Ebook Marketing research: An applied approach – Part 1

Ebook Marketing research: An applied approach – Part 1 presents the following content: Chapter 1 Introduction to marketing research; Chapter 2 Defining the marketing research problem and developing a research approach; Chapter 3 Research design; Chapter 4 Secondary data collection and analysis; Chapter 5 internal secondary data and the use of databases; Chapter 6 Qualitative research: its nature and approaches; Chapter 7 Qualitative... Đề tài Hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tại Công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên được nghiên cứu nhằm giúp công ty TNHH Mộc Khải Tuyên làm rõ được thực trạng công tác quản trị nhân sự trong công ty như thế nào từ đó đề ra các giải pháp giúp công ty hoàn thiện công tác quản trị nhân sự tốt hơn trong thời gian tới.

An Applied Approach

Naresh K Malhotra David F Birks

Updated Second European Edition

Naresh K Malhotra and David F Birks

“This textbook has several strengths The first one is that it is the most

comprehensive and stringent textbook in marketing research that I

have encountered The students that have used the text agree that it is

a comprehensive and pedagogically sophisticated text that is a great

guide when it comes to thesis writing and reporting.”

John Larsson, Jonkoping International Business School, Sweden

Updates to this revision include:

New Preface and new chapter on

business-to-business (b2b) marketing.

A CD-Rom containing valuable SNAP and

XSight software to enhance your understanding

of marketing research.

Option at www.pearsoned.co.uk/malhotra_euro

to match nine full Harvard Business School

case studies, complete with teaching notes

and accompanying questions, to the text.

“The entire text is very clearly structured and takes students very logically through the approaches, concepts,

techniques and methods of analysis required for effective marketing research.”

Malcolm Kirkup, University of Birmingham Business School

“The strengths of the book lie in its extremely thorough and comprehensive coverage of techniques For this, it

is an excellent reference book The use of numerous examples is also an excellent feature, as are the summary

sections and references provided I would not single out any particular chapter or section as especially strong:

the quality is consistent throughout.”

David Bennison, Manchester Metropolitan University

Written for students studying market research at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, Marketing Research:

An Applied Approach provides a comprehensive and authoritative commentary on this increasingly important subject.

Dr Naresh K Malhotrais Regents’ Professor, DuPree College of Management, Georgia Institute

of Technology In addition to teaching marketing research he has consulted for business, non-profit and government organisations in the United States and around the world.

Dr David F Birksis the Projects Manager and Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the Institute for Entrepreneurship, School of Management, University

of Southampton In addition to teaching marketing research and management research he has conducted research on behalf of a wide range of business, non-profit and social ventures in the UK and Europe

Additional student support at

Updated Second European Edition

Updated SecondEuropean Edition

Includes CD-Rom

Your purchase of the updated second European

edi-tion of Malhotra and Birks, Marketing Research: An

Applied Approach, includes a CD-ROM containing

valuable SNAP and XSight software demos, to enhance

your understanding of quantitative and qualitative

aspects of marketing research

What are SNAP and XSight and how will

they help you?

SNAP is a user-friendly program for marketing

research, providing you with help to design surveys,

create questionnaires, prepare data for analysis, collect

data and to perform analyses This powerful survey

software is an industry standard that has been helping

researchers and educators in more than 50 countries

for over 20 years

SNAP consists of a core product, Snap Professional,

and specialist modules that may be added to extend its

capabilities to surveys via the Internet, Personal Digital

Assistants (PDAs), scanning and telephone interviewing

You will find direct references to the use of SNAP in

Chapter 10 (Survey and quantitative observation

tech-niques), Chapter 13 (Questionnaire design), Chapter

17 (Data preparation) and Chapter 18 (Frequency

distribution, cross-tabulation and hypothesis testing)

XSight is new qualitative data analysis software,

Conventional qualitative data analysis software wasdesigned for and used mainly by academic researchers

XSight was designed for marketing researchers by marketing researchers who understood the particularproblems faced by their profession

Created by QSR International (whose product NVivo

is reviewed in Chapter 9, Qualitative research: data analysis), a qualitative research software company withyears of experience in developing solutions to a widearray of research problems, XSight is seen as a break-through tool for every qualitative marketing researcher

It will enable you to explore unstructured qualitative data gathered via focus groups, interviews or open ended surveys much more easily This will allow you much more time to devote to the real art of qualitative research– interpretation

With XSight you will be able to compile, compareand make logical connections in qualitative dataalmost instantaneously It can help you identify eventhe most subtle data patterns

Using SNAP and XSight

With the enclosed free trial version of SNAP, simplyinstall it on your personal computer at a time that’s con-venient You’ll then be able to design a ‘mini-survey’ of

up to 9 questions and up to 25 respondents You’ll also

be able to see examples of much larger surveys designed

with SNAP There is no time limit to the use of SNAP.

With XSight, again simply install it on your personalcomputer at a time that’s convenient and you’ll be able

to enjoy the full suite of XSight features You’ll be able

to use XSight for a period of 90 days once you’ve installed it.

Once you have experienced the benefits of usingSNAP and XSight, they will become integral to yourwork in the design, data collection and analysis ofquantitative and qualitative data Working withoutthem may become inconceivable

To use the CD:

1 Put the CD in your machine.

2 When prompted, input the password printed on

the CD

SNAP and XSight can help you improve your marks!

DON’T THROW IT AWAY!

Visit the Marketing Research, updated second edition Companion Website at

www.pearsoned.co.uk/malhotra_euro to find valuable student learning material

including:

● Annotated weblinks to relevant, specific Internet resources to facilitate in-depth

independent research

● Extra Case Studies

● Full online version of the GlobalCash research project

Naresh K Malhotra David F Birks

M A R K E T I N G R E S E A R C H

An Applied Approach

U p d a t e d S e c o n d E u r o p e a n E d i t i o n

Pearson Education Limited

Edinburgh Gate

Harlow

Essex CM20 2JE

England

and Associated Companies throughout the world

Visit us on the World Wide Web at:

www.pearsoned.co.uk

Original 3rd edition entitled Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation

published by Prentice Hall, Inc., a Pearson Education company

Copyright © 1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.

This edition published by Pearson Education Limited 2006

© Pearson Education Limited 2000, 2003, 2006

Authorised for sale only in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The rights of Naresh Malhotra and David Birks to be identified as authors

of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright,

Design and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,

mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior

written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying

in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd,

90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP

ISBN 0 273 69530 4

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Printed and bound by Ashford Colour Press, Gosport

The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests.

B R I E F C O N T E N T S

2 Defining the marketing research problem and developing a

5 Internal secondary data and the use of databases 108

6 Qualitative research: its nature and approaches 130

7 Qualitative research: focus group discussions 156

8 Qualitative research: depth interviewing and

10 Survey and quantitative observation techniques 223

12 Measurement and scaling: fundamentals, comparative and

15 Sampling: final and initial sample size determination 381

18 Frequency distribution, cross-tabulation and hypothesis testing 445

24 Multidimensional scaling and conjoint analysis 615

27 Business-to-business (b2b) marketing research 684

Dedicated to the memory

of Kevin Fogarty

Preface xiii

What does marketing research encompass? 2

A classification of marketing research 7

The role of marketing research in MkIS and DSS 9

Marketing research suppliers and services 11

The limitations of marketing research 19

Supporting decision-makers in pan-European banking 22

2 Defining the marketing research problem

The process of defining the problem and developing

Marketing decision problem and marketing

Defining the marketing research problem 43

Components of the research approach 44

Research design from the decision-maker’s

Research design from respondents’ perspectives 60

Relationships between exploratory, descriptive and

Potential sources of error in research designs 74

Advantages and uses of secondary data 86

Criteria for evaluating secondary data 87

Published external secondary sources 91

Syndicated sources of secondary data 96

Stages of development in using databases and survey data to build profiles of consumers and

C O N T E N T S

Databases and marketing research 123

Primary data: qualitative versus quantitative research 132

Rationale for using qualitative research 134

Philosophy and qualitative research 136

Classifying qualitative research techniques 158

Planning and conducting focus groups 163

Other types of qualitative group discussions 169

8 Qualitative research: depth interviewing

Comparison between qualitative techniques 192

The process of qualitative data analysis 206 Using computers in qualitative research and analysis 215

A comparative evaluation of survey techniques 233

A classification of experimental designs 268

Experimental design application: test marketing 281

12 Measurement and scaling:

fundamentals, comparative and

A comparison of scaling techniques 297

Non-comparative scaling techniques 303

The development and evaluation of scales 311

Specify the type of interviewing method 330

Determine the content of individual questions 331

Overcoming the respondent’s inability and

Arrange the questions in proper order 342

Eliminate problems by pilot-testing 345

Summarising the questionnaire design process 346

A classification of sampling techniques 362 Non-probability sampling techniques 363

Choosing non-probability versus probability sampling 373

Statistical approaches to determining sample size 385 Multiple characteristics and parameters 391 Other probability sampling techniques 392 Adjusting the statistically determined sample size 392

Survey fieldwork and the data collection process 407

Objectives 420

Selecting a data analysis strategy 435

18 Frequency distribution, cross-tabulation

Statistics associated with frequency distribution 449

A general procedure for hypothesis testing 452

Statistics associated with cross-tabulation 463

Hypothesis testing related to differences 468

Conducting one-way analysis of variance 488

Analysis of variance and covariance with regression 541

Relationship to regression and ANOVA 548

Conducting multiple discriminant analysis 558

Applications of common factor analysis 586

Applications of non-hierarchical clustering 608

Basic concepts in multidimensional scaling (MDS) 617

Conducting multidimensional scaling 618

Assumptions and limitations of MDS 624

Relationship among MDS, factor analysis and

Basic concepts in conjoint analysis 627

Assumptions and limitations of conjoint analysis 638

Importance of the report and presentation 645

Preparation and presentation process 645

What is international marketing research? 664

A framework for international marketing research 666

The growth of competitive intelligence 704

Supporting resources

Visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/malhotra_euro to find valuable online resources

Companion Website for students

● Annotated weblinks to relevant, specific Internet resources to facilitate in-depth independent research

● Extra Case Studies

● Full online version of the GlobalCash research project

For instructors

● Customisable colour PowerPoint slides, including key figures from the main text

● Extensive Solutions Manual, including sample answers for all question material in the book

● Solutions for Extra Case Studies

Also: The Companion Website provides the following features:

● Search tool to help locate specific items of content

● E-mail results and profile tools to send results of quizzes to instructors

● Online help and support to assist with website usage and troubleshooting

For more information please contact your local Pearson Education sales representative

or visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/malhotra_euro

Being a marketing researcher is a very creative task This creativity is nurtured by anenvironment that makes many demands on the researcher They must be able to copewith the technical challenges to plan, gather, analyse and interpret information Theymust be aware of the challenges faced by the array of decision-makers who trustsound marketing research They must be able to empathise with the people they aim

to question and observe, and to treat them with care and respect

Trying to develop the technical skills and to balance an appreciation of makers and respondents may seem daunting Finding the confidence to conductresearch and to interpret the findings may seem difficult with so many options to

decision-consider This is where we believe Marketing Research, An Applied Approach, 2nd

European edition can help Founded on the enormously successful US editions and the

1st European edition, this text aims to be comprehensive, authoritative and applied

This edition includes an array of European and international examples, practices andillustrations It portrays a balance of qualitative and quantitative approaches to con-ducting research that allows the creative support of decision-makers It will guide thereader through the challenges faced in conducting marketing research of the highestquality This is achieved through an appropriate blend of scholarship with a highlyapplied and managerial orientation

Marketing Research: An Applied ApproachThe book is written for use at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels Thecoverage is comprehensive and the depth and breadth of topics are well suited to bothlevels The material is presented in a manner that is easy to read and understand

There are numerous diagrams, tables and examples to help explain and illustrate thebasic concepts If you would like to explore a particular topic in more depth, there arenumerous references to follow a line of enquiry The Web addresses presentedthroughout allow for further illustration of ideas and, in many instances, demonstra-

malhotra_euro) presents more European case studies, projects based on the book’srunning case and annotated Web addresses linking directly to relevant Internetresources It also now includes a Professional Perspectives section that details morepractical applications and issues facing the marketing research industry

Marketing research is defined as a topic with a clear demonstration of how it maysupport effective decision-making The limitations of marketing research are recog-nised, as are other means of information support that decision-makers turn to Theprocess of conducting marketing research is described in six stages Each of thesestages is fully described and illustrated Working out an approach and research design

is discussed as a foundation to administering techniques The justification for the use

of qualitative and quantitative techniques is made, with a demonstration of how theycan mutually support each other The administration of a broad range of qualitativeand quantitative techniques is presented Sampling issues for both qualitative andquantitative studies are discussed Issues of ensuring the quality of data and preparingfor data analysis are covered Qualitative data analysis is discussed in detail

Quantitative data analysis, from simple descriptive statistics to sophisticated

multi-P R E F A C E

in both oral and written formats is covered, with an emphasis on ensuring that theinterpretation of research findings really supports decision-makers Applications ofmarketing research in an international context are tackled in most chapters; this vitaltopic also has a distinct chapter in its own right The ethical practice of marketingresearch and the dilemmas that researchers face is also tackled in most chapters Theimpact of the Internet and IT on marketing research is integrated throughout the textbut also dealt with at the end of each chapter.

Being an excellent marketing researcher requires an appreciation and continualpractice of all the elements discussed in this text This book firmly sets you on thatpath of creativity and excellence

New for the updated 2nd European edition

New chapter

There is a new chapter in this 2nd edition update, entitled ‘Business-to-business (b2b)marketing research’ Throughout the text there are many examples of the successfuluse of marketing research set in the context of b2b relationships As marketingresearch is obviously used in b2b contexts, we start by questioning whether there isany real distinction between b2b and consumer marketing research We examine thedifferences between b2b and consumer marketing and the impact these differenceshave on the way b2b marketing research is applied There are very distinctive chal-lenges faced by the b2b marketing researcher in terms of sampling, gaining access torespondents and formulating research designs We felt that a distinctive chapter waswarranted for this large and most challenging sector of the marketing research indus-try b2b marketing research also deserves attention in that all manner oforganisations, agencies and consultants have found great rewards in the practice of

‘business research’ The practices of these organisations, especially those that conductcompetitor intelligence, challenge our notions of what marketing research is orshould be, in a world where marketing decision-makers continue to seek informationsupport from a burgeoning array of sources

CD demonstration software

The CD that accompanies this edition contains demonstration software for tive and qualitative researchers

standards in survey design and analysis in the marketing research industry for over

20 years It is now used in over 50 countries worldwide With Snap8, questionnairescan be created and published for surveys that use paper, Web, email, computerassisted personal and telephone interviews It then offers options to key or scandata or even to collect data automatically Survey results can be analysed, statisticscalculated and tables and charts produced These features briefly summarise howthe software helps to manage a great array of survey designs By working throughthe demo, the detail of support in survey design, i.e the array of functions avail-able, will become apparent The demo will bring to life the challenges toquestionnaire and survey designers and the solutions they use in practice

analysis software for qualitative marketing researchers The software has beendeveloped by QSR International who are world leaders in qualitative research soft-ware as used in a variety of applications Academic marketing researchers that use

qualitative analysis software would be familiar with QSR’s NVivo package, which

we discuss in Chapter 9 In this chapter, we discuss why for many practitioner itative marketing researchers, manual methods or basic computer-based methodshave been the norm XSight has been developed in close consultation with practi-tioner marketing researchers to bridge the gap between the packages designed forthe needs of academics and traditional manual methods The demo will bring tolife the challenges faced by qualitative researchers in the amount and nature ofqualitative data they may collect and how they make sense of that data

qual-New for the 2nd European edition

Revisions to existing chapters

We have retained the most desirable features of the first three US editions and the firstEuropean edition, according to our readers and reviewers In all chapters that tacklequantitative techniques and analysis, none of the well-regarded material has been lost

Changes have been made to improve the clarity of explanations, with many newexamples and updated references Measurement and scaling, once covered in twochapters, is now covered in one chapter This has been done, without losing any ofthe substantive explanations, by reorganising and simplifying the approach

Developments in the use of databases have made substantial changes in how makers are supported These developments are tackled in the major revisions to thechapter that covers internal secondary data and the use of databases In the chapterdevoted to depth interviewing, laddering and repertory grid techniques are describedand illustrated

decision-All chapters have benefited from more up-to-date references and, where ate, more relevant examples that reflect the European and international focus Manynew questions that probe issues in more depth have been added to the end of eachchapter

appropri-New chapters

There are two new chapters in this edition The first is entitled ‘Qualitative research:

its nature and approaches’, and the second is ‘Qualitative research: data analysis’ Thismeans that this edition has a more balanced approach to qualitative and quantitativemarketing research The text now devotes four chapters to the very important areas ofunderstanding why qualitative research is conducted, group techniques, individualtechniques and the manner in which qualitative data is handled and interpreted

Qualitative and quantitative research should be viewed as complementary

Unfortunately, many researchers and decision-makers do not see this, taking matic positions in favour of either qualitative or quantitative research The defence ofqualitative approaches for a particular marketing research problem, through the posi-tive benefits it bestows and explaining the negative alternatives of a quantitativeapproach, should be seen as healthy, as should the defence of quantitative approaches

dog-Business and marketing decision-makers use both approaches and will continue toneed both The first of the new chapters should help readers to appreciate these posi-tions and understand why decision-makers use and trust both qualitative andquantitative approaches

The second new chapter on qualitative data analysis will help researchers cope withthe wide array of data that can be generated from qualitative techniques Workingwith data ‘beyond numbers’ means qualitative analysis has less structure and fewerrules, and this chapter helps the researcher to cope with the data generated

The pace of new technological developments in the marketing research industry isbreathtaking Trying to keep up with them is a thankless task It can be guaranteed that

as soon as any publication hits the shelves, much material on technology can be out ofdate Many of the new developments that have a demonstrable impact on the practice

of marketing research, especially through the use of the Internet, have been rated into each chapter In the new Professional Perspectives section, which appears on

technological developments are presented To maintain the currency of technology, theWeb addresses of the major research associations, national statistical bodies, andresearch organisations are presented The Web addresses of major suppliers of qualita-tive analysis packages, questionnaire design, survey processing and statistical analysisare also presented Care has been taken to choose those where good case illustrationsand demo versions are available, in a variety of formats to suit individual users

Photography

The photographs that accompany any management textbook may be perceived astrivial and mere adornments I do not take this view I see textbook photographs as ameans to encapsulate the essence of a subject and its challenges In putting togetherthe photographs for this edition, I wanted images that portray the creativity and thefun that can be experienced in marketing research Some of the images in this editionhave a serious intent, linking a particular image to concepts and aiding the recall of aconcept Others are there to lighten the sometimes difficult technical passages In theirown right, each image has many technical and artistic merits

Companion Website

reflect the changes in this edition There are new European case studies with sion points and questions to tackle All the referenced Websites in the text aredescribed with notes of key features to look for on a particular site

discus-For the lecturer

Instructor’s Manual The Instructor’s Manual is very closely tied to the text, but isnot prescriptive in how the material should be handled in the classroom The manualoffers teaching suggestions, answers to all end-of-chapter questions, ProfessionalPerspective discussion points and case study exercises

Solutions Very detailed suggested solutions to the end-of-chapter questions, to theProfessional Perspective questions and to the Web-based case studies These solutionsassist lecturers in the development of examination papers and marking schemes

Professional Perspectives These 20 articles can be used as mini case studies anddiscussion papers Each Professional Perspective ends with two questions to initiatedebate

PowerPoint slides The PowerPoint slides are not just replicas of the figures andtables from the text Care has been taken to ensure that they are not packed with toomuch information which would render them unintelligible in a lecture theatre

For the student

Professional Perspectives There is a new and distinct section entitled ProfessionalPerspectives which is presented on the Companion Website This section is made up of

20 articles written by leading practitioners, users and writers of marketing research

They show an array of applications and how different techniques work together Theyreflect the realities of marketing decision-making and the nature of research supportrequired As issues emerge in individual chapters, links are made to specific articles inthis section However, these articles have been chosen for the variety of interconnectedissues they tackle; they are written to illustrate more than one point As well as develop-ing issues in individual chapters, they can be used as case studies and as discussionpapers in their own right Points to discuss are presented at the end of each article

Weblinks This section offers many further sources of support for any essay or projectwork Of particular note are the links to demo versions of a range of industry stan-dard marketing research software packages

Case studies These are European in focus or relevant globally Being longer thanthe examples set in the text, these set the challenges of applying marketing research in

a broader context

manage the project from the initial brief and proposal through to examples of thequestionnaire and the data collected in an SPSS format The questionnaire is pre-sented in English, French, German and Spanish versions, enabling a vision of thechallenges faced in translating questionnaires The GlobalCash documentation willhelp with project work by showing how key documents help to manage the marketingresearch process in a professional manner

AcknowledgementsMany people have been most generous in helping me to write the 1st and 2ndEuropean editions and in this 2nd edition update

In developing the critical approach I take in marketing research practice and ing, I must thank my Consumer Behaviour teacher and PhD supervisor, JohnSouthan of Salford University My friend and former work colleague, the late KevinFogarty, deserves special mention for his humour, creativity and for shaping many ofthe values I hold dear

writ-My colleagues at the University of Bath and the University of Southampton have beenvery supportive and understanding as I have developed this edition, and especially inwriting the new chapter of the updated 2nd edition So, a big thank you to ProfessorsDavid Ford, Pete Naude and Rod Green from the School of Management at theUniversity of Bath I must thank the students in my marketing research and researchmethods classes who continue to supply vital feedback and have taught me many lessons

In putting together the Professional Perspectives, I would like to thank BerndAufderheide, Georgia Field, Magnus Kristjansson, Stan Maklan, Peter Wills, and TimMacer for their excellent contributions

The other Professional Perspectives were taken from articles published elsewhere I amreally pleased that the authors and their publishers allowed me to use their work in thiscontext and would like to thank the following: David Backinsell, Siebe-Geert de Boer,Alicia Clegg, Pat Dowding, Gavin Emsden, Trevor Fenwick, Miranda Forestier-Walker,

Virginia Monk, Trevor Merriden, Lex van Meurs, Marcel van der Kooi and Ron Whelan.

I would also like to thank other authors who gave me permission to use their ideas:

Mary Goodyear, Peter Cooper and Paul Bate

The reviewers of the 1st edition provided many constructive and valuable tions, and their help is gratefully acknowledged

sugges-Reviewers for the first edition:

Howard Jackson, University of HuddersfieldPaul Baines, Middlesex University

Martin Wetzels, University of MaastrichtDavid Longbottom, University of DerbyJohn Beaumont-Kerridge, University of LutonMarc De Laet, Hogeschool, Antwerp

Kare Sandvik, Buskerud College, Norway

The reviewers of this edition have also been of enormous help Their advice was mostthorough, balanced and very well founded I have done my best to incorporate themany valuable suggestions they offered A big thank you for your help

Reviewers for the second edition:

Martin Wetzels, Technical University of EindhovenHeather Skinner, University of Glamorgan

Eddie Rohan, Dublin Institute of Technology

In putting together the images for this edition, I enjoyed enormously the task ofworking with the photographer Michael Hewitt Together we worked on the concepts

of the images, Michael created the images and I positioned them in the text and ated the captions (sorry for any toe-curling jokes) I worked with Michael on two

cre-‘shoots’, and witnessed the great amount of preparation, vision and technical skillsinvolved; I was very impressed So a big thank you to Michael and his partner AngelaWilliams for all their hard work and end results that I think are amazing

To Abigail Woodman at Pearson Education, I don’t know how to thank youenough Abigail managed the whole process of developing this new edition superbly

She has cajoled and supported me at just the right level Her advice has been first classthroughout

For this updated 2nd edition I have been very fortunate to work with David Cox atPearson Education Through many personal and professional changes, David hasbeen very patient, kind and helpful His advice has always been first class, and givenwith great humour and very incisive guidance I could not have asked for better sup-port I would also like to thank Thomas Sigel for championing the development ofthis text and for his continual support in so many ways

At Pearson Education the book has also come together with the help of KarenMclaren, Senior Desk Editor; Michelle Morgan, who designed the cover; Kelly Meyer,who helped with the internal design; and Peter Hooper, Editorial Assistant

Last but by no means least, to be able to find the time and space to write, the love,support and understanding of your family is vital So thank you so much, mum, for allthat you have given to me, and to my nephew James, sorry for confusing you in yourschool and college projects that involved questionnaire design To my partner Helen,huge amounts of thanks and love for all you put up with in giving me the space andpeace to write and even bigger thanks for bringing our beautiful son Jesse into the world

David F Birks

1

G U I D E D T O U R O F T H E B O O K

Measurement and scaling:

fundamentals, comparative and non-comparative scaling

12

C H A P T E R

‘When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers, you know something about it’ – Lord Kelvin

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

how scaling may be considered an extension of measurement;

nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales;

non-comparative and describe the non-comparative techniques of paired comparison, rank order, constant sum and Q-sort scaling;

could be employed to measure consumer response to advertising;

between continuous and itemised rating scales, and explain Likert, semantic differential and Stapel scales;

scales;

assess reliability, validity and generalisability;

scales of measurement in an international setting;

measurement.

Objectives

Stage 1 Problem definition

Stage 2 Research approach developed Stage 3 Research design developed

Stage 5 Data preparation and analysis Stage 6 Report preparation and presentation

Stage 4 Fieldwork or data collection

Overview Once the marketing researcher has a clear understanding of what they wish to under- measurement These concepts are vital in developing questionnaires or ‘instruments This chapter describes the concepts of scaling and measurement and discusses four illustrate both comparative and non-comparative scaling techniques in detail The and Q-sort scaling, are discussed and illustrated with examples The non-comparative illustrate the popular itemised rating scales – the Likert, semantic differential and scaling techniques should be evaluated in terms of reliability and validity and con- scales are also presented The considerations involved in implementing scaling tech- with a discussion of several ethical issues that arise in scale construction We begin powers of analysis and interpretation.

Overview

291

Will your instrument

of measurement do any better in revealing for soups?

Stage flowcharts

show which of the six

stages of the

marketing research

process the present

chapter fits into

reading the chapter

An Overview summarises the topics discussed in the chapter

Photographs encapsulate the essence

of the subject in a creative way

edge bars’ This context could have helped the target respondents to relax, to develop a issues and express their feelings more clearly If the interviews were conducted over were targeted at older respondents, they may have felt very self-conscious in ‘leading- characteristics of respondents, how they react to particular issues and how they react which acts as a reminder of the understanding of respondents that researchers must develop, in order to choose and apply the best research technique.

Research design classification Research designs may be broadly classified as exploratory or conclusive (see Figure 3.3) The differences between exploratory researchand conclusive researchare sum- marised in Table 3.1.

Chapter 3 • Research design

62

Context or environment where respondent is questioned

Nature of issue under investigation,

as perceived by respondent

Nature of respondent

Figure 3.2

Understanding respondents – to help choose optimum research techniques

Multiple cross-sectional Single cross-sectional

Longitudinal design Cross-sectional design

Causal research Descriptive research Quantitative exploration Qualitative exploration

Conclusive design Research design

Exploratory design

Figure 3.3

A classification of marketing research designs

Exploratory research

A research design characterised by a flexible and evolving approach to understand marketing phenomena that are inherently difficult to measure.

Conclusive research

A research design characterised by the measurement of clearly defined marketing phenomena.

International marketing research

249

I n t e r n a t i o n a l m a r ke t i n g r e s e a r c h

The selection of appropriate interviewing techniques is much more difficult in differences in the economic, structural, informational, technological and socio- techniques vary widely In the United States and Canada, for example, the telephone interviewing is a dominant mode of questionnaire administration The same situa- countries, however, the telephone interview gets confused with telephone sales This developing countries, the problem with the telephone is the low number of house- holds that have telephones.

for-Because of the low cost, mail interviews continue to be used in most developed countries where literacy is high and the postal system is well developed, for example and the United States In many parts of Africa, Asia and South America, however, proportion of the population living in rural areas.

The following example illustrates how CAPI technology has developed to allow consistent approaches to survey techniques across Europe It shows that, by develop- can be built that allows accurate and comparable surveys to be conducted.

The use of computer technology means that questionnaires can be scripted in one tion and transmitted electronically to other countries While the need to ensure accurate fication systems and data maps are minimised At the end of a project, data are again all markets This can then be weighted to provide information on the European market as

Selection of survey techniques

No questionnaire administration method is superior in all situations Table 10.4 data in the context of international marketing research In this table, the survey mail and electronic interviews The use of CATI, CAPI, electronic survey and mail Likewise, the use of street interviewing is contingent upon the dominance of shop- ping centres in the retailing environment.

e x a m p l e

Marginal definitions

provide a summary of

key terms highlighted

in the text and are

Chapter 4 • Secondary data collection and analysis

104

E t h i c s i n m a r ke t i n g r e s e a r c h

Possible ethical dilemmas exist when using internal or external secondary data.

Some ethical issues that are pertinent include:

■ The unnecessary collection of primary data when the problem can be addressed based on secondary data alone

■ The use of only secondary data when primary data are needed

■ The use of secondary data that are not applicable

■ The use of secondary data that have been gathered through morally questionable means

■ Compromising the anonymity of customer details held on databases.

As was discussed in Chapter 2, the unnecessary collection of expensive primary data

In this case, the researcher is using a more expensive method that is less requires primary data collection could raise ethical concerns This is particularly was not specified in advance Here again, the researcher’s profit goes up, but at the expense of the client.

appropri-The researcher is ethically obliged to ensure the relevance and usefulness of ondary data to the problem at hand The secondary data should be evaluated by the

sec-be used.

I n t e r n e t a n d c o m p u t e r a p p l i c a t i o n s

The World Wide Web as an online source of secondary data

The World Wide Web is a vital source of secondary data and intelligence for the and data collection at various stages of the research process Given the global nature researcher Searching the Web is facilitated by using generalist search engines such sites related to one subject One can go directly to the Websites of traditional suppli- have inside search engines that sort data from the supplier’s internal database.

be taken to note when Web pages have been updated It should be noted that not all particular subject or industry, but remember the costs involved in conducting qual- secondary data but it does not necessarily mean ‘free’ data See the Companion

‘How online retrieval is devaluing research’ is a reminder of the quality issues of secondary data gathered from the Internet.

➤➤➤

See Professional Perspective 9.

Summary

A questionnaire has three objectives It must translate the information needed into a respondents to complete the interview It must also minimise response error.

Designing a questionnaire is more of a craft than a science This is primarily caused

by the interrelationship of stages and the trade-offs that questionnaire designers make analyses The steps involved in the questionnaire design process involve:

1 Specifying the information needed Understanding what information

decision-makers need.

2 Specifying the type of interviewing method Understanding which means of

elic-iting the information will work best, given the research design constraints that the researcher has to work with.

3 Determining the content of individual questions Understanding the purpose of

each question and working out how a posed question may fulfil that purpose.

4 Overcoming the respondents’ inability and unwillingness to answer questions.

Understanding the process of approaching and questioning respondents – from their perspective Knowing what benefits they get from taking part in the survey process.

5 Choosing the question structure Understanding how individual questions help to

elicit information from respondents and help them to express their feelings.

6 Choosing the question wording Understanding the meaning of words from the

perspective of the respondent.

7 Arranging the questions in a proper order Understanding what ‘proper’ means

from the perspective of the respondent Recognising that, as each question is changes Information is not only drawn out of respondents, it is communicated

to them as each question is tackled.

8 Identifying the form and layout of the questionnaire Understanding how in a

self-completion scenario the form and layout motivate and help the respondent layout help the interviewer to conduct and record the interview.

9 Reproducing the questionnaire Understanding how the professional appearance

of a questionnaire affects the perceived credibility and professional ability of researchers.

10 Eliminating problems by pilot-testing Understanding that no matter how much

experience the researcher has in designing questionnaires – the issues, respondent testing is vital.

Chapter 13 • Questionnaire design

352

1 What is the purpose of the questionnaire?

2 What expectations does the marketing researcher have of potential questionnaire respondents – in terms of how they will react to the experience of completing a questionnaire?

3 What does the marketing researcher have to offer potential questionnaire dents? Why should this question be considered?

respon-4 How would you determine whether a specific question should be included in a questionnaire?

throughout the text as well

as at the end of each

chapter tackle the impact

of the Internet and IT on

marketing research

As issues emerge in individual chapters, links are made to specific articles within the Professional Perspectives section on the Companion Website

A Summary at the end of each chapter lists the main points covered

7 Explain the concepts of aided and unaided recall.

8 What can a researcher do to make the request for information seem legitimate?

9 What are the advantages and disadvantages of unstructured questions?

10 What are the issues involved in designing multiple-choice questions?

11 What are the guidelines available for deciding on question wording?

12 What is a leading question? Give an example.

13 What is the proper order for questions intended to obtain basic, classification and identification information?

14 What guidelines are available for deciding on the form and layout of a questionnaire?

15 Describe the issues involved in pilot-testing a questionnaire.

1 Dowding, P., Research, Fieldwork Supplement, July 2000, 4.

2 Abel, S., ‘Finding the elusive young through co-operative

par-ents’, ResearchPlus (February 1996).

3 The founding reference to this subject is Payne, S.L., The Art of

Asking Questions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,

1951).

4 These guidelines are drawn from several books on

question-naire design: Schuman, H and Presser, S., Questions and Sage, 1995); Sudman, S and Bradburn, N.M., Asking

Professional Mail Surveys (Malabar, FL: Robert E Krieger, Advanced Questionnaire Design (Orlando, FL: Abt Books, Design Method (New York: Wiley, 1978); Blankenship, A.B.,

construction and interview procedure’, in Selltiz, C.,

Social Relations, 3rd edn (New York: Holt, Rinehart &

Winston, 1976), 541–73.

5 Bourque, L.B and Fielder, E.P., How to Conduct

Self-Administered and Mail Surveys (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage,

by Telephone and in Person (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995).

6 Semon, T.T., ‘Asking “how important” is not enough’,

Marketing News 31(16) (4 August 1997), 19; Hague, P., ‘Good

12, Third Quarter 1987, 161–70.

7 Boyd Jr, H.W., Westfall, R and Stasch, S.E., Marketing

Research: Text and Cases, 7th edn (Homewood, IL: Irwin,

1989), 277.

8 Stapel, J., ‘Observations: a brief observation about likability

and interestingness of advertising’, Journal of Advertising tions in public opinion surveys’, Public Opinion Quarterly 46

(Spring 1982), 66–85.

9 Schneider, K.C and Johnson, J.C., ‘Link between

response-inducing strategies and uninformed response’, Marketing

Intelligence and Planning 12(1) (1994), 29–36.

10 Dutka, S and Frankel, L.R., ‘Measuring response error’,

Journal of Advertising Research 37(1) (January/February

(Westport, CT: Quotum Books, 1983), 149.

11 Menon, G., Raghubir, P and Schwarz, N., ‘Behavioural quency judgments: an accessibility-diagnosticity framework’, 212–28; Cook, W.A., ‘Telescoping and memory’s other tricks’,

fre-recall procedures in single interviews’, Public Opinion

Quarterly (Summer 1984), 520–4.

12 Hill, R.P., ‘Researching sensitive topics in marketing – the

spe-cial case of vulnerable populations’, Journal of Public Policy

and Marketing 1(1) (Spring 1995), 143–8.

13 Tourangeau, R and Smith, T.W., ‘Asking sensitive questions: the impact of data collection mode, question format, and question 275–304; Marquis, K.H., Marquis, M.S and Polich, M.J.,

of the American Statistical Association (June 1986), 381–9.

14 Peterson, R.A., ‘Asking the age question: a research note’,

Public Opinion Quarterly (Spring 1984), 379–83; Sheth, J.N.,

1980), 67–70.

Notes

Questions test the student’s understanding

of the chapter’s content

Notes are sources for further reading

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Figure 3.1 from ‘Qualitative technology – new perspectives on measurement and meaning through qualitative research’,

Market Research Society Conference, 2nd pre-conference workshop (Cooper, P and Braithwaite, A 1979); Table 6.1 from

‘Divided by a common language: diversity and deception in the world of global marketing’ in Journal of the Market Research

Society, Vol 38 No 2 (April), p 105, reproduced with the kind permission of the World Advertising Research Center

(www.warc.com), (Goodyear, M 1996); Figure 6.2 from ‘Changing the culture of a hospital: from hierarchy to network’ in

Public Administration, Vol 78 No 3, p 487, Blackwell Publishers, Inc (Bate, S.P 2000); Table 6.2 from Hussey, J and Hussey,

R., Business Research, 1997, Macmillan, reproduced with the permission of Palgrave Macmillan; Table 6.3 from Cresswell

J.W., Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, p 5, copyright © 1994, reprinted by permission of Sage

Publications, Inc.

In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of copyright material, and we would appreciate any information

that would enable us to do so.

P U B L I S H E R ’ S A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S

Dr Naresh K Malhotra is Regents’ Professor, DuPree College of Management, Georgia Institute of

Technology He is listed in Marquis Who’s Who in America, 51st Edition (1997), 52nd Edition (1998), 53rd Edition (1999), and in the National Registry of Who’s Who (1999).

In an article by Wheatley and Wilson (1987 AMA Educators’ Proceedings), Professor Malhotra was

ranked number one in the country based on articles published in the Journal of Marketing Research from

1980 to 1985 He also holds the all-time record for the most publications in the Journal of Health Care

Marketing He is ranked number one based on publications in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) from its inception through volume 23, 1995 He is also number one based on publications

in JAMS from 1986 to 1995 He is listed as one of the best researchers in marketing in John Fraedrich,

‘The best researchers in marketing’, Marketing Educator (Summer 1997), p 5.

He has published more than 75 papers in major refereed journals including the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer

Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Health Care

Marketing, and leading journals in statistics, management science and psychology In addition, he has also published numerous

refereed articles in the proceedings of major national and international conferences Several articles have received research awards.

He was Chairman, Academy of Marketing Science Foundation, 1996–1998, and was President, Academy of Marketing Science,

1994–1996, and Chairman of the Board of Governors from 1990 to 1992 He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Academy and Fellow

of the Decision Sciences Institute He serves as an Associate Editor of Decision Sciences Journal and has served as Section Editor,

Health Care Marketing Abstracts, Journal of Health Care Marketing Also, he serves on the Editorial Boards of eight journals.

His book entitled Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, Third Edition, was published by Prentice Hall, Inc An International

Edition and an Australian Edition of his book have also been published, along with a Spanish translation The book has received

widespread adoption at both the graduate and undergraduate levels with more than 100 schools using it in the United States.

Dr Malhotra has consulted for business, non-profit and government organisations in the United States and abroad and has

served as an expert witness in legal and regulatory proceedings He is the winner of numerous awards and honours for research,

teaching and service to the profession.

Dr Malhotra is a member and Deacon, First Baptist Church of Atlanta He lives in the Atlanta area with his wife, Veena,

and children, Ruth and Paul.

Dr David Frederick Birks is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the Institute for Entrepreneurship in the School of Management, University of Southampton, England He has taught marketing research and man- agement research on undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research degree programmes David’s industrial experience was gained in the construction and housing industry in England and Germany Before university lecturing he worked in purchasing, planning, marketing and research He has Masters degrees in Marketing Management and in Social Statistics and a Ph.D in Marketing Information Systems.

David has continued to practise marketing research throughout his university career, managing projects

in financial institutions, retailers, industrial organisations, local authorities and charities He has managed projects as part of the undergraduate, M.Sc., M.B.A and Ph.D degree programmes at the University of Bath He was the Head of Marketing Research on the GlobalCash Project detailed throughout this text He helped to develop

the research design, research instruments and analyses of this project This involved coordinating the demands of major

pan-European and American banks, and the research requirements of 19 business schools throughout Europe He edited and

made a major contribution to the text Global Cash Management in Europe that resulted from the combined research efforts of

colleagues in Britain, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden He has published further research from

GlobalCash with colleagues from Aarhus, Denmark In addition to his Cash Management work, David’s publications have

covered the fields of Housing, Statistics and Marketing.

David lives in the beautiful village of Vobster in the Mendip Hills of Somerset From this very English setting, he brings a

cosmopolitan background to this European edition, having an English father, German mother, French grandfather and

Belgian great-grandparents.

Michael George Hewett graduated in Fine Art at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne He is the Curator of the Angela Williams Archive of Norman Parkinson Vintage Photography Through this role, Michael has developed a great interest in fashion photography in the 1950s and 60s, particularly the

work of Norman Parkinson at Vogue The history of advertising and the role of photography in

post-war advertising are also major research interests for Michael He is currently studying the formative years of the author Mary Shelley through original documentation.

Introduction to marketing research

1

C H A P T E R

Marketing researchers support decision-makers

by collecting, analysing and interpreting information needed to identify and solve marketing problems.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

role in designing and implementing successful marketingprogrammes;

systems and decision support systems;

internal and external, full-service and limited-service suppliers;

research as well as the steps of the marketing research process;

marketing research;

international marketing research;

research and the responsibilities that marketing researchstakeholders have to themselves, each other, and to theresearch project;

to marketing researchers

Objectives

Stage 1 Problem definition

Stage 2 Research approach developed

Stage 3 Research design developed

Stage 4 Fieldwork or data collection

Stage 5 Data preparation and analysis

Stage 6 Report preparation and presentation

OverviewMarketing research comprises one of the most important and fascinating facets ofmarketing In this chapter, we describe the nature and scope of marketing research,emphasising its role of supporting marketing decision-making, and provide severalreal-life examples to illustrate the basic concepts of marketing research We give aformal definition of marketing research and subdivide marketing research into twoareas: problem identification and problem-solving research We show that marketing

research may be conducted on an ad hoc basis but is also an integral part of marketing

information systems or decision support systems Next, we provide an overview ofmarketing research suppliers and services We go through a simple six-stage lineardescription of the marketing research process This description is extended to illus-trate many of the interconnected activities in the marketing research process Thereare many successful marketing decisions that have used marketing research support;

however, marketing research does not replace decision-making The limitations ofmarketing research are established To illustrate the marketing research process, weexamine the GlobalCash study, a live pan-European marketing research project that isconducted biennially GlobalCash will be used as a running example throughout thisbook The topic of international marketing research is introduced International mar-keting research will be discussed systematically in the subsequent chapters and will betackled in a dedicated chapter The ethical aspects of marketing research and theresponsibilities that marketing research stakeholders have to themselves, to eachother, and to the research project are presented and developed in more detailthroughout the text

What does marketing research encompass?

The term ‘marketing research’ is broad in meaning; it is related to all aspects of keting decision-making The following examples provide a flavour of the variednature and applications of marketing research

Royal Ahold is a world supermarket leader In the Netherlands Ahold operates six chains with over 1,750 outlets, including the flagship Albert Heijn supermarkets Worldwide, Ahold serves

20 million customers weekly in 3,400 stores in 17 countries across the US, Central and Western Europe, Latin America and Asia Customer orientation is at the top of the fundamen- tal principles of the company Its credo is that the customer comes first: ‘However big we become, however international, it is ultimately the customer who determines our success’

The following summarises the ways that Royal Ahold ‘listens’ to its customers to maintain its customer orientation and continued success:

■ Produce economic analyses and forecasts They do this by gathering secondary data and intelligence that give them an understanding of retail developments, competitive threats and market changes.

■ Use and contribute to audit data from A.C Nielsen to obtain global data about ments in their markets.

develop-■ See their stores as a major ‘market research laboratory’ to study customers They know when they come in, how often and what they buy Fundamental to these observations is the use of scanner systems and loyalty cards.

■ Use focus groups as a major source of information about how customers and customers feel They insist that management teams watch and listen to these discussions.

non-e x a m p l non-e

■ Use observation approaches to watch how customers behave in store, using protocol tapes (where people think aloud about the purchases they are making).

■ Select some researchers to supply raw data, where Ahold perform their own analyses and interpretations, whilst in other projects they use specialised strategic input from researchers to provide added value.

■ Share their best practices and know-how They have an electronic market research form where researchers discuss their projects and any problems they have For example, if

plat-a successful plat-approplat-ach hplat-as been used in the Netherlplat-ands, they cplat-an consider using it in the US.

■ Circulate a digest to their Corporate Executive Board and management teams all over the

world Market Research Findings is issued twice a year, giving details of important papers,

articles and reports on retail research from inside or outside the Ahold company.

Bert L J van der Herberg, Vice-President Market Research, summarises the role of market researchers at Royal Ahold:

‘Researchers are backroom consultants I see the market researcher as a philosopher who can take a critical view of the internal and external world The researcher can act as “the serious fool” to the court The Board takes on our ideas and our language, but the market researcher is not the spokesman for the company They are listeners and interpreters.’ ■

The Internet has the potential to fulfil advertising objectives beyond a direct response to a banner advertisement It has the potential to generate awareness and to build brands For media planners, it is very important to gain as much knowledge as possible of the effect of Internet advertising in a media plan In order to understand these effects, OMD Denmark and A.C Nielsen online initiated an Internet survey entitled ‘Banner Advertising Survey 2000’ The

survey was carried out on 16 major Danish Websites The importance of the Websites involved can be emphasised by the fact that 80% of Danes with Internet access from their home visit at least one of the sites on a monthly basis Fourteen banners for a total of 14 dif- ferent brands were tested In total, 23,823 respondents participated in the survey The approach to the study was based on a classic causal research design involving a test group and a control group The groups were differentiated only by one known factor – one banner impression – with the purpose of examining whether an effect could be measured The results

of the survey showed that as well as generating direct responses, banner adverts build brand awareness The vast majority of respondents saw the banners without clicking through to the Website, giving the banner great potential as a broad tool of communication ■

Today’s youth live in a fast-changing world, and their attitudes, behaviour and exposure to the media and to brands differ from those of their predecessors of just a few years ago A major qualitative research study, interviewing more than 500 young people across 16 countries, has been conducted Four workshops of seven to nine participants were held in each capital city, each lasting up to five hours The countries covered were Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK The target of the research was ‘trend-setters’, that is young opinion leaders and leading-edge youth aged 15–19 years, those who decide what is

‘in’, the early adopters and disseminators of opinions and tastes Participants were given posable cameras to take photographs ahead of the groups; these were used, with other materials, to create collages illustrating what makes them ‘happy’ or ‘sad’, and what it means

dis-to be young and living in their country A self-completion questionnaire provided data on favourite pastimes, music and media stars, sports teams and so on, and ‘awareness’, ‘usage’

and ‘preferences’ of brands.

On clothing, for example, valuable insight was gained on the rationale behind both tional desires and actual behaviour Male participants aspired to the most obviously status-giving brands, the opulent and clearly expensive (Versace, Armani), reflecting their

aspira-What does marketing research encompass?

e x a m p l e

e x a m p l e

desire to buy into a world of success, money and power that everyone (they feel) would appreciate Female participants, however, were far more interested in standing out from the crowd They were attracted to the non-mainstream brands which also came with their own strong set of values (e.g Mambo, Stussy), as well as the more expensive (e.g Prada and Gucci) What was especially interesting to the researchers was the way that these girls wore brands, mixing and matching, personalising their outfits As both the boys and girls matured and their repertoire of brands and their financial status grew, they were more inclined to temper their ‘ideals’ They moved towards the more High Street designer brands of Diesel, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and DKNY and ‘older’ stores such as Next and Gap ■

The previous examples illustrate only a few of the methods used to conduct keting research, which may range from highly structured surveys with large samples

mar-to in-depth interviews with small samples; from the collection and analysis of readilyavailable data to the generation of ‘new’ data; from direct interaction with consumers

to the distant observation of consumers This book will introduce you to the fullcomplement of marketing research techniques These examples also illustrate the cru-cial role played by marketing research in designing and implementing successful

light of the basic marketing paradigm depicted in Figure 1.1

The emphasis in marketing, as illustrated in the Royal Ahold example above, is onthe identification and satisfaction of customer needs To determine customer needsand to implement marketing strategies and plans aimed at satisfying those needs,marketing managers need information about customers, competitors and other forces

in the marketplace In recent years, many factors have increased the need for moreand better information As firms have become national and international in scope, theneed for information on larger, and more distant, markets has increased As con-sumers have become more affluent, discerning and sophisticated, marketingmanagers need better information on how they will respond to products and othermarketing offerings As competition has become more intense, managers need infor-mation on the effectiveness of their marketing tools As the environment is changing

Marketers make decisions about what they see as potential opportunities and lems, i.e a process of identifying issues They go on to devise the most effective ways

prob-to realise these opportunities and overcome problems, i.e a process of solving theissues they have identified They do this based on a ‘vision’ of the distinct characteris-tics of the target markets and customer groups From this ‘vision’ they develop,

Marketing managers

Exchange of values

Controllable marketing variables

• Product • Pricing • Promotion • Distribution

Time

Marketing research support:

• The nature and scope of target markets

• The forces that shape the marketing system

• Evaluate marketing mix variables

• Evaluate successes and failures of marketing decisions

Macroenvironmental factors

• Economy

• Technology

• Competitors

• Legal & political

• Social & demographic

The role of marketing

research within the

marketing system

implement and control marketing programmes This ‘vision’ of markets and quent marketing decisions may be complicated by the interactive effects of an array ofenvironmental forces that shape the nature and scope of target markets These forcesalso affect the marketers’ ability to satisfy their chosen target markets.

subse-Within this framework of decision-making, marketing research helps the ing manager link the marketing variables with their environment and customergroups It helps remove some of the uncertainty by providing relevant informationabout marketing variables, environment and consumers

market-The role of the marketing researcher in supporting the marketing decision-makercan therefore be summarised as helping to:

customer groups

Traditionally, marketing researchers were responsible for assessing informationneeds and providing the relevant information, while marketing decisions were made

by the managers These roles are changing, however, and marketing researchers arebecoming more involved in decision-making; conversely, marketing managers arebecoming more involved with research This trend can be attributed to better training

of marketing managers and advances in technology There has also been a shift in themarketing research paradigm, where increasingly marketing research is being under-taken on an ongoing basis rather than in response to specific marketing problems or

This crucial role of marketing research is recognised in its definition

What does marketing research encompass?

The marketing

researcher may have

to support

decision-makers as they reflect

upon their failures.

Definition of marketing researchThe European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR) definition ofmarketing research is given below For the purpose of this book, which emphasisesthe need for information in the support of decision-making, marketing research isdefined as follows:

Marketing researchis a key element within the total field of marketing information It links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information which is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; to generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions; and to improve understanding of marketing as a process and of the ways in which specific marketing activities can be made more effective.

Several aspects of this definition are noteworthy First, it is worth noting the term

‘total field of information’ This recognises that marketing decisions are not sively supported by marketing research There are other means of informationsupport for marketers that are now competing with a ‘traditional’ view of marketingresearch For many years, marketing researchers have recognised the competition theyface from an array of management consultants, who hope to add value to the data

addi-tional competition has emerged from raw data providers such as call centres, direct

may not be administered with the same scientific rigour and/or ethical standardsapplied in the marketing research industry Nonetheless, many marketers use theseother sources Marketing research students should be aware of these other sourcesand appreciate their strengths and weaknesses Second, it reinforces the notion ofbasing marketing decisions upon a strong understanding of target customers Itstresses the role of ‘linking’ the marketer to the consumer, customer and public tohelp improve the whole process of marketing decision-making

ESOMAR further qualifies its definition of marketing research by stating:

Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues [of

link-ing the consumer, customer and public to the marketer]; designs the method for

collecting information; manages and implements the data collection process; analyses the results; and communicates the findings and their implications.

The above qualification of the definition of marketing research encapsulates the

marketing research process The process is founded upon an understanding ofthe marketing decision(s) needing support From this understanding, research aimsand objectives are defined To fulfil defined aims and objectives, an approach to con-ducting the research is established Next, relevant information sources are identifiedand a range of data collection methods are evaluated for their appropriateness, form-ing a research design The data are collected using the most appropriate method; theyare analysed and interpreted, and inferences are drawn Finally, the findings, implica-tions and recommendations are provided in a format that allows the information to

be used for marketing decision-making and to be acted upon directly

Marketing research should aim to be objective It attempts to provide accurateinformation that reflects a true state of affairs It should be conducted impartially

Although research is always influenced by the researcher’s research philosophy, itshould be free from the personal or political biases of the researcher or the manage-ment Research motivated by personal or political gain involves a breach ofprofessional standards Such research is deliberately biased to result in predeterminedfindings The motto of every researcher should be ‘Find it and tell it like it is’

Marketing research

process

A set of six steps which define

the tasks to be accomplished

in conducting a marketing

research study These include

problem definition, developing

an approach to the problem,

research design formulation,

fieldwork, data preparation

and analysis, and report

generation and presentation.

Marketing research

A key element within the total

field of marketing information.

It links the consumer,

customer and public to the

marketer through information

which is used to identify and

define marketing opportunities

and problems; to generate,

refine and evaluate marketing

actions; and to improve

understanding of marketing as

a process and of the ways in

which specific marketing

activities can be made more

effective.

ESOMAR’s view of the distinctive contribution of marketing research

ESOMAR distinguishes marketing research from other competitive forms of datagathering, through the issue of the anonymity of respondents It stresses that in mar-keting research the identity of the provider of information is not disclosed It makes aclear distinction between marketing research and database marketing where thenames and addresses of the people contacted are to be used for individual selling,promotional, fund-raising or other non-research purposes These issues will beexplored more fully in the ‘Ethics in marketing research’ section in this chapter Thedistinction between marketing research and the database as a research tool is not soclear There is a growing amount of support given to marketing decision-makers fromdatabase analyses that are not ‘respondent specific’ It is possible to perform databaseanalyses with the same level of professional standards as is applied in the marketingresearch industry

There are many instances where database analyses can add clarity and focus tomarketing research activities For example, since the start of 1995 the highly respectedmarketing research agency, Taylor Nelson AGB, has been building the EuropeanToiletries & Cosmetics Database (ETCD) Some 14,000 usage diaries of personal careproducts are collected each year, across Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain

Given the huge impact that database analyses are having upon marketing making, these issues will be developed more fully in Chapter 5 In the meantime, themaxim stated by ESOMAR of preserving the anonymity of respondents is vital for thecontinuing support of respondents and the ultimate health of the marketing researchindustry

decision-A classification of marketing researchThe ESOMAR definition encapsulates two key reasons for undertaking marketingresearch: (1) to identify opportunities and problems, and (2) to generate and refinemarketing actions This distinction serves as a basis for classifying marketing researchinto problem identification research and problem-solving research, as shown inFigure 1.2

Problem identification researchis undertaken to help identify problems that are,perhaps, not apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future

Examples of problem identification research include market potential, market share,

A classification of marketing research

Marketing research

Problem identification research

solving research

Problem-Examples:

• market potential research

• market share research

• image research

• market characteristics research

• sales analysis research

help identify problems that

are not necessarily apparent

on the surface, yet exist or

are likely to arise in the

future.

brand or company image, market characteristics, sales analysis, short-range ing, long-range forecasting and business trends research Research of this typeprovides information about the marketing environment and helps diagnose a prob-lem For example, a declining market potential indicates that the firm is likely to have

forecast-a problem forecast-achieving its growth tforecast-argets Similforecast-arly, forecast-a problem exists if the mforecast-arketpotential is increasing but the firm is losing market share The recognition of eco-nomic, social or cultural trends, such as changes in consumer behaviour, may point tounderlying problems or opportunities

The proliferation of new brands in Europe’s booming beer market could result in shorter uct lifecycles and, ultimately, destroy brand loyalty The report ‘Western European Beer’

prod-reveals that the industry is in danger of an overspill of brands, with the number of brands available exceeding demand As a result, consumers are likely to fall back on ‘tried and tested brands’, normally owned by large manufacturers, at the expense of lesser known brands, which are likely to fall by the wayside In Western Europe, there is an average per head con- sumption of 84 litres per year, the highest level in the world ■

The above research presents either a problem or an opportunity for beer turers, depending largely upon whether your brand is ‘tried and tested’ or not Theresearch could be classified as ‘business trends research’ or even ‘market potentialresearch’ It could be followed by individual beer manufacturers conducting their own

manufac-‘image research’ to reveal the extent to which their brand(s) are perceived as being

‘tried and tested’

may be undertaken to help develop a solution The findings of problem-solvingresearch are used to support decisions that tackle specific marketing problems

Problem-solving research is illustrated by the following example of revamping theimage of Kellogg’s Frosties

During 2000, Kellogg wanted to revamp the image of its breakfast cereal Frosties and, more particularly, brand icon Tony the tiger Tony has been around since 1956, and according to

Advertising Age magazine is one of the top ten icons of the twentieth century Kellogg wanted

to make sure that Tony was not tired and jaded but a fresh proposition to children

Their research involved a series of group discussions with 7 to 10 year olds This involved showing them different ideas and concepts, putting together different images and advertise- ments The researchers then observed the children’s reactions, to see what made them laugh and got further input, using picture-led questionnaires The research revealed that there was still a huge affection for Tony but that they wanted him to be a bit sharper and witty while retaining his fun character The findings also pointed to a repositioning for Tony, away from his traditional sports coach image to that of an action hero ■

The Frosties example illustrates the refinement of marketing actions With a brandthat has been so successful for many years, Kellogg had to be extremely careful inmaking changes to the image of Tony The example illustrates promotions researchsupporting decisions on advertising copy This example is clearly one of problem-solving research A problem-solving perspective enabled management to focus on thepromotions development of Frosties Table 1.1 shows the different types of issues thatcan be addressed using problem-solving research

Problem identification research and problem-solving research go hand-in-hand,however, and a given marketing research project may combine both types of research A

e x a m p l e

e x a m p l e

Problem-solving research

Research undertaken to help

solve specific marketing

problems.

marketing research project for a European beer manufacturer that sees its market sharediminish may determine through image research that its brand is perceived in a mostpositive manner This may indicate that the brand be extended into other types of beer

or even into clothes and fashion accessories! Appropriate target markets may be selected,with detailed profiles of potential customers and an associated media and productimage These decisions can clearly be supported with problem-solving research

The role of marketing research in MkIS and DSSInformation obtained through the process of marketing research and from sourcessuch as internal records stored on databases and marketing intelligence becomes an

infor-mation system (MkIS)is a formalised set of procedures for generating, analysing,storing and distributing pertinent information to marketing decision-makers on anongoing basis At face value, it may seem that the definition of a MkIS is similar tothat of marketing research The difference lies in the MkIS providing information on

a continuous basis, guided by a marketing plan Marketing research forms a

compo-nent of the MkIS, providing primarily ad hoc studies that focus upon new and

problematic issues faced by decision-makers The design of the MkIS takes a muchbroader view of the support for decision-makers The MkIS focuses upon each mar-keting decision-maker’s responsibilities, information needs and decision style TheMkIS is designed around information gathered from a variety of sources, such as

The role of marketing research in MkIS and DSS

Marketing information

system (MkIS)

A formalised set of

procedures for generating,

analysing, sorting and

distributing pertinent

information to marketing

decision-makers on an

ongoing basis.

Segmentation research Determine basis of segmentation

Establish market potential and responsiveness for various segments Select target markets and create lifestyle profiles: demography, media, and product image characteristics

Product research Test concept

Determine optimal product design Package tests

Product modification Brand positioning and repositioning Test marketing

Pricing research Importance of price in brand selection

Pricing policies Product line pricing Price elasticity of demand Initiating and responding to price changes

Promotions research Optimal promotional budget

Optimal promotion mix Copy decisions Creative advertising testing Evaluation of advertising effectiveness

Distribution research Attitudes of channel members

Intensity of wholesale and retail coverage Channel margins

Retail and wholesale locations

customer analyses from invoices and competitor intelligence reported by sales nel The continuously gathered information is combined and presented in a formatthat can be readily used in decision-making More information can be obtained from

person-an MkIS thperson-an from ad hoc marketing research projects However, person-an MkIS may be

limited in the nature of information it provides and the manner in which the mation is structured, and cannot easily be manipulated

infor-Developed to overcome the limitations of the MkIS, decision support systems(DSS) enable marketing decision-makers to interact directly with databases and

system, including hardware, communications network, database, model base, softwarebase and the marketing decision-maker, that collects and interprets information fordecision-making Marketing research contributes research data to the database, mar-keting models and analytical techniques to the model base, and specialised programsfor analysing marketing data to the software base DSSs differ from MkISs in various

with the traditional access and retrieval functions of an MkIS They are easier to use

in an interactive mode and can be adapted as changes in the marketing system occur,

as well as to the decision-making approach of the user In addition to improving ciency, a DSS can also enhance decision-making effectiveness by using ‘what if ’analyses, allowing the creativity of the marketing decision-maker to be reflected in thesearch and connection between different internal and external data sources An exam-ple of a DSS is the use of geodemographic information systems, which will be covered

effi-in more detail effi-in Chapter 5 but is illustrated effi-in the followeffi-ing example

There are two important geographic features of the Spanish banking market: the tion of the population in cities and the large number of bank branches Forty-two per cent of the population is concentrated in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants In these cities,

concentra-a DSS in the form of concentra-a geodemogrconcentra-aphic informconcentra-ation system (GIS) (which combines customer data with the geographic data on a map of a city) is very useful to define customer distribu- tion areas based on their banking behaviour.

Banco Central Hispanoamericano have designed a model within their GIS which allows them

to assign customers to branches, maximising the number of customers assigned to each branch while minimising the distance they have to travel To do this, the system considers the maximum distance (by street) that a customer is capable of travelling to go to a branch, the maximum number of branches along which to distribute the customers, the total number of branches to analyse, and the maximum distance over which to carry out the analysis.

The system also allows the bank to select new locations for automated teller machines (ATMs) in an ‘intelligent’ way When opening a new ATM, it is possible to select customers of the Bank who use the machines of competitor banks close by and who also live in its area of influence This facilitates promotions activities, targeted at customers with the greatest likeli- hood of using the new service ■

As shown by the experience of Banco Central Hispanoamericano, a DSS cangreatly enhance the support given to marketing decision-makers To make an MkIS or

a DSS work properly, the data used in the systems have to be accurate and totally

Decision support system

(DSS)

An information system that

enables decision-makers to

interact directly with both

databases and analysis

models The important

components of a DSS include

hardware and a

communication network,

database, model base,

software base and the DSS

user (decision-maker).

• structured problems

• reports ‘fed’ to decision-makers

• rigid structure

• information display restricted

• combines quantitative and qualitative data

dependable To generate accurate data, management relies upon well-devised internaldata systems and on the generation of external data through marketing research sup-pliers and services.

Marketing research suppliers and servicesMarketing research suppliers provide most of the information needed for makingmarketing decisions Figure 1.4 classifies marketing research suppliers and services

inter-nal supplieris a marketing research department or function located within a firm

Many firms, particularly large ones, maintain in-house marketing research ments A marketing research department’s place in an organisation structure mayvary quite considerably At one extreme, the research function may be centralised andlocated at the corporate headquarters, allowing the development of a range of skillsand expertise to be built up in a team At the other extreme is a decentralised struc-ture in which the marketing research function is organised along divisional lines,allowing specific and focused expertise to be developed but without the breadth ofexperience that may lie in a centralised team In a decentralised scheme, the companymay be organised into divisions by products, customers or geographical regions, withmarketing research personnel assigned to the various divisions These personnel gen-erally report to a division manager rather than to a corporate-level executive Inaddition, between these two extremes is a variety of types of organisation Even if afirm has its own marketing research specialists, it may still turn to external suppliers

depart-to perform specific marketing research tasks

External suppliers are outside firms hired to supply marketing research data

These external suppliers collectively comprise the marketing research industry Thesesuppliers range from small (one or a few persons) operations to very large global cor-porations Table 1.2 lists the top 12 marketing research suppliers in the world Table1.3 lists the spending on marketing research in different countries; the growth inspend and population sizes are shown to indicate the relative importance of theindustry to the economy One country of note in Table 1.3 is Hungary, whose devel-oping economy is supported by a high growth and dynamic marketing research

Marketing research suppliers and services

Outside marketing research

companies hired to supply

marketing research services.

Analytical services

Coding and data entry services

Field services

Data analysis services

Branded products services

Standardised services

Customised services

Internet services

Figure 1.4

Marketing research

suppliers

industry Below Table 1.3 is an example which explains the role of marketing research

in Hungary’s development in more detail Table 1.4 lists where marketing researchmonies are spent worldwide through external suppliers External suppliers can beclassified as full-service or limited-service suppliers

Company Global research Countries Head office Number of Percentage of

revenues with offices location full-time revenues from (euro m) employees outside

home country

Country Turnover Percentage growth Advertising spend Population in

(euro m) in local currencies (euro m) millions

compared with 1999 (adjusted for inflation)

Full-service suppliersoffer the entire range of marketing research services, forexample defining a problem, developing a research design, conducting focus groupinterviews, designing questionnaires, sampling, collecting, analysing and interpretingdata, and presenting reports They may also address the marketing implications of theinformation they present The services provided by these suppliers can be furtherbroken down into syndicated services, standardised services and customised services(see Figure 1.4).

Syndicated servicescollect information that they provide to subscribers Surveys,diary panels, scanners and audits are the main means by which these data are collected

Standardised servicesare research studies conducted for different clients but in astandard way For example, procedures for measuring advertising effectiveness havebeen standardised so that the results can be compared across studies and evaluativenorms can be established

Customised servicesoffer a variety of marketing research services specificallydesigned to suit a client’s particular needs Each marketing research project is treateduniquely

Internet servicesoffer a combination or variety of secondary data and intelligencegathering, survey or qualitative interviewing, and the analysis and publication ofresearch findings, all through the Internet

Limited-service suppliersspecialise in one or a few phases of a marketing researchproject Services offered by such suppliers are classified as field services, coding anddata entry, analytical services, data analysis, and branded products

Marketing and opinion research is a fast-growing industry in an emerging market such as Hungary, and shows more dynamic growth than the economy itself Ten years ago, marketing research was a small sector and its contribution to the decision-making process in business and society was not very well known in Hungary Basic market research did exist in some state-owned organisations, but few people were knowledgeable about the key research meth- ods – quantitative research, qualitative research, focus groups, or what they meant.

Contrast this with the situation today where the turnover of the Hungarian research try reached about 30 million US dollars in 2000, according to ESOMAR’s latest global market research study Following a period of dynamic growth, the sector grew by 20% in 2000 (17%

indus-adjusted for inflation) over the previous year The research industry in Hungary employs around 5,000 people of whom 4,000 are interviewers and 1,000 are researchers, data processors and support staff The market research industry in Hungary is young with all the advantages and potential of a young sector It is dynamic, talented, is open for new things and learning fast ■

Marketing research suppliers and services

Full-service suppliers

Companies that offer the full

range of marketing research

activities.

Syndicated services

Companies that collect and

sell common pools of data

designed to serve information

needs shared by a number of

Companies that specialise in

one or a few phases of a

marketing research project.

Internet services

Companies which specialise

in the use of the Internet to

collect, analyse and distribute

marketing research

information.

Customised services

Companies that tailor

research procedures to best

meet the needs of each

* Excludes in-house research by marketing departments, advertising agencies, governmental and academic institutions.

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Field servicescollect data through mail, personal interviews or telephone views, and firms that specialise in interviewing are called field service organisations.

inter-These organisations may range from small proprietary organisations that operatelocally to large multinationals Some organisations maintain extensive interviewingfacilities across the country for interviewing shoppers Many offer qualitative data col-lection services such as focus group interviewing (discussed in detail in Chapter 7)

Coding and data entry servicesinclude editing completed questionnaires, oping a coding scheme, and transcribing the data on to diskettes or magnetic tapesfor input into a computer

devel-Analytical servicesinclude designing and pretesting questionnaires, determiningthe best means of collecting data, and designing sampling plans, as well as otheraspects of the research design Some complex marketing research projects requireknowledge of sophisticated procedures, including specialised experimental designs(discussed in Chapter 10) and analytical techniques such as conjoint analysis andmultidimensional scaling (discussed in Chapter 24) This kind of expertise can beobtained from firms and consultants specialising in analytical services

Data analysis servicesare offered by firms, also known as tab houses, that cialise in computer analysis of quantitative data such as those obtained in largesurveys Initially, most data analysis firms supplied only tabulations (frequencycounts) and cross-tabulations (frequency counts that describe two or more variablessimultaneously) Now, many firms offer sophisticated data analysis using advancedstatistical techniques With the proliferation of microcomputers and software, manyfirms now have the capability to analyse their own data, but data analysis firms arestill in demand

spe-Branded marketing research productsand services are specialised data collectionand analysis procedures developed to address specific types of marketing researchproblems These procedures may be patented, given brand names, and marketed like

any other branded product Microscope by Retail Marketing (In-Store) Services is an

example of a branded product It is a test marketing package for new product opment that supplies cost-effective measurements of new product performance

devel-The marketing research processThe marketing research process consists of six broad stages Each of these stages isdiscussed in detail in subsequent chapters; thus, the discussion here is brief Theprocess illustrated in Figure 1.5 is of a simple linear nature Figure 1.6 takes theprocess a stage further to show the many iterations and connections between stages

This section will explain the stages and illustrate the connections between the stages

Step 1: Problem definition The logical starting point in wishing to support thedecision-maker is trying to understand what marketing problem is being tackled

Marketing problems are not simple ‘givens’, as will be discussed in Chapter 2, and thesymptoms and causes of a problem are not as neatly presented as they may be in acase-study such as those found in marketing texts In Figure 1.6, the first three stages

show the iterations between environmental context of the problem, management decision

problem and marketing research problem Understanding the environmental context of

the problem has distinct stages that will be discussed in Chapter 2 It involves sion with decision-makers, in-depth interviews with industry experts, and thecollection and analysis of readily available published information (from both insideand outside the firm) Once the problem has been precisely defined, the researcher canmove on to designing and conducting the research process with confidence

discus-Coding and data entry

services

Companies whose primary

service offering is their

expertise in converting

completed surveys or

interviews into a usable

database for conducting

statistical analysis.

Field services

Companies whose primary

service offering is their

expertise in collecting data for

research projects.

Analytical services

Companies that provide

guidance in the development

of research design.

Branded marketing

research products

Specialised data collection

and analysis procedures

developed to address specific

types of marketing research

problems.

Data analysis services

Firms whose primary service is

to conduct statistical analysis

of quantitative data.

Step 2: Development of an approach to the problem.The development of anapproach to the problem involves identifying factors that go on to influence researchdesign A key element of this stage involves the selection, adaptation and development

of an appropriate theoretical framework Understanding the interrelated tics of the nature of target respondents, the issues to be elicited from them and thecontext in which this will happen rely upon ‘sound’ theory ‘Sound’ theory helps theresearcher to decide ‘what should be measured or understood’ and ‘how best toencapsulate and communicate the measurements or understandings’ In decidingwhat should be either measured or encapsulated, the researcher also develops a broadappreciation of how the data they collect will be analysed The issues involved indeveloping an approach are tackled in more detail in Chapter 2

blue-print for conducting a marketing research project It details the procedures necessaryfor obtaining the required information Its purpose is to establish a study design thatwill either test the hypotheses of interest and/or determine possible answers to setresearch questions, and ultimately provide the information needed for decision-making Conducting any exploratory techniques, precisely defining variables to bemeasured, and designing appropriate scales to measure variables can also be part ofthe research design The issue of how the data should be obtained from the respon-dents (for example, by conducting a survey or an experiment) must be addressed

These steps are discussed in detail in Chapters 3 to 13

Step 4: Fieldwork or data collection In Figure 1.5, this stage could be simplified

to ‘collecting the required data’ In Figure 1.6, a whole array of relationships between

stages of data collection is shown, starting at Secondary data collection and analysis through to Quantitative research or Qualitative research The process starts with a

more thorough collection and analysis of secondary data sources Secondary data aredata collected for some other purpose than the problem at hand They may be heldwithin the organisation such as databases that detail the nature and frequency ofcustomer purchases, through to surveys that may have been completed some time ago

The marketing research process