Untitled Flashcards Set

What is the role of marketing research (MR) in strategic planning and decision-making?

MR provides data-driven insights to support strategic decisions, identify market opportunities, and reduce uncertainty.

Define marketing research.

The systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to support marketing decisions.

What are the steps in the MR process?

1. Defining the problem, 2. Developing the research plan, 3. Collecting data, 4. Analyzing data, 5. Presenting findings, 6. Making decisions.

Why is the MR process interdependent?

Each step builds on the previous one; errors in earlier steps affect later steps and overall research validity.

What are external providers of MR?

Independent research firms, syndicated data providers, and consulting agencies that conduct research for companies.

Who are the key parties involved in ethical issues in MR?

Researcher (ensures accuracy), client (uses data responsibly), respondent (provides honest responses), and the public (impacted by findings).

What is the environmental context of the problem?

Factors such as company goals, market trends, competitive landscape, and legal environment affecting research.

How does a research problem differ from a management decision problem?

A research problem identifies causes and requires investigation, while a management decision problem focuses on action and solutions.

Define research questions and hypotheses.

Research questions specify what the study aims to answer; hypotheses are testable statements predicting relationships between variables.

What is the difference between exploratory and conclusive research?

Exploratory research is open-ended and used to gain insights, while conclusive research is structured and used to confirm hypotheses.

What are common methods for conducting exploratory research?

Key-informant interviews, focus groups, case studies, and observation.

What are the two types of conclusive research?

Descriptive (quantifies characteristics) and causal/experimental (tests cause-and-effect relationships).

How do cross-sectional and longitudinal studies differ?

Cross-sectional studies collect data at a single point in time; longitudinal studies track changes over time.

What are primary and secondary data?

Primary data is collected firsthand for a specific study; secondary data is previously collected and repurposed.

How do qualitative and quantitative methods differ?

Qualitative focuses on insights and depth (e.g., interviews), while quantitative measures numerical trends (e.g., surveys).

What are the advantages and disadvantages of focus groups?

Advantages: rich insights, interaction-driven ideas. Disadvantages: high cost, potential bias, small sample size.

What are depth interviews, and how do they compare to focus groups?

One-on-one interviews for detailed insights; they avoid group influence but take more time.

What are projective techniques in MR?

Indirect questioning methods (e.g., word association, sentence completion) used to uncover subconscious thoughts.

What are the four primary scales of measurement?

1. Nominal (categories only), 2. Ordinal (rank order, no exact difference), 3. Interval (equal differences, no true zero), 4. Ratio (equal differences, true zero).

What are comparative scaling techniques?

Rank order scaling (prioritizing items) and constant sum scaling (allocating points to options).

What are noncomparative scaling techniques?

Itemized rating scales such as Likert, semantic differential, and Stapel scales.

What are considerations for designing noncomparative itemized rating scales?

Balanced vs. unbalanced, odd vs. even points, and clear verbal descriptors.

What are the key components of questionnaire structure?

Logical flow, clear sections, and a mix of question types (open-ended & closed-ended).

What is the difference between structured and unstructured questions?

Structured questions have predefined answer choices; unstructured questions allow open-ended responses.

Why is question wording important in MR?

Avoids ambiguity, leading questions, and double-barreled questions for unbiased responses.

Why is pretesting a questionnaire important?

Identifies confusing wording and ensures clarity before large-scale deployment.

What are measures of central tendency?

Mean (average), median (middle value), and mode (most frequent value).

What are measures of dispersion?

Range (difference between highest and lowest), variance, and standard deviation (spread of data).

How do you interpret a frequency distribution table?

Shows how often each response appears, helping to identify trends and outliers.

What does cumulative percentage in a frequency table represent?

The percentage of responses that fall at or below a given category.