Chapter 4 Marketing
10) ________ is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data about customers, competitors, and the business environment to improve marketing effectiveness. A) Market research B) Marketing management C) Competitive intelligence D) Market intelligence E) Internal marketing
A) Market research
67) Once a company has conducted exploratory research and reviewed the resulting data, its next step is most likely which of the following? A) conduct descriptive research B) calculate the representative sample size C) identify secondary data sources D) select a primary data collection method E) conduct qualitative research
A) conduct descriptive research
60 ) A company utilized ________ when it asked consumers to indicate how they feel about panty hose. A) exploratory research B) causal research C) case study research D) ethnography E) descriptive research
A) exploratory research
49) The market research process step of defining the research problem has three components: specifying the research objectives, identifying the consumer population of interest, and ________. A) placing the problem in an environmental context B) determining a budget for the research process C) selecting managers responsible for analyzing the data D) determining whether primary data will be needed E) deciding whether to hire a marketing research agency or to conduct the research in-house
A) placing the problem in an environmental context
116) Managers of a movie theater company want to learn more about what types of premium services their customers who participate in the theater's loyalty program most desire and would be willing to pay a premium price for. The managers use a computer program that selects customers in a lottery style from the company's database to receive an online survey and loyalty points for completing the survey about premium services. What kind of sampling technique do the movie theater managers use? A) simple random sampling B) nonprobability sampling C) stratified sampling D) systematic sampling E) convenience sampling
A) simple random sampling
85) Which of the following would marketers most likely learn by "scraping the web"? A) which trends are emerging and what customers are talking about in real time B) how consumers connect emotionally to the products they use on a daily basis C) how consumers engage with different forms of visual marketing D) what types of and how much media a consumer is exposed to in a given time period E) who is watching which television shows at what time
A) which trends are emerging and what customers are talking about in real time
28) How does a marketing decision support system (MDSS) differ from a marketing information system (MIS)? Why might a marketer want to use an MDSS in addition to an MIS?
Answer: A marketing decision support system (MDSS) includes analysis and interactive software that allows marketing managers to access MIS data and conduct their own analyses. The statistical and modeling software of an MDSS allows marketers to examine complex relationships among factors in the marketplace and to generate answers to "what-if" questions about those relationships. MDSS is an enhancement to the MIS that makes it easy for marketing managers, rather than just MIS analysts, to access the MIS system and find answers to their questions.
26) Discuss the components and functions of a marketing information system (MIS).
Answer: A typical MIS includes three important components: data, computer hardware and software, and output for marketing decision makers. The different types of data that feed into an MIS are internal company data, marketing intelligence, market research, and acquired databases. This data is processed by the MIS software, and then MIS analysts use the output to generate reports for various decision makers.
46) Why might a company complain of having too much data?
Answer: Data are raw and unorganized facts that can be overwhelming if no one knows what they all mean. A company might complain of having too much data if no one in the organization is able to structure and organize the data so that they can become information that is useful for decision making.
45) What is the difference between data and information?
Answer: Data, which are raw and unorganized facts, become information when they are organized, structured, and presented in a way that becomes useful for decision making.
143) Compare and contrast the structure and uses of exploratory research and descriptive research.
Answer: Exploratory research can be used to generate ideas for future strategies or just to get a better handle on a problem a firm is experiencing with a product. These studies are usually small in scale and less costly than other research techniques. Exploratory research typically is qualitative, meaning that the results of the research project tend to be nonnumeric. The results might be verbal or visual information about consumers' attitudes, feelings, and buying behavior in the form of words rather than numbers. Descriptive research often follows exploratory research. Descriptive research is much more systematic, probing into a specific marketing problem and basing its conclusions on a much larger sample of participants. Descriptive research is quantitative, meaning that results are expressed in numerical terms such as averages, percentages, or other statistics summarizing results from a large set of measurements.
29) What is internal company data? Give two examples of internal data.
Answer: Internal company data refer to information that comes from within the company. Answers may vary, but could include a firm's internal records of sales and information such as which customers buy which products in what quantities and at what intervals, what items are in stock, which items are back-ordered because they are out of stock, when items were shipped to the customer, and what items have been returned because they are defective.
31) What are market research ethics and why is it important that a firm follows market research ethics?
Answer: Market research ethics refers to taking an ethical and aboveboard approach to conducting market research that does no harm to those who participate in the research. It is important for a firm to act ethically while conducting market research for several reasons, including the risk of damaging the firm's reputation (and value) if unethical behavior is exposed. Participants who believe they have been taken advantage of in market research or treated unethically are also unlikely to participate in future market research activities.
Describe the basic market research process.
Answer: The market research process involves seven steps: defining the research problem, determining the research design, choosing the method to collect primary data, designing the sample, collecting the data, analyzing and interpreting the data, and preparing the research report. First, it must be clear what information management needs, or what problem they need to solve. The research design may rely on secondary research or primary research. The three types of primary research are exploratory, descriptive, and causal. Next, the method for collecting the primary data must be selected. Researchers can use different types of surveys or observation to collect the data that is required. Before data collection can begin, decisions about the design of the sample must be made. Researchers can use probability or nonprobability sampling. The next step is actually collecting the data as planned, which is followed by analyzing the data and then interpreting it in a research report.
8) A(n) ________ is a comprehensive display and access system that provides employees with up-to-the-minute information necessary to make decisions. A) intranet B) marketing dashboard C) acquired database D) market intelligence system E) syndicated research report
B) marketing dashboard
59) Which type of research tends to generate nonnumeric results that provide detailed verbal or visual information about consumers' attitudes, feelings, and buying behaviors? A) data mining B) qualitative research C) quantitative research D) causal research E) descriptive research
B) qualitative research
104) A market research bureau semiannually conducts national surveys of more than 25,000 consumers who complete monthly logs detailing their purchases of products. Many companies subscribe to the bureau's report publication to learn of the findings of these surveys. This information can be classified as ________. A) primary data B) secondary data C) mined data D) experimental data E) ethnographic data
B) secondary data
53) Data that have been collected for some other purpose than to answer the question at hand are called ________. A) primary data B) secondary data C) mined data D) experimental data E) ethnographic data
B) secondary data
48) The first step in the market research process is to ________. A) determine how data will be collected B) select samples C) clearly understand the information needed by managers D) set the mission statement for the research E) determine a research design
C) clearly understand the information needed by managers
35) Raw, unorganized facts that need to be processed are called ________. A) information B) samples C) data D) insights E) research
C) data
57) Marketers would be most likely to use ________ to come up with ideas for new strategies and opportunities or to get a better understanding of a problem they are currently experiencing with a product. A) experimental research B) experiential research C) exploratory research D) causal research E) predictive technology
C) exploratory research
58) Which of the following is most likely to involve in-depth surveying or observation of a few consumers who fit the profile of the "typical" customer? A) data mining B) syndicated research C) exploratory research D) causal research E) descriptive research
C) exploratory research
76) Which of the following data collection methods is generally the least flexible? A) telephone interviewing B) face-to-face interviewing C) mail questionnaires D) online questionnaires E) intercepts
C) mail questionnaires
56) Which of the following is gathered directly from respondents in order to specifically address a question at hand? A) ethnographic observations B) experimental hypotheses C) primary data D) secondary data E) internal data
C) primary data
83) Which of the following would be LEAST likely to use mechanical observation to collect data? A) causal research B) descriptive research C) qualitative research D) neuromarketing E) experiments
C) qualitative research
14) A marketing decision support system (MDSS) is a ________. A) basic system used by companies that do not have the resources to develop a marketing information system (MIS) B) popular syndicated research report purchased by most major media companies C) sophisticated information system that allows marketing managers to use statistical and modeling software tools D) type of custom research report often called for in the marketing research process E) data warehouse used to support a marketing information system (MIS)
C) sophisticated information system that allows marketing managers to use statistical and modeling software tools
50) Which component of the market research process determines the consumer population that a company will study? A) the research design B) the sampling method C) the research objective D) the collection method E) the sampling design
C) the research objective
54) Which of the following questions should marketers first answer when they are determining their research design? A) What kind of sampling method should we use? B) What type of focus group best fits our needs? C) Do we need quantitative or qualitative data? D) Does the information we need already exist? E) How should we collect the data we need?
D) Does the information we need already exist?
16) Which of the following is a question that a marketing manager would use an MDSS rather than an MIS to answer? A) What were our company sales of each of our products during the past month? B) What are the best media for reaching a high percentage of heavy users of our product? C) What changes in sales are happening in our industry? D) If we change our media schedule by replacing a certain media buy with a new media buy, will we reach more users of our product? E) What are the demographic characteristics of consumers whose purchase patterns are changing the most?
D) If we change our media schedule by replacing a certain media buy with a new media buy, will we reach more users of our product?
39) Which of the following best explains the difference between data and information? A) Information needs to be processed to be useful, but data is useful without being processed. B) Data is created from the transformation of information. C) Data is more structured and organized than information. D) Information is more structured and organized than data. E) Data is interpreted information.
D) Information is more structured and organized than data.
47) Which of the following is true about the steps in the market research process? A) The research design should be determined before the problem is defined. B) The last step is to analyze and interpret the data. C) The first step is to select a method of data collection. D) The first step is to define the research problem. E) Data must be collected before the sample can be designed.
D) The first step is to define the research problem.
7) Which of the following is the method marketers use to collect available information about what is going on in the world that is relevant to their business? A) a marketing decision support system B) marketing management C) longitudinal research D) a market intelligence system E) modeling software
D) a market intelligence system
69) Marketers use ________ when they want to determine if a change in one thing is responsible for a change in something else. A) ethnography B) predictive techniques C) descriptive research D) causal research E) exploratory research
D) causal research
2) Which of the following lists the three important components of a basic marketing information system (MIS)? A) competitive intelligence, internal records, and all sales personnel B) existing data, market researchers to gather more data, and the technology to convert those data into information C) managers at all levels, corporate culture, and internal data D) data, computer hardware and software, and output for marketing decision makers E) information resources, technical experts, and marketing managers
D) data, computer hardware and software, and output for marketing decision makers
4) A(n) ________ is an internal corporate communication network that uses Internet technology to link company departments, employees, and databases. A) social network B) market intelligence system C) market research online community D) intranet E) marketing decision support system
D) intranet
118) When Gap, Inc. was developing the concept for its chain of Old Navy stores, the company gave employees who fit the desired Old Navy customer profile $200 apiece. They set them loose on a shopping spree, and then interviewed them about what they purchased so these products would be on the Old Navy shelves when the stores opened. Gap, Inc. utilized what format of participant sampling? A) probability sampling B) systematic sampling C) stratified sampling D) nonprobability sampling E) simple random sampling
D) nonprobability sampling
75) Which of the following is NOT a survey method for data collection? A) online questionnaires B) mail questionnaires C) intercepts D) observations E) face-to-face interviews
D) observations
78) Telemarketing has had the greatest impact on which of the following data collection methods? A) mail questionnaires B) online questionnaires C) intercepts D) telephone interviews E) face-to-face interviews
D) telephone interviews
82) ________ is less expensive, faster, and more flexible than other methods of data collection. A) Mail surveying B) Telephone surveying C) Intercept research D) Focus group research E) Online data collection
E) Online data collection
51) The second step of the marketing research process is to ________. A) define the problem B) select the primary data collection method C) determine the sampling method D) calculate the budget E) determine the research design
E) determine the research design
36) Interpreted data is ________. A) primary data B) secondary data C) exploratory research D) descriptive research E) information
E) information
3) Examples of ________ include data such as which customers buy which products, which items the company has in stock, and when the company ships items to its customers. A) marketing intelligence B) acquired data points C) external primary data D) marketing research E) internal company data
E) internal company data
1) A ________ is a process that determines what information marketing managers need and then gathers, sorts, analyzes, stores, and distributes relevant and timely marketing information to users. A) primary data collection system B) secondary data collection system C) competitive intelligence system D) marketing research project E) marketing information system
E) marketing information system
5) Which of the following is NOT a major data source for a marketing information system (MIS)? A) internal company data B) market intelligence C) market research D) acquired databases E) modeling software
E) modeling software
90) Bounce rate refers to ________. A) the percentage of visitors to a website who share information about the site through social media B) the number of viewers who click on a banner ad on a website C) the number of viewers who purchase a product through a website D) the percentage of visitors to a homepage who bounce to other pages within the same overall site E) the percentage of visitors to a homepage who leave the overall site rather than exploring other pages within the site
E) the percentage of visitors to a homepage who leave the overall site rather than exploring other pages within the site
52) Which of the following identifies exactly what information marketers will collect and what type of study they will conduct? A) the research objective B) the environmental context C) the sampling method D) the data collection method E) the research design
E) the research design
127) Descriptive research is typically expressed in qualitative terms.
False
129) A causal research design tracks the responses of the same sample of respondents over time.
False
137) The most basic type of nonprobability sampling is a simple random sample.
False
25) Decision makers within a company would be more likely to use an MIS than an MDSS to forecast the results of maintaining the company's prices while competitors reduce their prices.
False