Marketing Research

Sherman Lam
March 28, 2009
 HK Immigration:
Number of Children in
China from parents not
formally married
Marketing research provides information to
help implement…

• The Study of Marketing

• The Use of the Marketing Concept
• Marketing Strategy
Marketing research provides information to
help implement…

• Marketing: process of all activities

necessary for the conception,
pricing, promotion, and distribution
of ideas, goods, and services to
create exchanges that satisfy
individual and organizational
objectives
Marketing research provides information to
help implement…

• Marketing Concept: the business

philosophy that holds the key to
achieving organizational goals
consists of determining the benefits
sought by target market members
and delivering these benefits more
effectively & efficiently than
competitors. This is to be done at a
“profit.”
Marketing research provides information to
help implement…

• Marketing Strategy: consists of

selecting one or more segments of
the market as the company’s target
market(s) and designing the proper
“mix” of the “4Ps”
Key Point:
To practice marketing; to implement
the marketing concept; to carry out a
marketing strategy, managers must
make informed decisions.
Many decisions require additional
information and marketing research
may be needed in order to supply
that information.
Useful questions for determining the information
needs of marketing managers.
– What decisions do you regularly make?
– What information do you need to make these decisions?
– What information do you regularly get?
– What special studies do you periodically request? What
information would you want that you are not getting now?
– What information would you want daily? Weekly? Monthly?
Yearly?
– What magazines and trade reports would you like to see on a
regular basis?
– What topics would you like to be kept informed of?
– What data analysis programs would you want?
– What are the four most helpful improvements that could be
made in the present marketing information system?
"Marketing research is the function that links
the consumer, customer, and public 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.
AMA- Definition of Marketing Research
Marketing research specifies the
information required
• to address these issues,
• designs the methods for collecting
information,
• manages and implements the data
collection process,
• analyzes, and
• communicates the findings and their
implications.“
AMA- Definition of Marketing Research
"Marketing research is about
researching the whole of a
company's marketing process,
(Palmer 2000) "
i.e. marketing research into the
elements of the marketing mix,
competitors, markets, and
everything to do with the customers.
Market research is an
aid to decision making –
not a substitute for it.
 The Marketing
Research Process
 The Marketing Research Process: 11 Steps

• Step One: Establishing the Need for Marketing

Research
• Step Two: Defining the Problem
• Step Three: Establishing Research Objectives
• Step Four: Determining Research Design
• Step Five: Identifying Information Types and
Sources
• Step Six: Determining Methods of Accessing
Data
 The Marketing Research Process: 11 Steps cont…

• Step Seven: Designing Data Collection Forms

• Step Eight: Determining Sample Plan and Size
• Step Nine: Collecting Data
• Step Ten: Analyzing Data
• Step Eleven: Preparing and Presenting the Final
Research Report
 The Marketing Research Process
Step One: Establish the Need for Marketing Research

Marketing Research is not needed when

the:
• required information is already available
• decisions need to be made now
• organization can’t afford the research
• costs outweigh the value of the
research
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Two: Define the Problem

The most important step in the

marketing research process is
defining the problem.
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Three: Establish Research Objectives

What information is needed in

order to solve the problem?
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Four: Determine Research Design

• Exploratory Research: collecting

information in an unstructured and
informal manner
• Descriptive Research: refers to a set of
methods and procedures describing
marketing variables
• Causal Research (experiments and other
approaches): allows isolation of causes
and effects
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Five: Identify Information Types and Sources

• Primary Data: information that has

been gathered specifically for the
research objectives at hand
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Six: Determine Methods of Accessing Data

• Primary Data: collecting data from

participants through methods such as
telephone, mail, online, and face-to-face
(quantitative), and observation studies
and focus groups (qualitative)
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Five: Identify Information Types and Sources

• Secondary Data: information that has

been collected for some purpose
other than the research at hand
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Six: Determine Methods of Accessing Data

• Secondary Data: accessing data

through sources such as the Internet
and library
Secondary-Data Sources
• Hong Kong in Figures
• a quick overview of major economic and social aspects of HK
http://www.info.gov.hk/censtatd/eng/hkstat/index2.html

• Geography and Climate • Public Accounts, Money and

• Population & Vital Events Finance
• Information Technology • Commerce
• Lobour • Education
• Land, Housing, Building & • Prices
Construction • Health
• National Accounts & Balance • External Trade
of Payments a/c • Social Welfare
• Transport, Communications • Production
& Tourism • Law and Order
 Changes in U.S. Population Distribution

__________________________________________
Age Group Percent Change:
2010-2020
__________________________________________
Under 5 years old 15.8
5-17 years old 7.4
18-24 years old 13.9
25-34 years old 15.3
35-44 years old -11.3
45-54 years old 1.9
55-64 years old 74.1
65-74 years old 73.1
Over 74 years old 31.7
Total population 17.5

Adapted from Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1999, 119th ed., U.S.
Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC, 1999, p. 17
 Changes in the Minority Population

• Minorities populations are growing

rapidly. It is predicted that by 2025:
– Minorities will reach 38% of the population,
up from 28% currently.
– Asian-American growth (97%) will be high.
– Hispanic growth (88%), will also be high.
– However, these groups are not necessarily
homogeneous.
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Seven: Design Data Collection Forms

• The design of the data collection form that

is used to ask or observe and record
information in marketing research projects
is critical to the success of the project.
• It is easy to write a set of questions but
very difficult to construct a questionnaire.
• General types of “instruments” (forms)
• Questionnaires
• Observation Study forms (protocols)
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Eight: Determine Sample Plan and Size

• Sample plan: refers to the process

used to select units from the
population to be included in the
sample
• Sample size: refers to determining
how many elements (units) of the
population should be included in the
sample
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Nine: Collect Data

• Sound data collection is very important

because, regardless of the data analysis
methods used, data analysis cannot “fix”
bad data.
• Nonsampling errors may occur during
data collection. These are related to poor
design and/or execution of the data
gathering.
• Sampling errors may occur based purely
on chance
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Ten: Analyze Data

• Data analysis: involves entering

data into computer files,
inspecting data for errors (data
cleaning), running tabulations
(frequencies), and conducting
various statistical tests
 The Marketing Research Process
Step Eleven: Prepare and Present the Final
Research Report

• Findings are presented, often by

research objective, in a clear and
concise way.
• The need for a good report cannot be
overstated. It is the report, and/or its
presentation, that properly
communicates the results to the
client.
 What is online research?

• Online research: the use of computer networks,

including the Internet, to assist in any phase of
the marketing research process including
development of the problem, research design,
data gathering, analysis, and report writing and
distribution
 What is online research?

• Web-based research: research that is conducted

to evaluate various facets of Web applications;
may use traditional methods as well as on-line
research methods in conducting research on
Web-based applications
• Online survey research: collection of data using
computer networks
 The Seven Characteristics of Good Marketing Research

1. Scientific Effective marketing research uses the principles of the

method scientific method: careful observation, formulation of
hypotheses, prediction, and testing.

2. Research At its best, marketing research develops innovative

creativity ways to solve a problem: a clothing company catering
to teenagers gave several young men video cameras,
then used the videos for focus groups held in
restaurants and other places teens frequent.

3. Multiple Marketing researchers shy away from overreliance on

methods any one method. They also recognize the value of using
two or three methods to increase confidence in the
results.
 Reader Digest:
Comparing honesty of
Asian people