BUS 375- FINAL EXAM Chapters 1,4,10, 11, 16

BUS 375- FINAL EXAM Chapters 1,4,10, 11, 16 Chap 1. Define marketing research: - ✔✔Marketing research is the function that links the consumer to the marketer through information. The information is used to identify a ...

BUS 375- FINAL EXAM Chapters 1,4,10, 11, 16 Chap 1. Define marketing research: - ✔✔Marketing research is the function that links the consumer to the marketer through information. The information is used to identify and define marketing problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance, and improve understanding of marketing as a process Discuss different kinds of firms that conduct marketing research: - ✔✔a. Producers of products and services b. Advertising agencies c. Marketing research companies Producers of products and services - ✔✔a. Producers of products and services have marketing research departments and gather information relevant to the particular products and services they produce and the industry in which they operate Advertising agencies - ✔✔often conduct research, primary to test advertising and measure its effectiveness Marketing research companies - ✔✔are in business to conduct research; some focus on very specific topics or aspects of the research process, while others are more general in focus. List some of the skills that are important for careers in marketing: - ✔✔a. Most positions in marketing research require analytical, communication, and human relations skills b. In addition, marketing researchers must be comfortable working with numbers and statistical techniques, and they must be familiar with a great variety of marketing research methods. List three reasons for studying marketing research: - ✔✔a. Some students pursue careers in marketing research b. Almost everyone is a consumer of marketing research in one way or another and needs to be able to know how to evaluate the likely validity of the research c. Managers must understand what marketing research can and cannot do as well as what is involved in the process of conducting research Chap 4. Specify the key steps in problem formulation: - ✔✔1. Meet with client, 2. clarify problem/opportunity, 3.state manager's decision problem 4. develop possible research problems, 5.select research problems to be addressed, 6.Prepare and submit a research request agreement 1. Meet with client: - ✔✔meet with managers requesting marketing research. The researcher must get as much information as possible from the manager with respect to the problem/opportunity at hand. a. Unplanned b. Planned changes 2. Clarify the problem/opportunity: - ✔✔helping managers get precisely to the heart of the problem don't let a manager perform his or her own diagnosis and prescribe the treatment. Best to conduct exploratory research at this stage to pinpoint problem 3. State the managers decision problem - ✔✔a. Decision problem: the problem facing the decision maker for which the research is intended to provide answers i. Discovery oriented decision problem: a decision problem that typically seeks to answer what or why questions about a problem/opportunity. 1. The focus is generally on generating useful information. ii. Strategy oriented decision problem: a decision problem that typically seeks to answer how questions about a problem/opportunity. SEEKS ALTERNATIVES 1. The focus is generally on selecting alternative courses of action. 2. Exploratory and descriptive research 4. Develop full range of possible research problems - ✔✔i. Investigate current customer satisfaction ii. Assess target market perceptions and competitors iii. Determine target market awareness 5. Select research problems - ✔✔a. Carefully review each identified research problem in terms of the trade-off between the information to be obtained versus the cost of obtaining that information. Cost may include money, time, and effort. 6. Prepare and submit a research request agreement - ✔✔a. Research request agreement: a document prepared by the researcher after meeting with the decision maker that summarizes the problem and the information that is needed to address it. i. Background: the events that led to the manger's decision problem ii. Decision problem: the underlying question confronting the manager iii. Research problem: the range of research problems that would provide input to the decision problem iv. Use: the way each piece of information will be used v. Population and subgroups: the groups from whom the information must be gathered. vi. Logistics: approximate estimates of the time and money available to conduct the research. Discuss two objectives of the initial meeting with the research client: - ✔✔The two goals are: 1. Develop rapport and open communication lines 2. Obtain as much information as possible about the problem/opportunity Discuss two general sources of marketing problems/opportunities. - ✔✔The two sources of marketing problems are: 1. Unanticipated change (discovery) 2. Planned change (strategy) a. Research on planned change tends to be proactive while research on unanticipated or unplanned, change tends to be reactive. Explain why the researcher must be actively involved in problem formulation: - ✔✔• Researchers play a key role in problem formulation because they bring a new perspective to the problem/opportunity situation. Managers often fall into routine ways of seeing the business and its environment; researchers can help them get into the heart of the problem. Distinguish between two types of decision problems: A decision problem is the problem/opportunity seen by managers. - ✔✔1. Discovery oriented decision problems typically ask what or why and generate information that can be used by managers to make important decisions. 2. Strategy oriented decision problems are usually directed at how planned change should be implemented and focus on making decisions. Distinguish between a decision problem and a research problem: - ✔✔A decision problem is the problem/opportunity as seen by managers; research problem restates the decision problem in research terms from the researcher's perspective. Describe the research request agreement. - ✔✔The research request agreement summarizes the problem formulation process in written form and is submitted to managers for approval. It includes the following sections: 1. Origin 2. Decision problem 3. Research problem(s) 4. Use 5. targets and their subgroups 6. logistics Outline the various elements of the research proposal:. - ✔✔Research proposal: a written statement that describes the marketing problem, the purpose of the study, and a detailed outline of the research methodology Most research proposals contain the following elements: 1. Problem definition and background 2.Research design and data sources: 3.Sampling plan 4.Data collection forms 5.Analysis: 6.Time schedule: 7.Personnel requirements and cost estimates: 8.Appendices Outline the various elements of the research proposal:. 1. Problem definition and background - ✔✔a. short summary of information contained in the research request agreement, including the background of the problem, the manager's decision problem, and the specific research problem(s) to be addressed by the project. Outline the various elements of the research proposal:. 2.Research design and data sources: - ✔✔type of research (exploratory/descriptive/causal) along with the proposed sources of those data are discussed in this section. A brief explanation of how the necessary information or data will be gathered (surveys, experiments, library sources) is given. Sources refer to where the information is located, whether in government publications, company records, or actual people. The relevance of techniques (qualitative or quantitative). The nature of the problem will indicate the types of techniques to be employed: web surveys, IDI, or focus groups. Outline the various elements of the research proposal:. 3.Sampling plan - ✔✔detailed description of the population to be studied. Specifies the population, states the desired sample size, sampling method, identifies the sampling frame, and discusses how item non-response and missing data are to be handled. Outline the various elements of the research proposal:. 4.Data collection forms - ✔✔forms to be employed in gathering the data. For surveys, this includes either a questionnaire or an interview schedule. For other research, forms could include inventory forms, guidebooks for focus groups, observation checklists, etc. Should state why forms are validate