Marketing Research

STEPS OF MARKETING RESEARCH

PROCESS”
 MARKETING RESEARCH:
DEFINITION

“ Marketing research is the systematic design,

collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing the
company.”

•Marketing research is the process of designing,

gathering, analyzing, and reporting information that
may be used to solve a specific marketing problem.
 NEED FOR MARKETING RESEARCH

• To undertake marketing effectively

• Changes in technology
• Changes in consumer tastes
• Market demand
• Changes in the product ranges of competitors
• Changes in economic conditions
• Distribution channels
 PURPOSE OF MARKETING RESEARCH

• Gain a more detailed understanding of consumers’

needs:
Example: views on products prices, packaging, recent
advertising campaigns
• Reduce the risk of product/business failure: There is
no guarantee that any new idea will be a commercial
success - Can help to achieve commercial success
• Forecast future trends: It can also be used to
anticipate future customer needs
 USES

• Identify marketing opportunities and problems

• Generate, refine, and evaluate potential marketing
actions
• Monitor marketing performance
• Improve marketing as a process
• Reduces uncertainty
• Reduces risk
• Helps focus decision making
 OVERVIEW OF THE MARKETING RESEARCH
PROCESS

• Why should we do research?

• What research should be done?
• Is it worth doing the research?
• How should the research be designed to achieve the
research objectives?
• What will we do with the research?
STEPS IN THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

1. Establish the need for the marketing research

2. Define the problem
3. Establish research objectives
4. Determine the research design
5. Identify information types and sources
6. Determine the methods of accessing data
7. Design data collection forms
8. Determine sample plan and size
9. Collect data
10. Data processing and analysis
11. Formulating conclusion, preparing and presenting the
report
STEP 1: ESTABLISH THE NEED FOR MARKETING
RESEARCH

• A good monitoring system will alert the marketing

manager to a problem that can be attacked by marketing
research.
• Regardless of the monitoring system used a good
monitoring system constantly searches for hints that the
companies marketing mix may be out of “sync” in the
market place.
• Marketing research may not be needed if
 Information is already available
 There is insufficient time for marketing research
 Resources are not available
 Costs outweigh the value of the research
 STEP 2: DEFINE THE PROBLEM

• “A problem well-defined is half solved”

• Identifying and defining the problem or opportunity is a
crucial first step in the marketing research process • When
defining the problem, it is important to think broadly about
the possible causes.
• Defining the Problem Results in Clear Cut Research
Objectives.
• Problem definition involves:
 Specifying the symptoms
 Itemizing the possible causes of the symptoms
 Listing the reasonable alternative courses of action that
the marketing manager can undertake to solve the
problem
 STEP 3: ESTABLISH THE RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES

 What specific information should the project

provide?
 If more than one type of information will be
developed from the study, which is the most
important?
 What are the priorities?
 When specifying research objectives, development of
hypotheses, might be very helpful.
 When achieved, objectives provide the necessary
information to solve the problem.
 STEP 4: DETERMINE RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is a framework or blueprint for

conducting the marketing research project.
Research Design
Quantitative Research Descriptive Casual Qualitative
Research Exploratory
 Exploratory Research Design: It is defined as collecting
information in an unstructured and informal manner.
Examples: Reading periodicals, visiting competitors premises,
examine company sales and profits vs. industry sales and profit,
clipping service.
 Descriptive Research Design: It refers to a set of methods and
procedure that describe marketing variables. Portray these variables
by answering who, what, why and how questions.
Example: consumer attitude survey to your companies services.
 Casual Research Design: It allows us to isolate causes and their
effects. Casual research is conducted by controlling various factors
to determine which factor is causing the problem. By changing one
factor, say price, we can monitor its effect on a key consequence,
such as sales. In other words, casual design allows us to determine
causality, or which variable is causing another variable to change.
 STEP 5: IDENTIFY INFORMATION TYPES AND
SOURCES
There are two types of market research that can be performed:
Primary Research: It involves collecting information from
sources directly by conducting interviews and surveys, and by
talking to customers and established businesses
It refers to information that has been gathered specifically to
serve the research objectives at hand
Secondary Research: It involves collecting information
from sources where the primary research has already been
conducted. Such information includes industry statistics,
market research reports, news paper articles, etc.
As the name implies, it refers to information that has been
collected for some other purpose.
 STEP 6: DETERMINE METHODS OF
ACCESSING DATA
Once the researcher has determined which type or types of
information are needed, he or she must determine methods of
accessing data.
There are several different methods of collecting primary data
including:
 Telephone surveys
 Mail surveys
 Door-to-door interviews
 Mall-intercept studies
 New data collection methods are emerging
• Different methods of collecting secondary data includes:
 Information processing technology.
 Easy and Quick retrieval.
 Internal data- company reports, salespersons, executives, MIS and
other information sources.
 STEP 7: DESIGN DATA COLLECTION FORMS

 Questionnaire: • It is a set of questions presented to a respondent.

 Records the information communicated by respondents or the
respondent’s behavior as observed by the researcher
 Structured Questionnaires: List questions that have pre-specified
answer choices.
 Unstructured questionnaires: Have open ended questions and/or
questions that are asked based on a response.
 Qualitative measures: Sometimes, consumer response does not
match their answers. Thus, unstructured techniques are used. For
example, consumer journey is a technique of keeping track of all the
interactions of a consumer with a product service or space.
 Mechanical devices: Electronic devices have replaced
questionnaires and diary filling methods. For example,
galvanometer can measure the interest or emotion of a person on
watching a picture or an advertisement.
 STEP 8: DETERMINE SAMPLE PLAN AND SIZE

 Here, a researcher has to plan the sampling unit,

procedure and size.
 It is not possible to interview each and every person.
 Therefore, the researcher must define the target
population from which sample has to be drawn.
 The researcher has to choose between probability and
non- probability sampling.
 The choice is based on circumstances facing the company
and research work.
 A good sampling procedure can provide good reliability.
 A sample plan identifies who is to be sampled and
how to select them for study.
 A sample element refers to a unit of the entity being
studied.
 A sample frame is a list from which the sample
elements are drawn for the sample.
 A sample plan specify how to draw the sample
elements from the sample plan.
 Methods are available to help the researcher
determine the sample size required for the research
study.
 STEP 9: COLLECT DATA

 The collection of data relates to the gathering of facts to

be used in solving the problem.
 Data can be primary, i.e., collected from the original base
through empirical research by means of various tools.
 Data can be secondary, i.e., collected from concerned
reports, magazines and other periodicals, especially
written articles, government publications, company
publications, books, etc.
 There can be broadly two types of sources
a) Internal sources: existing within the firm itself, such as
accounting data, salesmen’s reports, etc.
b) External sources: existing outside the firm.
 STEP 10: DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

 Data processing begins with the editing of data and its coding.
 Editing involves inspecting the data-collection forms for
omission, legibility, and consistency in classification.
 Before tabulation, responses need to be classified into
meaningful categories.
 The rules for categorizing, recording and transferring the
data to ‘data storage media’ are called codes. This coding
process facilitates the manual or computer tabulation.
 If computer analysis is being used, the data can be key
punched and verified.
 Analysis of data represents the application of logic to the
understanding of data collected about the subject.
 STEP 11: FORMULATING CONCLUSION,
PREPARING AND PRESENTING THE REPORT
The final report should addresses
 The specific research questions identified
 The research design
 Data collection
 Data analysis procedures adopted
 Present the results and the major findings
 The final report reflects the skills and quality of the researches.
 It can be a written or an oral presentation, or both. Visual aids such
as line chart, pie chart, bar chart, pictographs, etc. can be used.
 A well-presented report indicates the confidence levels of the
researchers in presenting strategies that help in managerial
decision-making.
 SUMMARY

 Virtually all market research projects are different.

 Some are limited to review of secondary data; others
require complex designs involving large scale collection
of primary data.
 Understand the eleven steps of the research process.
 Steps can give researchers an overview of the entire
research process.
 Gives researchers a procedure to follow and a
framework.
 Many steps outlined are interactive and the researcher
may decide which ones to use.
THANK YOU 