Chapter 1 Introduction and Early Phases of Market Research

Definition of Marketing Research

Marketing research is the systematic and objective

identification

collection

analysis

dissemination

and use of information

For the purpose of improving decision making related to the

identification and

Solution of problems and opportunities in marketing.

Marketing Research Process

Step 1 : Problem Definition
Step 2 : Development of an Approach to the Problem
Step 3 : Research Design Formulation
Step 4 : Fieldwork or Data Collection
Step 5 : Data Preparation and Analysis
Step 6 : Report Preparation and Presentation

The Role of Marketing Research

Marketing Research Suppliers & Services

Internal suppliers
External suppliers

Full-service suppliers

Syndicated services

Standardized services

Customized services

Internet services

Limited-service suppliers

Field services

Focus groups and Qualitative services

Technical and Analytical services

Other services

Selected Marketing Research Career Descriptions

Chapter 3 Research Design

Definition
A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project. It
details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve
marketing research problems.
Components of a Research Design
Define the information needed (Chapter 2)
Design the exploratory, descriptive, and/or causal phases of the research (Chapters 3 - 8)
Specify the measurement and scaling procedures (Chapters 9 and 10)
Construct and pretest a questionnaire (interviewing form) or an appropriate form for data
collection (Chapter 11)
Specify the sampling process and sample size (Chapters 12 and 13)
Develop a plan of data analysis (Chapter 15)
A Classification of Market Research Designs

Cross sectional design

Single
Multiple

Differences Between Exploratory and Conclusive Research

A Comparison of Basic Research Designs

Uses of Exploratory Research

Formulate a problem or define a problem more precisely
Identify alternative courses of action
Develop hypotheses
Isolate key variables and relationships for further examination
Gain insights for developing an approach to the problem
Establish priorities for further research
Methods of Exploratory Research
Survey of experts (discussed in Chapter 2)
Pilot surveys (discussed in Chapter 2)
Secondary data analyzed in a qualitative way (discussed in Chapter 4)
Qualitative research (discussed in Chapter 5)
Use of Descriptive Research
To describe the characteristics of relevant groups, such as consumers, salespeople,
organizations, or market areas
To estimate the percentage of units in a specified population exhibiting a certain behavior
To determine the perceptions of product characteristics
To determine the degree to which marketing variables are associated
To make specific predictions
Methods of Descriptive Research
Secondary data analyzed in a quantitative as opposed to a qualitative manner (discussed in
Chapters 4 and 5)
Surveys (Chapter 7)
Panels (Chapters 5 and 7)
Observational and other data (Chapter 7)

Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Designs

A cross-sectional design involves the collection of information from any given sample of
population elements only once.
In a longitudinal design, a fixed sample (or samples) of population elements is measured
repeatedly on the same variables.
A longitudinal design differs from a cross-sectional design in that the sample or samples
remain the same over time.
A classification of qualitative research procedure
Word association
In word association, respondents are presented with a list of words, one at a time and asked to
respond to each with the first word that comes to mind. The words of interest, called test words,
are interspersed throughout the list which also contains some neutral or filler words to disguise
the purpose of the study. Responses are analyzed by calculating:
1. the frequency with which any word is given as a response;
2. the amount of time that elapses before a response is given;
3. the number of respondents who do not respond at all to a test word within a reasonable
period of time.
Completion techniques
In Sentence completion, respondents are given incomplete sentences and asked to complete them.
Generally, they are asked to use the first word or phrase that comes to mind.
A person who wears Tommy Hilfiger shirts is
____________________________________
As compared to Polo, Gant, and Eddie Bauer, Tommy Hilfiger shirts are
__________________________________
Tommy Hilfiger shirts are most liked by
___________________________________
A variation of sentence completion is paragraph completion, in which the respondent
completes a paragraph beginning with the stimulus phrase.

Construction techniques

Expressive Technique

Role playing
Third person technique

In expressive techniques, respondents are presented with a verbal or visual situation and
asked to relate the feelings and attitudes of other people to the situation.

Role playing Respondents are asked to play the role or assume the behavior of someone
else.

Third-person technique The respondent is presented with a verbal or visual situation and
the respondent is asked to relate the beliefs and attitudes of a third person rather than
directly expressing personal beliefs and attitudes. This third person may be a friend,
neighbor, colleague, or a typical person.

Analysis of Qualitative Data

Data reduction
Data display
Conclusion drawing and verification

Chapter 6

Chapter 8 Measurement and scaling

Measurement and Scaling
Measurement means assigning numbers or other symbols to characteristics of objects according to
certain pre specified rules.
One-to-one correspondence between the numbers and the characteristics being measured.
The rules for assigning numbers should be standardized and applied uniformly.
Rules must not change over objects or time.
Scaling involves creating a continuum upon which measured objects are located.
Consider an attitude scale from 1 to 100. Each respondent assigned a number from 1 to 100, with 1
= Extremely Unfavorable, and 100 = Extremely Favorable. Measurement is the actual assignment of
a number from 1 to 100 to each respondent. Scaling is the process of placing the respondents on a
continuum with respect to their attitude toward department stores.

Nominal Scale
The numbers serve only as labels or tags for identifying and classifying objects.
When used for identification, there is a strict one-to-one correspondence between the
numbers and the objects.
The numbers do not reflect the amount of the characteristic possessed by the objects.
The only permissible operation on the numbers in a nominal scale is counting.
Only a limited number of statistics, all of which are based on frequency counts, are
permissible, e.g., percentages, and mode.

Ordinal Scale
A ranking scale in which numbers are assigned to objects to indicate the relative extent to
which the objects possess some characteristic.
Can determine whether an object has more or less of a characteristic than some other
object, but not how much more or less.
Any series of numbers can be assigned that preserves the ordered relationships between the
objects.
In addition to the counting operation allowable for nominal scale data, ordinal scales permit
the use of statistics based on centiles, e.g., percentile, quartile, median.
Interval Scale
Numerically equal distances on the scale represent equal values in the characteristic being
measured.
It permits comparison of the differences between objects.
The location of the zero point is not fixed. Both the zero point and the units of
measurement are arbitrary.
Any positive linear transformation of the form y = a + bx will preserve the properties of the
scale.
It is not meaningful to take ratios of scale values.
Statistical techniques that may be used include all of those that can be applied to nominal
and ordinal data, and the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and other statistics
commonly used in marketing research.
Ratio Scale
Possesses all the properties of the nominal, ordinal, and interval scales.
It has an absolute zero point.
It is meaningful to compute ratios of scale values.
Only proportionate transformations of the form y = bx, where b is a positive constant, are
allowed.
All statistical techniques can be applied to ratio data.

Scale Characteristics
Description - By description we mean the unique labels or descriptors that are used to designate
each value of the scale. All scales possess description.
Order - By order we mean the relative sizes or positions of the descriptors. Order is denoted by
descriptors such as greater than, less than, and equal to.
Distance - The characteristic of distance means that absolute differences between the scale
descriptors are known and may be expressed in units.
Origin - The origin characteristic means that the scale has a unique or fixed beginning or true zero
point.
Classification of Scaling techniques

Scale Evaluation
i.

Reliability - Reliability can be defined as the extent to which measures are free from
random error.

ii.

Validity - The validity of a scale may be defined as the extent to which differences in
observed scale scores reflect true differences among objects on the characteristic
being measured, rather than systematic or random error. Perfect validity requires
that there be no measurement error

iii.

Generalizability

Ch 10 Questionnaire
Questionnaire Definition
A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for obtaining information from respondents.
Questionnaire Objectives
It must translate the information needed into a set of specific questions that the
respondents can and will answer.
A questionnaire must uplift, motivate, and encourage the respondent to become involved in
the interview, to cooperate, and to complete the interview.
A questionnaire should minimize response error.
Questionnaire Design Process

Effect of Interviewing Method on Questionnaire Design

Department Store Project

Mail, E-mail, or Internet Questionnaire
Telephone Questionnaire
Personal Questionnaire

Types of question

Unstructured questions are open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own
words.
Structured questions specify the set of response alternatives and the response format. A
structured question may be multiple-choice, dichotomous, or a scale.
In multiple-choice questions, the researcher provides a choice of answers and respondents
are asked to select one or more of the alternatives given.
A dichotomous question has only two response alternatives: yes or no, agree or disagree,
and so on.

Chapter 11 Sampling
Census
A complete enumeration of the elements of a population or study objects.
Sample
A subgroup of the elements of the population selected for participation in the study.
Sampling Design Process

Define the Population

Determine the Sampling Frame
Select Sampling Technique(s)
Determine the Sample Size
Execute the Sampling Process
Define the Target Population
The target population is the collection of elements or objects that possess the information sought by
the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. The target population should be defined
in terms of elements, sampling units, extent, and time.
An element is the object about which or from which the information is desired, e.g., the
respondent.
A sampling unit is an element, or a unit containing the element, that is available for
selection at some stage of the sampling process.
Extent refers to the geographical boundaries.
Time is the time period under consideration.

Important qualitative factors in determining the sample size:

the importance of the decision
the nature of the research
the number of variables
the nature of the analysis
sample sizes used in similar studies
incidence rates
completion rates
resource constraints
Sampling sizes used

Classification of sampling techniques

Convenience sampling attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements. Often, respondents are
selected because they happen to be in the right place at the right time
use of students and members of social organizations
mall intercept interviews without qualifying the respondents
department stores using charge account lists
people on the street interviews
Judgmental sampling is a form of convenience sampling in which the population elements are
selected based on the judgment of the researcher.
test markets
purchase engineers selected in industrial marketing research
bellwether precincts selected in voting behavior research
expert witnesses used in court
Quota sampling may be viewed as two-stage restricted judgmental sampling.
The first stage consists of developing control categories, or quotas, of population elements.
In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on convenience or judgment.
In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is selected, usually at random.

Simple Random Sampling

Each element in the population has a known and equal probability of selection.
Each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and equal probability of being the
sample actually selected.
This implies that every element is selected independently of every other element.
Systematic Sampling
The sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point and then picking every ith
element in succession from the sampling frame.
The sampling interval, i, is determined by dividing the population size N by the sample size n
and rounding to the nearest integer.
When the ordering of the elements is related to the characteristic of interest, systematic
sampling increases the representativeness of the sample.
If the ordering of the elements produces a cyclical pattern, systematic sampling may
decrease the representativeness of the sample.
For example, there are 100,000 elements in the population and a sample of 1,000 is desired.
In this case the sampling interval, i, is 100. A random number between 1 and 100 is
selected. If, for example, this number is 23, the sample consists of elements 23, 123, 223,
323, 423, 523, and so on

Stratified Sampling
A two-step process in which the population is partitioned into subpopulations, or strata.
The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in that every population
element should be assigned to one and only one stratum and no population elements should
be omitted.
Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random procedure, usually SRS.
A major objective of stratified sampling is to increase precision without increasing cost.
The elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible, but the elements in
different strata should be as heterogeneous as possible.
The stratification variables should also be closely related to the characteristic of interest.
Finally, the variables should decrease the cost of the stratification process by being easy to
measure and apply.
In proportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample drawn from each stratum is
proportionate to the relative size of that stratum in the total population.
In disproportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample from each stratum is
proportionate to the relative size of that stratum and to the standard deviation of the
distribution of the characteristic of interest among all the elements in that stratum.
Cluster Sampling
The target population is first divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive
subpopulations, or clusters.
Then a random sample of clusters is selected, based on a probability sampling technique
such as SRS.
For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the sample (one-stage) or a
sample of elements is drawn probabilistically (two-stage).
Elements within a cluster should be as heterogeneous as possible, but clusters themselves
should be as homogeneous as possible. Ideally, each cluster should be a small-scale
representation of the population.
In probability proportionate to size sampling, the clusters are sampled with probability
proportional to size. In the second stage, the probability of selecting a sampling unit in a
selected cluster varies inversely with the size of the cluster.

Ch 13 Sampling: Final and Initial Sample-Size Determination

Parameter: A parameter is a summary description of a fixed characteristic or measure of the
target population.
A parameter denotes the true value which would be obtained if a census rather than a
sample was undertaken.
Statistic: A statistic is a summary description of a characteristic or measure of the sample.
The sample statistic is used as an estimate of the population parameter.
Random sampling error: The error when the sample selected is an imperfect representation
of the population of interest
Precision level: When estimating a population parameter by using a sample statistic, the
precision level is the desired size of the estimating interval. This is the maximum
permissible difference between the sample statistic and the population parameter.
Confidence interval: The confidence interval is the range into which the true population
parameter will fall, assuming a given level of confidence.
Confidence level: The confidence level is the probability that a confidence interval will
include the population parameter.
The Confidence Interval Approach

Adjusting the Statistically Determined Sample Size

Incidence rate refers to the rate of occurrence or the percentage of persons eligible to participate in
the study.
In general, if there are c qualifying factors with an incidence of Q1, Q2, Q3, ...QC, each expressed as a
proportion,

Incidence rate = Q1 x Q2 x Q3....x QC

Initial sample size= Final sample size

Incidence rate x Completion rate