Today’s Agenda

 Readings
 Chapter 3 Market Research Process
 Chapter 4 Human Side of Marketing
Research
 Break
 In Class Exercise
 Team Building Exercise

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

What Do Researchers Do…

 Key ways in which researchers contribute

to decision making:
 Helping to better define the current situation
 Defining the firm
 Providing ideas for product improvements or
possible new product development
 Testing ideas that will assist in
implementing the marketing mix strategy
 Examining how correct a certain marketing
theory is in a given situation

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Common Terms

 Market opportunity
 A situation that makes some potential
competitive advantage possible
 Market problem
 A situation that makes some significant
negative consequence more likely
 Symptoms
 Observable cues that serve as a signal of a
problem because they are caused by that
problem

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Decision Making

 Decision making defined

 The process of developing and deciding among
alternative ways of resolving a problem or
choosing from among alternative opportunities
 Research’s role in the decision making
process
 Recognizing the nature of the problem
 Identifying how much information is currently
available and how reliable it is
 Determining what information is needed

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Decision Making

 Certainty
 The decision maker has all information needed
to make an optimal decision
 Uncertainty
 The manager grasps the general nature of
desired objectives, but the information about
alternatives is incomplete
 Ambiguity
 The nature of the problem itself is unclear such
that objectives are vague and decision
alternatives are difficult to define

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Types of Marketing Research

 Exploratory
 Descriptive

 Causal

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Exploratory Research

 Exploratory research
 Conducted to clarify ambiguous situations
or discover ideas that may be potential
business opportunities
 Initial research conducted to clarify and
define the nature of a problem.
 Does not provide conclusive evidence
 Subsequent research expected

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary
Descriptive Research

 Describes characteristics of objects,

people, groups, organizations, or
environments
 Addresses who, what, when, where, why,
and how questions
 Considerable understanding of the nature
of the problem exists
 Does not provide direct evidence of
causality

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Descriptive Research

 Examples
 The average Weight Watchers’ customer
 Is a female about 40 years old
 Has a household income of about $50,000
 Has at least some college education
 Is trying to juggle children and a job
 The men’s fragrance market
 Is one-third the size of women’s fragrance market
 Is growing at a faster pace than women’s market
 Women purchase 80% of men’s fragrances

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Causal Research

 Research conducted to identify cause

and effect relationships (inferences)
 Evidence of causality

 Temporal sequence—the appropriate causal

order of events
 Concomitant variation—two phenomena
vary together
 Nonspurious association—an absence of
alternative plausible explanations

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Case in Point

Retailers need to get shoppers into the

Challenge holiday spending mood.

Use an experiment to determine what

factors in the retail environment
Answer contribute to customers “holiday
spending mood”.

Retailers who used holiday music and

holiday scents together were viewed
more favorably, the merchandise in the
store was rated higher, and purchase
Results intentions increased compared to
retailers who used either alone or non-
congruent music and scent.

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Degrees of Causality

 Absolute causality
 The cause is necessary and sufficient to bring
about the effect
 Conditional causality
 A cause is necessary but not sufficient to
bring about an effect
 Contributory causality
 A cause need be neither necessary nor
sufficient to bring about an effect.
 Weakest form of causality

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Experiments

 Experiment
 A carefully controlled study in which the
researcher manipulates a proposed cause and
observes any corresponding change in the
proposed effect
 Experimental variable
 Represents the proposed cause and is controlled
by the researcher
 Manipulation
 The researcher alters the level of the variable in
specific increments

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary
EXHIBIT 3.5 Stages of the Research Process

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

EXHIBIT 3.6 Flowchart of the Marketing Research Process

Note: Diamond-shaped boxes indicate stages in the research process in which a choice of one or more
techniques must be made. The dotted line indicates an alternative path that skips exploratory research.
BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary
Preparing the Report

 Steps in communicating the findings:

 Interpreting the research results
 Describing the implications
 Drawing the appropriate conclusions for
managerial decisions
 Reporting requirements
 Conclusions fulfill the deliverables promised
 Consider the varying abilities
 A clearly-written, understandable summary of
the research findings

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

The Research Program Strategy

 Research project
 A single study that addresses one or a small
number of research objectives
 Uses specific techniques for solving one-
dimensional problems, such as identifying market
segments, selecting the best packaging design,
or test-marketing a new product
 Research program
 Numerous related studies that come together
to address multiple, related research
objectives

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Who Does the Research?

 Outside agency
 An independent research firm contracted
by the company that actually will benefit
from the research
 In-house research
 Research performed by employees of the
company that will benefit from the research

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

EXHIBIT 4.1 Should Research be Done In-House or “Out-House”?

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Suppliers and Contractors

 Research suppliers
 Commercial providers of marketing research
services
 Syndicated service
 A marketing research supplier that provides
standardized information for many clients in
return for a fee
 Standardized research service
 Companies that develop a unique methodology
for investigating a business specialty area

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Limited – Service Research

 Limited-service research suppliers

 Specialize in particular research activities,
such as syndicated service, field interviewing,
data warehousing, or data processing
 Full-service research suppliers sometimes
contract these companies for ad hoc (custom)
marketing research projects
 Custom research
 Projects that are tailored specifically to a
client’s unique needs

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Sources of Conflict

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Reducing the Conflict

 Ways to reduce conflict

 Early in projects and working closely
together
 Formal job description
 Better planning and an annual statement
of the research program
 Communication of research findings and
designs

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Ethical Issues

 Marketing ethics
 The application of morals to behavior related
to the exchange environment
 Moral standards
 Principles that reflect beliefs about what is
ethical and what is unethical
 Ethical dilemma
 A situation in which one chooses from
alternative courses of actions, each with
different ethical implications

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Ethical Issues:Watching Consumers

 Marketing research firms dedicated to

watching consumers.
 Gather data that would not otherwise be
available.
 Should researchers get consent prior to
observing?

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

General Rights and Obligations

 Everyone involved in marketing research

can face an ethical dilemma:
 The people actually performing the research—
the “doers”
 The research client, sponsor, or the
management team requesting the research—
the “users”
 The research participants—the actual research
respondents or subjects
 Each party has certain rights and
obligations toward the other parties

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Rights and Obligations

 Rights:  Informed consent

 To be informed  The individual
 To privacy understands what the
researcher wants him/her
 Protected from
to do and consents to the
harm
research study
 Obligations:  Confidentiality
 To be truthful  The information involved
in the research will not be
shared with others

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2013 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Deceptions in Research Design

 Experimental Designs
 Placebo
 A false experimental effect used to create the
perception of a true effect
 Debriefing
 Research subjects are fully informed and
provided with a chance to ask any questions
they may have about the experiment
 Mystery shoppers
 Employees of a research firm that are paid to
pretend to be actual shoppers

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Privacy on the Internet

 Controversial issue
 Many marketers argue that they don’t
need to know who the user is, but they do
want to know certain things (e.g.,
demographics, product usage) associated
with an anonymous profile
 Researchers should not disclose private
information without permission from
consumers who provided that information

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Obligations of the Researcher

 The researcher should:

 Understand that the purpose of research is
research (no sales pitch to research
participants)
 Maintain objectivity
 Not misrepresent research
 Be honest in reporting errors
 Protect the confidentiality of both subjects
and clients

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Egg Drop Team Building Exercise

 Assemble in your groups

 Each group has one egg

 Tape: 6 inches - $10,000

 Straw: 1 - $5,000

 The winning team is the one who invests

the least resources and does not crack

the egg!

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary

Next Week

 Readings
 Chapter 6 - Qualitative Research Tools
 Chapter 10 – Observation
 Video Case: Upjohn’s Rogaine
 In Class Exercise

BADM 4050 – Marketing Research Project – Winter 2015 - Jeffrey P. O’Leary