MR Test #1

4. Which of the following is TRUE?

- The decision problem is synonymous with the research problem - the decision problem involves determining what information to provide and how that information can best be secured -the decision problem focuses on the problem or opportunity from the manager's perspective while the research problem focuses on the problem viewed as the researcher -the research problem focuses on what actions need to be taken while the decision problem focuses on what information to provide and how that information can best be secured

5. Which of the following is an important aspect of the marketing concept?

-a cross-functional perspective for the coordination of the organization's activities -an emphasis on long-term profitability instead of dollar sales volume -a consumer orientation

The Fargmann Company managers have observed that product returns are increasing over time. What data could they look for to help them understand this problem?

Accuracy of order fulfillment (shipping and billing)

2. What is the most important information needed here: "Should we launch our new product?"

How much people are most likely to buy our new product

A group of marketing managers is debating the reasons for declining profits for their brand. One claims that customers are unaware of the brand, another says the price is too high, and yet a third says that dissatisfaction is growing. Which of the following is incorrect?

These managers wont need marketing research to answer the problem

Which of the following is a document that describes the problem for which research is sought and that asks providers to offer proposals, including cost estimates, about how they would perform the job?

a RFP

9. A discovery-oriented decision problem is best defined as a:

a decision problem that typically seeks to answer "what" or "why" questions

Your company wants to measure what a segment of consumers thinks and feels about a brand. Which technique would be the most appropriate way to measure these phenomena?

a telephone survey

15. Which of the following is FALSE?

a. A study to gauge the properties of a material for its suitability to manufacture a particular product is market

Your web site is yielding disappointing results. Plenty of consumers visit, many of them start to buy, but most stop before they place an order. You think the reason is because your checkout procedure is confusing. You develop three new checkout procedures that might solve the problem, but don't know which one to implement. Which technique would be most suitable to learn this valuable piece of information?

an experiement

4. Descriptive [not causal or exploratory] research designs:

are used to determine the frequency with which something happens (to count things)

Paul Murky of Murky Research Inc. is celebrating. Not only has he been successful in signing up a big client for a survey, he has also persuaded the managers that they need to hire him to do an additional segmentation study on top of that, even though he knows that it will be redundant to the survey. Which breach of marketing research ethics has he committed?

he has sold them an unnecessary service

When Schwinn studies its most successful retailer in depth in order to determine some better ideas for displaying bicycles in its retail stores, this is an example of:

case study

The law firm of Dewey, Cheetham, and Howe wants to advertise to build business. They propose a TV ad campaign featuring smiling, satisfied clients as spokespersons. Their advertising agency has developed a contrasting ad campaign that shows people having accidents and needing a lawyer to sue somebody. Not knowing which campaign to run, they hire a research company to test the ads in a controlled setting to see which one elicits the most positive response from people. This is an example of which type of research approach

casual research

If a researcher or client collects a body of research findings and only sends selected examples to the media to promote a product, this is an example of what?

creating biased information

7. When AT&T hires a research agency to conduct research tailored to its unique needs, this is called:

custom research

Researchers are conducting focus groups in which they ask the participants to discuss what they would like to see in new versions of a product. Which use of qualitative research does this illustrate?

idea generation

What kind of research firm offers a variety of research services that are tailored to meet the client's specific needs?

customized service firms

When researchers ask interviewees to keep explaining their answers to questions by probing for differences between brands, they are using which technique?

depth interviews

Jerry has commissioned a survey of recent buyers of home appliances. The survey items focus on where these people purchased their new appliances, how many appliances they owned, which brands, how long they kept them before replacing them, and how they preferred to pay for their new purchases. Which of the following type of information is this survey gathering?

describing consumer purchasing patterns

The O'Henry candy bar mangers want to expand their sales into Mexico. They commission a study of the Mexican Candy market. The report details consumption of candy in Mexico, competing brands, and data on candy eaters. What kind of research project did they commission?

descriptive research

What type of research design should a marketing researcher use to find out how many customers there are, what brands they buy and in what quantities, which advertisements they recall, what are their attitudes toward the company, and who is the competition?

descriptive research

Which of the following seeks to discover reasons for market outcomes and focuses specifically on the beliefs and feelings consumers have about and toward competing products?

diagnostic analysis

"Does package size affect consumption rates in snack products?" is a typical question in what type of research design?

experimental

Companies, such as Kraft and Procter & Gamble, conduct research to clarify ambiguous situations or discover ideas that may be potential business opportunities. What type of marketing research is this?

exploratory

What type of market research firm specializes in collecting data?

field service

8. The main purpose of discovery-oriented marketing research is to:

find out what is happening and why

Betsy and six other women are participating in a research study that is an unstructured, free- flowing interview. The researcher asked the group their feelings about hair care products in general and asked them to discuss them freely. Betsy is participating is

focus group interview

Kramer's Build Your Own Pizza managers collect data on customer satisfaction through telephone surveys. They ask, "How satisfied were you?" and recorded the answers on a 9-point scale. Store managers are rewarded or punished on whether these scores meet standards. How are they using this information?

it is evaluative

10. The research proposal:

lays out the proposed method of conducting research

5. Which of the following is NOT a possible cause for an increase in marketing costs?

outsourcing customer support functions

6. Which of the following is a legitimate use of marketing research?

providing information to help make a decision

Marketing research:

spans the informational boundary between the firm and its environment

12. What is the purpose of a market tracking study?

to measure some variable of interest, such as market share or unit sales over time

11. Which of the following is NOT a situation in which exploratory research should be used?

to measure the relationships among variables (descriptive)

The Xena Co. manufacturers a widely used consumer product. The managers notice significant declines in sales over the past few quarters. They hire a MR company to conduct focus groups and surveys with their sales force to determine why sales are declining. Which type of research are they conducting?

trade research

The J. Peterman company's line of clothing isn't selling well. They make an excellent selection for working women, but in the last few years, the number of working women has declined because in the previous decade fewer women went to college. Which aspect of the Marketing Concept did they ignore?

true future orientation

The disposable diaper industry conducted research which demonstrated that disposable diapers were no more harmful to the environment that cloth diapers. The cloth diaper industry found just the opposite. The point of this example is:

when evaluating research studies, you should understand that some studies are conducted w a clear purpose in mind to "prove" some position or advance some special interest