MANAGING MARKETING INFORMATION

MANAGING MARKETING INFORMATIONMarketing Research — The systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to marketing information to help reduce uncertainty when ma

5-1 MANAGING MARKETING INFORMATION

Marketing Research — The systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to marketing information to help reduce uncertainty when making marketing decisions.

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

CHUNG-ANG UNIVERSITY PROF HYUNSUK SUH

The objectives of the current chapter are listed below.

Objectives

Understand the definition of a marketing information system

Understand the basics of marketing research

Understand the various methods of collecting and analyzing research

information

0 Objectives

What is “Marketing Information and Research”?

Marketing Information and Research

 Marketing Information Systems: People, equipment, and procedures to Marketing Information Systems

gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate

information to marketing decision makers.

 Marketing Research: The systematic design, collection, analysis, and Marketing Research

reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an

Kotler and Armstrong, 2012, 2014

1 Marketing Information System

The examples of the sources of primary and secondary data are illustrated in the

following diagram.

Primary and Secondary Data Sources

1 Marketing Information System

What is “Marketing Research ”?

Marketing Research

2 Marketing Research

The systematic and objective process of generating information to aid in

making marketing decisions.

Zikmund, 2003

It is the process of designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting information

that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem.

Burns and Bush, 2003, 2007

The systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis,

dissemination, and use of information for the purpose of assisting

management in decision making related to the identification and solution of

problems in marketing

Malhotra, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013

What is “Marketing Research ”?

Marketing Research Definitions

 Marketing research is a function that links the customer to the marketer

through information - information used to identify and define marketing

opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions, monitor marketing performance, and improve understanding of marketing

as a process

Churchill and Brown, 2007, 2010

2 Marketing Research

The Theory and Data Relationship

THEORY

DATA

Inductive Reasoning

Deductive Reasoning Ideas: What we think

Reality: What we observe

Empirical

The deductive and inductive reasoning logically connect theory and the data, the

evidences found in material world.

2 Marketing Research

Three different types of research design are described below.

Research design in which the major emphasis is on gaining ideas and insights; it is particularly helpful in breaking broad, vague problem statements into smaller, more precise sub-problem statements.

EXPLORTORY

RESEARCH

A type of conclusive research that has as its major objective the description of something; It is either the frequency of occurring something or relationship between variables – usually market characteristics or functions.

DESCRIPTIVE

RESEARCH

A type of conclusive research where the major objective or emphasis is on determining cause-and-effect (causal) relationship one variable has an impact upon another The terms “independent” and “dependent” variables are often employed

The characteristics and examples of different marketing research designs are shown below.

Types of Research Design – Characteristics and Examples

 Description of characteristics

of a population or phenomenon

 It seeks to determine the

answers to WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, and HOW questions

 Based on previous

understanding of the nature of the problem

 Identify cause-and-effect

relationships among variables

 The management change one

variable and then observe the effect on another variable

Ambiguous Problem Aware of Problem Problem Defined

 Our sales are declining and we

do not know why?

 Would people be interested in our new-product idea?

 What kind of people are buying our product? Who buys our competitors’ product?

 What features do buyers prefer

-Becomes familiar with the basic facts,

people, and concerns

-Generate many ideas and develop

tentative theories and conjectures

-Determine the feasibility of doing

additional research

-Formulate questions and refine

issues for more systematic inquiry

Review of the concepts.

Exploratory vs Descriptive vs Causal Research Concept

Review

-Provide an accurate profile of a group

-Describe a process, mechanism, or relationship

-Find information to stimulate new explanations

-Create a set of categories or classify types

-Provide a verbal or numerical picture

-Determine the accuracy of a principles or theory

-Find out which competing explanation is better

-Link different issues or topics under a common general statement

-Build and elaborate a theory so it becomes more complete

-Provide evidence to support or refute an explanation or prediction

-Extend a theory or principles into new areas or issues

2 Marketing Research

The Causal Relationship

 Independent  Dependent

What’s the meaning of this?

To say something causes something else is NOT

to suggest the dependent variable (the effect) is

totally influenced by the independent variable

Cause:

It means the variation in the dependent variable is

affected by variation in the independent variable

The primary objective of quantitative research put heavy focus on the demonstration

of “causality’ between the two variables.

Pitfalls

1 Mutual Relationship

The methods for collecting marketing research data are illustrated below.

Experiment

Research Methods

3 Data Collection Methods

The observation is being defined by the following marketing research gurus

The systematic activities of witnessing and recording the behavioral patterns of

objects, people, and events without directly communicating with them

Hair, 2006, 2010 The nonverbal observation is the most prevalent activity which includes

recording physical actions or movements of participants

Cooper, 2006

“We noticed people scraping the toppings off our pizza crusts We thought at

first there was something wrong, but they said, ‘We love it, we just don’t eat the

Observation is defined below.

Observation

The systematic process of recording the behavioral patterns of people, objects, and occurrences without questioning or communicating with them

OBSERVATION

3 Data Collection Methods-Observation

The problem has been defined precisely enough so that the behaviors that will be observed can be specified beforehand and so as to the methods they use.

Structured

The problem has not been specifically defined, so a great deal of flexibility is allowed the observers in terms of what they note and record

Unstructured

Structured vs Unstructured Observation

Researchers must precisely decide which behaviors are to

be observed and which specific categories and units will be used to record the observation

The distinction between ‘Structured’ and ‘Unstructured” observation is well described

in the following examples.

Example: Structured vs Unstructured Observation

Type A

The purchaser first paused in front of the Namyang milk He glanced at the price on the shelf,

picked up the milk, glanced at its design and list of ingredients, and set it back down He then

checked the label and price of Maeil milk He set that back down and after a slight pause,

picked up a different flavor milk of Namyang, a chocolate milk He placed it in his cart, and

moved down the aisle.

Think about the following issues.

Discussion Questions: Observation

1 Suppose you were asked to design appropriate communication method to find out students’ feeling and opinions about the various food services available on Chung Ang University

campus What degree of ‘structure’ would be appropriate? What degree of ‘disguise’ would be appropriate? What method of administration would be appropriate? Justify your answer in

terms of thinking about your decision criteria (meaning, what are some of the important

factors/criteria you must consider before you choose your method of administration?)

2 Arum is the general manager of Heuk-Suk dong Steak House It had been open for about a year The steak house has been a success so far, but Arum doesn’t yet have a grasp of exactly who her customers are The lunch customers seem to be quite different from that of the

evening meal She needs your help in designing a project to develop a better understanding of her customers

What degree of ‘structure’ would be appropriate? What degree of ‘disguise’ would be

appropriate? What method of administration would be appropriate? Justify your answer in

terms of thinking about your decision criteria

Review of the Concepts

3 Data Collection Methods-Observation

Focus group interview is conducted by a trained moderator among a small group of respondents in an unstructured and natural manner.

Focus Group

Purpose To gain insights from listening to a group of people from the appropriate target market

Group Composition Homogeneous, respondents, prescreened

Physical Setting Relaxed, informal atmosphere

Time Duration 1.5-2 hours

Recording Sessions recorded and transcibed

Moderator Observational, interpersonal, and communication skills

3 Data Collection Methods-Focus Group

An interview conducted among a small number of individuals simultaneously;

the interview relies more on group discussion than on directed questions to generate data.

FOCUS GROUP

Let’s take a look at the following problem

Cynthia Armstrong is the owner of the clothing store that caters to college students

Thorough informal conversations with her customers, she has began to suspect that a video-rental store specifically targeting college students would do quite well in the local market While her conversations with students have revealed an overall sense of

dissatisfaction with existing rental outlets, she hasn’t been able to isolate specific areas

of concern Thinking back to a marketing research course she took in school,

Armstrong decided that focus group research would be an appropriate method to gather information that might be useful in deciding whether to pursue further development of her idea to open a video rental store.

Questions:

1 What is the decision problem and relevant research problems in this situation?

2 Whom should Armstrong select as participants for the focus group? Exactly what

criteria would you establish for recruiting participants?

3 Where should the focus group session be conducted?

4 What would you need the moderator of the focus group to know before the session?

5 Develop moderator’s guidebook for the focus group.

3 Data Collection Methods-Focus Group

The essential point of interviewing is to “probe.” Let’s find out what probing is.

1 How do you mean that?

2 Tell me more about that

3 Anything else?

1 The response can fail to answer the question; it may be the answers for some other question In such a case, the interviewer should repeat the same question.

2 The answer contains unclear concepts or terms that make its meaning ambiguous The interviewer should probe saying, “How do you mean that?”

3 The answer is not detailed or specific enough

The interviewer should probe saying, “Could you tell me more about that?”

4 A perfectly appropriate answer has been given, but there

is a possibility that there are additional points that the respondent could make in answers to the question

Below are some examples which these probes would be used.

Probing “Open-Ended” Questions

Q: From your point of view, what are the best things about living in this neighborhood?

Comment1:

A1: In the last neighborhood in which we lived, it was very transient People didn’t care about

keeping up the neighborhood.

Comment2:

Probe: Repeat the question.

A2: The people.

Comment3:

Probe: Tell me more about that.

A3: The people are good neighbors.

Comment4:

Probe: How do you mean a good neighbor?

A4: They keep to themselves They leave you alone You don’t have to worry about being

sociable and you don’t have to worry about what they think.

Comment5:

Probe: Okay, I have that down Anything else about your neighbor?

Exampl e

3 Data Collection Methods-Depth Interview

When a questions calls for a respondent to choose an answer from a list, and the

respondent has not done so, the marketing interviewer’s job is let respondent to

choose the answer from the list.

Probing “Closed” Questions

Interviewer: How would you rate this product – Very Good Good, Fair, or Poor?

Respondent: From my experience, this product is not Very Good.

1 Some interviewer may check the “FAIR” box, while others would check the “POOR” box If

the interviewer takes respondent’s words and do something to produce an answer, the

potentials for inconsistency across the interviewer is great.

2 If the interviewer probed something like: “Well, would you say fair or poor?” This also is a bad practice that will affect the answers.

Why?

Exampl e

3 Data Collection Methods-Depth Interview

Probing “Numerical” Answers

Q: In the last seven nights, how many times have you gotten fewer than eight(8) hours of

sleep?

A: I usually get eight(8) hours of sleep.

Directive Probe 1: Well, for the last seven nights, would the answer be 0?

Directive Probe 2: Well, for the last seven nights, would the best answer be 0, 1, or 2?

Nondirective Probe 1: In the last seven nights, how many times have you gotten fewer than

eight

hours of sleep?

Nondirective Probe 2: Well, for the last week, would the best answer be more than 2 times, or 2,

or fewer times?

? What would you choose and why?

The precision is the most common problem faced by the interviewer, when an answer calls for a numerical response.

Exampl e

3 Data Collection Methods-Depth Interview

Surveys produce appropriate information about marketing world by reflecting

self-reported beliefs, opinions, characteristics, or past and present behaviors of the people Survey

A method of primary data collection in which information is gathered by communicating with a representative sample of people

SURVEY

 Survey samples many respondents who answer the same questions They

measure many variables such as behavior, intentions, attitudes, awareness,

motivations, and demographic and lifestyle characteristics.

 Survey methods involve a structured questionnaire give to respondents and

design to elicit specific information

 Survey research is often called correlational research The survey researchers

use correlations in statistical analysis

Characteristics of Survey

3 Data Collection Methods-Survey

How long should a questionnaire be or an interview last?

The Length of Survey

 Researchers prefer long questionnaire or interviews due to their

cost-effectiveness However there is no absolute proper length The length depends

on the survey format.

 A 10 minute telephone interview is a rarely a problem and can usually be

extended to 20 minutes (few went beyond 30 minutes)

 Mail questionnaires are more variable A short (3~4 page) questionnaires are

appropriate for the general population Some have success with 10 page

questionnaire, but the responses drop significantly for longer questionnaires.

 Face to face interviews lasting an hour are not uncommon In some special

situations, it can last as long as 3~4 hours.

3 Data Collection Methods-Survey

MULTIPLE CHOICE

In multiple-choice questions,

the researcher provides a

choice of answers and

respondents are asked to

select one or more of the

alternatives given

Do you intend to buy a new

car within the next six

months?

I’ll think about it

May be not this time

Yes, I do.

No, I don’t

Other (please specify)

Structured Survey Questions

Probably will buy Definitely will buy

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