Market Research

Marketing Research

Marketing research is defined as "the systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data with respect to a particular market, where market refers to a specific customer group in a specific geographic area" (McDaniel & Gates, 2006, p. 3). The decisions made by Marketing are supported by the collection and analysis of the information, as well as the presentation of the analysis to management. This definition may perhaps represent that the only time marketing research is conducted is when there is at least a potential for a decision to be made as a result of the research.

Market research objectives can be divided into four types: exploratory, descriptive, diagnostic and predictive. Exploratory research is conducted to establish the structure for research to be conducted at a later time and provide whoever is doing the research with initial information about the topic of research. With the advancement of technology, this type of research is often conducted through a "web-based" process. Description research is conducted to communicate existing facts but not necessarily explain what is or has caused them. Researchers use this type of research to improve the understanding of the existing market for a product or service. Diagnostic research is conducted to clarify (or find a cause) for an identified problem-causing variable with a current product or service and then track the effects. Predictive research is conducted to determine what the effects of changes to a specific variable will be. This type of research is usually geared towards finding new opportunities. Three of the research objectives - descriptive, diagnostic and predictive - focus on customers. Customers can be actual or potential and are normally in large quantities. Exploratory research normally focuses on competitors with the same market.

Various research methodologies or techniques are available such as focus groups, surveys, etc., that can be categorized as quantitative or qualitative (Snap Surveys Ltd., 2010-2014). Quantitative method is intended to generate data from a large number of cases (randomly selected respondents) representing the population of interest that can be numerically analyzed statistically. These would include surveys, online questionnaires or telephone interviews where the results of the findings are conclusive and descriptive. A few examples of quantitative data are tests scores, number of study hours, or significance of a subject. Qualitative method is intended to generate observations about the attitudes, values and perceptions of consumers within a specific market to identify trends in thoughts and behaviors. These would include focus groups, in-depth interviews, etc. Qualitative data is categorized non-numerically and includes such elements as physical traits, gender, colors or anything that does not have a number associated to it.

There are pros and cons to using the quantitative method versus qualitative method. More accurate assessments of data are possible with quantitative date that can be analyzed. The data collected using the qualitative method is considered more subjective because the data cannot be easily analyzed numerically. As a result, the data may have a lesser validity and not as conclusive as data collected through quantitative method. Another difference is the volume of data collected. Data collected using