3.2: Market Research Notes:

1. PRODUCT-ORIENTED BUSINESS:

• The businesses would produce the product prior to finding the appropriate market to sell it in

• Usually found in firms that produce electrical/technological goods

• Example: Apple since it focuses on quality and trying to be innovative.

2. MARKET-ORIENTED BUSINESS:

• The businesses research the market they want to launch the product in prior to manufacturing it

• Includes researching customers, their spending patterns, their interests, as well as ongoing trends

• Example: Coca Cola

MARKET RESEARCH:

• It is, by definition, the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information about a product

• Market research can be either quantitative (includes numbers such as percentages) or qualitative (includes words/descriptions such as opinions)

• It is very important to note that market research is essential for a business to succeed as it identifies what customers want thus makes both the product and the business successful

• When researching, the process can be done using 2 different methods: either primary/field or secondary/desk research methods

PRIMARY/FIELD RESEARCH METHODS:

• The collection of first-hand data in order to use it for the needed purpose

• Includes questionnaires, focus groups, interviews, observation, and online surveys

• A sample is a subset of the population a research uses in order to research/experiment on since a business cannot experiment on the entire population. Sampling can occur through two main ways: random or quota

• Random sampling occurs when every person has an equal chance of being a part of an experiment. Example: pulling names out of a hat

• Quota sampling occurs when you choose a sample based on certain characteristics such as age, gender, etc.

METHODS OF PRIMARY RESEARCH:

1. QUESTIONNAIRES:

• Can be done face-to-face, through posts (postal questionnaire), through the telephone (telephone questionnaire), or through the internet. Online surveys can be done by asking the participants to visit a website and answer the questions

• The questions must be clear, easily understood (avoid jargon), unbiased, and not misleading

• Advantages:

1. Detailed information can be achieved

2. Online surveys are cheap and easy to collate and analyze

3. Customer's opinions about the research topic can be obtained 

4. Can be linked to prizes so that it will attract more people to fill out the survey/questionnaire

• Disadvantages:

1. Unreliable answers can be achieved if the questions are unclear or misleading

2. Time-consuming and expensive to carry out the research, collate, and analyze the results

2. INTERVIEWS:

• Interviewer will have questions ready for the interviewee

• Advantages:

1. If the interviewee does not understand the question, the interviewer can elaborate in order to get more accurate results

2. Can gather detailed responses and catch up on body language and voice tone

• Disadvantages:

1. Interviewer can lead the interviewee by phrasing questions differently 

2. Time consuming and expensive to interview everyone in the sample

3. FOCUS GROUPS:

• A group of people brought together to be interviewed on a specific topic or test the company's products

• There is an interview guide and the interviewees can speak freely

• Advantages:

1. They can provide detailed information about the consumer's opinions

• Disadvantages:

1. Time-consuming

2. Expensive

3. Some people's opinions could be dominating others

4. OBSERVATION:

• Can occur by observing people (example: watching people's reaction to tasting the new ice cream flavor), recording, or auditing 

• Advantages:

1. Cheap

• Disadvantages:

1. The researcher will have to assume the "why" i.e. watching someone will not give direct reasons as to why they reacted this way 

METHODS OF SECONDARY RESEARCH:

• Secondary/desk research includes second-hand data previously collected by others 

1. INTERNAL SOURCES:

• Information collected from within a business

• Includes:

1. Sales department's sales records, pricing data, customer records, and sales reports

2. Finance department

3. Customer services department

4. Opinions of distributors and the public relations officer

2. EXTERNAL SOURCES:

• Information collected from outside a business

• Includes:

1. Government statistics: will have information about people's ages and the population

2. Newspapers: articles about economic conditions and forecast spending patterns

3. Trade associations: it has several reports on the industry's market

4. Market research agencies: these agencies carry out the research for the market on behalf of the company and provide detailed information

5. Internet: has a wide range of articles about companies, government statistics, newspaper, blogs, etc.

THE ACCURACY OF MARKET RESEARCH:

• The reliability and validity of the research is affected by multiple factors such as:

1. How were the questions phrased in questionnaires and surveys?

2. How was the sample chosen and was it representative?

3. What research method was used? (secondary is less accurate than primary since it was used for a different purpose and can be outdated)

4. Bias: the person who wrote an article/conducted an experiment could be influenced by his/her values

5. Age of the information: if someone used secondary data, the information can be outdated if it's too old

PRESENTATION OF MARKET RESEARCH DATA:

NOTES DONE BY FARIDA SABET

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