basic unit of
analysis. A cohort is a group of respondents
who experience the same event within the
same time interval.
 A fixed sample (or samples) of
population elements is measured
repeatedly on the same variables
A longitudinal design differs from a
cross-sectional design in that the
sample or samples remain the same
over time
To understand which variables are
the cause (independent variables)
and which variables are the effect
(dependent variables) of a
phenomenon
To determine the nature of the
relationship between the causal
variables and the effect to be
Research Design: Definition, Classification, Exploratory Research, Descriptive Research, Causal
Research, Relationships among Exploratory, Descriptive, and Causal Research, Marketing
predicted
Research Proposal.

METHOD: Experiments
Defilation*- A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing
research project. It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to
structure or solve marketing research problems.

Table of Contents
The table of contents should list the topics covered and the appropriate page numbers.
In most
reports, only the major headings and subheadings are included. The table of contents is
followed
by a list of tables, list of graphs, list of appendices, and list of exhibits.
Executive Summary
The executive summary is an extremely important part of the report, because this is
often the only portion of the report that executives read. The summary should concisely
describe the problem, approach, and research design that was adopted. A summary
section should be devoted to the major results, conclusions, and recommendations. The
executive summary should be written after the rest of the report has been completed.
Problem Definition
This section of the report gives the background to the problem, highlights the
discussions with the decision makers and industry experts, and discusses the
secondary data analysis, the qualitative research that was conducted, and the factors
that were considered. Moreover, it should contain a clear statement of the management
decision problem and the marketing research problem (see Chapter 2).
Approach to the Problem
This section should discuss the broad approach that was adopted in addressing the
problem. This section should also contain a description of the theoretical foundations
that guided the research, any analytical models formulated, research questions,
hypotheses, and the factors that influenced the research design.
Research Design
The section on research design should specify the details of how the research was
conducted (see Chapters 3 to 13). This should include the nature of the research design
adopted, information needed, data collection from secondary and primary sources,
scaling techniques, questionnaire development and pretesting, sampling techniques,
and fieldwork. These topics should be presented in a nontechnical, easy-to-understand
manner. The technical details should be included in an appendix. This section of the
report should justify the specific methods selected.
Data Analysis
This section should describe the plan of data analysis and justify the data analysis
strategy and techniques used. The techniques used for analysis should be described in
simple, nontechnical terms.
Results
This section is normally the longest part of the report and may comprise several
chapters. Often, the results are presented not only at the aggregate level but also at the
subgroup (market segment, geographical area, etc.) level. The results should be
organized in a coherent and logical way. For example, in a health care marketing survey
of hospitals, the results were presented in four chapters. One chapter presented the
overall results, another examined the differences between geographical regions, a third
presented the differences between for-profit and nonprofit hospitals, and a fourth
presented the differences according to bed capacity. The presentation of the results
should be geared directly to the components of the marketing research problem and the
information needs that were identified. The details should be presented in tables and
graphs, with the main findings discussed in the text.
Limitations and Caveats
All marketing research projects have limitations caused by time, budget, and other
organizational constraints. Furthermore, the research design adopted may be limited in
terms of the various types of errors (see Chapter 3), and some of these may be serious
enough to warrant discussion. This section should be written with great care and a
balanced perspective. On one hand, the researcher must make sure that management
does not overly rely on the results or use them for unintended purposes, such as
projecting them to unintended populations. On the other hand, this section should not
erode their confidence in the research or unduly minimize its importance.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Presenting a mere summary of the statistical results is not enough. The researcher
should interpret the results in light of the problem being addressed to arrive at major
conclusions. Based on the results and conclusions, the researcher may make
recommendations to the decision makers. Sometimes marketing researchers are not
asked to make recommendations because they research only one area but do not
understand the bigger picture at the client firm. If recommendations are made, they
should be feasible, practical, actionable, and directly usable as inputs
into managerial decision making. The following example contains guidelines on
conclusions and recommendations.

Measurement means assigning numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects

according to certain pre-specified rules.
One-to-one correspondence between the numbers and the characteristics being
measured. The rules for assigning numbers should be standardized and applied
uniformly. Rules must not change over objects or time.
Description
By description, we mean the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate
each value of the scale. All scales possess description.

Order
By order, we mean the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors. Order is denoted
by descriptors such as greater than, less than, and equal to.
Scaling involves creating a continuum upon which measured objects are located.
Consider an attitude scale from 1 to 100. Each respondent is assigned a number from
1 to 100, with 1 = Extremely Unfavorable, and 100 = Extremely Favorable.
Measurement is the actual assignment of a number from 1 to 100 to each respondent.
Scaling is the process of placing the respondents on a continuum with respect to their
attitude toward department stores.
Comparative scales involve the direct comparison of stimulus objects. Comparative
scale data must be interpreted in relative terms and have only ordinal or rank order
properties.
 
Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product
through research conducted directly with potential customers. Market research allows a
company to discover the target market and get opinions and other feedback from
consumers about their interest in the product or service.
The marketing research process involves six steps: 1: problem definition, 2:
development of an approach to the problem, 3: research design formulation, 4: data
collection, 5: data preparation and analysis, and 6: report preparation and presentation.

In noncomparative scales, each object is scaled independently of the others in the

stimulus set. The resulting data are generally assumed to be interval or ratio scaled.

Primary data is the type of data that is collected by researchers directly from

main sources while secondary data is the data that has already been collected through primary
sources and made readily available for researchers to use for their own research.

The biggest advantage of using secondary data is economics. Someone else has
already collected the data, so the researcher does not have to devote money,
time, energy, and other resources to this phase of research.
Secondary data is the data that have been already collected by and readily
available from other sources. Such data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable
than the primary data and also may be available when primary data can not be
obtained at all.

Executive Summary
Background
Problem Definition/Objectives
of the Research
Approach to the Problem
Research
Qualitative ResearchDesign
describes an event in its natural setting.12 It is a subjective way
to look at life as it is lived and an attempt to explain the studied behavior.13
Fieldwork/Data Collection
Rather than design an experiment and artificially control the variables, qualitative
researchers use anthropological and ethnographic methods to study the participants. As
Data
little intrusionAnalysis
as possible should occur in qualitative research and a researcher will
frequently observe the participants unnoticed.14
Reporting
Instead of providing a broad view of a phenomenon that can be generalized to the

Costsituationand Time
population, qualitative research seeks to explain a current situation and only describes
that for that group. Since only a current situation is observed, all qualitative
research is done in the field. A possible exception is the focus group, which is
Appendices
conducted with 3-10 persons and uses a script of questions. The moderator asks the
questions and the recorder records the responses. Although a focus group is conducted
in a controlled environment, the open ended questions and lack of rigid sample
selection make it seem more like a field exercise.15

Whereas quantitative research seeks to validate a theory by conducting an experiment

and analyzing the results numerically, qualitative research seeks to arrive at a theory
that explains the behavior observed. In this way, it can be said that quantitative
research is more deductive and qualitative research is more inductive.16 Reliability and
Validity As in quantitative research, the ability to reproduce results is important in
qualitative research.

Exploratory research design is conducted for a research problem when the

researcher has no past data or only a few studies for reference. Sometimes
this research is informal and unstructured. It serves as a tool for initial research that
provides a hypothetical or theoretical idea of the research problem.

The following are some examples for studies with exploratory research design in
business studies: A study into the role of social networking sites as an effective
marketing communication channel. An investigation into the ways of improvement of
quality of customer services within hospitality sector in London.

• Comparative scales involve the direct comparison of stimulus objects.

Comparative scale data must be interpreted in relative terms and have only
ordinal or rank order properties.

In noncomparative scales, each object is scaled independently of the others in the

stimulus set. The resulting data are generally assumed to be interval or ratio scaled