Prepared By : Dr Vincent Wee Contact : 0122511894
com
CHAPTER 2
The Consumer Research Process
1. Studying consumer behavior enables marketers to
predict or anticipate how marketers might meet
consumer needs through products and messages.
2. There is in increasing challenge of knowing and
satisfying needs as companies become more global.
DEVELOPING RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1. The first and most difficult step in the consumer research
process is to accurately define the objectives of the research.
2. A carefully thought-out statement of research objectives helps
to insure that the information needed is secured and costly
errors avoided.
3. Often before a quantitative study is conducted, researcher
conduct a small-scale exploratory study.
COLLECTING SECONDARY DATA
1. The second step in the consumer research process is to
search for secondary data.
2. Secondary data is already existing information that was
originally gathered for a research purpose other than the
present research.
3. In secondary data can in part or full answer the question,
either new primary research can be cut back or even avoided.
Internal Secondary Data
1. Internal secondary could consist of previously collected in-
house information that was originally used for some other
purpose.
2. Increasingly, companies use internal secondary data to
compute customer lifetime value profiles.
a) These profiles include customer acquisition costs, the
profits generated from individual sales to each customer,
the costs of handling customers and their orders, and the
expected duration of the relationship.
External Secondary Data
1. This type of secondary data comes from sources outside of
the firm or organization.
2. This data can take many different forms.
3. Following is a brief discussion of some specific types of
consumer behavior secondary information available from
outside of the firm:
a) Public and Government Secondary Data.
i) This data is generally made available for a nominal
cost.
ii) The federal government publishes information
collected by scores of government agencies about
the economy, business, and demographics of the
U.S. population.
iii) State and local government also provide consumer
research.
b) Periodicals and Articles Available from Online
Search Services.
i) Business-relevant secondary data from periodicals,
newspapers, and books are readily accessible via a
variety of online search engines such as ProQuest
and LexisNexis.
c) Syndicated Commercial Marketing and Media
Research Services.
i) Marketing research companies sell data to
subscribing marketers.
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ii) Secondary data is also provided by companies that
routinely monitor a particular consumption-related
behavior, and sell their data to marketing companies
who use the insights to make more informed
strategic decision.
iii) New technologies provide opportunities for far more
sophisticated monitoring techniques.
iv) Some companies are seeking out technology that
might provide an advancement or possible
breakthrough in terms of portable metering devices.
v) Monitoring the media exposure of almost all
consumers via digital cable set-top boxes is a new
technology.
vi) The digital boxes can easily record all the programs
that consumers are turned into including channel
surfing, attempts at avoiding commercial breaks, and
recordings for later viewing.
vii) The influence of new technologies will
increasingly enable marketers to study
consumers’ media exposure much more
precisely and collect data that will allow them
to better customize or narrowcast their
promotional messages, thus spending their
advertising dollars more effectively.
d) Third Party Panels.
i)
For many years, marketers have purchased data
from secondary data providers who collected
consumer behavior data from household or family
consumer panels.
ii) Members of these panels are paid for recording
their purchases and/or media viewing habits in
diaries that are then combined with thousands
of households and analyzed by the data
providers.
iii) Today, online technology enables panel research
companies to increasingly collect sophisticated data
from respondents.
iv) Obtaining secondary data before engaging in primary
research offers the advantages of providing a
solution to the research problem and eliminating the
need for primary research altogether.
v) Secondary research has some limitations.
DESIGNING PRIMARY RESEARCH
1. If the purpose of research is to get new ideas, then a
qualitative study is often undertaken.
2. If descriptive and quantitative information is sought, then
some form of quantitative study is usually performed.
3. The approach for each differs in terms of methods of data
collection, sample design, and type of data collection
instruments.
Designing and Conducting Qualitative Research
1. Current qualitative research grew out of the rejection
of the belief that consumer marketing was simply
applied economics, that consumers were rational
decision makers.
2. Those rejecting this view included member of an early school
of qualitative consumer researchers known as motivational
researchers.
3. The central tenant of this orientation was that consumers
were not always consciously aware of why they made
decisions or weren’t willing to reveal the reasons to
themselves or others.
4. Dr. Ernest Dichter was an early leader of this movement.
5. Most forms of qualitative research questioning have their
roots in open-ended and free-response types of
questioning.
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6. The key types of interviews conducted for qualitative studies
are depth interviews and/or focus group sessions.
a) Depth Interviews.
i) A depth interview, also referred to as a “one-on-
one” interview is a somewhat lengthy nonstructured
interview between a single respondent and a highly
trained researcher.
ii) The interviewer speaks little, giving the
consumer time to express thoughts and
behaviors and to respond to verbal and visual
materials.
iii)The research must establish an atmosphere to
encourage the consumer to open up.
iv) The researcher probes for responses.
v) Depth interview studies provide marketers
with ideas about product design or redesign,
and provide insights for positioning or
repositioning products.
b) Focus groups.
i) A “discussion group” or focus group often consists
of 8 to 10 participants who meet with a moderator-
researcher-analyst to explore a particular product or
product category.
ii) Participants are encouraged to discuss their
reactions to product and service concepts, or
new advertising or marketing communications
campaigns.
iii) Respondents are recruited on the basis of a
carefully drawn consumer profile that is
prepared in the form of a questionnaire called a
screener questionnaire.
iv) The purpose of the “screener” is to ensure that Designing And Conducting Quantitative Research
the appropriate individuals are invited to
participate in the research study, and those who 1. The broad category of quantitative research includes
are not the target market are not invited.
2. The findings are descriptive, empirical, and, if collected
v) Some marketers prefer focus groups because
they feel that the dynamic interaction between
participants that takes place in focus groups
tends to yield a greater number of new ideas and
insights than depth interview.
vi) It takes less time to complete a series of focus
groups than a project of individual depth interviews.
Discussion Guides.
i) A discussion guide is a step-by-step outline that sets
out the line of questioning that the researcher
needs to cover with the respondent in a depth
interview, or a group of respondents in the
case of a focus group session.
ii) Some moderators prefer to closely follow the guide
while others “go with the flow.”
iii) Some researchers will finish with often more
information that anticipated.
d) Projective Techniques.
i) Projective techniques are a useful tool, adapted
for studying the unconscious associations of
consumers who may be concealing or
suppressing some of their thoughts or
reactions.
ii) Projective exercises consist of a variety of disguised
“tests.”
iii) Some of the well established exercise used to “tease-
out” true consumer-related feelings and reflections
are:
(1) Word associations.
(2) Sentence completions.
(3) Photo/visuals for storytelling.
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(4) Role playing.
e) Metaphor Analysis.
i) The use of one form of expression to describe or
represent feelings about another is called a
metaphor.
ii) A number of consumer theorists have come to
believe that people use metaphors as the most basic
method of thought and communication.
iii)The Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique
(ZMET) – the first patented marketing research tool
in the United states-relies on images to assess
consumer’s deep and subconscious thoughts about
products, services, and marketing strategies.
The Growing Presence of Online Focus Groups
iv) Over the past 5 to 10 years, there has been a
substantial amount of interest in, trial of, and
acceptance of online focus groups and depth
interviews.
v) What is being called an “online focus group,” can
vary greatly.
f) Looking-In’ (Online) Research.
i) A recently proposed approach to qualitative research
called looking-in, describes and illustrates the
uses of a methodology designed to capture
consumers’ experiences, opinions, forecasts,
and most important, these involved
consumers’ “wish list” of sought-out features
that they are hoping will be included in new
models of products.
ii) To conduct looking-in research, researchers perform
a key phrase search of the stored threads and
related internet postings.
experimentation, survey techniques and observation.
randomly, can be generalized to larger populations.
a) Observational research is an important research tool
because marketers recognize that often the best way to
gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship
between people and products is by watching them in the
process of buying and/or using the products.
i) Observing consumers in action enables researcher to
comprehend what the product symbolizes to a
consumer and provides greater insight into the bond
between people and products that is the essence of
brand loyalty.
ii) It is also important in uncovering issues or problems
with a product.
iii) Consumers are generally either watched by
researchers or mechanical or electronic devices such
as counting or video recording devices are used to
capture customers’ behaviors or responses to a
particular marketing stimulus.
iv)Marketers also use physiological observation
devices that monitor respondents’ patterns of
information processing.
b) Experimentation.
i) There are a variety of different experimental designs
that a researcher needs to select from in
formulating a particular consumer-related
experiment.
ii) In the simplest form of experiments (causal
research), only one variable is manipulated
(called the independent variable) while all
other elements are kept constant.
Prepared By : Dr Vincent Wee Contact : 0122511894
iii) A controlled experiment of this type ensures
that any difference in the outcome (the
dependent variable) is due to different
treatments of the variable under study and not
to extraneous factors.
iv) A major application of causal research is test
marketing, a logical next step after conducting
depth interviews, focus groups, and survey research
and prior to committing to a full-scale marketing
rollout.
c) Survey Research.
i) Following is a list of types of survey research. Table
2.2 lists advantages and disadvantages of each.
(1) Personal interview.
(2) Telephone interview.
(3) Mail surveys.
(4) E-mail surveys.
(a)
There has been a rapid increase in the
number of consumers who are interested in
participating in online or Internet-based
surveys.
Quantitative Research Data Collection Instruments
1. Data collection instruments are developed as part of a study’s
total research design to systematize the collection of data and
to ensure that all respondents are asked the same questions
in the same order.
2. Data collection instruments include questionnaires, personal
inventories, and attitude scales.
3. A study is said to have validity if it does, in fact, collect the
appropriate data needed to answer the questions or
objectives stated in the first stage of the research
process.
4. A study is said to have reliability if the same questions,
asked of a similar sample, produce the same findings.
i) One form of consumer survey is a magazine
readership survey.
(1) A standard use of data secured from this type of
survey is preparation of a profile of a
publication’s readers so that potential
advertisers can determine whether the
publication delivers the audience that is
most likely to positively respond to their
advertising.
b) Attitude scales are often used to capture evaluative
data.
i) Researchers often present respondents with a list of
products or product attributes for which they are
asked to indicate their relative feelings or
evaluations.
ii) The most frequently used attitude scales are Likert
scales, semantic differential scales, behavior
intention scales, and rank-order scales.
(1) The Likert scale is the most popular form of
attitude scale because it is easy for researchers
to prepare and interpret, and simple for
consumers to answer.
(a) The scale consists of an equal number of
agreement/disagreement choices on either
side of a neutral choice.
(2) The behavior intention scale measures the
likelihood that consumers will act in a
certain way in the future.
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(3) With rank-order scales, subjects are asked to
rank items such as products in order of
preference in terms of some criterion.
c) Customer Satisfaction Measurement includes
quantitative and qualitative measures as well as a variety
of contact methods with customers.
i) Customer satisfaction surveys measure how
satisfied the customers are with relevant
attributes of the product or service, and the
relative importance of these attributes.
ii) Mystery shoppers are professional observers
who pose as customers in order to interact with
and provide unbiased evaluations of the company’s
service personnel in order to identify opportunities
for improving productivity and efficiency.
iii) Analyzing customer complaints is crucial for
improving products and customer service.
iv)A good complaint analysis system should
encourage customers to: complain about an
unsatisfactory product or service, provide
suggestions for improvements by completing
forms asking specific questions beyond the
routine, and establish “listening posts” such as
hotlines where specially designated employees either
listen to customers’ comments or actively solicit
input from them.
d) Sampling and Data Collection
i) A sample is a subset of the population that is used
to estimate the characteristics of the entire
population.
ii) The sample must be representative of the universe
under study.
iii) An integral component of a research design is the
sampling plan.
iv) The sampling plan addresses three questions: whom
to survey, how many to survey and how to select
them.
v) There are two types of samples.
(1) In a probability sample, respondents are
selected in such a way that every member of the
population studies has a known, nonzero chance
of being selected.
(2) Ina a nonprobability sample, the population
under study has been predetermined in a
nonrandom fashion on the basis of the
researcher’s judgment or decision to select a
given number of respondents from a particular
group.
Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Research Findings
1. Some marketers use a combination of quantitative and
qualitative research.
2. They use qualitative research findings to discover new
ideas and to develop promotional strategy, and
quantitative research findings to estimate the extent
or amount of consumers who react in a particular way.
3. Sometimes ideas stemming from qualitative research are
tested empirically through quantitative studies.
DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORTING RESEARCH FINDINGS
1. In qualitative research, the moderator-researcher usually
analyzes the responses received.
2. In quantitative research he researcher supervises the
analysis.
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3. In both qualitative and quantitative research, the research

report includes a brief executive summary of the findings.
4. The report may or may not include recommendations for
marketing action.

CONDUCTING A RESEARCH STUDY

Mattel, better known for its Barbie and Hot Wheels lines, is
spending big money to ensure the success of this new line.
Industry sources say that the ello Creation System is an
alternative to video games (popular with most boys in this age
range). Will the system be intriguing and stimulate purchase?
Students should be able to gain insight as to the answer to this
question by accomplishing the tasks outlined by the project. Save
time to present the most creative results to the class as a whole.
Finish the discussion by asking students to think about how the
original testing of this line might have been done. If the instructor
contacts Mattel, the response is often very informative with
respect to this issue.

Consumer researchers DeeDee Gordon and Sharon Lee are the

founders of one of the hottest research companies in today’s
marketplace. Look-Look has found a way to tap into the wildly
creative universe of teens. Few contemporary companies have
done as well as Look-Look in exploring this dynamic and rapidly
changing market. Look-Look combines research savvy with
creative Web and real-time investigations to produce some
of the most timely information available today on this
highly profitable market segment. Look-Look gives its target
research market a 24/7 look by giving a voice to the youth
culture through online respondents, field reporters (armed
with digital cameras), and trend spotters (this group
examines every small youth trend as it develops). Currently,
there are over 10,000 young people who communicate with
Look-Look (and their clients) about what is going on in the
teen world. The teen world is huge! Look-Look is betting that it
will see this world as it is happening and changing—and so
will its clients.

Discussion

Students will really enjoy the Look-Look Web site. It is highly

informative. The topics covered by Look-Look research are
fashion, entertainment, technology, activities, eating and
drinking, health and beauty, mindset, city guide, and the
Lookout. Many of these items (the results of research done by the
company) can be viewed in the classroom via the Web site. The
company makes its money by charging clients for the “real
information” separately. The client fee is high ($50,000 and up)
but most clients agree that the information is well worth the cost.
Look-Look reporters go where the average researcher
cannot—teen clubs, locker and restrooms, mall hangouts,
riding in cars, changing booths in clothing stores, and
street corners where it is happening. Armed with digital
cameras, the reporters record images (sent in their
original forms to Look-Look), language, thoughts, likes and
dislikes, and other preferences on a daily basis. The
reporters are highly creative. Imagine the power of being
able to know today that a new hair style or tattoo is hot
and being able to deliver that information to an advertiser
in the same day. That is the power of Look-Look. Take a
look; you will enjoy the experience.

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