4. Marketing Research

Big data

The huge and complex data sets generated by today's sophisticated information generation, collection, storage, and analysis technologies

Customer insights

fresh marketing information-based understandings of customers and the marketplace that become the basis for creating customer value, engagement, and relationships

Marketing information system (MIS)

people and procedures dedicated to assessing information needs, developing the needed information, and helping decision makers to use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights

Internal databases

collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company network

Competitive marketing intelligence

the systematic monitoring, collection, and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketing environment ex. Mastercard's digital intelligence command center "Conversation Suite"

Marketing research

the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization

Exploratory research

gathering preliminary information

Descriptive research

understanding the who, what, when, etc. of the problem

Causal research

marketing research to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships

Secondary data

information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose.

Primary data

information collected for the specific purpose at hand.

Observational research

gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations.

Ethnographic research

a form of observational research that involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their "natural environments"

Survey research

gathering primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior

Experimental research

gathering primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in group responses.

Focus Group Interviewing

personal interviewing that involves inviting small groups of people to gather for a few hours with a trained interviewer to talk about a product, sevice, or organization. The interviewer "focuses" the group discussion on important issues.

Online marketing research

collecting primary data through internet and mobile surveys, online focus groups consumer tracking, experiments, and online panels and brand communities

Online focus groups

gathering a small group of people online with a trained moderator to chat about a product, service, or organization and gain qualitative insights about consumer attitudes and behavior

Behavioral targeting

using online consumer tracking data and analytics to target advertisements and marketing offers to specific consumers

Sample

a segment of the populations elected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole

Primary Data

information collected for the specific purpose at hand

Secondary Data

information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose

Correlation

A measure of the relationship between two variables

Causation

the belief that events occur in predictable ways and that one event leads to another

Quantitative Research Methods

Surveys
Experiments
Field Experiments

Qualitative Research Methods

Focus Groups
Interviews
Observational Research (ethonograpic)
Diaries