Chapter 3
The marketing research process
Decision making and marketing research
- Decisions are brought about as the firm either seeks to capitalise on some
opportunity, or to lessen any potential negative impacts related to some market
problem
- Decision making: The process of developing and deciding among alternative ways of
resolving a problem or choosing from among alternative opportunities
- A decision maker must must
Recognise the nature of the problem or opportunity
Identify how much information is currently available and how reliable it is
Determine what information is needed to better deal with the situation
- Market opportunity: A situation that makes some potential competitive advantage
possible
- Market problem: A business situation that makes some significant negative
consequence more likely and is also due to some force acting in or on the firm’s
market
- Problems are inferred with symptoms, which are observable cues that serve as a
signal of a problem because they are caused by that problem
- Research may help identify what is causing this symptom so that decision makers can
attack the problem, not just the symptom
Certainty
- Complete certainty means that the decision maker has all information needed to
make an optimal decision
- Uncertainty means that the manager grasps the general nature of the desired
objectives, but the information about alternatives is incomplete
Ambiguity
- Means that the nature of the problem itself is unclear
Objectives are vague and decision alternatives are difficult to define
- Decisions vary in terms of importance
Types of marketing research
1. Exploratory Research
- Conducted to clarify ambiguous situations or discover ideas that may be potential
business opportunities
- ER is not intended to provide conclusive evidence from which to determine a
particular course of action
- Useful in new product development
2. Descriptive Research
- Describes the characteristics of objects, people, groups, organisations or
environments and tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation
- Often helps describe market segments
- Accuracy is NB in DR
- Conducted with a considerable understanding of the situation being studied
, 3. Causal Research
- Allows causal inferences to be made; seeks to identify cause-and-effect relationships
- Rain causes grass to get wet. Rain is the cause, and wet grass is the effect
- Can take a long time to implement, and can be very expensive
a) Causality
- Managers want to know how a change in one event, will change another event of
interest – causal research attempts to establish that
- Causal inference: A conclusion that when one thing happens, another specific thing
will follow
- Absolute causality: Means the cause is necessary and sufficient to bring about the
effect
- Conditional causality: Means that a cause is necessary but not sufficient to bring
about an effect
- Contributory causality: Means that a cause need be neither necessary nor sufficient
to bring about an effect
Stages in the research process
- Requires a sequence of highly interrelated activities
- Stages overlap continuously
o Defining the research objectives
o Planning a research design
o Planning a sample
o Collecting the data
o Analysing the data
o Formulating the conclusions and preparing the report
1. Defining the research objectives
- Goals to be achieved by conducting research
- Different types of objectives lead to different types of research designs
- A written decision statement expresses the business situation to the researcher
- The research objectives try to directly address the decision statement
- Theory plays a role in determining the appropriate research objectives
A formal, logical explanation of some events that includes predictions of how
things relate to one another
- Hypothesis is a formal statement explaining some outcome
Must be testable
It is a guess
Empirical testing: Something has been examined against reality using data
2. Planning the research design
- A master plan that specifies the methods and procedures for collecting and analysing
the needed information
- Provides a framework or plan of action for the research
3. Sampling
- Any procedure that draws conclusions based on measurements of a portion of the
population
- Target population = who is to be sampled
- Larger samples are more precise than smaller ones
,4. Gathering data
- May be gathered by human observers or interviewers, or they may be recorded by
machines
- Obtrusive vs. unobtrusive
5. Processing and analysing data
a) Editing and coding
- After fieldwork, the data must be converted into a format that will answer the
marketing manager’s questions
- Information content will be mined from the raw data
- Editing: Checking the data collection for omissions, legibility and consistency in
classification
b) Data analysis
- The application of reasoning to understand the data that have been gathered
- May involve determining consistent patterns and summarising the relevant details
revealed in the investigation
6. Drawing conclusions and preparing a report
- Communicating the research results
- Interpreting the research results, describing the implications, and drawing the
appropriate conclusions for managerial decisions
- Conclusions should fulfil the deliverables promised in the research proposal
, Chapter 5
Problem Definition
Decision statement: A written expression of the key question(s) that a manager wishes to
answer
- Catches the true reason that research is being considered at all and should therefore
be relevant, clear and goal oriented
Opportunities and problems
- Problem definition: The process of defining and developing a decision statement and
the steps involved in translating it into more precise research terminology, including
a set of research objectives
If this process breaks down at any stage, the research will be useless or even
harmful
Problem Complexity
The marketing research process
Decision making and marketing research
- Decisions are brought about as the firm either seeks to capitalise on some
opportunity, or to lessen any potential negative impacts related to some market
problem
- Decision making: The process of developing and deciding among alternative ways of
resolving a problem or choosing from among alternative opportunities
- A decision maker must must
Recognise the nature of the problem or opportunity
Identify how much information is currently available and how reliable it is
Determine what information is needed to better deal with the situation
- Market opportunity: A situation that makes some potential competitive advantage
possible
- Market problem: A business situation that makes some significant negative
consequence more likely and is also due to some force acting in or on the firm’s
market
- Problems are inferred with symptoms, which are observable cues that serve as a
signal of a problem because they are caused by that problem
- Research may help identify what is causing this symptom so that decision makers can
attack the problem, not just the symptom
Certainty
- Complete certainty means that the decision maker has all information needed to
make an optimal decision
- Uncertainty means that the manager grasps the general nature of the desired
objectives, but the information about alternatives is incomplete
Ambiguity
- Means that the nature of the problem itself is unclear
Objectives are vague and decision alternatives are difficult to define
- Decisions vary in terms of importance
Types of marketing research
1. Exploratory Research
- Conducted to clarify ambiguous situations or discover ideas that may be potential
business opportunities
- ER is not intended to provide conclusive evidence from which to determine a
particular course of action
- Useful in new product development
2. Descriptive Research
- Describes the characteristics of objects, people, groups, organisations or
environments and tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation
- Often helps describe market segments
- Accuracy is NB in DR
- Conducted with a considerable understanding of the situation being studied
, 3. Causal Research
- Allows causal inferences to be made; seeks to identify cause-and-effect relationships
- Rain causes grass to get wet. Rain is the cause, and wet grass is the effect
- Can take a long time to implement, and can be very expensive
a) Causality
- Managers want to know how a change in one event, will change another event of
interest – causal research attempts to establish that
- Causal inference: A conclusion that when one thing happens, another specific thing
will follow
- Absolute causality: Means the cause is necessary and sufficient to bring about the
effect
- Conditional causality: Means that a cause is necessary but not sufficient to bring
about an effect
- Contributory causality: Means that a cause need be neither necessary nor sufficient
to bring about an effect
Stages in the research process
- Requires a sequence of highly interrelated activities
- Stages overlap continuously
o Defining the research objectives
o Planning a research design
o Planning a sample
o Collecting the data
o Analysing the data
o Formulating the conclusions and preparing the report
1. Defining the research objectives
- Goals to be achieved by conducting research
- Different types of objectives lead to different types of research designs
- A written decision statement expresses the business situation to the researcher
- The research objectives try to directly address the decision statement
- Theory plays a role in determining the appropriate research objectives
A formal, logical explanation of some events that includes predictions of how
things relate to one another
- Hypothesis is a formal statement explaining some outcome
Must be testable
It is a guess
Empirical testing: Something has been examined against reality using data
2. Planning the research design
- A master plan that specifies the methods and procedures for collecting and analysing
the needed information
- Provides a framework or plan of action for the research
3. Sampling
- Any procedure that draws conclusions based on measurements of a portion of the
population
- Target population = who is to be sampled
- Larger samples are more precise than smaller ones
,4. Gathering data
- May be gathered by human observers or interviewers, or they may be recorded by
machines
- Obtrusive vs. unobtrusive
5. Processing and analysing data
a) Editing and coding
- After fieldwork, the data must be converted into a format that will answer the
marketing manager’s questions
- Information content will be mined from the raw data
- Editing: Checking the data collection for omissions, legibility and consistency in
classification
b) Data analysis
- The application of reasoning to understand the data that have been gathered
- May involve determining consistent patterns and summarising the relevant details
revealed in the investigation
6. Drawing conclusions and preparing a report
- Communicating the research results
- Interpreting the research results, describing the implications, and drawing the
appropriate conclusions for managerial decisions
- Conclusions should fulfil the deliverables promised in the research proposal
, Chapter 5
Problem Definition
Decision statement: A written expression of the key question(s) that a manager wishes to
answer
- Catches the true reason that research is being considered at all and should therefore
be relevant, clear and goal oriented
Opportunities and problems
- Problem definition: The process of defining and developing a decision statement and
the steps involved in translating it into more precise research terminology, including
a set of research objectives
If this process breaks down at any stage, the research will be useless or even
harmful
Problem Complexity
