MARK301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Focus Group, Root Mean Square, Word Association
13 Jul 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Market Research
the process of systematically gathering and analyzing new information, related to marketing
problems
who needs research?
producers of products and services
advertising agencies
marketing research companies
nonprofit organizations
The Research Process
1. defining the problem and research objectives
2. developing the research plan for collecting information - formal research design
3. implementing the research plan - collecting and analyzing the data
4. interpreting and reporting the findings
Step 1: Defining the Problem
Defining the Problem
what is the research question?
should we introduce a new product?
how much to spend on advertising?
how to position a product?
how much to charge for a product?
sometimes there is a problem that makes up the question:
a decline in market share is a symptom of a problem - the question is why is my share
declining?
Define Research Objectives
what information would be useful to you?
sometimes you need to do research just to define the problem and figure out what info you need
•use exploratory research
what are the costs and benefits of obtaining info?
the results should be actionable:
•anticipate how you will use the information before you collect it!
•“if we find x, then we must/can/should do y”
Exploratory
to gather preliminary information that well help define problems and suggest hypotheses
e.g. why are sales declining?
Descriptive
to describe problems, situations, or markets
can gather information about people’s knowledge, attitudes, preferences, or buying behaviour
e.g. which packaging do our customers prefer?
Causal
to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships
e.g. when is recall of our brand better: when the logo is displayed at the beginning or at the end
of an ad?
Step 2: Formal Research Design
Types of Data
Primary Data
consists of information for the specific purpose at hand; generate your own data instead of using
existing data
takes time and money to collect
must be relevant, accurate, current, and unbiased
Secondary Data
data that already exists
is available quickly and at a relatively low cost
to be useful, should be relevant, accurate, current, and impartial
problem - it sometimes does not exist
Where do we Collect Information?
Internal Databases (secondary data) - electronic collections of information obtained from data
sources within the company
•e.g. financial statements, point-of-sale transactions
Marketing Intelligence (secondary data) - systematic collection and analysis of publicly available
information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment
e.g. government publications, scanner data, industry surveys, periodicals, google
Market Research (primary data) - systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data
relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization
Research Techniques
Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal
Observational
X
X
Ethnographic
X
Focus groups
X
Projective techniques
X
Surveys
X
X
Experiments
X
Research Techniques - Observational and Ethnographic Research
Observational Research
watch how people behave
no interaction
can be in the field or lab
Ethnographic Research
“going native” - interactive, living with, watching consumers
extremely in depth
often used in anthropology
Research Techniques - Focus Groups
an informal interview session of 6-10 participants
a moderator ask consumers’ opinions about the firm’s and its competitors’ products
good for alternative generation and initial understanding of conflicts
need an experienced moderator
issues with focus groups:
peer pressure makes it so people don’t want to voice their opinions
need an experienced moderator that ask the right questions
bias on the people who go into the focus groups and might not really be representative of your
consumer
one person dominating the conversation
Research Techniques - In-Depth Interviews
detailed, individual interview with a person relevant to the research project
free-flow conversation styles- can have scripted conversation but just want to keep the person
talking and on topic
uncover unexpected issues
valuable insight
importance of information may be distorted
Research Techniques - Projective Research
good for understanding consumers’ motivation, emotion
the ‘why?’ is the important part of the question - the explanation
psychological perspective: interpretive
•word association tests
•sentence completion tests
•drawing
Strengths
Weaknesses
allows researchers to observe people’s
naturalistic/ semi-naturalistic behaviours
no control condition; no manipulation; no
randomization
helps them to develop a useful insight into a
phenomenon
time consuming
some types of data are quantifiable, and
statistically testable
it is dangerous to assume cause and effect
relationships
Document Summary
The process of systematically gathering and analyzing new information, related to marketing problems. Market research who needs research? producers of products and services advertising agencies marketing research companies nonpro t organizations. The research process: de ning the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan for collecting information - formal research design. 4. implementing the research plan - collecting and analyzing the data interpreting and reporting the ndings. Primary data consists of information for the speci c purpose at hand; generate your own data instead of using existing data takes time and money to collect must be relevant, accurate, current, and unbiased. Secondary data data that already exists is available quickly and at a relatively low cost to be useful, should be relevant, accurate, current, and impartial problem - it sometimes does not exist. Internal databases (secondary data) - electronic collections of information obtained from data sources within the company: e. g. nancial statements, point-of-sale transactions.
