Title: The Marketing Research Process
1The Marketing Research Process
- Dr. John Drea
- Professor of Marketing
- MKTG 329 - Western Illinois University
2Steps in the Marketing Research Process
- Define the problem (Steps 1-3)
- Establish the need for marketing research
- Define the problem
- Establish research objectives
- Analyze the situation/Plan the research (Steps
4-8) - Determine research design
- Identify information types and sources
- Determine methods of accessing data
- Design data collection forms
- Determine sample plan and size
3Steps in the Marketing Research Process
(continued)
- Collect data
- Analyze data
- Prepare and present the final research report
- This is not a strict linear process!
41. Establish the need for mkt. research
- What are the costs/benefits of conducting
research? Consider decision tree analysis
Consider the probable payoffs for each course of
action, w/ or w/o research.
51. Establish the need for mkt. research
- Is the information already available?
- Be sure to always check secondary sources before
starting to collect primary data. - Secondary data originally collected for some
purpose other than the one at hand - Primary data collected specifically with the
intention to solve your present problem - Do you have time to adequately do the research?
62. Define the problem
- Specify the symptoms
- Itemize the possible causes of these symptoms.
- Identify the reasonable courses of action that
would alleviate the symptoms (as well as other
related consequences.) - This is the most important step in the marketing
research process.
73. Establish research objectives
- Once we know what the problem is, we need to know
what information we need to collect that would
tell us the appropriate course of action. - This is usually manifested in a stated research
question - what is it that you want to know?
84. Determine research design
- What approach will you use to answering the
research objectives? - Exploratory research used to learn more about a
problem/background information - Descriptive research to describe what is
- Who are our customers? (i.e., describe them)
- What do they want? (i.e., describe their needs)
- Causal research to prove that X causes a change
in Y
95. Identify information types sources
- Where will you be able to find the find the
information you need to answer the research
question? (primary vs. secondary data) - Always start with secondary data
- You need to think like a detective in using
secondary information. - Corroborate the story.
- Who do you trust?
106. Determine methods of accessing data
- Accessing secondary information
- Where will you access the data? (e.g., Hoovers
or the SEC?) - Greater reliance on technology, less reliance on
printed material. - Accessing primary information
- Mail, telephone, mall intercepts are popular, but
there are others (Internet surveys, personal
interviews, direct observation, etc.)
117. Design data collection forms
- Structured vs. unstructured questions?
- It depends on what you want to know.
- Disguised vs. undisguised study?
- Will respondents give the same response?
- Which is likely to elicit the closest to a true
response?
128. Determine sample plan size
- Sample plan indicates who will be sampled, and
how they will be sampled. - Do you want a census or a sample?
- Is the sample to be representative of the
population? - How much sampling error is allowable?
139. Collect data
- Be sure to control for possible errors in the
data collection process, such as - Identification of wrong subjects
- Interviewer bias
- Respondent reluctance to respond accurately
- Respondent inability to respond accurately
- Respondent fatigue
1410. Analyze data
- First priority - clean the data
- eliminate data entry errors, examine entered
values, double-team data entry, spot check
records - Next - run the appropriate analysis
- Analysis need to provides answers to the research
question - Analysis needs to be appropriate (proper use and
interpretation of the right statistics)
1511. Prepare present the final research report
- Text really doesnt go far enough here - you need
to be sure to answer the research question. - Reports are written for managers, not for other
marketing researchers - be clear. - In most cases, management is looking for what
needs to be done to solve the problem - so be
sure to tell them!