Marke ting Re s e arc h and Info rmatio n

S ys te ms

Resources:

Marketing an Introduction /Gary Armstrong, Philip Kotler

The impo rtanc e o f Info rmatio n
The Marketing Information System

• A marketing information system (MIS) –

consists of people, equipment, and
procedures to gather, sort, analyze,
evaluate, and distribute needed, timely
and accurate information to marketing
decision makers.
The Marketing Information System
The Marketing Research Process

Defining the
problem and
research
objectives Developing the
research plan
for collecting
information Implementing the
research plan –
collecting and
analyzing the data
Interpreting and
reporting
the findings
Defining the Problem and Research
objectives

Gathers preliminary information

Exploratory
that will help define the problem
Research
and suggest hypotheses.

Describes things as market

Descriptive potential for a product or the
Research demographics and consumers’
attitudes.

Causal Test hypotheses about cause-

Research and-effect relationships.
 Developing the Research Plan

• Research plan development follows

these steps:

– Determining Specific Information

Needs
– Gathering Secondary information
– Planning Primary Data Collection
Gathering Secondary information

• Secondary data consist of information

that already exists somewhere, having
been collected for another purpose.

• Internal sources
• Government publications
• Periodicals and books
• Commercial data
• International data
Gathering Secondary information

• The researcher must evaluate secondary

information carefully to make certain that
it is

– relevant - fits research project needs

– accurate - reliably collected and
reported)
– current - up-to-date enough for current
decisions
– impartial – objectively collected and
reported
Planning Primary Data Collection

• Primary data consist of information

collected for the specific purpose at
hand.

Research Contact Sampling Research

Approach Methods Plan Instruments
Observation Mail Sampling unit Questionnaire
Survey Telephone Sample size Mechanical
Experiment Personal, PC Instruments
Research Approaches
Observational Research Survey Research

Gathering data by observing Asking individuals about

people, actions and situations attitudes, preferences or
(Exploratory) buying behaviors
(Descriptive)

Experimental Research

Using groups of
people to determine
cause-and-effect
relationships
(Causal)
Strengths and Weaknesses of
Contact Methods

Mail Telephone Personal Computer

Flexibility Poor Good Excellent Good

Quantity of data that can be Good Fair Excellent Good
collected
Control of interviewer effect Excellen Fair Poor Excellent
t
Control of sample Fair Excellent Fair Fair

Speed of data collection Poor Excellent Good Fair

Response rate Fair Good Good Fair

Cost Good Fair Poor Fair

Sampling Plans

• A sample is a segment of the population

selected to represent the population as
a whole.

• Sampling unit – who is to be surveyed

• Sample size – how many people should
be surveyed
• Sampling procedure – how should the
people in the sample be chosen
Implementing the Research Plans

Collecting
the Data

Processing
the Data

Analyzing
the Data
Interpreting and Reporting the
Findings

Step 1. Interpret
the Findings

Step 2. Draw
Conclusions

Step 3. Report to
Management
Research Problem Areas

• Making assumptions
• Lack of Qualitative information
• Failing to look at segments within a
sample
• Using biased questions in surveys