Marketing Research and Information Systems

Flashcards about marketing research.

Marketing research

The systematic design, collection, interpretation, and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific marketing problems or take advantage of marketing opportunities.

Marketing research

A process for gathering information that is not currently available to decision makers.

Qualitative data

Yields descriptive non-numerical information.

Quantitative data

Yields empirical information that can be communicated through numbers.

Exploratory research

Research conducted to gather more information about a problem or to make a tentative hypothesis more specific.

Customer advisory boards

Small groups of actual customers who serve as sounding boards and offer insights into their feelings and attitudes toward a firm’s products and other elements of its marketing strategy.

Focus group

A small group of 8 to 12 people who are brought together to participate in an interview that is often conducted informally, without a structured questionnaire, to observe interaction when members are exposed to an idea or a concept.

Conclusive research

Research designed to verify insights through objective procedures and to help marketers in making decisions.

Descriptive research

Research conducted to clarify the characteristics of certain phenomena to solve a particular problem.

Experimental research

Research that allows marketers to make causal inferences about relationships between variables.

Research design

An overall plan for obtaining the information needed to address a research problem or issue.

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 trials.

Validity

A condition that exists when a research method measures what it is supposed to measure.

Primary data

Data observed and recorded or collected directly from respondents.

Secondary data

Data compiled both inside and outside the organization for some purpose other than the current investigation.

Population

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

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

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

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

A sampling technique in which there is no way to calculate the likelihood that a specific element of the population being studied will be chosen.

Quota sampling

A nonprobability sampling technique in which researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily choose participants from each group.

Mail survey

A research method in which respondents answer a questionnaire sent through the mail.

Telephone survey

A research method in which respondents’ answers to a questionnaire are recorded by an interviewer on the phone.

Telephone depth interview

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 (door-to-door) interview

A personal interview that takes place in the respondent’s home.

shopping mall intercept interview

A research method that involves interviewing a percentage of individuals passing by “intercept points in a mall”.

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 performed by a marketer or researcher and outsourcing them to a crowd, or potential market, through an open call

Marketing information system (MIS)

A framework for managing and structuring information gathered regularly from sources inside and outside the organization.

Database

A collection of information arranged for easy access and retrieval.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Employs database marketing techniques to identify different types of customers and develop specific strategies for interacting with each customer.

Single-source data

Information provided by a single marketing research firm.

Big data

Massive data files that can be obtained from both structured and unstructured databases.

Marketing analytics

The use of tools and methods to measure and interpret the effectiveness of a firm’s marketing activities.

Marketing decision support system (MDSS)

Customized computer software that aids marketing managers in decision making.