Market research

Market research

Gathering data and information about consumer needs and preferences;

customer feedback

promotional methods

sales data

competitors

Field research/ primary

Information that is first-hand information it has been collected by the business for a specific purpose.

Field advantages

Only firm that collects data has access to it.

Collected for a specific purpose.

Field disadvantages

Expensive to collect

Time consuming

Desk reaserch/Secondary

Desk research is information that is second hand it has already been collected by someone else.

desk Advantages

saves time

relatively inexpensive

widely available

desk disadvantage

not specifically gathered for the business

May be out of date

May contain bias

Sampling

sampling is the process of creating a small unbiasesed population to be used in a test or experiment. The sample removes the Impractical idea of surveying everyone in a market or a population.

Random sampling

Does not target any specific market segment. The people to be included in the sample are generated at random. This could be done by using a computer program or taking names from a list or telephone book.

Advantages

Less chance of bias as respondents are chosen at random.

Simple and quick to select sample.

Disadvantages

The sample may not truly reflect the target market.

It can be expensive as a large sample is required.

Quota sampling

Quota sampling is a sample that has been created to mimic the characteristics of a market. The researcher will choose the characteristics they with the respondents to have.

Advantages

Cheaper as less respondents are required.

Disadvantage

Harder to eliminate bias in the selection process.