MKTG 470 Marketing Research Exam 1

A very common use of Marketing Research is to

Determine market viability for a new offering

True or false --> It is easier to acquire NEW customers just entering a market rather than trying to acquire customers who are already participating in a market.

True

True or false --> secondary research takes less time to conduct than primary research.

True

Which of the following are NOT examples of "research" ?

-"I had a great new idea for a new business, so I surveyed my closest 20 friends. They all agreed it was a great idea!"

-"I wanted to know what % of San Diego residents think it would be appropriate for the San Diego State University to change the name of its mascot. To determine this, I posted an online survey to a online message board for SDSU football fans."

-"I wanted to know the general consensus attitude in the United States about wearing masks in public as part of managing Covid-19. I decided to read the most recent 200 posts on Twitter with the hashtag #wearamask to determine U.S. opinion."

None of these are examples of research because the method of sampling is clearly biased given the objectives of the study!

TRUE or FALSE: According to this chart, regardless of how well an advertisement did in the actual marketplace, the average heart rate for someone watching one of these adds was mostly LOWER than their baseline heart rate.

True

Which of the following are examples of new product concept testing studies?

-An online focus group provides written responses after being presented with a list of new VIDEO streaming features that might be added to Spotify.

-Sending samples of laundry detergent, each in an innovative form of packaging, to college students living in residential halls. Two months later, surveying them on their thoughts and impressions about the product packaging.

True or False: When marketers conduct optimal pricing surveys, they usually show all respondents the product price that was originally hypothesized to be the best price.

False

The results of the craft beer study showed that WHERE the product was manufactured played an important role in consumer decision making for craft beer. True or False: These results show that the production location of a food product is important for consumer decision making.

False

TRUE OR FALSE People who tend to NOT believe in "pseudo-profound bullshit" will also tend to score relatively higher on a verbal intelligence test.

True

True or False: One major difference between EXPLORATORY and DESCRIPTIVE studies is that exploratory studies DO NOT try to quantify the exact amount something happens, while a descriptive study DOES try to quantify the exact amount something occurs.

True

What is marketing research?

Marketing is about managing profitable customer relationships

Research is systematic inquiry to establish facts in an objective manner

Marketing research provides to managers timely, accurate, and objective information and insight about current and potential customers

Fundamental (basic) research

Seeks to extend the boundaries of knowledge in a given area and doesn't necessarily solve your immediate problems

-Reveals information that could be useful at a later date

-Broad, general truths

Applied research

Gathers information to solve a specific problem or set of problems

-Use this information to create your business plan, focus your advertising campaign, or improve your product

-Very specific

What must be "well-defined" before proceeding with most marketing research projects?

customer, company, and competition

What are some of the basic types of marketing surveys? (3 of the 20)

New product concept analysis surveys, Habits and uses surveys, Price setting surveys and elasticity of demand surveys:

New product concept analysis surveys

Appropriate in the initial screening of new product concepts

Likes and dislikes, acceptability and likelihood of purchase are especially important

Habits and uses surveys:

Understanding usage situations, including how, when and where the product is used

May include a real or virtual pantry audit

Price setting surveys and elasticity of demand surveys:

Estimates demand elasticity, optimal price points, and if a price is too low or high

Estimates for different product-service segments, or usage situations

What are the basic stages of the marketing research process?

Formulating the problem

Method of inquiry → scientific method

Research method

Research design

Data collection techniques

Sample design

Data collection

Analysis and interpretation

The research report

What is the scientific method?

A logical, systematic approach to the solution of a scientific problem

Steps to the scientific method

Formulate a problem

Develop a hypothesis

Make a prediction based on the hypothesis

Devise a test of the hypothesis

Conduct the test

Analyze the results

Difference between the scientific method and the research process:

Scientific method is objective (quantitative research that relies on impartial analysis) while the research method is subjective (qualitative research that emphasizes personal judgment as you collect and analyze data

Exploratory studies

Problem finding phase

Forces you to focus on the scope of your project

Most common problem is size → if too big, the project will not move forward; too much information is overwhelming → keep project manageable

3 distinct methods of exploratory research:

Literature search (easy and inexpensive to access)

Expert interviews (focus groups → 6-8 individuals who come from common background)

Case studies (learning from other companies mistakes)

Exploratory research

Objective is to gain background information, to define terms, to clarify problems, to establish research priorities

Descriptive studies

Who are you selling to?

Help you formulate solutions and see how potential customers will react

Types of descriptive studies:

Market potential

Market share

Sales analysis

Product research

Promotion research

Distribution research

Pricing research

Discriptive research

Objective is to describe and measure marketing phenomena at a point in time

Causal studies

Try to find out the relationship between a specific cause and a specific effect

3 types of evidence that can be used to establish causal relationships

Associative variation: Involves taking 2 variables and seeing how often they are associated → associated by presence and associated by change

Sequence of events

Absence of other possible causal factors

Causal research

Through experiments; to determine cause and effect, to make if then statements, how one thing affects the other

What must be established to determine causality?

a logical implication or theoretical justification has to be found

-Associative variation, sequence of events, absence of other possible causal factors

2 common errors affecting marketing research results:

1.Errors related to improper selection of respondents (population specific errors, sampling errors, selection errors, frame errors, survey non-response errors)

2. Errors related to accuracy of respondents (non-response errors, surrogate information errors, measurement errors from questions, measurement errors from respondents)

4 primary pursuits of Marketing Research (types of problems MR tries to solve):

1. Identifying market opportunities and problems

2. Generating, refining, and evaluating potential marketing actions

3. Monitoring marketing performance

4. Improving marketing as a process

What is a conjoint analysis?

A quantitative technique used to understand how consumers make trade-offs between product price and product features

Primary research

Research you collect on your own, more expensive and time consuming, but saves money in the long run because you get to narrow down your audience

Secondary research

Existing research that you can purchase or find for free

Biometric tracking measures

Facial tracking, eye tracking, smiling, etc.

Biometric trackers found that if an ad was found to be funny improves chances of successful ad

Low consumer attention showed an ad would fail

Difference between management problems and research problems:

Management problems focus on action → should we advertise more?

Research problems focus on providing the information you need in order to solve the management problem

All basic research studies must address these:

Ask the right questions

Ask the right people

Ask questions the right way

Obtain answers to those questions

Relate answers to the needs of the user/client

Communicate effectively and in a way that the client understands

Experimental research

Gives you the advantage of controlling extraneous variables and manipulating one or more variables that influences the process being implemented

Non-experimental research

Allows observation but not intervention

Research design

The plan or framework for conducting the study and collecting the data; the specific methods and procedures you use to acquire the information you need

2 important methods of collecting data:

interviews and observations

2 methods of selecting a sample from a population:

Probability sampling: Relies on random sampling of everyone within a population

Non-probability sampling: Based in part on judgment of the investigator, and often employs convenience sampling

4 main sources of marketing information:

Secondary sources

Respondents

Natural and controlled experiments

Stimulation

Population specification errors

When the researcher selects an inappropriate population from which to obtain data

Sampling error

When a sample does not accurately represent the population

Selection error

When a sample is selected from a non probability method

Frame error

Sampling frame must represent all the members of the population

Surrogate information error

When the needed information cannot be maintained, so you accept substitute information

Methods to dealing with potential errors

Minimize errors through precision in the research design

Measure or estimate the error of its impact

Only EXPERIMENTS are the type of research designs that can test a CAUSAL research study

true

A/B testing an online ad

Causal study

Testing whether a new Covid vaccine is more effective than previous ones and randomly assigning volunteers to the new drug vs. the original treatment

Causal study

Scatterplot example --> researcher is not the person who manipulated the levels of positive brand sentiment on Twitter, he/she only collected the data and showed there is a correlation --> thus making it a descriptive study

so this is a descriptive study

Steps in the marketing research process

1. Problem formulation

2. Research design

3. Data collection

4. Analyzing and interpretation

Which of the following are recommended practices in order to make a research report understandable for managers?

-Prepare 2 reports - one that covers basic insights and one that covers all aspects of the study

-Present the report in multiple modes (face to face, slide deck, written report, etc.)

The use of ___ can greatly clarify and support written conclusions within a research report

graphical aids

The act of performing a literature review and speaking with experts is considered

exploratory research

Performing an A/B test to see which Facebook ad is more effective at generating clicks is an example of a

causal study

This chart was generated from a

descriptive study

A fundamental difference between fundamental research and applied research is

The specificity of the problem being solved