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MKT144 Marketing Research and Analytics
Chapter 3 The Marketing Research Process Marketing research is an aid to the marketer’s decision making by providing “information.” 1. Helping to better define the organization’s current situation 2. Identifying useful decision statements and related research questions 3. Defining the firm’s meaning—how consumers, competitors, and employees view the firm 4. Providing ideas for product improvements or possible new product development 5. Testing ideas that will assist in implementing marketing strategy including innovations 6. Examining how well a marketing theory describes marketing reality
2 Decision Making and Marketing Research
• Decision making is the process of developing and deciding among
alternative ways of resolving a problem or choosing from among alternative opportunities • Research’s role in the decision making process • Recognizing the nature of the problem or opportunity • Identifying how much information is currently available and how reliable it is • Determining what information is needed to better deal with the situation
Variables = Bases of information
Describing Decision-Making Situations Iceberg Principle = Problems or opportunities are neither visual nor understood. Types of Marketing Research Designs Exploratory Research • Purposes of exploratory research • Clarify ambiguous situations • Discover ideas that may be potential business opportunities • Exploratory research clarifies and defines the nature of a problem • Does not provide conclusive evidence • Assumes and expects subsequent research • Useful in product development • Helps identify symptoms
• Focus group • Literature survey: Secondary data • Experience survey: Depth interview of knowledgeable people • Case study for benchmarking • Projective techniques Focus Group Interview at the Hofstra Behavioral Lab Descriptive Research
Descriptive research describes characteristics of objects, people, groups, organizations,
or environments • Addresses who, what, when, where, why, and how questions • Accuracy is critically important • Involves considerable understanding of the nature of the problem Diagnostic analysis • Seeks to diagnose reasons for market outcomes • Focuses specifically on the beliefs and feelings consumers have about and toward competing products
Longitudinal survey (panel)
• To check the trend or the change over time Cross-sectional survey (sample survey) • More representative samples • Fewer response errors • Allows the investigation of many relationships Causal Research • Causal Research allows causal inferences to be made - they identify cause-and-effect (x causes y) relationships • Critical pieces of causality • Temporal sequence - the time order of events (x occurs before y) • Concomitant variation - two events vary systematically • Nonspurious association - an absence of alternative plausible explanations Correlation is Not Causation Spurious Correlation vs. Causation Experiments • Experiment is a carefully controlled study in which the researcher manipulates a proposed cause and observes any corresponding change in the proposed effect • Experimental variable represents the proposed cause and is controlled by the researcher by manipulating it • Manipulation is the researcher alters the level of the variable in specific increments An Experiment Characteristics of Different Types of MarketingExploratory Research Research Descriptive Research Descriptive Research
Amount of Highly ambiguous Partially defined Clearly defined
Uncertainty Characterizing Decision Situation Key Research Research question Research question Research hypothesis Statement
When Typically Early stage of decision Later stages of decision Later stages of decision Conducted? making making making
Usual Research Unstructured Structured Highly structured
Approach
Examples “Our sales are declining for “What kind of people “Will consumers buy more no apparent reason” “How patronize our physical stores products in a blue do members of our loyalty compared to those who buy from package?” program engage in social us online?” “Which of two advertising media, particularly “What product features campaigns will be more Instagram and Twitter?” are most important to our effective?” customers?”
Nature of Results Discovery oriented, Can be confirmatory although Confirmatory oriented.
productive, but still more research is often still Fairly conclusive with speculative. Often in need needed. Results can be managerially actionable of further research. managerially actionable. results often obtained. Limitations of Different Types of Marketing Research Exploratory Descriptive Causal • A small sample size (Not representative • Descriptive provides a snapshot • Expensive of the whole population) of some aspect of market • Long time • Time-consuming nature of the clerical environment at a specific point • Security (e.g., test efforts required in time marketing) • Relatively expensive • No hint of a causal insight to be • Control of contaminations • Potential susceptibility of the results to obtained from descriptive data • Extraneous factors get misused or misinterpreted • Random selection and • Moderator or interviewer's role is assignment of subjects extremely critical can lead to ambiguous or at times misleading results Stages of the Research Process A summary of marketing research process
17 The marketing research process Step 1. Define Research Objectives. A manager’s decision problem What decision/action should be taken? A researcher’s research problem What information is critically important to “aid” a manager to make the best decision?
Research objectives are the list of the information to
collect. Step 2. Determine the research design.
Exploratory research design Don’t know the
problem
Descriptive research design Want to know it
clearly
Causal research design
Want to know how to control it Step 3. Design the data collection method and forms ( = questionnaires).
• Length < 7 minutes for a non-monetary incentive survey
• Incentive (monetary) • Method (online survey) A Model of Consumer Satisfaction Step 4. Design the sample and collect data.
• Unit of analysis • Representativeness of the target population • Sampling method (Random vs Non-random) • Sample size (n = 300 to 1,200) Online Survey Sampling
Prolific
M-Turk Step 5. Analyze and interpret the data • What statistics to run? • What software to use?
Step 6. Write a research report and make a presentation.
• Audiences? • Oral vs. Written Marketing Research Report (Format)
• Cover Page: Include the title (Copy the marketing problem), participant’s name, affiliation, and date. • Marketing Problem: What it is (in a question form), its significance to the business, and its developing history with a timeline. • Research Objectives: What information to collect, what to achieve • Measures: List and categorize variables. Reveal the source of each. • Sample: Report the sample type, size, and socio-demo characteristics. • Data Analysis and Results: Report important and relevant findings. • Run “correct” statistics to test your hypotheses. • Develop graphs and charts to help readers understand the result visually. • Never copy and paste any raw SPSS output. Instead, develop summary tables. • Discuss the statistical analysis and results correctly and rigorously. • Focus on examining data to bring out information critically relevant to the marketing problem. • Strategic Marketing Actions: Based on the findings, suggest 10 or so strategic marketing actions. • Conclusion • APPENDIX: The Survey with Descriptive Statistics. 26 QUESTIONS?
