INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH/RESEARCH CONCEPTS

INTRODUCTION

Marketing research is the development, interpretations, communication of decision oriented information, which is used in all phases to describe the procedures normally followed when carrying out a marketing research study- before the growth of the market information.

 OBJECTIVES 

At the end of this unit you should be able to:

1. Define Marketing Research 
2. Identify the basic concepts in Marketing Research 
3. Understand the objectives of Marketing Research 

Marketing Research 

The role of marketing research is to gather and categorize information pertaining to various macro – environmental variables then interpret the information in the content strategic consequences. We will see the core philosophy of marketing as is one that puts to the firm the customer at the centre of the organization activity. As the focus of marketing is, or should be onward, towards markets, customers and the environment. Marketing research can play a role in many different activities. Research can be useful to help understand what customers want to decide whether to launch a new product or not, to get feedback from customers about ongoing levels of service, to measure the effectiveness of a sponsorship campaign and so on.

Marketing research is a development interpretation and communication of decision oriented information, which is used in all phases of the marketing process.

Research Concepts 

Just close your eyes for a minute and utter the word research to yourself, what kind of image does this word conjure up for you? Do visualize a laboratory with scientists at work with Bunsen burners and test tubes or an Einstein–like character writing dissertations on some complex subject, or someone collecting data to study the impacts of an advertising campaign on sales. Most certainly, all these images do represent different aspects of research. 

Research is simply the process of finding solutions to a problem after a thorough study and analysis of the situational factors.

Marketing Research is simply defined as the function that links organization to its market through the gathering of information. This information allows for the identification and definition of market – driven opportunities and problems. The information allows for the generation, refinement and evaluation of marketing actions. It allows for the monitoring of marketing performance and improved understanding of marketing as business process.

The American Marketing Association defines marketing research as a process specifically the collection of information as it applies to marketing research is a systematic process. The specific tasks in this process include designing methods for collecting information, managing the information collection process, analyzing and interpreting results and communicating findings to decision makers. Marketing Research is the mechanism for generating information.

This module opener shows that designing a single question/scale for collecting a specific type of raw data is different from taking a set of scale measurement and creating a good scientific questionnaire. A researcher’s ability to design a good scale measurement is by itself not enough to guarantee that the appropriate raw data will automatically be collected.

This module focuses on developing a clear understanding of the importance of questionnaire designs and the process that should be undertaken in the development of survey instruments. Understanding questionnaire designs will require that you integrate many of the concepts discussed in the earlier chapters. As a future marketing or business decision maker, you might not have to ever personally design a questionnaire for collecting primary data, but most certainly you will be in a client position of determining whether a survey designed for you is good or bad. Therefore, you should know about the considerations, preliminary activities, and processes that are undertaken in designing a scientific questionnaire.