Marketing research is carried out by various organizations for two different reasons. First reason is to identify the problems associated with marketing and second one is to solve those marketing problems. These two reasons serve as the basis for classifying the market research into the two distinct categories. The two categories are the research of problem identification and research of problem solving.
Problem identification research: The problem identification research basically is undertaken to understand and analyze those problems that are not apparent but do, exist or are, in the future, likely to come up. The examples of this kind of research are the research and surveys conducted to gauge the market share, market potential, brand and vendor image, sales analysis, market characteristics, short-range or long-range forecasting and trends in business.
The results from this kind of research help companies to know well in advance whether the market is declining which also may indicate that the company may have problems achieving the growth targets. The research also unveils problems such as a firm losing its market share while market potential seems to be increasing. The results obtained from such research help in the recognition of social, cultural or economic trends as such changes in the consumer behavior may be part of larger underlying problems or even potential opportunities.
Problem solving research Once the problem or even and opportunity has been circled, problem solving research begins to solve the problem and come to an acceptable solution. Corrective actions are then taken to reposition a product or restructure it for a better consumer satisfaction. Two out of three companies carry out problem solving research.
Other categorization of Market research depending upon the structure and methodology of the market research can be primary and secondary kind of Business research.
The Primary research: The Primary market research involves an exhaustive testing of variables like focus groups. The activities like surveys, field tests, interviews tailored specifically to that product are conducted to study the product positioning
The Secondary Research: In secondary research, indirect information is compiled from many other sources appearing applicable to an existing or even a new product and is then used to estimate the product positioning.
The advantages of secondary research as evident from its generalized methodology as compared to the customized one of the primary research lies in the fact that it is easily accessible and fairly cheap. The obvious disadvantage of a secondary research is that it is often not specific to a product and the research and can be difficult to sometimes validate.
When research techniques that are quantitative are applied in the marketing field then it is called Quantitative marketing research. The basics of the Quantitative marketing research technique lie both in the view (positivist) of the world, and the marketing viewpoint that is considered modern. It is based on the premise that marketing is where a seller and the buyer reach an agreement through an interactive process based on the marketing "four Ps" which are: Product, Price, Place (location) and Promotion.
Just like any other method of social research, quantitative research also involves constructing questionnaires and devising scales which are used to gauge public sentiment about product or service. People respond to these surveys or the respondents are asked to complete the survey and questionnaire. The results obtained are used by marketers to understand the needs of consumers in the marketplace. They then act upon the feedback to create strategies and marketing plans.
The research process has following five steps:
Definition of the Problem. : In this step a problem statement is made and important aspects of the situation are underlined.
Research Design. At this step, the questionnaire and survey is designed to conduct the research. The methodology is selected and the venue, timing and procedure for the administration of the survey are determined.
Collection of relevant data. At this step an endeavor is made to gather all relevant data from primary and secondary sources. The data can be collected via e-mail, telephone or internet.
Data Analysis. The collected data is analyzed by experts to identify the problems and trends. The findings are compiled in suitable form for better understanding.
Report Writing and presentation: The final step is to present the analyzed data in a form that can be easily comprehended and understood by the managers. The data can be summarized in graphs or flowcharts for comprehensive understanding.
Generally, people who are experts in quantitative research have social science background. They might have their degrees in Psychology, Economics or Sociology. These studies by their academic nature have borrowed techniques from the physical sciences that are designed in order to obtain data for natural and physical objects but these sciences inherently lack the ability to answer questions related to human behaviour, perceptions, future behaviour.
While conducting quantitative research it should be remembered that, it is practically impossible to cover the entire consumer spectrum .Therefore the sample population used for conducting the survey or interview should be carefully chosen so that final result truly represents the problems.
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