29 Scientific Way of Doing Marketing Research

Kulbhushan Chandel

1. Learning Objectives

After completing this module, the students will be able to:

Describe the scope of marketing research.
Discuss the classification of marketing research along with the major tasks involved in marketing research.
Describe the main features of good marketing research.
Explain in detail the process of marketing research.
Discuss where the marketing research could be applied.

2. Introduction

3. Scope of Marketing Research

Marketing research comprises of the activities which enables the organisation to obtain the market information which the business needs about its environment, marketing mix, present and potential customers. The scope of marketing is very wide, which starts before the production and end after the sale of the product. Market research provide the answer of many queries like; what- what is the product, which- at which price, who- who are the present and potential consumer, why- why they are motivated to buy the product, how- how they are buying it, when- when do they it and where-market from where do they buy. The scope of the marketing research covers all these areas, which are illustrated as under:-

3.1 Consumer Research: Consumer research referred to the study of consumer behaviour, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs- past, present and future, their buying pattern, lifestyle, satisfaction level etc. The consumer research includes the following:-

Identification of consumer needs and satisfaction level from the product or services.
Identification of buying behaviour and buying pattern.
Determination of demographic characteristics of consumer in term of age, sex, income, education of urban, semi-urban and rural population.
Ascertaining the consumer satisfaction level.
Assessing consumer brand preference.

The consumer research is one of the major marketing research areas and invariably used for consumer preference for durable products and also for service-oriented industries like hotel, restaurants, travel, clinics, hospital, education and policy service etc. The consumer research is a very skilled assignment and can be handled by experienced behaviour scientists, psychologists and statisticians.

3.2 Market Research: Market refers to the study of group of present and potential consumers. The type of research is confined to market operation and factor influenced them like study of supply demand positions, distribution logistics, competitor’s profile and type of distribution system. The market research briefly includes:-

Size of the present and potential market.
Ascertaining competitor’s marketing strategy and its operation in the market.
Ascertaining demand condition and factor influencing them.
Ascertaining demand and sales forecasting of products.
Determining the impact of legislative laws and government duties in market demand fluctuation.

3.3 Product research: Product research refers to the measuring and analyzing the effectiveness of product and service in meeting the needs and want of the target market. The research is useful in finding if any change in needed in product attributes, product features and packaging. The area of product research include:-

Evaluating product performance in terms of customer satisfaction, brand preferences, sales, profitability, perceived value and future trends.
Determining of modification in the existing products.
Determining consumer acceptance of new product.
Undertaking and assessing the market acceptability of competing products, brands and substitute product.
Test markets and new products.
Testing, packaging design and layout/format.
Determining new applications or new uses of existing or modified products.
Determining new area of markets for the existing product or modified products.
To determine product or brand positioning.
To assess various product diversification and new product launching plans.
To assess the market share of the product and improvement of the same.

3.4 Pricing Research: Pricing is very significant aspect of any marketing activity. Pricing refers to the value that consumer want/can pay in the exchange of goods and services. Marketing research in the area of pricing attempt to find out the price expectations, actions and reactions of the present and potential consumers. The following are the area of pricing research:-

Determine the price expectation of consumers in various markets.
Analyse the pricing policy and strategy of competitors.
Developing and analysing the alternative pricing strategies.
Understanding and measuring the consumer’s reactions to fix the price of a product.

3.5 Sales Research: The ultimate objective of any marketing company is to improve or at least sustain sales and necessary research is relevant to taking strategic decisions and such research activity is used in:-

Determining and appraising sales activity, selling methods and system.
Assessment of sales territories and sales quota.
Sales forecasting.
Assessing needs of sales force like planning, strength, recruitment, training and compensation system.
Credit policy /customer credit rating system.
Customer’s segmentation/customer profile studies.
Sales policies.
Assessment of sales and growth and market share.

3.6 Advertising Research: Advertising research is one of the very important market research activities and concerned with the whole gamut of consumer liking and preference, brand preference and media research. The purpose of this research is to bring the company’s product or brand nearer to the target consumers with the aid of communication through the most effective media. The objective is to determine the right type of message medial, time, duration and evaluation of such a communication exercise. The advertising research would be useful. The following are the area of advertising research:-

Evaluating the advertising message and product appeal.
Evaluating the most effective media
Determining time and duration of advertisement campaigns
Research pertaining to post-advertising campaigns
Evaluation of brand awareness and product awareness.

3.7 Sales Promotional Research: Sales promotional research is very important for products in maturity and decline stages and also where competition is very still. The promotional research will help to identify the type of promotional exercise to be carried out for a particular target audience. The sales promotion research may have following objectives:-

Determining type of sales promotion.
Determining extent/duration and timing of sales promotion.
Research pertaining to sales and profit after sales promotion.
Customer response to sales promotion and future.

3.8 Distribution Research: Distribution research has two dimensions like channel research and physical distribution research. Channel research finds the possible solution of intermediary’s problem between producers to consumers. Physical distribution research deals with the problems relating to holding, handling and transportation of product.

3.9 Other Marketing Mix Research: The other research activities of marketing mix like distribution channel research, physical distribution research, and pricing research are important activities are taken as and when required for the formulation of marketing strategies .The objective of such research are:-

Identifying the appropriate intermediaries or distribution members and distribution network structure for successful marketing of products.
Evaluation of existing distribution network and suggestion for modification, if necessary.
Evaluation of performance of distribution channel members.
Determination of performance incentives for dealer performance and improvement in dealer operations.
Determination of pricing policies and strategies along with competitor’ pricing strategies.
Evaluation of consumer response to product price and product quality.
Evaluation of assessment of price strategy or structure for distribution network.

4. Classifications of marketing research

Marketing research can be classified into two broad categories:

a. Problem Identification Research: It is undertaken to identify the problems which are not apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future. Examples of problem identification research comprises of market potential, market share, brand or company image, sales analysis, sales forecasting and business trends research.

b. Problem Solving Research: It is undertaken to help in solving the specific marketing problems and to arrive at a solution after the problem is identifies. The findings of the problem solving research are used in making the decisions which help in solving the specific marketing problems. Majority of the organisations follow this research for solving marketing problems. The main issues undertaken in this study includes segmentation, product, pricing, and promotion and distribution research.

Problem identification research and problem solving research go hand in hand and given marketing research project can have both types of research.

5. Marketing research tasks

Marketing research comprises of variety of tasks. Some of them are given below:

a. Specification of information needed for addressing issues.

b. Design of the method for collecting data.

c. Management and implementation of the data collection process.

d. Analysis of the data using statistical tools and arriving at the interpretation and findings.

e. Reporting the findings and their implementation.

6. Features of good marketing research

Good marketing research refers to the research that provides the objective of business organization and users of the research report. Good marketing research generates dependable data that are derived by professionally conducted practices and that can be used reliably for making marketing decisions. On contrary, the poor research is carelessly planned and conducted, resulting the data that a marketing manager cannot use to minimize the risk in business decision making. Though there is no specific criteria laid down for evaluation of the quality of research study, yet good research follow the standards, scientific, systematic and empirically based procedures for generating replicable research. However, the following are the features or guidelines for assessing the quality of research:-

Clearly defined objectives: The objectives of the marketing research that researcher is seeking to accomplish such as increase in sales, reduction in cost and expenditures, improve the consumer satisfaction etc., should be clearly defined. The scope and limitations of the problem should be demarcated clearly.
Translation of objectives to research problem: On the basis of objectives of the research, the researcher has to formulate the research problem or hypothesis of the research study to be undertaken to translate the objectives into research problem. Hence, it is said that a research is as good as research proposal.
Detailed research process: There are various stages of research and in systematic and scientific research a researcher has to define the complete research process with input-output at each stage and where it is required an illustration of process be also explained.
Thoroughly planned research design: Research design is framework within which researcher has to conduct his study. It is detailed procedure necessary for obtaining the information required for solving the research problem. In the good research the research designed is scientifically developed to arrive at the right conclusions.
High ethical standards: Ethics is the core of any research undertaken to arrive at truth. Ethical issues in research reflect moral concerns and responsible behaviour of the researcher in the realm of research activities.
Limitations should be clearly defined: Limitations, scope and key factors should clearly revealed in the good research as researcher has to perform his study within a specified framework and environment.
Adequate analysis of data: Analysis of the data should be wide-ranging enough to reveals the significance of the study. The validity of data should be checked thoroughly and carefully through statistical method.
Justified conclusions and findings: Interpretation should justify the original objectives of the research project and analysis of data. So the conclusions and findings should be logically organized and presented in words, tables and graphs to smoothen the progress of the management in arriving at correct marketing decisions.
Experience of researcher: The experience, knowledge, skill and expertise of researcher play a significant role in the area of good marketing research.

7. Marketing research process

Any problem or the issue of marketing research project have to go through a research process. The marketing research process comprises of following stages or steps in a sequential and planned manner, to guide the researcher from the beginning to end.

The steps of the marketing research process are as follows:

Problem formulation: The first stage involves defining the research problem and objectives. The entire process is based on the problem definition and its formulation. While formulating the research problem, the researcher should consider the purpose of the study and the necessary information regarding the background and how the collected information shall be used in the decision making is decided. The researcher shall in this stage decide about the research objectives and alternate courses of action and also state the form of research hypothesis to be examined. This stage comprises of discussions between researchers and decision making managers, interviews with industry experts, analysis of secondary data and some qualitative research.
Selection of research methodology: Appropriate research methodology selection depends upon the nature of the research problem and the availability of existing knowledge and information. Generally, marketing researchers uses the experimental and non-experimental research. In experimental research, at least one variable is subject to intervention by the researcher. In non-experimental research, there is no intervention. Thus, the difference between the methodologies lies in the control of extraneous variables by the researcher. The researcher should decide about the research design and also about the methodology proposed for the project. The methodology is of three type’s exploratory, descriptive or casual research. Exploratory research aims at collection of preliminary information which helps in defining the research problem and suggesting hypothesis. The objectives of descriptive research are to describe the marketing problems, situations or markets. Casual research aims at testing the hypothesis about the cause and effect relationships.
Developing research design: The next step is to develop the research design. The design is specification of methods and procedures for acquiring information needed by the researcher. It provides the necessary framework for the research work and for collecting the required information. The choice of design depends on the depth and extent of data required the costs and the benefits of the research, urgency of the work, and the time availability for the project. This blueprint is in the form of a research proposal which is a just a brief description of the purpose and scope, specific objectives, sample design, data collection procedures, data analysis plan, timeframe and estimated cost for the contemplated project.
Selection of data collection techniques: After developing the research design, the next step is deciding and selecting the specific techniques to be used to collect the required data. Data is the raw material to be used by the researcher for converting the information into the information pertaining to the problem at hand. Research instruments are used to gather the data. Questionnaire and observation are such instruments used in data collection. Data is normally classified as secondary data and primary data. Secondary data consists of the information which already exists and having been collected for some other purpose. Before starting on the process of primary data collection, the researcher must go through the secondary data sources. It is advantageous to the researcher. Sometimes, secondary data is sufficient for the research study. Secondary data is of two types, internal and external.Primary data consists of the data collected for the first time by the researcher for the specific purpose at hand. Primary data collection approaches include observation, survey and experiment. The research tools used for primary data collection are questionnaires or mechanical instruments like audio tapes, video tapes, CCTV cameras, etc. The most commonly used method is interview and questionnaire is the most commonly used technique.
Actual data collection: The next step involves actual collection of data using the decided techniques and tools. Some companies use in house researchers to collect the data or seek the help of outside consultants. It could be a combination of both also. It depends upon various factors like budget, time availability, and degree of accuracy, nature of project and complexity of information needed. Proper selection, training, supervision and evaluation of the field officer is necessary to minimise the data collection errors.
Analysis and interpretation of data: The data collected will be in the raw form. It needs tabulation, analysis and interpretation using the statistical tools and methods. This procedure is dependent upon the sampling procedures, measurement and data collection techniques. The commonly used measures are Ordinal Scale, Likert Scale, semantic differential scale and multi dimensional scaling.
Preparation of research report: The last step in marketing research is the preparation of research report. The final report will consists of the findings, results and recommendations prepared in an accurate, clear, complete and concise form. The report documents the research methodology followed, research design, data collection and analysis procedure adopted. The findings should be presented in simple, understandable format, using tables, figures and graphs so that management can easily comprehend and use them for decision making process.

8. Applications of marketing research

Marketing research finds application in a variety of business situations. Some of the examples are as follows:

a. Customer research: customer behaviour, buying influences, consumer profiles, motivation.

b. Market/ Demand research: market size, potential, market profile, market share, sales forecasting.

c. Product/ Brand Research: product usage study, product line, testing new products, brand preference.

d. Competition research: competition analysis, competitive structure, competitors’ products, prices, promotion, channel policies and selling methods.

e. Price research: evaluation of pricing strategy, assessing pricing pattern of the industry/ competitors.

f. Sales methods research: testing new sales programmes, analysing sales problems, sales territory analysis, and target fixation.

9. Summary

Marketing research involves applied research. Basic or pure research attempts to expand the limits of knowledge. It is not aimed at solving the particular practical problem. Applied research is conducted when a decision needs to be made about the special real-life problem. Marketing research focuses on applied research studies which are conducted to answer questions about the specific marketing problems or to make decisions about the particular course of action, strategies or policies. Scientific methods, techniques and procedures are used to follow, study, recognise and understand the marketing phenomenon. Marketing research comprises of the activities which enables the organisation to obtain the market information which the business needs about its environment, marketing mix, present and potential customers. The scope of marketing is very wide, which starts before the production and end after the sale of the product. Market research provide the answer of many queries like; what- what is the product, which- at which price, who- who are the present and potential consumer, why- why they are motivated to buy the product, how- how they are buying it, when- when do they it and where- market from where do they buy. Marketing research is of two types, viz., problem identification research and problem solving research. Problem Identification Research: It is undertaken to identify the problems which are not apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future. Problem Solving Research: It is undertaken to help in solving the specific marketing problems and to arrive at a solution after the problem is identifies. The findings of the problem solving research are used in making the decisions which help in solving the specific marketing problems. Majority of the organisations follow this research for solving marketing problems. Good marketing research refers to the research that serves the objective of business organization and users of the research report. Good marketing research generates dependable data that are derived by professionally conducted practices and that can be used reliably for making marketing decisions. On contrary, the poor research is carelessly planned and conducted, resulting the data that a marketing manager cannot use to minimize the risk in business decision making. Though there is no specific criteria laid down for evaluating the quality of research study, yet good research follow the standards, scientific, systematic and empirically based procedures for generating replicable research. Marketing research finds application in a variety of business situations like Customer research is applicable in customer behaviour, buying influences, consumer profiles, motivation; and Product/ Brand Research is applicable in product usage study, product line, testing new products, brand preference.

Suggested Readings (Books and Websites)

Ghosh PK, Sales Management- Text and Cases, Himalaya Publishing House, 2010.
Jobber David and Lancester Geoff, Selling and Sales Management, Pearson Education, Sixth Edition.
McCarthy, Jerome E. (1964). Basic Marketing. A Managerial Approach. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
Needham, Dave (1996). Business for Higher Awards. Oxford, England: Heinemann.
Kotler, Philip (2012). Marketing Management. Pearson Education. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. (2006), Marketing and Management, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA
McCarthy, Jerome E. (1975)”Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach,” fifth edition, Richard D. Irwin