Absolute Essentials of Marketing Research

Bonita M. Kolb

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000523348
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Investigación de mercados

This short textbook provides students with a concise yet comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of marketing research.

Mapped closely to the structure of a typical Marketing Research module, the book takes the student through the full process, from developing the hypothesis and setting the research question, to developing and conducting the research, and finally to analysing the data and making recommendations. Each chapter starts with an essential summary and ends with discussion questions that can be used as a teaching resource. Worksheets are also provided as a supplementary resource, which can be used to build a marketing research plan.

Focused on the core aspects of the subject, this is a perfect complement to the larger texts available, suitable for any undergraduate or postgraduate Marketing Research module.

1

Understanding the research process

DOI: 10.4324/9781003165194-2

Type of research and the research profession

Research that is conducted can be divided into two types. Basic, or pure research, is used to discover new knowledge. When the research is planned and conducted, how the knowledge might be used to solve a problem is not of importance. What is important is that new information is discovered. After the research has been conducted, how the information can be used is then considered. Universities, governments, or very large corporations conduct most basic research.

Applied research that is used in marketing has a different purpose. The research is planned so that the findings can be used to solve a specific consumer or product problem. This is the type of research conducted by marketing professionals working either within an organization or for an external marketing research provider. After all, if a business is paying for research to be conducted, it needs results that will show how to solve a problem so that sales and revenue are increased. Most businesses do not have the time or money to pay for basic research.

Applied research should result in information that can be used to assist in making decisions. The decision might be critical and costly, such as which new product to introduce. Or the decision might be of lesser importance, such as what colours should be used on a website. The rationale of all applied marketing research is to help organizations limit the risk of making the wrong decision, because making mistakes about consumers or products can result in lost revenue.

Decisions that carry significant risk, such as new product introductions, will require a great deal of research. Such decisions may require a full-scale research project combining more than one research method. These types of studies may require the recruitment of a large number of research participants. Conducting the research will be costly, but the expense is acceptable because making a wrong decision will result in a very expensive mistake or even the end of the business. A small decision, such as what colours to use in on a website, still needs marketing research to eliminate risk, but the research can be on a much smaller scale because the risk, which here is only the cost of redesigning the website, is less.

Research profession responsibilities

Job responsibilities within a marketing research firm or department at the lowest level will include tabulating results and assisting in preparing final reports. Positions with more authority would include professionals who plan research projects, analyse data, and write the reports. Specialized responsibilities would include people trained to conduct specific types of research, such as focus group moderators, and statisticians who are skilled in working and interrupting large volumes of data. Managing the effort would be the task of a research director who would report to the client who hired the research firm or, if the research department is in a large firm, to upper management. However, today all businesspeople and those working in nonprofits should understand marketing research skills because they are critical to successfully managing any type of organization (Zimmerman 2018). Because non-profit organizations have other constituencies besides their customers or clients, they may also need to research beneficiaries of their services and the donors that support their work.

The field of marketing research is being changed by new technologies. The availability of online software tools and cell phone apps for both surveys and focus groups means that everyone working in marketing is now expected to have a basic understanding of the research process and the ability to conduct their own research. The ability to analyse and gain insights from consumer online comments is now an expected skill.

Research and the marketing plan

Research is too often thought of as only being useful in solving occasional marketing problems. It is true that research is needed to answer such questions as what types of new products consumers might want or what new market segments to target for an existing product. However, it is better to understand marketing research as a tool that should be used on a continual basis for finding new opportunities and solving problems.

Research also plays a critical role in the development of a comprehensive marketing plan for all types of businesses and organizations, both large and small and for-profit and non-profit. Marketing research is needed during the entire process of developing the marketing strategy. For example, the decision of which market segment to target cannot be chosen without researching the demographics of the consumer marketplace. Next, additional consumer research will be needed to determine what consumers in this target segment need and want. Finally, decisions about product, distribution, pricing, and promotion can only be successfully answered after conducting marketing research.

Steps in the research process

Too often, when a company conducts research, it begins without proper planning. However, the chances of finding the correct answer to a research question are greatly increased by following a specific six-step process. The process starts with determining what the organization needs to know and where it can find the information. In addition, researchers must determine who will participate in the research and the number of participants that will be needed. Researchers must then decide which research approach is appropriate for the research question and then choose the most suitable research method. The next step would be to plan the process of conducting the research. After the research is conducted, the final step will be to analyse and report the findings and recommendations.

Research process

1. Determine the research question.
2. Decide on sources of information and participants.
3. Choose the right approach.
4. Plan the research method.
5. Conduct the research.
6. Analyse and report findings.

The first step, writing the research question, can be challenging. It involves the process of determining what the organization needs to know to solve a problem. Because organizations are often in a hurry for answers, the temptation is to start the research process before analysing what information is needed. As a result, they may ask either a poorly defined research question or even the wrong question entirely. To be effective, research must be based on a question that is both well designed and narrowly focused. If the research question is too broad, too much information will be obtained. The large amount of resulting data will be difficult to analyse and, therefore, of little use to an organization. Even worse, if the wrong question is asked, useless information will be obtained, and all the research effort will be wasted.

Sources and participants

Researchers need to put considerable thought into planning the sources from which information can be obtained. The different sources for data are categorized as secondary and primary. Secondary data already exist because they have been collected by someone else. Primary data are collected by the researcher conducting their own research. In addition, secondary data can be categorized as internal, which the company already has, or external, which must be gathered from participants. In some cases, the answer to a research question might already be available as a result of research conducted by other organizations. Sometimes, an organization may already have enough internal data to answer the research question. If neither of these is true, then the researcher must design and conduct primary research.

A researcher will collect primary data directly from participants to answer a specific research question. Primary data are usually collected from a group of participants called a ‘sample’. This sample consists of selected members from an entire group of individuals, which is called a ‘population’. These selected members can be defined by demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, or occupation. They also might be defined by psychographic characteristics such as lifestyle. In addition, they can be defined by their geographic location or product usage levels. A description of the individuals in the sample is called the ‘participant profile’. The method that will be used to choose the individuals to be included in a sample will differ depending on what type of research methodology will be used. Probability sampling is used to randomly select the people in a sample. Nonprobability sampling is utilized when the judgement of a researcher is used to make the selection.

There are four general criteria to consider when developing the detailed description, or participant profile, for either a qualitative or quantitative research study (Lee 2017). First, the researchers should decide what demographic characteristics are important. Then they will consider what psycho-graphic characteristics should be considered. In addition, the importance of geographic location should be thought through.

Finally, for some research questions the potential subject’s level of product use must be considered. The population being studied could be current customers who frequently purchase a product to determine how a company can improve that product’s design. Past customers could be included in the sample to find sources of dissatisfaction or to determine what other competing products they also purchase. Rather than current or past customers, potential market segments of interest to that company can also be studied. For example, research can be conducted to determine what type of promotion might motivate older consumers to purchase. Another purpose of researching a sample of potential consumers is to determine how a product needs to be adapted to offer the features and benefits they desire. For example, a company that produces camping equipment might include in their sample individuals who are interested in extreme sports in order to learn how to adapt their product to meet these consumers’ preferences.

Research approach

The next step is to choose a research approach. The process of conducting primary research starts with deciding whether the research question calls for descriptive or exploratory research. The choice will depend on whether or not a research question needs to be answered with quantifiable facts. If a research question asks ‘Who?’ ‘How many?’ or ‘Which one?’, descriptive research will be used. If a research question asks the question ‘Why?’, then exploratory research will be needed.

Understanding how an organization plans to use the information will help in making an appropriate decision. If an organization wishes to prove a fact about the demographic composition of its customers, such as how many females as compared to males purchase a product, then a descriptive study would be appropriate. If, on the other hand, an organization wishes to discover why sales are falling, it will need to conduct exploratory research.

Planning the research method

After choosing the research approach, researchers must then design the research method. This will include the details of how the research will be conducted, including when, where, and by whom. The available research methods will include surveys, focus groups, interviews, projective techniques, and observation. Online communication technology has resulted in an additional method referred to as mobile or virtual ethnography (Muskat, Muskat and Zehrer 2018).

A research plan will include the timeline for the research, the staff needed, and the budget. For example, this step may involve writing survey questions or the script to be used in a focus group. The more detailed the planning, the more smoothly the research will proceed. Therefore everything, from the layout of the survey form to who will be responsible for ensuring that the focus group participants arrive, should be considered.

Table 1.1 Research methods

Method	Description
Survey	Set of pre-determined questions
Focus groups	Group dynamics to draw out responses
Interviews	One-to-one in-depth discussion
Intercept interviews	Two to three short questions asked
Projective techniques	Creative techniques to get emotional responses
Observation	Watching people’s behavior and actions
Virtual ethnography	Studying people in online communities

Conducting and reporting the research

Finally, researchers will be ready to conduct the research. Once done, the final task is for researchers to analyse the data and report the findings and conclusions. Analysis requires repeatedly going over the collected responses to find common themes, patterns, and connections. Reporting may be in the form of a written report, a verbal presentation, or both. A written report presenting the results of a quantitative research study will usually have an introduction followed by a description of the methodology. It will also have a section with findings supported with statistics and charts. These findings will be the basis of the recommendations given in the report. With quantitative research, someone who has not conducted the research can still write the report based on the findings.

A report for a qualitative research study will follow the same outline. However, because there are no statistics or charts, different types of visuals will be used to help explain the findings. Some tools that can be used include diagrams, quotes, photos, and even videos. With qualitative research, the person who conducted the research must be involved in the writing of the report.

Quantitative versus...