Page 143 - Foundations of Marketing

110 Part 2 | Marketing Research and Target Markets

Key Concepts

marketing research 87 validity 93 quota sampling 97 on-site computer
exploratory research 89 primary data 93 mail survey 97 interview 99
customer advisory secondary data 93 telephone survey 98 online survey 99
boards 89 population 96 telephone depth crowdsourcing 99
focus group 89 sample 96 interview 98 statistical interpretation 102
conclusive research 90 sampling 96 personal interview marketing information
descriptive research 90 probability sampling 96 survey 98 system (MIS) 104
experimental research 90 random sampling 96 in-home (door-to-door) database 105
research design 92 stratified sampling 97 interview 98 single-source data 106
hypothesis 92 nonprobability shopping mall intercept marketing decision support
reliability 93 sampling 97 interview 99 system (MDSS) 106

Issues for Discussion and Review

1. What is marketing research? Why is it important? 8. If a survey of all homes with listed telephone numbers
2. Describe the five steps in the marketing research is to be conducted, what sampling design should be
process. used?
3. What is the difference between defining a research 9. Describe some marketing problems that could be
problem and developing a hypothesis? solved through information gained from observation.
4. Describe the different types of approaches to marketing 10. What is a marketing information system, and what
research, and indicate when each should be used. should it provide?
5. Where are data for marketing research obtained? Give 11. Define a database. What is its purpose, and what does
examples of internal and external data. it include?
6. What is the difference between probability sampling 12. How can marketers use online services and the Internet
and nonprobability sampling? In what situation would to obtain information for decision making?
random sampling be best? Stratified sampling? Quota 13. What role do ethics play in marketing research? Why is
sampling? it important that marketing researchers be ethical?
7. Suggest some ways to encourage respondents to cooper- 14. How does marketing research in other countries differ
ate in mail surveys. from marketing research in the United States?

Marketing Applications

1. Suppose you are opening a health insurance broker- information might marketing researchers want to gather
age firm and want to market your services to small from customers?
businesses with fewer than 50 employees. Determine a. Furniture stores
the information you must pull from your database and b. Gasoline outlet service stations
analyze in order to pursue your marketing efforts. What c. Investment companies
variables did you select and why? d. Medical clinics
2. After observing customers’ traffic patterns, Bashas’
3. When a company wants to conduct research, it must first
Markets repositioned the greeting card section in its
identify a problem or possible opportunity to market
stores, and card sales increased substantially. To increase
its goods or services. Choose a company in your city
sales for the following types of companies, what

Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.