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CHAPTER 9 Marketing Research
This chapter begins with the learning outcome summaries, followed by a set of lesson plans for you to use to
deliver the content in Chapter 9.
• Lecture (for large sections) on page 3
• Company Clips (video) on page 5
• Group Work (for smaller sections) on page 6
Review and Assignments begin on page 9
Review questions
Application questions
Application exercise
Ethics exercise
Video Assignment
Case assignment
Great Ideas for Teaching Marketing from faculty around the country begin on page 19
9-1 Define marketing research and explain its importance to marketing decision making
Marketing research is a process of collecting and analyzing data for the purpose of solving specific marketing problems.
Marketers use marketing research to explore the profitability of marketing strategies. They can examine why particular
strategies failed and analyze characteristics of specific market segments. Managers can use research findings to help keep
current customers. Moreover, marketing research allows management to behave proactively, rather than reactively, by
identifying newly emerging patterns in society and the economy.
LO2 Describe the steps involved in conducting a 8: Steps in a Marketing Research Project
marketing research project 9: Exhibit 9.1: The Marketing Research Process
10: The Marketing Research Project
9-2 Steps in a Marketing Research Project 11: Sources of Secondary Data
12: Advantages of Secondary Data
13: Disadvantages of Secondary Data
14: Social Media and Big Data
15: Planning the Research Design
16: Primary Data
17: Disadvantages of Primary Data
18: Survey Research
19: Forms of Survey Research
20: Questionnaire Design
21: Questionnaire Design
22: Observation Research
23: Exhibit 9.5: Observational Situations
24: Observation Research
25: Ethnographic Research
26: Virtual Shopping
27: Experiments
28: Sampling Procedure
Chapter 9 ♦ Systems and Marketing Research 3
Learning Outcomes and Topics PowerPoint Slides
28: Types of Samples
30: Probability Samples
31: Nonprobability Samples
32: Types of Errors
33: Collecting the Data
34: Analyzing the Data
35: Preparing and Presenting the Report
36: Following Up
LO3 Discuss the profound impact of the Internet on 37: The Profound Impact of the Internet on Marketing
marketing research Research
38: Impact of the Internet
9-3 The Profound Impact of the Internet on 39: Advantages of Internet Surveys
Marketing Research 40: Uses of the Internet by Marketing Researchers
41: Methods of Conducting Online Surveys
42: Advantages of Online Focus Groups
43: Web Community Research
LO4 Describe the growing importance of mobile 44: The Growing Importance of Mobile Research
research 45: Mobile Research
Suggested Homework:
• The end of this chapter contains assignments for the Nederlander Organization video and for the Marriott
International case. There are also part-based cases and homework assignments on Four Loko and Mary Kay Inc.
• Each Chapter Prep Card contains numerous questions that can be assigned or used as the basis for longer
investigations into marketing.
The Nederlander Organization is at the forefront of using technology to understand its customers and the ways that those
theatregoers purchase tickets. This video clip discusses specific ways the Nederlander Organization collects data and
then leverages that information to the benefit of the customer.
During the viewing portion of the teaching notes, stop the video periodically where appropriate to ask students the
questions or perform the activities listed on the grid. You may even want to give the students the questions before
starting the video and have them think about the answer while viewing the segment. That way, students will be engaged
in active viewing rather than passive viewing.
1. What are some of the methods mentioned in the video that The Nederlander Organization uses to gather
primary data? How does the company leverage that data?
The Nederlander Organization has several ways it gathers information about its theatregoers. Students could mention
monitoring activity from the Broadway direct newsletter, Audience Rewards program, as well as people opting in to
receive the newsletter.
The Nederlander Organization uses its primary data to re-target customers and send out targeted marketing messages (as
in the Evita example). It also gives its renters access to segmented information gathered from its newsletters, web site,
and audience rewards program so they can appropriately program and market shows. It also allows the Nederlander
In most cases, group activities should be completed after some chapter content has been covered, probably in the second
or third session of the chapter coverage. (See “Lesson Plan for Lecture” above.)
• For “Class Activity – Pepsi/Coke Taste Test,” provide the information and the questions asked by the class
activity.
• Application questions 6, 8, and 12 lend themselves well to group work. For those activities, divide the class into
small groups of four or five people. Each group should read the question and then use their textbooks, or any
work that was completed previously, to perform the exercise. Then, each group should discuss or present their
work to the class.
First, ask each student to select either the letter M or Q. Next, ask them to select a number from 1 to 4. Tally the results.
How did the Pepsi/Coke taste test evolve? In the late 1970s, Pepsi was looking for a creative promotion for its big
problem area: the southwestern United States. Pepsi’s national market share was 17 percent at the time but only 8 percent
in the Southwest. Pepsi decided to stage a blind taste test using a sample of loyal Coke drinkers in the Southwest. Pepsi
had the volunteers taste test two colas—one labeled M (Pepsi) and one labeled Q (Coke)—and state their preference.
In this test, more than half the Coke drinkers chose the product labeled M (Pepsi). Pepsi advertised the results in a
promotion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and sales of Pepsi doubled. The promotion was so successful that Pepsi
introduced it into seven other market areas.
At this point, Coca-Cola announced that Pepsi’s taste test was biased and unfair. Coca-Cola pointed out that variables
other than taste were affecting volunteers’ choices. One extraneous variable is that people have a natural preference for
the letter M over the letter Q. As a result, the preference for product M could be based on taste or could be a
subconscious preference for the letter.
In extensive testing, when people were asked to pick either Q or M, 78 percent chose M and 22 percent preferred Q.
When people were asked to chose a number from 1 to 4, 70 percent chose 2 or 3, and only 30 percent chose 1 or 4. How
do your class results compare?
Part Two
Before Coke introduced its reformulated “New Coke” in 1985, it conducted almost 200,000 blind taste tests with
consumers. The results:
New Coke (55 percent) chosen over original Coke (45 percent)
New Coke (52 percent) chosen over Pepsi (48 percent)
However, after New Coke was introduced, it failed miserably in the market. The original formula was reintroduced a few
months later as “Coca-Cola Classic.”
6 Chapter 9 ♦ Marketing Research
You can replicate the taste test comparing Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Classic, and Pepsi as follows:
1. Get 40 small paper cups and label 10 with the letter R, 10 with S, 10 with T, and 10 with the letter W.
2. Outside the room have a student volunteer randomly assign Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Classic, and Pepsi to the
letters R, S, and T. Write down which soft drink goes with which letter.
3. At the start of class, select 10 students as taste testers. The subjects should be regular consumers of non-diet
cola (at least six 12-ounce bottles in the last month). Place the students at the front of the classroom.
4. Outside the room, the student volunteer should be filling each cup with the appropriate soda. Fill the W cups
with water.
5. Put an R, S, T, and W cup in front of each student, and hand each student a copy of the Cola Taste Test Form
provided.
6. To eliminate order bias, have three of the students begin the taste test with cup R, three with cup S, and four
with cup T. Have them take a sip of water between colas and continue to sample and test in any order they
wish. They can resample as needed to fill out the questionnaire.
7. Have a student tabulate the answers during class and share the results at the end of class. The form could even
lend itself to cross-tabulations (between preferences and answers to questions 5 or 6) if the sample were larger.
5. During the past month, estimate your consumption of the three colas so that they total 100 percent:
Coke Zero _______ percent
Pepsi Cola _______ percent
6. How many 12-ounce cans or bottles of sugared cola have you consumed in the past 30 days?
____ 6 or fewer ____ 13 to 24
____ 7 to 12 ____ 25 or more
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. The task of marketing is to create exchanges. What role might marketing research play in the facilitation of
the exchange process?
Marketing research will help a firm develop products and communication that aid in the exchange process by
ensuring that the company is meeting the needs of the customers.
2. Give an example of 1) the descriptive role of marketing research, 2) the diagnostic role, and 3) the predictive
function of marketing research.
Descriptive marketing research examples should describe gathering and presenting factual statements. Diagnostic
marketing research examples should describe projects that explain data. Predictive marketing research examples
should describe answering “what if” questions.
3. Marketing research has traditionally been associated with manufacturers of consumer goods. Today, we are
experiencing an increasing number of organizations, both profit and nonprofit, using marketing research.
Why do you think this trend exists? Give some examples.
Students will need to explain that every type of firm should be endeavoring to serve their customers better, and one
way to do this is to understand customer wants and needs. Students will come up with a variety of firms, such as
medical groups or hospitals, that are doing active market research.
Secondary data is readily available and much less expensive than primary data. Often the secondary data will save a
company from doing unnecessary primary research and guide the development of primary studies.
5. What is a marketing research aggregator? What role do these aggregators play in marketing research?
Companies whose role it is to acquire, catalog, reformat, segment, and resell reports already published by large and
small marketing research firms. Their databases of research reports are more comprehensive, so therefore more
useful. Their databases are easier to search and their deliveries speedier, allowing a narrower search—especially
useful for the small- and medium-sized clients, a segment that would have been unable to afford the expense of a
commissioned, full report.
6. Ethnographic research is a new (and expensive) trend in marketing research. Find an article on ethnographic
research. Read and summarize the article. What is your opinion of ethnographic research? Do you think it
will be the wave of the future? Explain your reasoning.
Students’ answers may vary widely as they express their opinions of ethnographic research.
Advantages of Internet surveys include speed, low cost, creation of longitudinal studies, cost effectiveness of short
surveys, the ability to reach large audiences, and eye appeal. Disadvantages include skewing of online survey results
because of the composition of people active online does not necessarily mirror the general population. Therefore,
sampling error may occur.
8. Why has scanner-based research been seen as “the ultimate answer” for marketing researchers? Do you see
any disadvantages of this methodology?
Scanner-based research provides an accurate, objective picture of the direct causal relationship between different
kinds of marketing efforts and actual sales. Many non-scanner marketing research projects involve gathering
attitudinal data—that is, asking respondents what they might do or how they think. Scanner-based research does not
rely on such subjective answers; it tracks behavior, not opinions or attitudes. One disadvantage to scanner-based
research is that it may not be appropriate for the type of information you are trying to gather. For instance, if you
wanted to know what consumers thought of a new product idea, scanner-based research would not help. Another
disadvantage is that there is no simple way of gathering information on why consumers buy certain products, only
what they buy. Scanner-based research may not be able to isolate certain marketing efforts if there are many
activities going on at once.
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. Write a reply to the following statement: “I own a restaurant in the downtown area. I see customers every
day whom I know on a first-name basis. I understand their likes and dislikes. If I put something on the menu
and it doesn’t sell, I know that they didn’t like it. I also read the magazine Modern Restaurants, so I know
what the trends are in the industry. This is all of the marketing research I need to do.”
Although students’ answers will vary, they should address some of these points: Making correct decisions is as
important to small firms as it is to larger ones; managers at any level need information to make better decisions; for
the small firm, the task is how to provide that information within a reasonable cost range; the owner cannot assume
he knows what customers like without asking them. There may be several reasons they do not buy a new menu item.
a. The supermarket should have short intercept interviews or phone interviews in order to get more participation.
If it does decide to hand out questionnaires, someone should explain and ask for each customer’s participation.
b. They are surely going to scare customers by casually approaching them and asking for their ZIP codes. Perhaps
uniformed security officers could do this, but it would be easier and safer to ask people their ZIP codes at the
exit doors of the mall.
c. People are not going to be willing to pay to vote for a movie. Exit interviews are the way to go for this one. Or
just wait and watch box office receipts.
4. You have been charged with determining how to attract more business majors to your school. Write an
outline of the steps you would take, including the sampling procedures, to accomplish the task.
The first step is to define the problem or questions that this research needs to examine. The next step, planning the
research design, specifies the method that will be used to collect data. Then the sampling procedures that best fit the
Chapter 9 ♦ Systems and Marketing Research 9
situation are selected. Next the data are collected, often by an outside firm. Data analysis then takes place, and the
results are interpreted. Subsequently, a report is drafted and presented to management. A follow-up on the
usefulness of the data and the report is the final step.
Focus groups are used when a researcher needs detailed information or needs to brainstorm. The group dynamics of
a focus group may mean that a response from one person will stimulate ideas and more comments from others.
Focus groups should not be used if the researcher just wants standard question–answer information.
6. Divide the class into teams of eight persons. Each group will conduct a focus group on the quality and
number of services that your college is providing to its students. One person from each group should be
chosen to act as moderator. Remember, it is the moderator’s job to facilitate discussion, not to lead the
discussion. These group sessions should last approximately 45 minutes. If possible, the groups should be
videotaped or recorded. Upon completion, each group should write a brief report of its results. Consider
offering to meet with the dean of students to share the results of your research.
8. Divide the class into teams. Each team should go to a different opt-in survey site on the Web and participate
in an online survey. A spokesperson for each team should report the results to the class.
9. Detractors claim that scanner-based research is like “driving a car down the road looking only in the
rearview mirror.” What does this mean? Do you agree?
This is a major disadvantage to scanner-based research: it gathers information on the past but may not be able to
predict the future. Students can argue for or against this statement:
FOR the statement: Past purchasing behavior does not necessarily predict future behavior. Consumers may be
sensitive to promotional activity, competitive activity, and even impulse purchasing. Scanner-based research does
not provide reasons why consumers purchase certain products, so inaccurate conclusions may be drawn from their
buying behavior.
AGAINST the statement: Scanner-based research can predict future buying behavior. For instance, if a consumer
purchases a certain brand of baby formula on a regular basis, it can be predicted that he or she will continue
purchasing this brand due to brand loyalty. It can also be predicted that the purchases will disappear after one year
when the baby is old enough to drink cow’s milk. It can also be predicted that, within a few months, the consumer
will be buying chunkier baby food in microwavable containers. Scanner-based research may only report what’s
happened in the past, but history often predicts the future.
10. Why do you think that competitive intelligence (CI) is so hot in today’s environment?
With the level of competition in today’s business environment, firms that are to survive and prosper must be aware
of the events and entities that will affect their profitability.
11. Prepare a memo to your boss at United Airlines and outline why the organization needs a CI unit.
Students’ responses will vary depending on the specific reasons that the student chooses to target. Some of those
factors might be safety, regulation, competition, fuels prices, and so forth.
Students’ results will vary depending on the firm they have chosen. However, they should be able to glean some
product, marketing, and financial information.
Mystery shoppers are researchers posing as customers who gather observational data about a store. Companies also
hire these shoppers to study customer-employee interactions. Mystery shoppers also:
• Enable an organization to monitor compliance with product/service delivery standards and specifications
• Enable marketers to examine the gap between promises made through advertising/sales promotion and
actual service delivery
• Help monitor the impact of training and performance improvement initiatives
• Identify differences in the customer experience across different times of day, locations, product/service
types and other potential sources of variation in product/service quality
APPLICATION EXERCISE
For its Teens and Healthy Eating: Oxymoron or Trend? study, New York–based BuzzBack Market Research focused on
snacking. Among its findings: Teens eat an average of three snacks per day, and breakfast is the meal they skip most
often. Though scads of snacks are stacked on store shelves, when it comes to healthier treats targeting adolescents, it’s a
bit of a teenage wasteland. BuzzBack asked 532 teen respondents to conjure up new foods they’d gobble up. The
following are some of their ideas:
• “Travel fruit. Why can’t fruit be in travel bags like chips or cookies? Canned fruit is too messy. Maybe have a
dip or something sold with it, too.” –Female, age 17
• “A drink that contains five servings of fruits and vegetables.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “I would invent all natural and fat-free, vitamin-enhanced cookies and chips that had great flavor.” –Female,
age 16
• “I would make fruit-based cookies.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “Low-carb trail mix, because trail mix is easy to eat but it has a lot of fat/carbs.” –Female, age 15, Caucasian
• “I would create some sort of microwavable spaghetti.” –Male, age 16, Caucasian
• “Something quick and easy to make that’s also cheap. I’ll be in college next year, and I’m trying to find things
that are affordable, healthier than cafeteria food, and easy to make.” –Female, age 17
• “Good vegan mac n’cheese.” –Female, age 18, Caucasian
• “A smoothie where you could get all the nutrients you need, that tastes good, helps you stay in shape, and is
good for you. Has vitamins A, B3, B12, C, ginkgo. Packaging would be bright.” –Female, age 16, African
American
• “A breakfast shake for teens. Something easy that tastes good, not necessarily for dieters like Slim Fast, etc.
Something to balance you off in the morning.” –Male, age 18
SOURCE: Becky Ebenkamp, “The Market Is the Message,” “What If Teenagers Ruled the R&D Roost?” Brandweek, July 11, 2005, 16 and 17.
Activities
1. You are a new-product development specialist at Kraft. What guidance can you get from the BuzzBack study?
2. Choose one of the suggestions from the above list of healthy snack concepts. Imagine that your company is
interested in turning the idea into a new product but wants to conduct market research before investing in product
development. Design a marketing research plan that will give company managers the information they need before
engaging in new-product development of the idea. (Hint: Use steps 1–3 in Exhibit 8.1 as a guide.)
3. Once you have finished your plan, collect the data. Depending on the data-collection methods you have outlined in
your plan, you may need to make adjustments so that you can collect actual data to analyze.
Purpose: To show how marketing research supports all of the marketing functions.
Setting It Up: This exercise is well suited to small group work in class. Once groups have made their lists, have groups
come together to share their results as a class.
What three words best describe how students feel about marketing research before entering the course? Do hard, boring,
and unnecessary come to mind? In order to combat these negative expectations, an in-class exercise can be used in the
first class meeting to hopefully change students’ attitudes towards marketing research.
The exercise begins by asking students to list and describe the basic functions of marketing. This task may be facilitated
by providing the students with any product or service (e.g., athletic footwear, cars, universities) and asking what
functions should be performed to successfully market this product or service. After discussing the functions, the students
are told to list all of the potential research activities needed to support each of the marketing functions. The typical list of
functions and some of the related marketing research activities are shown below:
The broad purpose of this in-class exercise is to stress the importance of marketing research and set the tone for the
semester. More specifically, the exercise has the following benefits:
• Serves as a review of the basic marketing functions
• Provides the students with a basis for developing a list of questions for their initial client meeting (Note:
students conduct research for businesses in the community)
• Positions research in the context of the overall marketing discipline
• Explores the critical link between research and the basic marketing functions
John Michael Smythe owns a small marketing research firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which employs 75 people. Most
employees are the sole breadwinners in their families. John’s firm has not fared well for the past two years and is on the
verge of bankruptcy. The company recently surveyed over 2,500 people in Ohio about new-car purchase plans for the
Ohio Department of Economic Development. Because the study identified many hot prospects for new cars, a car dealer
has offered John $8,000 for the names and phone numbers of people saying they are “likely” or “very likely” to buy a
new car within the next 12 months. John needs the money to avoid laying off a number of employees.
This dilemma is particularly tricky because it involves the interests of John as both a marketing research provider
and as an employer. The situation does not specifically state that the people in the survey were promised privacy as
part of their participation in the survey. That would be one reason to support John selling the names. Survey
participants surely did not participate in the project, however, expecting to hear a sales pitch from a new car dealer
shortly thereafter.
2. Does the AMA Code of Ethics address this issue? Go to http://www.marketingpower.com and review the
code. Then, write a brief paragraph on what the AMA Code of Ethics contains that relates to John Smythe’s
dilemma.
The AMA Code of Ethics does have verbiage requiring marketers to “apply confidentiality and anonymity in
professional relationships with regard to privileged information.” If the list of names and the survey results are
considered privileged, then John is bound by the Code not to sell the names. In addition, the Code prohibits
marketers from taking advantage of situations to maximize personal welfare in a way that unfairly deprives or
damages others. And it also prohibits selling under the guise of marketing research (known as sugging). Although
John did not explicitly do this, if John were to sell the list of names, sugging would be the eventual result.
1. Using information collected for Ricky Martin’s fan club would be considered:
a. primary data
b. meeting the research objective
c. secondary data
d. survey research
ANS: C
The Nederlander organization using this information to market Evita would be considered using secondary data,
because the information was originally gathered for Ricky Martin’s fan club’s use.
2. Broadway Direct offers a collection of people who have signed up to receive a newsletter about Nederlander
theatre events. Most of these individuals also purchased tickets to see a show at a Nederlander owned theatre. If
used as a sample for a marketing research project, Broadway Direct would be a
a. judgment sample
b. probability sample
c. observation research
d. convenience sample
ANS: D
Because the sample is people who chose to sign up or already purchased tickets from one organization, and the list
would be easy to obtain, this group would be considered a convenience sample.
4. When someone opts in to receive Broadway direct newsletters, what step in the CRM system are they fulfilling for
the Nederlander organization?
a. They are helping Nederlander understand its interactions with the current customer base.
b. They are helping Nederlander capture customer data based on interactions.
c. They are helping Nederlander identify its best customers.
d. They are helping Nederlander leverage stored information.
ANS: B
By opting in, customers are providing Nederlander with customer data based on how they interact with the
company.
Though it has been in production since 1983, Unilever’s Axe body fragrance skyrocketed from a small European brand
to a $2.5 billion global enterprise in recent years. Axe holds 76 percent of the body fragrance market, and grew 13.6
percent in 2012 alone. Without question, the key to Axe’s success has been its excellence in marketing. As other
companies do, Axe sponsors events and places advertisements that are aimed at connecting with young men. Axe,
however, takes things a step further by tying all of its marketing efforts to an incredible level of research.
Axe’s core target demographic is men aged 20 to 25. It does not try to “age” with the group, meaning that it does
not chase its customers as they age. The company operates a relentless research system that focuses squarely on this
segment, tracking fads, trends, likes and dislikes, interests, and relationship patterns. Axe marketers know that what
appealed to the 20 to 25 demographic five years ago will not appeal to the current 20 to 25 group, and that whatever is
Axe’s research skills have led to a significant shift in its advertising strategy. Early on, marketers found that males
and females would often spend time in separate groups. This knowledge led to advertising that focused on how guys
could use Axe to get close to girls. In one commercial, a cheerleader, driven insane by Axe, tackles a football player
wearing the fragrance. Recently, however, researchers found that males and females are spending more time together.
Axe shifted its advertising strategy, playing to both men and women. The newer commercials show women being more
demanding, telling males to groom themselves better and females to take charge of the budding romance.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Axe engages in market research when it tracks fads, trends, likes and dislikes, interests, and relationship patterns.
2. Axe relies primarily on secondary data to discover what appeals to 20- to 25-year-old males.
ANS: F
Axe uses primary data, information collected for the first time, to stay up to date on its target market.
3. If Axe surveyed students at Harvard University to represent the entire 20- to 25-year-old market, it might encounter a
random error.
4. An effective way for Axe to reduce its research costs while improving respondent participation would be to utilize
internet surveys.
5. Axe likely collects data through behavior-based research, a system for gathering information from a single group of
respondents by continuously monitoring the advertising, promotion, and pricing they are exposed to and the things they
buy.
ANS: F
This defines scanner-based research.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following statements illustrates the predictive role of marketing research?
a. Axe holds 76 percent of the body fragrance market.
b. Online sales account for 8 percent of all sales.
c. The new television commercial will likely drive sales up 21 percent.
d. Axe’s packaging redesign resulted in a 2 percent drop in sales.
e. None of these.
2. Suppose Axe gathered eight 23-year-old males together to have a moderated discussion about what they liked and
disliked about the new Axe body spray fragrance. This is an example of a(n):
a. In-home personal interview.
b. Mail survey.
c. Focus group.
d. Executive interview.
e. Web survey.
ANS: C
A focus group is a type of personal interviewing. Often recruited by random telephone screening, seven to ten people
with certain desired characteristics form a focus group. These qualified consumers are usually offered an incentive
(typically $30 to $50) to participate in a group discussion.
3. “Which fragrance of Axe body spray do you like the least?” is an example of this type of questionnaire question:
a. Open-ended.
b. Dichotomous.
c. Multiple choice.
d. Scaled-response.
e. None of these.
ANS: C
Closed-ended questions can either be dichotomous or multiple choice. This closed-ended question is multiple choice.
4. According to the case, American males age 20 to 25 represent the _____ for Axe’s market research:
a. Universe.
b. Focus group.
c. Sample.
d. Big data.
e. Competitive intelligence.
ANS: A
A universe is comprised of the population from which a sample will be drawn.
ANS: E
Discussion board questions provided to students to encourage them to engage in thinking and writing about the content
of the Principles of Marketing course usually take the form of a provocative statement to which students are asked to
respond. An example of this would be “All PR is good PR.”
Discussion topics such as this one are abstract and often require that the instructor provide an initial reply to show
students what is expected of them in their own replies. For students with limited work experience, this approach may be
quite appropriate. For adult students with extensive experience as employees and consumers, however, the abstract
nature of such topics can be frustrating.
I have developed, therefore, a series of discussion board questions to use with experienced, adult students. These
questions are designed to encourage them to use their experiences as employees and consumers as doorways to better
understand the course material, and to make their own responses more interesting to themselves and to the other students
in the class who will read and comment on them.
Here are additional such discussion board questions developed for Chapter 9 of MKTG7. Each is written to fit the same
text cited above but could easily be rewritten and revised to fit another text.
Series A
1. Marketing research is the process of planning, collecting, and analyzing data relevant to a marketing decision.
2. Review the information on the role of marketing research from section 9-2 of your text.
3. Then describe how your employer uses marketing research or, if you do not think your employer does, how it
could use marketing research.
Series B
1. All forms of survey research require a questionnaire.
2. Review the information on questionnaire design from section 9-3c of your text.
3. Suppose you wished to design a questionnaire that could be used by your employer to do marketing research.
Describe what the questionnaire would be designed to find out and write one good closed-ended question that
could be used on it.
The purpose of this assignment is to acquaint the student with the many diverse business information sources available to
them in their college library as well as introduce them to the types of data marketers often use when making a strategy
decision. As you are aware, the ability to locate and analyze secondary data in an efficient and effective manner is
critical to their success as a business student as well as a future business decision maker. It has been said that “To
manage a business well is to manage its future; and to manage the future is to manage information.” Increasingly,
marketers view information not just as an input for making better decisions, but also as an important strategic asset and
marketing tool.
I write a new data hunt every year around one of the cases in the marketing principles text book and assign it relatively
early on in the semester. I have treated it as either a pass/fail or a graded assignment and both approaches seem to work. I
used to suggest to the students which sources might be consulted in completing each question but found certain logistical
problems with this approach. I now provide the students with a list of sources that includes a brief description of some of
the key sources available. A business library tour and a demonstration on accessing information through the Internet and
the various online indexes are also provided. After the students complete the data hunt, I ask them to analyze the case
using the secondary data they have gathered. The students often aren’t very excited about the assignment in the
beginning but many have indicated on course evaluations later that the data hunt was one of the strengths of the course
and a worthwhile learning assignment. The following is an example of the type of questions I include on the data hunt.
A NIGHT ATTACK.
The night was a thing of perfection, on the sea. The moon rode
aloft and its light danced merrily on the tips of the waves. A smart
breeze pouted the sails on the “Captain Spencer” till she plowed her
way like a skimming albatross through the phosphorescence of the
southern field of ocean.
On deck the beef-eaters, Adam and William Phipps, with the mate
and a jovial boatswain, were in high spirits. They were nearing their
goal, after a run which would have awakened some sort of a
rollicking devil in a deacon. Captain Phipps had felt a spell of
bubbling coming upon him for days. It always did, the moment he
dropped Boston out of sight, over the green, serrated edge of the
riotous Atlantic. Therefore he had broken off the neck of a bottle of
good, red juice, which had lain for a year in the hold of the brig, and
this liquified comfort had circulated generously.
The beef-eaters, arm in arm, were now spraddling about the deck
in a dance of which Terpsichore had never been guilty, even in her A
B C’s of the art. The boatswain was furnishing music from a tin pipe,
the one virtue of which was that it was tireless.
At length he altered the tune, or at least, so he said, and after a
bar or two of the measure had lost itself in the sails and shrouds,
Adam cleared his throat for a song.
“In the Northern sea I loved a maid,
As cold as a polar bear,
But of taking cold I was not afraid—
Sing too rel le roo,
And the wine is red—
For a kiss is a kiss, most anywhere,
When a man’s heart goes to his head.
There were more of these verses, one to fit every sea, of which
there be more than seven, as the song proved. The beef-eaters and
Captain Phipps joined in the chorus, for the boatswain gave it a rare
flavor of music.
At the wheel, the second mate had jammed a marlin spike
between the spokes, to hold the brig on the wind, and sitting cosily
down had gone fast asleep. The lookout aloft had become absorbed
in the singing, to which he was bending every attention. In the midst
of a chorus, which might and might not have been the finale of
Adam’s ditty, there was a sudden alarm that rang from one end to
the other of the brig, and all too abruptly a black hulk of a ship, with
never a light, came sizzling the brine in her speed, the length of a
few anchor-chains away, and made for the “Spencer” with dire intent.
The music ceased as if it had been cut off with a knife. Scuttling
swiftly to the side of the ship and then bawling orders, and chasing to
the armory in hot haste, Phipps, Adam and the others yelled that a
pirate was upon them. The words, like an incantation of marvelous
potency, summoned men like so many gnomes, from hatches,
companion-ways and fo’castle, on the instant.
The brig’s deck suddenly swarmed with its own men, running
hither and thither, shouting, stumbling, swearing, while Phipps and
Rust came darting back with arms full of cutlasses, pistols and
muskets, gathered helter-skelter, and now thrown with a great clatter
upon the planking.
Scrambling here to arm themselves, the sailors heard a crunch,
felt the brig shudder beneath their feet and beheld half a dozen iron
hooks come flying over the gunwale from the pirate, and saw them
jerk snug up to the rail, as the raiders pulled taut on the lines that
quickly lashed the two vessels together.
A black cascade of men came leaping from the pirate, landing
heavily on the “Spencer’s” deck. Their pistols blazed yellow
exclamation points of fire, as the men struck on their feet, and then
with a clash of steel on steel, Rust, Phipps and half a score of sailors
rushed upon the invaders and a mad scuffle and melée ensued.
Rust was conscious of a few things about him in the confusion. He
thought how cold the naked blades looked, slashing in the moonlight;
he heard the yells and curses against the background of a slapping
sail that was making a sound like a weird alarm; he felt the strength
of the big rascal, who was cutting at him with that brute force and
disregard for skill which is so deadly to engage. He thought the
fellow would slice his saber in two. He lost no time in feinting. The
brute of a buccaneer lurched forward to sweep his blade clean
through Adam’s body and then suddenly a moonbeam seemed to
cleave its way through the ruffian’s neck. He dropped his sword and
spun around with his head lolling sideways and went down.
Adam rushed to the taff-rail. The pirate ship was straining at the
ropes by which her hooks secured the two black hulks together.
Smiting these taut ropes with mad fury, Rust saw the pirate drift
away and the gulf of water widen between the two vessels, while the
scoundrels aboard the robber-ship yelled a discordant chorus of
curses.
Then back into the fray, the din of which was rising, as wounded
men smarted and yelled and rushed upon one another anew, like
snarling wolves, Adam darted, pistoling a creature who came
running upon him and then heaving him overboard as the fellow
writhed on the planks.
The sailors of the “Spencer” had somewhat the best of the conflict,
which was a match in scuffling hotly all over the deck. Less than a
dozen of the pirates had been able to leap aboard before the vessels
were apart, and their bawlings for help to their ship had been
rendered vain, for the moment, by Adam’s prompt action in cutting
the lines. However, the sea-scoundrels were versed in fighting,
where the sailors were merely rough-and-tumble sons of Cain whose
rage was their principal accoutrement. They were at their
adversaries, hammer and tongs. They were wrestling with some,
hacking at others, swearing at all. It was a small pandemonium in
which it was next to impossible to distinguish friend from foe.
Phipps, like the woodsman from Maine that he was, hewed his
way from one group to another, shouting to his men, hoarsely. The
beef-eaters, as inseparable as when they were dancing, chose but
one man between them, and one such they peeled to a horrid core,
as the demon rushed upon their sharpened weapons.
Adam stepped in a crawling line of gore, its head silver-tipped in
the moonlight, and slipped till it wrenched him to hold his footing. He
saw the sailors crowding three of the pirates to the rail and, joining
them, battered the cutlasses from their fists and helped to hoist them
bodily over and into the sea.
The din had hardly abated anything of its volume. The scene was
one of the maddest activity. But the robbers not already done for,
were now at bay against the masts, the capstan or the rail. One
tripped backward over a coil of rope. The next instant he was
screaming help and murder at the top of his lungs. This he continued
even after a dreadful rattle and spluttering came in his voice.
Over the reddened decks one or two wounded creatures were
crawling, one wiping gore from his face and flinging it off his fingers.
Swords and pistols lay about. One dying human was lying on his
side, with his arm extended and his index finger slowly crooked and
straightened and crooked again, as if he beckoned to death to come
more quickly.
The sail began to slap at the mast again, as the brig swung bow
on in the wind and stopped in stays. The croaked curses of the
pirates, on their ship, which was now again drawing swiftly toward
the “Spencer,” made Adam and Phipps suddenly run to the brig’s
brass gun, which was looking dumbly forth toward the pirate.
Rust had filled his pocket with loose powder. The cannon was
already loaded. He poured a small pyramid of powder on the vent
and he and Phipps, with the combined strength of two giants, slewed
the piece around till a ball from the pirate could have been tossed
into its yawning muzzle.
From the galley, the cook came running with blazing coals on a
shovel. He had been watching the gun. The pirate missed her mark.
She came up in stays, just as the “Spencer” got again on the wind.
The bows of the robber-craft were almost in touch with the brig.
Adam saw that the cannon would fail to sweep the pirate’s decks
—that the shot would be practically wasted, if it went at the gun’s
present elevation. With a sudden impulse he leaped astride its
smooth, brass nose and bore it down, depressing the muzzle toward
the water, just as the crazy cook turned his shovel upside down on
the primed vent.
There was suddenly a deafening roar. The concussion shook
every man’s feet from under him. The gun leaped backward, like a
bucking horse, and Rust went sprawling on the decks, for he had
been left abruptly, with no support beneath him.
The shot tore a hole in the pirate the size of a hogshead, squarely
on her water-line, in her starboard bow. She came about in the wind
and the sea rushed into her hold in a torrent.
A dreadful silence ensued when the air was clear of the
detonation. Then a moan from a dying wretch on the “Spencer’s”
deck seemed to touch into being a chorus of yells from the doomed
pirate, where the murderous crew found themselves armed to the
teeth and yet sinking, defenseless, into the very jaws of death. Their
sails slackened again and shook with a sound as of funeral shrouds.
The “Spencer” scudded away into the boulevard of silver which the
moon was paving with its light. The sinking pirate gathered the
cannon’s smoke about her and settled swiftly, but not in silence, into
the grave that fitted so snugly about its body.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The brig “Captain Spencer,” came duly to her goal at the green
Bahamas. What with wounds received from the pirates, who had
called so unceremoniously, and from sea-sickness, which they
always had, the beef-eaters were glad of the sight of land. Phipps
and Rust were filled with rejoicings by reason of the dreams they had
of thrusting a naked arm apiece into the sea and fetching up
handfuls of gold with which to return to two sweet women in Boston.
All hands were presently doomed to disappointment. Phipps
learned that his treasure-ship was indeed a fact, but that she was
small, both in tonnage and her burden of Spanish coins, that she lay
in many fathoms of water and that, indeed, she was scarcely worth
serious attention.
Phipps was, however, a popular man at these bits of jeweled land
in the emerald sea. He had traded there on several occasions,
making friends always. Thus it came that a hobbling old salt, whom
he had befriended in a scrimmage, consoled him with the information
of a large treasure-ship, sunk somewhere in the neighborhood of
Hispaniola. He resolved at once to pursue this matter to the end, for
which purpose the “Captain Spencer” would be wholly inadequate,
as the Spanish Main was as filled with pirates as the sky may be of
buzzards over dying caravans.
With the approval of the entire party, the brig was now headed for
England, Adam and Phipps feeling confident of their ability to secure
a larger ship for their enterprise.
On familiar soil when the “Spencer” at length came to anchor, off
the tower of London, in the Thames, Adam had little difficulty in
finding a market for the brig. With the proceeds of the sale in his
pockets, William Phipps, under Adam’s tuition, blossomed out as a
gentleman of no little personal attractiveness. Adam, as one born to
the purple, donned a handsome attire and swaggered with all the
elegance of a prince.
He was soon in the midst of his former acquaintances, with one of
whom he fought a duel at the end of the first week, requiring his
vanquished foe, who was only sufficiently wounded to be satisfied, to
kneel in humility and to wipe the victor’s blade clean of his own red
juice, on the hem of his coat.
Rust until now had never had occasion to regret the disfavor in
which Charles Stuart held him, since a certain distinguished lady had
declared the “Sachem” to be vastly more entertaining than his
Majesty with ready narratives. However, he was undismayed, for
with James, fated so soon to be king, he was amazingly friendly.
William Phipps, for his part, needed but one introduction and no
recommendation. Above all things temporal, James reveled in naval
adventure. Blunt, gallant Captain Phipps appealed to him instantly.
The tale of the treasure-ship set him aflame with eagerness to go
with this adventurous company to the western Indies, where he
could readily picture himself, Phipps and Adam fighting their way to
the rotting strongholds of the Spanish galleon, sunk there half a
century before.
With an alacrity which was of a highly complimentary character to
Phipps and Rust, the Prince procured a fine vessel, the “Rose-
Algier,” with a crew of ninety-five men and an armament of eighteen
guns, and gave her into the trust of his friends for their enterprise. It
was agreed that inasmuch as he thus found the ship and the
expenses of the venture, he should have ninety per cent. of
whatsoever treasure should be recovered, Phipps declaring for
himself and Adam how contented they would be with the remaining
one-tenth.
Late in the year, which was 1684, the “Rose-Algier” bore away for
Hispaniola, Phipps, Adam, and the faithful beef-eaters, whom
seasickness nor peril could drive from Adam’s side, soon beginning
to wonder what manner of crew it was with which they had shipped.
A few weeks later, King Charles the Second died. James ascended
the throne. Thus the treasure-seekers were backed by the English
monarch and his government.
A sunken ship has frequently proved to be a small thing, and the
ocean a large one, to the seeker, eager for its cargo. The “Rose-
Algier” dipped into all manner of harbors and her master asked all
manner of people all manner of questions, to no avail. The months
slipped by, in this tedious occupation, the crew grew weary of a
voyage so profitless and so entirely unpromising.
The grumblings of mutiny have a way of keeping below decks,
where they simmer volcanically. Nevertheless the beef-eaters heard
something of the discontent in the fo’castle, where the ruffians of the
crew were for seizing the vessel, running up the black flag and
turning pirate forthwith. The Rose was a swift, great bird upon the
waves, she was armed to the teeth, she was well provisioned. What
more could be desired for buccaneering? And piracy paid its
disciples handsomely. Spain and France, particularly, had a hundred
argosies in constant flight between the West Indies and home. Gold
was the commonest burden of all. Your pirate was a dare-devil,
whose life was reputed to be one long round of adventure, drinking
and looting. All pirates either died happy or hung, and anything was
better than this pothering about in a good ship, seeking for treasure
that was sunk admittedly, while millions of treasure was afloat and
nearly all to be had for the asking. With precious few exceptions the
crew agreed that this was true enough for every practical purpose.
CHAPTER XIX.
MUTINY.