The Marketing Research Process

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The Marketing Research Process

• Dr. John Drea
• Professor of Marketing
• MKTG 329 - Western Illinois University

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Steps 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

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Steps in the Marketing Research Process
(continued)

• Collect data
• Analyze data
• Prepare and present the final research report
• This is not a strict linear process!

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1. 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.
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1. 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?

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2. 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.

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3. 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?

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4. 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

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5. 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?

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6. 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.)

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7. 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?

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8. 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?

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9. 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

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10. 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)

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11. 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!