Chapter 4: The Human Side of Marketing Research: Organizational and Ethical Issues
Placebo
a false experimental effect used to create the perception that some effect has been administered
Syndicated service
a marketing research supplier that provides standardize information for many clients in return for a fee
Research analyst
a person responsible for client contact, project design, preparation of proposals, selection of research suppliers, and supervision of data collection, analysis, and reporting activities
Idealism
a term that reflects that degree to which one bases one's morality on moral standards
Relativism
a term that reflects the degree to which one rejects moral standards in favor of the acceptability of some action. This way of thinking rejects absolute principles in favor of situation-based evaluations
Research generalist
an employee who serves as a link between management and research specialists. The research generalist acts as a problem definer, an educator, a liaison, a communicator, and a friendly ear
Outside agency
an independent research firm contracted by the company that actually will benefit from the research.
Cross-functional teams
employee teams composed of individuals from various functional areas such as engineering, production, finance, and marketing who share a common purpose
Forecast analyst
employee who provides technical assistance such as running computer programs and manipulating data to generate a sales forecast
Manager of decision support systems
employee who supervises the collection and analysis of sales, inventory, and other periodic customer relationship management (CRM) data
Mystery shoppers
employees of a research firm that are paid to pretend to be actual shoppers
Conflict of interest
occurs when one researcher works for two competing companies
Moral standards
principles that reflect beliefs about what is ethical and what is unethical
Ethical dilemma
refers to a situation in which one chooses from alternative courses of actions, each with different ethical problems
Research assistants
research employees who provide technical assistance with questionnaire design, data analysis, and similar activities
In-house research
research performed by employees of the company that will benefit from the research
Custom research
research projects that are tailored to specifically to a client's unique needs
Debriefing
research subjects are fully informed and provided with a chance to ask any questions they may have about the experiment
Advocacy research
research undertaken to support a specific claim in a legal action or represent some advocacy group
Do not call legislation
restricts any telemarketing effort from calling consumers who either register with a no-call list or who request not to be called
Spyware
software placed on a computer without consent or knowledge of the user
Push poll
telemarketing under guise of research
Marketing ethics
the application of morals to behavior related to the exchange environment
Confidentiality
the information involved in a research will not be shared with others
Director of marketing research
this person provides leadership in research efforts and integrates all staff-level research activities into one effort. The director plans, executes, and controls the firm's marketing research function
Informed consent
when an individual understands what the researcher wants him or her to do and consents to the research study
Human subjects review committee
carefully reviews proposed research design to try to make sure that no harm can come to any research participant
Research suppliers
commercial providers of marketing research services
Standardized research service
companies that develop a unique methodology for investigating a business specialty area
Pseudo-research
conducted not to gather information for marketing decisions but to bolster a point of view and satisfy other needs
