Lesson 2: The Marketing Research Process and Research Design
2.2 Marketing Research Process
Before you continue with this lesson, you should study Chapter 3 of Burns and Bush (2013), which is available through the Course Reserves. It gives a comprehensive overview of the marketing research process and each of the different steps. It also provides a more in-depth discussion on the first three steps of the marketing research process (as shown in Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1 illustrates the marketing research process. The figure is an adapted version of Figure 3.1 in Burns and Bush (2013) and will form the framework for the rest of the course. Note that the figure indicates which lesson will cover each step of the marketing research process. Subsequent lessons will include this figure as a reminder of where you are in the course.
Figure 2.1. Course Structure Associated With Marketing Research Process
Adapted from Marketing Research (7th ed.), by A. C. Burns & R. F. Bush, 2013.
Course Structure Associated With Marketing Research Process
Lesson
Marketing Research Process Step
2
Establish the need for marketing research
Define the problem
Establish research objectives
Determine research design
3
Identify secondary data sources
4 and 5
Determine methods of accessing data
5
Design your data collection forms
6
Select sample and sample size
8
Collect and process data
9–11
Analyze data
13
Communicate your marketing research
Self-Check Exercise
Following are several statements related to the different steps of the marketing research process. Please read each statement and decide whether each statement is true or false. Then, click "Show Answer" for verification. Make sure you have studied Chapter 3 of Burns and Bush (2013) before answering the questions.
1. Each marketing research study needs the 11 steps given in Chapter 3 of Burns and Bush (2013).
False. Some studies may need fewer steps. Sometimes only secondary data is necessary to solve the research problem, and the steps on data collection and sample plan and size can be skipped.
2. Small companies that are short on money should not conduct marketing research.
False. Although small companies often have fewer resources (personnel and money) for marketing research, they should still consider marketing research to support their important marketing decisions. Foregoing marketing research altogether increases the risk that managers make poor decisions. However, the firm may simply not have the time, money, or personnel to do a marketing research study. In that case. it may still be advantageous to do a small-scale marketing research study by eliminating the more expensive steps (such as collecting your own data).
3. When a manager only wants to obtain some background information on what his or her competitors are doing, marketing research is not necessary.
True. Marketing research should only be conducted when firms need to make a decision and do not have the information available to guide decision making. In this question, the manager has no decision to make.
4. McDonald's has developed an energy drink. The company is investigating whether or not to introduce the new drink at its franchises. McDonald's has formulated the following research objectives:
"A sample of 10,000 regular McDonald's customers are provided with the choice between five menus. All menus consist of a Big Mac, fries, and a drink. The type of drink differs across the five menus and McDonald's provides the following five alternatives: soda, coffee, chocolate milk, water, and an energy drink. The price for each menu is the same. Customers are provided with samples of each of the five drinks so they can taste each one. They are asked to rank the five menus according to their preferences."
True. The research objective provides the researcher with the exact steps to collect the required information. The manager can analyze the responses and determine whether enough customers have ranked the menu with the energy drink as their most preferred menu. Or, the manager can evaluate the average ranking of the various menus and decide whether the menu with the energy drink has received enough support.
5. Syndicated data is secondary data that is freely available on the Internet.
True. Conducting an online survey to collect data for your specific issue would be an example of primary data. Note that data already available on the Internet is considered secondary data.
7. In order to do accurate marketing research, your sample size should be at least 1% of the population size.
False. A sample size should be representative of the population, but an appropriate sample size depends on the problem at hand. For example, an appropriate sample for the U.S. presidential elections is typically much smaller than 1% of the population of voters. However, if I want to get your opinion on the quality of this course, I would need to collect a sample size much bigger than 1% of the population of students in this course. You will explore sample sizes in more detail in Lesson 6.
8. The following is a correct example of a hypothesis:
"Dropping the price of the iPhone by $100 will increase the sales of the iPhone in the next month by at least 20% compared to this month."
True. A hypothesis is a statement that is true or false and is testable. The previous statement can be tested by decreasing the price of the iPhone by $100 and assessing in the next month how sales are affected compared to the current month.
Reference
Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2013). Marketing research (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
