What constitutes good marketing research?

How can company measure and

forecast demand correctly?
A company can measure and forecast demand by understanding the environment and conducting
marketing research.

Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a
specific marketing situation facing an organization.

Step 1: Marketing Research Objectives

Three types of objectives:

• Exploratory research is the gathering of preliminary information that will help to define the
problem and suggest hypotheses.

• Descriptive research is to describe things such as market potential for a product or the
demographics and attitudes of consumers who buy the product.

• Causal research is to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships.

Step 2: Developing the research plan

The research plan should be presented in a written proposal and includes; management problem,
research objectives, information needed, how the results will help management decisions and
budget.

To meet the manager’s information needs, the research plan can call for gathering secondary date,
primary date, or both.

• Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected
for another purpose. Secondary data collecting approaches include: company’s internal
database, commercial online databases and internet search engines.

• Primary data consists of information gathered for the special research plan. Primary data
collection approaches: observation, survey, experiments.

Primary Data Collection

Research Approaches:-

 Observational Research.

• It involves gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and

situations.
  Ethnographic research.

• It is a form of observational research that involves sending trained observers to

watch and interact with consumers in their “natural environments.”

 Survey Research.

• It gathers primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes,
preferences, and buying behavior. It is the best suited for gathering descriptive
information. Flexible approach.

 Experimental Research.

• It gathers primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them

different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in
group responses.

Contact Methods:-

Mail questionnaires Telephone interviewing Personal interviewing

• Collect large amounts of
information
• Low cost
• Less bias with no
interviewer present
• Lack of flexibility
• Low response rate
• Lack of control of sample
Online marketing research
• Internet surveys
• Online panels
• Online experiments
• Online focus groups
• Collects information quickly • Individual interviewing
• More flexible than mail • Involves talking with
questionnaires people at home or
• Interviewers can explain the office, on the
difficult questions street, or in shopping
• Higher response rates than malls
mail questionnaires • Flexible
• Interviewers communicate • More expensive than
directly with respondents telephone interviews
• Higher cost than mail • Group interviewing or focus
questionnaires group interviewing
• Potential interviewer bias • Involves inviting 6 to
10 people to talk
with
a trained moderator

Sampling:-

Target Population  Sampling Population  Sample

Research Instruments:
• Questionnaires
• Mechanical instruments

Step 3: Implementing the Research Plan

• Collecting data

• Processing the information

• Analyzing the information

Step 4: Interpreting and Reporting the Findings

Findings can be interpreted in different ways, and discussions between researchers and managers
will help point to the best interpretations.

Analyzing and Using Marketing Information:-

Information analysis involve the application of analytical models that will help marketers
make better decisions.