Marketing Research Exam 1 Summary Review

Prepare a focus group interview outline

A focus group outline should begin with introductory comments followed by a very general opening question that does not lead the respondent. More specific questions should be listed until a blunt question directly pertaining to the study objective is included. It should conclude with debriefing comments and a chance for question-and-answers with respondents.

Know the difference between a research project and a research program.

A research project addresses one of a small number of research objectives that can be included in a single study. In contrast, a research program represents a series of studies addressing multiple research objectives. Many marketing activities require an ongoing research task of some type.

Understand the difference between basic and applied marketing research.

Applied marketing research seeks to facilitate managerial decision-making. Basic or pure research seeks to increase knowledge of theories and concepts. Both are important. Applied research examples are emphasized in this text although practically all of the tools and techniques that are discussed are appropriate to either type of research. Some use the term market research to refer to applied research and marketing research to refer to basic research.

Apply marketing research in making better marketing decisions.

Decision-making means that businesses choose between numerous alternative courses of action. Each course of action likely leads to a different outcome. Marketing research can help identify symptoms, sort symptoms from problems, help identify reasonable objectives, and by providing an idea of what outcome will follow from different alternative courses of action, help managers make better decisions in response to both opportunities and problems.

Understand how the role of marketing research changes with the orientation of the firm.

Every company has a particular operating orientation. Production-oriented companies emphasize producing outputs as efficiently as possible. Generally, this leads to an emphasis on low-cost production and low-cost positioning in the marketplace. Product-oriented companies emphasize producing a sophisticated product that is also technologically advanced. Firms that are oriented around the marketing concept become very consumer oriented. Market-oriented firms view all employees as customers who need marketing intelligence to make good decisions. Stakeholder oriented companies try to balance concerns of all internal and external constituencies, including consumers. Marketing-oriented and stakeholder oriented companies tend to do more marketing research and emphasize marketing research more than do other firms.

Know when marketing research should and should not be conducted.

Marketing managers determine whether marketing research should be conducted based on (1) time constraints, (2) availability of data, (3) the nature of the decision to be made, and (4) the benefit of the research information versus its cost. Research should only be conducted when time is available, relevant data can be found and does not already exist, the decision can be shaped by information, and the benefits outweigh the cost of doing the research.

Classify marketing research as either exploratory research, descriptive research, or causal research.

Marketing research can be described as exploratory, descriptive or causal. Each type of research leads to a different research design. The clarity with which the team defines a decision situation determines whether exploratory, descriptive, or causal research is most appropriate. When the decision is very ambiguous, or the interest is on discovering ideas, exploratory research is most appropriate. Descriptive research attempts to paint a picture of the given situation by describing characteristics of objects, people, or organizations. Causal research identifies cause-and-effect relationships. Three types of evidence are needed to establish causality: a) Temporal Sequentiality b) Concomitant Variation c) Nonspurious Association

Be able to integrate marketing research results into the strategic planning process.

Marketing research is a means of implementing the marketing concept, the most central idea in marketing. The marketing concept says that a firm must be oriented both toward consumer satisfaction and toward long-run profitability (rather than toward short-run sales volume). Marketing research can help implement the marketing concept by identifying consumers' problems and needs, improving efficiency, and evaluating the effectiveness of marketing strategies and tactics. The development and implementation of a marketing strategy consist of four stages: (1) identifying and evaluating opportunities, (2) analyzing market segments and selecting target markets, (3) planning and implementing a marketing mix that will provide value to customers and meet the objectives of the organization, and (4) analyzing firm performance. Marketing research helps in each stage by providing information for strategic decision-making. In particular, marketing research aimed at the marketing mix seeks information useful in making better decisions about product design, promotion, distribution, and pricing.

Know what marketing research is and what it does for business

Marketing research is the application of the scientific method in searching for the truth about market and marketing phenomena. Research applications include defining marketing opportunities and problems, generating and evaluating marketing ideas, monitoring performance, and generally understanding the marketing process and the way consumers extract value from consumption. Thus, it is the intelligence-gathering function in business. This intelligence assists in decisions ranging from long-range planning to near-term tactical decisions. Although many business decisions are made "by the seat of the pants" or based on a manager's intuition, this type of decision making carries with it a large amount of risk. By first researching an issue and gathering intelligence on customers, competitors, and the market, a company can make a more informed decision. The result is less risky decision making.

Describe the basic orientations of qualitative research

Phenomenology is a philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on the idea that human experience itself is inherently subjective and determined by the context within which a person experiences something. It lends itself well to conversational research. Ethnography represents ways of studying cultures through methods that include high involvement with that culture. Participant-observation is a common ethnographic approach. Grounded theory represents inductive qualitative investigation in which the researcher continually poses questions about a respondent's discourse in an effort to derive a deep explanation of their behavior. Case studies are documented histories of a particular person, group, organization, or event.

Appreciate the role of exploratory qualitative research in scientific decision-making

Qualitative research has a rightful place in scientific discovery, and the idea that qualitative research is somehow lacking in rigor because it is not quantitative is simply misplaced. Risks do come with using exploratory research procedures in general to make scientific decisions. Although not all decisions require a scientific decision process, companies sometimes do make major decisions using only exploratory research. A lack of time, money, and strong emotions to move on all represent barriers to a scientific decision process. Ultimately, the researcher's job is to make sure that decision makers understand the increased risk that comes along with basing a decision only on exploratory research results.

Understand the typical objectives addressed by secondary data

Secondary research designs address many common marketing problems. Three general categories of research objectives often addressed with secondary data are fact-finding, model building, and database marketing. A typical fact-finding study might seek to uncover all available information about consumption patterns for a particular product category or to identify business trends that affect an industry. Model building is more complicated and involves specifying relationships between two or more variables to understand retail locations and advertising responses. Data mining allows marketers to find hidden gems in the volumes of secondary data. More and more, consumers leave their purchase records and conversations about products and brands behind online and provide a great deal of valuable secondary data useful in data mining and even in database marketing efforts.

Recognize ways social networking and the blogosphere provide opportunities for qualitative research.

Social network postings are replete with postings about brands, products, and consumer experiences. These natural conversations are fertile data for interpretative researchers. Some companies have even established a focus blog that is a source for continuous commentary on a company. Consumer reviews on sites like tripadvisor.com provide another source of data online. A key strength of these approaches is cost effectiveness, although virtually no control can be exercised over the respondents. Internet-based communication tools also greatly facilitate focus groups involving participants who need not travel to a focus group facility. This can be particularly useful when groups consist of professionals who would be unlikely to take the time to participate otherwise.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data

Someone other than the researcher typically gathers secondary data for some purpose other than the researcher's research question. The chief advantage of secondary data is availability, meaning they are almost always less expensive to obtain and faster to obtain than primary data. Often, researchers use secondary data when relevant primary data are impossible or impractical to obtain. The biggest disadvantage stems from the fact that secondary data were not collected with the researcher's needs in mind. In addition, the researcher may not know the quality of the data in terms of reliability and validity. One way to do this is to cross-check the data using a different source; of course, that isn't always possible.

List the major stages of the marketing research process and the steps within each.

The six major stages of the research process are (1) defining research objectives, (2) planning the research design, (3) planning a sample, (4) collecting data, (5) analyzing data, and (6) drawing conclusions. Each stage involves a subsequent set of steps.

Appreciate the way that technology and internationalization are changing marketing research.

Technology has changed almost every aspect of marketing research. Modern computing and media technologies including smart devices (phones, watches, tablets, etc.) and social networking make data collection, study design, data analysis, data reporting, and practically all other aspects of research easier and better in many respects. Researchers do have to be aware of the multiple ways that companies interact with consumers. Furthermore, as more companies do business outside their own borders, companies are doing research in an international marketplace. This places a greater emphasis on research that can assess the degree to which research tools can be applied and interpreted the same way in difference cultures. Thus, research techniques often must culturally cross-validate results.

Contrast qualitative research with quantitative research

The chapter emphasizes that any argument about the overall superiority of qualitative versus quantitative research is misplaced. Rather, each approach has advantages and disadvantages that make it appropriate in certain situations. The most noticeable difference is the relative absence of numbers in qualitative research. Qualitative research relies more on researchers' subjective interpretations of text or other visual material. In contrast, the numbers produced in quantitative research are objective in the sense that they don't change simply because someone else computed them. Qualitative research involves small samples. Quantitative research usually uses large samples. Qualitative procedures are generally more flexible and produce deeper and more elaborate explanations than quantitative research.

Know the role of qualitative research in exploratory research designs.

The high degree of flexibility that goes along with most qualitative techniques makes it very useful in exploratory research designs. Therefore, exploratory research designs most often involve some qualitative research technique. Many of the things that some criticize qualitative research for, such as lack of structure, actually are advantageous in an exploratory design.

Understand the concepts of theory and hypothesis and the critical role they play in research.

Theory offers a potential logical explanation for events in a given decision situation. Theory requires testing to know how true the explanations might be. Hypotheses are formal statements explaining some specific outcome in a way that is amenable to testing. Theory and hypotheses not only provide an idea of what might be expected in a given situation, but they guide the implementation of research by suggesting what things need to be measured.

Recognize common qualitative research tools and know the advantages and limitations of their use.

Two of the most common qualitative research tools include the focus group interview and the depth interview. The focus group has some cost advantage per respondent because it would take ten times as long to conduct the interview portion(s) of a series of depth interviews compared to one focus group. However, the depth interview is more appropriate for discussing sensitive topics. Researchers today though have a wide variety of tools at their disposal aside from the focus group and depth interview.