Marketing Research Process

Lecturer: Insert your name here

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 Marketing Research Process
Outline
• Marketing Research Process
– Step One: Establish The Need for Marketing Research
– Step Two: Define the Problem
– Step Three: Establish Objectives
– Step Four: Determine Research Design
– Step Five: Identify Information Types and Sources
– Step Six: Determine Methods of Accessing Data
– Step Seven: Design Data Collection Forms
– Step Eight: Determine Sample Plan and Size
– Step Nine: Collect Data
– Step Ten: Analyze Data
– Step Eleven: Prepare and Present the Final Research Report
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 Marketing Research Process
• Marketing research process should be viewed as a
series of steps. knowledge of these steps provides a
road map for planning a research project.
• MR process is not always presented as an 11-step
process, nor all studies use all 11 steps. You may be
able to solve the problem with secondary data, i.e. a
visit to the library or Google™
• Few studies follow the steps in order

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 Marketing Research Process

Burnes, Bush: Marketing Research

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 Step One: Establish The Need for Marketing
Research
Activity

• Is there a real need for marketing research?

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 Does the management have a No
positive attitude towards research?

Yes
Are enough resources available to collect No
additional information and implement
the findings?
Yes Do Not
Is additional information needed to No Conduct
make the decision? Marketing
Research
Yes

Is the decision of strategic or tactical No

importance?

Yes

Does the value of additional information exceed No

the cost of research?

Yes
Conduct Marketing Research 6
 Step Two: Define the Problem
• The problem is a statement of
decision alternatives.
• Marketing research should only
be conducted when firms need
to make a decision and do not
have the information available to
guide decision making.

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 Step Three: Establish Objectives
• Research objectives state what the
researchers must do.
• establishing research objectives,
provides the information necessary to
choose between the decision
alternatives
• Research objectives, when achieved,
provide the information necessary to
solve the problem identified in step 2.
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Step Four: Determine Research Design

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Step Five: Identify Information Types and
Sources

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 Step Five: Identify Information Types and
Sources
• Secondary data is relatively easy to access;
primary data is more complex.
• Secondary information should always be
sought first, since it is much cheaper and
faster to collect than primary information.

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Step Six: Determine Methods of Accessing
Data
• Secondary data are relatively easy to obtain. It is
available in published sources and is either free or
available for a small fee.
• Three main choices for primary data collection:
– Have a person ask questions
– Use computer-assisted or direct questioning
– Allow respondents to answer questions themselves
without computer assistance
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 Step Seven: Design Data Collection Forms
• Data collection Form is the form on
which we gather data.
• Questionnaire must be worded
objectively, clearly, and without bias
in order to communicate with
respondents.
• Software programs are available to
assist marketing researchers in
preparing forms.
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 Step Eight: Determine Sample Plan and
Size
• Sample plan refers to the process
used to select units from the
population to be included in the
sample to represent the whole
population
• Sample size refers to determining
how many elements of the
population should be included in
the sample. Number of respondent
determine the level of accuracy of
the data

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 Step Nine: Collect Data
• Data collection is very important because,
regardless of the data analysis methods used,
data analysis cannot fix bad data.
• Data collection errors may be attributed to field
workers or respondents.
• Researchers must know the sources of these
errors and the controls to minimize them.

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 Step Ten: Analyze Data
• Data analysis involves entering data
into computer files, inspecting data for
errors, and running tabulations and
various statistical tests.
• Data cleaning is a process by which raw
data are checked to verify that the data
have been correctly inputted from the
data collection form to the computer
software program.

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 Step Eleven: Prepare and Present the Final
Research Report
• The last step is one of the most important
phases of marketing research. The report or
its presentation, properly communicates the
results to the client.

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