ENT4310

Business Economics and

Marketing
A six-step model for marketing research
Arild Aspelund

Outline
Key variables of market research
A six-step model for marketing research
Selection of methods
Development of tools

What characterizes good marketing research?

What do you wanna know?

Volume
What is a reasonable estimate of the total market for this product
or service?

Value
What value would consumers associate to the product or service?
Does it change with the population?

Appropriability
What is a reasonable estimate of your part of the pie?

A Six-step Model for Market

Research
Define the problem
Develop research plan
Collect information
Analyze information
Present findings

Make
decision

Step 1: Defining the problem

The problem must be adequately defined
Not too narrow, not too broad

Remember that reality is complex

Clearly state the alternatives, objectives and limitations of the
research project

Different problems require different research

approaches
Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal

Step 2: Develop the research plan

The research plan helps you to coordinate the job,
but also
Communicating and assessing objectives
Assessing costs
Document the process

Contents and key decision points

Data sources
Research approaches
Research instruments
Sampling plan
Contact methods

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Data sources
There two sources of data
Primary data data collected for this specific project
Secondary data originally gathered and structures for another purpose

A marketing research project normally involves use of both

types of data
Researchers usually starts out the project by investigating and
exploring secondary data
Secondary data are advantageous because it is readily
available at usually low costs

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research approach
Most projects will involve gathering of primary data. And you
have several ways of doing so.
Just make sure your data fits your purpose!

Observational research
Observing relevant actors in relevant settings consumer behavior!

Focus group research

6 10 carefully selected people

In-depth discussion of various topics
Professionally moderated
Consumer motivation, quality and functional feed-back

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research approach
Survey research
Large scale investigations of peoples knowledge, beliefs, preferences and
satisfaction in the general population
Market potential and feasibility studies for new product launches

Behavioral data
Analysis of actual consumer behavior from collected customer records
More reliable that questionnaire data

Experimental research
The most scientific approach
Primarily used to detect cause-and-effect relationships

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research instruments
Questionnaires
A very flexible instrument for data collection, and by far the most
frequently used

Questionnaires need to be developed, tested and

debugged before they are exposed to the respondent
Carefully choose questions, wording and sequence
The form of the question can influence the response
One can choose from a broad range of question types

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research instruments

Somequestionnairedosanddonts
Ensure questions are free of
bias
Make questions simple
Make questions specific
Avoid jargon
Avoid sophisticated words
Avoid ambiguous words

Avoid negatives
Avoid hypotheticals
Avoid words that could be
misheard
Use response bands
Use mutually exclusive
categories
Allow for other in fixed
response questions

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research instruments
Qualitative measures
Shadowing
Shadowing
Behavior
Behavior mapping
mapping
Consumer
Consumer journey
journey
Camera
Camera journals
journals
Extreme
Extreme user
user interviews
interviews
Storytelling
Storytelling
Unfocused
Unfocused groups
groups

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Research instruments
Mechanical devices

Galvanometers
Tachistoscope
Eye cameras
Audiometers
GPS

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Sampling Plan

Samplingunit

Samplesize

Samplingprocedure

Probability sample
Simple random sample
Stratified random sample
Cluster sample

Non-probability sample
Convenience sample
Judgement sample
Quota sample

Step 2: Develop the research plan

- Contact Methods
Mail questionnaire
Telephone interview
Personal interview
Online interview

What are the pros and cons of these methods?

Step 3: Collect the information

Collecting the data is the most time and resource consuming
part of the process
Make sure yourself reasonably sure that you have done your
homework before entering this phase
Numerous problems may arise along the process
Respondents not available, not cooperative, biased or dishonest

Such problems are unavoidable, just make sure they dont

leave a bias in your data

Step 4: Analyse the information

this is the point where you do not want to find out that your
data is not analyzable
Structure out the data and explore it
Analyze it according to
Interesting descriptives
Relevant causal relations

Your level of sophistication in analytical methods will determine

the value added from the research process

Step 5: Present the findings

Structure the information that you find relevant for management

Make sure the presentation is not overloaded

Rather split it up in nice packages

Presenting the scientific method is almost as important as

presenting the results
You need to document your reliability

Step 6: Make the decision

Decisions are made in the intersection between the
findings and their reliability
Ingredients of good market research

Scentific method
Creativity
Multiple research methods
Accurate model building
Cost-benefit analysis
Healthy scepticism
Ethical focus

Summary and Continuation

The key variables of market research are volume, value and
appropriability
The market research process can be defined into 6 distinctive
steps

Define the problem

Develop a research plan
Collect information
Analyze information
Present findings
Make decisions

Continuation
Market analysis External Analysis