Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad

End Term Exam (Term – IV) Take Home Exam

(Time Duration: 24 hrs)
Batch 2019 - 21

Answer-sheet

Enroll. No.: 190103227 Section: D

Date: 16th May, 2020 Term: IV

Subject: Marketing Research

Faculty Name: Nivedita Bhanja

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Question -1
Krax is a well-known packaged snacks brand popular for its line of fried potato, corn and other
chips etc. The parent company Bimla Industries Ltd. is planning to extend the brand to ready-to eat
breakfast category. The first to be launched in this line are instant upma and oats. However, the
Brand Manager is of the opinion that the consumers may not perceive the new offerings to be
healthy breakfast options given Krax’s possible association with snacks not considered healthy by
many. However, before arriving at any conclusion the BM believes he should have enough
information. He is contemplating commissioning a Marketing research project to a MR agency.
A) Define the business problem.
Answer 1 A
Business Problem:
Should Bimla Industries Ltd. launch the ready-to-eat breakfast category under the brand Krax,
provided that consumers may not consider or prefer a brand as healthy ready-to-eat breakfast
option, which is known for its association with fried, unhealthy and fattening snacks?
B) What would be the corresponding research problems?
Answer 1 B
This business problem above will be the reference frame for the Research Problems, which are
based on the conclusions and inferences from the secondary sources and industry experts. Here,
the following information are required to reach to the Research Problem:
- Based on what factors does consumer judge the Ready to Eat Breakfast category?
- What are the main ingredients or features which are necessary for the consumer to
formulate the decision?
- What are the other available options in this category?
- What are the major brands in this category and what are their distinctive features which
they provide?
- What in the perceptual map does each and every product in this category lie for the
consumer?
- What are the factors make a distinction between the healthy and non-healthy in this
category in consumer’s mind?
So, the market research problem of whether it is a good idea for Krax to be launched in ready to
eat breakfast category line will consist of a broad statement that will go like this:
The management wants to introduce Krax brand in the healthier ready-to-eat breakfast segment,
despite the tendency that consumers may not want a brand known for unhealthy and fried snacks

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as part of their breakfast routine, so we will research the factors that affect consumers before
selecting a specific brand as their breakfast choice. Also, whether Bimla Industries Ltd. should
launch the brand ready to eat breakfast category under Krax brand or associate it with Krax brand.
1. There are several considerations that customers weigh when selecting a particular brand of
ready-to - eat breakfast, and the food delivered by Krax does not match these considerations well
in all customer segments.
2. Economic markets are dominated by a vast number of players and the product features offered
are almost identical
3. Healthy understanding of a specific commercial product depends on the brand's advertising and
promotion
4. Distinction factors between nutritious breakfasts and short fried snacks: Krax's current ads made
customers see it as a fried and unhealthy snack brand

C) State at least two likely Hypotheses?

Answer 1 C
For designing hypothesis, we will consider both Correlational and Causal hypotheses.
1. Krax 's acceptance of the factors considered in buying a specific brand for ready-to-eat
breakfast is less than average across all age groups. (Based on the fact that several factors
are considered by consumers before selecting a specific brand of ready-to - eat breakfast
and the food offered by Krax, these factors do not fit well across all target segments.)
2. Number of necessary/preferred quality product features (as should have been possessed
by a healthy ready to eat breakfast category) of our competitor’s brand is more as
compared to our products under Krax Brand (Derived from the fact that product features
offered are almost similar)
3. The improvement in the latest promotional strategy has contributed to the Krax brand's
improved average recognition as a Healthy Snacks Brand (Derived from the part that Krax
's current ads made consumers see it as a fried and unhealthy snack brand)
4. Brand Buying Purpose is the same for all healthy breakfast ready-to - eat brands (Based on
the fact that competitive landscapes are highly overwhelmed by a large number of
competitors)

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Question 3: Explain with logic what type of research technique would be suitable to achieve the
research objective along with explaining how the research should be conducted and data should
be analyzed.
Answer 3 A & B:
Use of Exploratory Research techniques can be done in this case. Under Qualitative Research
Techniques, Direct or Non disguised can be applied here to understand and measure the
customer’s feelings and perception regarding the J series handset

Focus Group Discussions:

Focus Group Discussions can be taken as a key approach here to know about the customers
feelings or perception about the J series handset.
1. The participants of the FGD will discuss with each other about their perception and
experience with the phone after using it for a period and they will also be able to give light
to the creatively new ideas that the researchers might not have thought of or was not
detected from the Quantitative Research.
2. The moderator can ask questions to get deeper insight about the perception and will
ensure the flow of the FGDs. The questions can be, ‘’would you explain further”, “can you
give an instance of what you have experienced”, “would you like to add anything”.
3. A better quality of information can be gathered from the FGDs.

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 4. Snowballing effect can be created in the FGD. If one makes a statement about a feature
he/she like or dislikes about J series smartphone, it might instigate other participants to
share their insights and experiences good or bad about that particular feature.
5. Also conducting FGD can prove to be more cost effective.

The planning and conduction of focus group will have the following structure in our case:
- The research objective
is to : Understand the
customer’s emotions and
feelings attached with J
series phones after using.
- Quantitative research
will not be very effective
as the required feelings
cannot be quantified.
- The issues to be
developed in the Focus
Group will be from
broader to a narrower
perspective; from
Samsung as a brand to J
series handset as a
product. Lastly it will
move towards the
customer perspective and
their attributes in general.
- TG for being the respondents will be the former and present users of J series in the age
bracket of 23 to 35.

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Mood boarding strategy can be used to catch the feelings of the consumers about the brand they
are using in the J show. Mood Board is basically a collage that is to be created by the participants
during the FGD. The participants will be asked to simply use words and pictures from magazines
that they see as the understanding or meaning of the handset they are using at the moment. The
strongest feelings about the J series could be captured by using audio / video tapes from various J
series phone customer experiences.

In- Depth Interview:

The In-Depth interview will dig further into the user minds about the feeling of using the device
and the phone's emotional relations. As compared to FGD there will not be any shadowing effect
and responses can be easily attributed to a participant, so that individual perception about a
particular feature can be easily understood.
The following will be the process followed:
1. Firstly, collecting information about the early emotions and expressions created in the mid
of the user about the phone and its different after its usage for first few days. Specific
imagery connection with places / scenes (as can be seen in the Advertisements) can be
created from customer responses. The photos and evocations pertinent will be discussed.
2. Collecting information, experiences and feelings about the product after its usage for a
particular period of time and then comparing the relevant change. For further analysis in
future a precise analysis of the emotions will be concluded. For more review the origins of
the sensation and the emotion will also be noted.
3. Analyze the development/change of a particular emotion (Liking or Disliking of the
product) from the initial stage.
4. Define the resulting personality based on demographic classification of a particular feeling
or perspective. The expected goal would be like attaching a single trait and its associated
emotion with a certain age group.
In the Depth Interview process, the laddering technique can also be used to understand the link
between product attributes and consumer characteristics. The questions placed must revolve
around the A-C-V chain and obey this order:
Attributes: What's distinct about an opponent's phone's alternative feature

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Consequences: What does the discrepancy mean and how is it applicable to the situation of the
interviewee?
Value: How relevant is the attribute and the variance to the case of the interviewee
Repertory Grid Technique will be used next to quantify the Concepts about the emotion regarding
the brand. the following structure will be followed for the same:
1. Element Selection: For our case 30 features related to smartphone, both based on our and
competitors’ products will be chosen and based on that further analysis will take place.
2. Construct Elicitation: Perspective of a specific functionality / emotion will be analyzed, the
interviewer will seek to comprehend the linkages between the above selected elements.
The respondents will be asked to associate basis of 2 summaries given about two
parameters and then the interviewee will associate third element.
3. Element comparison: Elements will be compared on the competitive grounds and the
following scale will be used to understand the difference:

Data Analysis process of the Qualitative Research mentioned above:

Stages of the data analysis process for the
Qualitative Research:
Data Assembly: This will be done from the following:
1. Notes taken during and after the interview or
the FGD
2. Pointers from previous quantitative surveys.
3. Theoretical support from the secondary
researches on same parameters.
4. Mood board drawings and snippets collected
from the FGD
5. Video recording of the FGD or the interview

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 6. Transcript of the FGD or the interview
Data Reduction: It will be done to explain and visually reflect the organization and structuring of
the data for further study. Coding of the data would also be performed for code reduction. For
this, the data will be broken down into separate chunks, and the chunks of data will be assigned a
specific guide. The following example can be taken:
Perception of a particular feature Age Group
Even after long hours of gaming and streaming 23 to 25
movies the phone does not get heated
The phone does not hang when I am multi- 30 to 35
tasking and switching between different
applications
Data Display: After the data has been codified and a clear comparison based on market
classification is given, the data show will summarize and present the structure found in the
qualitative data collected.
Data display can most simply be done through a usage of spreadsheet.
Cross tabulation can also be done to know about the features talked about by the TGs mentioned.
Data Verification: This includes searching at various tools for alternate examples of the meanings
of qualitative evidence. In our case, triangulation can be done to research more about data
verification.
For data analysing, the following methods can be used:
Grounded Theory of Data Coding:
- Coding the data here will be done by asking What, Why, Who, How, When, how much, for
and by which of the data we collect from the interviews.
-- Memo writing is achieved by turning statements and transcripts that are poorly written into
clearly formulated logical claims.
-- Statistical analysis of data and associated inferences should be performed to explain the relation.
Semiotics Analysis: This analysis will be performed on FGD transcript and recording video tape.
Through this analysis, the consumers' experience signs about smartphone use will be captured.
During an interview, things should be looked for when the Semiotics research is being done:

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-- What are the key symbols or signs of the content
-- What concrete signals should we question try to build in a question
-- Which codes the participants use while taking part in the FGD. Such gestures can be both vocal
and visual.
-- Which sort of discourses can be seen from the answers: Postmodernism, Feminism or
Spirituality?

Question – 4 A A researcher wants to survey 100 respondents to identify specific factors that influence
the customers’ purchase intention towards electric vehicle. The researcher conducted a questionnaire
survey. All the questions in the questionnaire were on a 1 (Strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) point
Likert scales. All the items/questions were positive statements (i.e. If I buy a car I will definitely buy an
electrical car) except three. The three items were negatively worded (i.e. I would not prefer buying an
electric car). While coding the data into SPSS data view, the researcher forgot to reverse code the
negatively worded questions. Explain with rationale what kind of sampling error did the researcher
commit?
Answer – 4 A

When the researcher misses to reverse code the negatively worded question in SPSS, it will result
in Systematic Error or Bias. This would change the resultant test performed causing a change
between the actually observed and the expected result, caused due manual human error rather
than sample variability.
Considering the whole set of questionnaires (positively and negatively worded as the same
standard, without reverse codling the negatively worded question values) would result in
inappropriate & altered means (either positively or negatively distorted) which would cause
Systematic Bias. These errors have a persistent effect on the calculation. It represents stable
variables that influence the measured score in the same way each time the measurement is
performed, such as mechanical factors (Researcher's ignorance) as described here, thus distorting
the entire model's Measurement Error. Therefore, due to factors other than system uncertainty,
the model's Observed score which is the sum total of the Systematic Error, the actual value of the
attribute & the Random Error, is improved (Random Error).

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Question – 4 B In the questionnaire there was one question which reads as “My income would not
permit me to buy expensive electric vehicle from brands like Tesla” anchored on a 1 (Strongly
disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) point Likert scale. Given the fact that people generally would not
like to reveal their low income status, what kind of sampling error would occur due to including this
particular question in the questionnaire?
Answer – 4 B

In a sample, asking socially and emotionally sensitive subjects is perceived by social opinion to be
too sensitive or uncomfortable to be answered by participants in the social class. The above
questionnaire here corresponds to one scenario wherein the particular question of the survey uses
a Likert Scale to comprehend the perception of the respondents to buy an expensive electric
vehicle from brands like Tesla given their income level. Such cases allow the respondent to publicly
identify and partly disclose their own income status in an transparent survey whether they make
the correct scale ranking relative to their own income. This is known as unwillingness error.
The fundamental human tendency to present oneself in the best possible way can skew the
information obtained from self-report surveys considerably. For ego-defensive or impression-
management purposes, respondents are either not ready or unwilling to comment correctly on
sensitive subjects. The effect is data that is deliberately skewed against the expectations of
respondents of what is "right" or socially acceptable — like answering incorrectly to the above
question to represent an inaccurate ranking based on their secret income status. This
phenomenon is called social desirability bias and was found to occur in virtually all kinds of self-
report surveys and across almost all social structures.
Not only is the emphasis on social desirability omnipotent, it may also contribute to presenting
false or inaccurate study findings. Studies have found that bias in social desirability can mitigate,
inflate or moderate variable relationships, increase measurement errors and affect variable
means. Research that does not consider or account for prejudice in social desirability can lead to
unwarranted theoretical or realistic assumptions about the psychological characteristics of buyers
purchasing motives and behaviors, expectations and behaviours.

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Question 5 A bank wanted to examine the effect of direct mail offers and in-branch promotions
upon the level of sales of personal loans. In-branch promotion was varied at three levels: high (1),
medium (2) and low (3). Direct mail efforts were manipulated at two levels. Either a travel alarm
clock was offered to customers who took out a loan (denoted by 1) or it was not (denoted by 2).
How many hypotheses can possibly be framed out of the above problem? State the
hypotheses.
A) How many hypotheses can possibly be framed out of the above problem? State the
hypotheses.

Answer 5 – A
8 Hypothesis can be formed from the above problem statement:
H0 (null Hypothesis) – Neither direct mail offers nor in-branch promotions, nor both combined has
any significant effect on the sales of personal loans, that is maintaining the status quo.
H1: The direct mail offers alone, influences the levels of sales.
H2: The in-branch promotions alone, influences the levels of sales.
H3: A combination of both In-Branch Promotion and Direct Mailers has an impact on the levels of
sales of personal loans
B) What data analysis technique can be the best fit for the given problem? Why?

Answer 5 – B
In this scenario, the use of Latin Square Design or Factorial Design method will be the better suited
statistical analysis methodology. Factorial designs are an experimental form, in which multiple
factors ( i.e., independent variables) vary independently. In the first case, the Factorial Modeling
Method helps one to concurrently analyse the key consequences of two or more different
independent variables while giving us a good understanding of the relationships between the
variables , i.e. the results of moving from one variable to the other. These correlations can only be
observed when the mixture of the variables is checked.
In this particular situation, the best fit for factorial design matrix is to consider the
effects/outcomes of the various levels of In-branch marketing and Direct Mailers on the basis of
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levels of sales of personal loan . Independent variables (factors)- In-branch promotion and Direct
Mailes, vary at different levels High(1), Medium(2) & Low(3) and Offering(1) or not offering(2) a
travel clock respectively.The following matrix can be developed to judge the mutual interaction
effect on the level of sales.
In-Branch Promotion
LATIN SQUARE MATRIX
High (1) Medium (2) Low (3)
Travel Clock
Direct Offered (1) Outcome 1 Outcome 2 Outcome 3
Mail Travel Clock not
Offered (2) Outcome 4 Outcome 5 Outcome 6

The rationale why this Factorial Model model is the perfect match in this scenario, is that to
analyse the impact of direct mail offers and in-branch promotions on the level of personal loan
sales. This method provides one with the requisite understanding, bringing all potential theories
together in a compact mathematical model. By running the above model in any statistical program,
the corresponding significance value can be obtained for each of the variables as well as for their
combination, which will give the researcher a glimpse into their statistical importance as to their
effect on the sales level.

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