MKT 230 CH 5 Marketing Research and Information SystemsThe Importance of Marketing Research-Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, interpretation, and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific marketing problems or take advantage of marketing opportunities-research is a process for gathering information that is not currently available to decision makers-marketing research helps a firm better understand market opportunities, ascertain the potentialfor success for new products, and determine the feasibility of a particular marketing strategyTypes of Research-Marketing research can involve two forms of data: Qualitative and Quantitative dataExploratory Research-Exploratory Research is research conducted to gather more information about a problem or to make a tentative hypothesis more specific-the main purpose is to better understand a problem or situation and/or to help identify additional data needs or decision alternatives-Customer advisory boards are small groups of actual customers who serve as sounding boards for new-product ideas and offer insights into their feelings and attitudes toward a firm’s products, promotion, pricing, and other elements of marketing strategy-Focus groups bring together multiple people to discuss a certain topic in a group setting led by a moderatorConclusive Research-Conclusive research is designed to verify insights through an objective procedure to help marketers make decisionsIt is used when the marketer has one or more alternatives in mind and needs assistance in the final stages of decision making-2 types of conclusive research are: descriptive and experimental research-Descriptive research is research conducted to clarify the characteristics of certain phenomena to solve aparticular problem-Experimental research allows marketers to make causal deductions about relationshipsThe marketing research process-to maintain the control needed to obtain accurate information, marketers approach marketing research as a process with logical steps: (1) locating and defining problems or issues, (2) designing the research project, (3) collecting data, (4) interpreting research findings, and (5) reporting research findingsLocating and defining problems or research issues-the first sign of a problem is typically a departure from some normal function, such as the failure to attain objectivesDesigning the research project-once a problem has been defined, the next step is to create a research design, an overall plan for obtaining the information needed to address it-This step requires formulating a hypothesis and determining what type of research is most appropriate for testing the hypothesis to ensure the results are reliable and valid-Hypothesis – an informed guess or assumption about a certain problem or set of circumstances-reliability – a condition that exists when a research technique produces almost identical results in repeated trialsMKT 230 CH 5 Marketing Research and Information Systems-validity – a condition that exists when a research method measures what it is supposed to measureCollecting DataTypes of data-Primary data are observed and recorded or collected directly from respondents-Secondary data are compiled both inside and outside the organization for some purpose other than thecurrent investigationMethods of Collecting Primary DataSAMPLING-a population includes all the elements, units, or individuals of interest to researchers for a specific study-sample – a limited number of units chosen to represent the characteristics of a total population-Sampling is the process of selecting representative units from a total population-Probability sampling, a type of sampling in which every element in the population being studied has a known chance of being selected for study-Random sampling is a form of probability sampling in which all units in a population have an equal chance of appearing in the sample, and the various events that can occur have an equal or known chance of taking place-Stratified sampling is a type of probability sampling in which the population is divided into groups with a common attribute and a random sample is chosen within each group-Nonprobability sampling is a sampling technique in which researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily choose participants from each group-quota sampling a nonprobability sampling technique in which researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily choose participants from each group-mail survey is a research method in which respondents answer a questionnaire sent through the mail-Telephone survey is a research method in which respondents’ answers to a questionnaire via phone-telephone depth interview is an interview that combines the traditional focus group’s ability to probe with the confidentiality provided by telephone surveys-Personal interview survey- a research method in which participants respond to survey questions face-to-face-In-home interview- a personal interview that takes place in the respondent’s home-Shopping mall intercept interviews- a research method that involves interviewing a percentage of individuals passing by “intercept” points in a mall-on-site computer interviews – a variation of the shopping mall intercept interview in which respondents complete a self-administered questionnaire displayed on a computer monitorOnline and Social Media Surveys-online survey- a research method in which respondents answer a questionnaire via e-mail or on a website-Crowdsourcing- combines the words crowd and outsourcing and calls for taking tasks usually performedby a marketer or researcher and outsourcing them to a crowd, or potential market, through an open callMKT 230 CH 5 Marketing Research and Information SystemsInterpreting research findings-Statistical interpretation focuses on what is typical and what deviates from the averageUsing technology to improve marketing information gathering and analysis-technology makes info for marketing decisions increasingly accessibleMarketing Information Systems-a marketing information system (MIS) is a framework for the day-to-day management and structuring of information gathered regularly from sources both inside and outside the organization-MIS provides continuous flow of information about prices, advertising, expenditures, sales, competition, and distribution expensesDatabases-Most marketing information systems include internal databases-a database is a