Marketing Research I

Prof. Jessica J. Kim

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Today’s Agenda
• What is marketing research
• Marketing research stages
• Types of marketing research
• Types of data and relevant research approaches
The marketing information system
Managing market information
1. Assess market information needs
2. Develop market information from following
sources:
1. Internal databases
2. Market intelligence
3. Marketing research (Primary and Secondary)
3. Analyze and use information
Source 1: Internal databases
• consumer information
and data obtained
from sources within
the company
• quick access, but may
be incomplete or not
sufficient to make
marketing decisions
Source 2: Market intelligence
• monitoring, collection, and analysis of publicly
available information about the market
• want to detect opportunities and threats
Source 3: Marketing research
• systematic design to collect, analyze, and report
data relevant to a specific marketing problem

This information is used to

• identify and define more marketing opportunities and
problems
• generate, refine, and evaluate existing marketing actions
• monitor marketing performance
The marketing research industry
• $84 billion industry (2023, Market Research Services Global Market
Report)

• Biggest MR company: The Nielsen Company ($10

billion)
• Large CPG companies have internal research
departments
• Marketing Research skills are always in high
demand by organizations
 Marketing Research Stages
• Step 1: Define the problem
• Step 2: Develop research plan for collecting and
analyzing the information
• Set purpose
• Primary and secondary data
• Step 3: Collect and analyze the data
• Step 4: Interpret findings and make
recommendations
 Notes for defining the problem
What do we need to know?

Managerial Problem: Why is our market share low?

What sort of information do we need to gather and

analyze? What is the research question we need to ask?
 Notes for defining the problem
What do we need to know?

Managerial Problem: Why is our market share low?

Information we may want:
• How many consumers know our brand/store?
• What are consumers’ attitudes towards our
brand/store?
• What are consumers’ attitudes towards our
competitors?
 Notes for defining the problem
What do we need to know?

Examples:
• Consumer attitudes toward our product(s)
• Sales relative to our competitor
• Consumer characteristics
 Notes for defining the problem
What do we need to know?

You want to translate a managerial problem into

research questions.
 Research Question Example
Managerial Problem: Why is our market share low?
Research Questions:
• Which attributes are important in the choice of
coffee company?
• How do consumers rate Starbucks as well as
competitors’ performance on each of these
attributes?
 What goes into a research plan
The research plan describes the:
• Research objectives
• How research objectives will be translated to
information required
• Information required: variables
• Data sources and research methods
• Estimated costs
 Types of marketing research
Types of marketing research based on knowledge of
problem and objectives you want to set:

Exploratory Descriptive Causal

Research Research Research
(Ambiguous Problem) (Aware of Problem) (Problem Clearly Defined)

“Our sales are declining “Who is buying our “Will buyers purchase
and we do not know why.” products? Who is more of our product in
buying our a new package?”
competitors’
products?”
 Exploratory research
• Develop initial hunches or insights
• Help define the problem and suggest hypotheses

• Pilot study, pre-study usually confined to:

• focus groups
• secondary data
• survey opinion leaders
• case study
 Descriptive research
• Generate data describing the composition and
characteristics of relevant groups or units (e.g.
survey)

• Identify whether two things are associated with

each other
 Causal research
• Identify cause-and-effect relationships among
variables

• Example: to establish that one event—say, a new

package—is the means for producing another
event—say, an increase in sales
 Data Sources
• Primary: data that are not yet available, and have
to be collected for the specific problem
• e.g., data from focus groups/interviews, surveys,
experiments (A/B testing)
• Secondary: data that are readily available; typically
collected for other reasons at an earlier time
• e.g., Internal databases, census data, commercial online
databases, public online databases, etc.
Secondary Data
Secondary Data
Secondary Data
 Secondary versus Primary Data
Reasons why secondary data may be preferable:
• Time savings
• Cost savings

Reasons why primary data is more often preferred:

• Answer a specific problem
• Up-to-date/current
• Higher reliability (source is known and trusted)
 Data Collection Approaches
Qualitative (exploratory) research approaches:
• Focus groups
• In-depth interviews
• Projective techniques
• Observation (can also be quantitative)
Quantitative research approaches:
• Surveys/cross-sectional studies (descriptive
research)
• Experiments (causal research)
Qualitative versus Quantitative
• Provides internal insights into
human behavior and experience
Qualitative • Unstructured
Research
• Observe and interpret
• Small samples

• Provides insights about human

behavior via data analysis and tools
Quantitative • Structured
Research
• Measure and test
• Large samples
 Focus Groups
A focus group is a planned, focused discussion
involving similar people designed to obtain
qualitative data regarding the perceptions and
feelings about products, services, and organizations.
 Focus Groups

Size 8 - 12 people

Time 90 - 120 minutes

The research report summarizes and

Report draws inferences from what was said and
even what was left unsaid
 Focus Groups
• Skilled moderator facilitating, listening, “focusing”,
making sure relevant topics are brought up
• If moderated well, the discussion can lead
individuals to build on each other and discuss
aspects they may not have thought of on their own
• Could provide a very rich set of qualitative data
• Participants offered an incentive to participate
When to use focus groups?
When individual interviews are
impractical or less relevant

When the consumption setting

is social

When a social debate might better

shed light on key issues, or
important trade-offs
 Focus Groups
• Rationale: in-depth probing, unstructured
discussion, ability to observe dynamics

• Common Uses: Products, product concepts, ad

copy, script for further studies, questionnaire
design
One-Way Mirror
 Focus Groups
Different ways to conduct focus groups:
• Formal vs. informal setting
• One way mirror, video, online, etc.
• Intrusiveness of moderator

Steps:
I. Introduction and ground rules
II. Introduce and discuss materials based on a script
III. Summary (provide psychological recap)
IV. Demographic/product usage questionnaire at the end
 Focus Group Moderator Tips
• Encourage participants to disagree, if they do

• Everyone has to participate

• One speaker at a time

• When an idea comes up for discussion, stick to that

idea until the group finishes with it

• Follow the script (Discussion guide)

 Some issues
• Dynamic effects – early ideas can have a lasting
influence
• People do not always behave naturally when
observed
• Dominant personalities
• Huge moderator effects
 Other Types of Focus Groups
• Immersion groups: small groups of consumers
interact with product designers without any
moderator
• Virtual groups: members share their experiences
and discuss ideas without being physically present
at the same place
 In-Depth or Personal Interviews
• One-on-one
• Trained professional guides, explains difficult
questions, and explores various issues that may
arise.
• While costly, they have two major advantages:
• Allows for intense probing of respondents or reaction to
ideas without peer influence
• Permits the investigation of motivations, associations,
and explanations behind product preference
• Need an interview guide
Interview tips
• Make a personal connection

• Create a comfortable
environment

• Notice non-verbal behavior

• If you are recording

voice or video, obtain explicit
permission
 Types of Interview Questions
• Open-ended (“What is your opinion on…”)
• Closed (“Are you married?”)
• Probes
• “What do you mean by… ?”
• “What if the service were …?”
• “How do you explain …?”
• “What do you like most about …?”
• “Tell me more about …?”
• “Could you please elaborate on …?”
Laddering
• Our goal is to understand the chain of associations
(“ladder”) that lead to a certain customer behavior
or choice
• Ask why!
Discover unknown unknowns
• Take the interviews as opportunities to discover
things you had no idea you did not know
 Projective Techniques
Projective techniques have respondents think in
metaphorical terms, allowing researchers to collect
sensitive or hard-to-articulate information. Examples:
• Incomplete stimuli: sentence completion, word
associations, story completion
• Creating stimuli: collages, role playing, sketching
(e.g., “draw a BMW as if it were a person”)
• Imaginative exercises and personification: visitor
from another planet, imaginary universe, guided
fantasy (e.g., “which car would Colgate be?”)
Observation
• collecting data by observing relevant people,
events, and situations
When to use observational
research
• Exploratory Studies
• Define problems and suggest research question

• New Product Development

• Understand a market and identify gaps
• Reactions to new products

• Orientation
• Learn consumer’s vocabulary/vantage point
Observation examples
Ethnographies

Eye tracking

Cameras in stores

Mystery shoppers

Etc.
 Observation
Ethnographic research: observational technique
where trained researchers watch and interact with
consumers in their “natural environments.”
 Observation
Mystery shoppers: researchers posing as customers
to gather observational data about a store and
collect data about customer/employee interactions
Observation
Eye-tracking
Observation
Mouse-tracking
Observation
Observation
How appropriate is the data
collection method for each research
type?

Exploratory Descriptive Causal

Observation Very Somewhat Somewhat

Survey Somewhat Very Somewhat

Experiments Usually Not Somewhat Very