Questions for discussion

Chapter 2 Problem recognition and specification

1. Researching an unfamiliar market presents a number of problems for the researcher. What might these problems be and how would you resolve them? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. A less developed country is being considered as a possible market for a firm, but there is very little accurate information available from its government sources. How would you propose to gather the necessary information? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

3. Concentrated soups made by Campbell in the USA have achieved brand leadership there, but have been unsuccessful in attempting to establish a similar position in the UK market.

Account for the possible reasons for this product failure, and suggest possible corrective action. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

Chapter 3 'What do we know'

1. Having either too much, or too little, information may result in poor decisions being taken. As an in-house market researcher what practical steps would you take to ensure that the correct amount of marketing information was made available? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. Secondary data may be obtained from either inside or outside the organisation. State two kinds of internal data and two kinds of external data and for each one, describe briefly their uses and limitations. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

318

Questions for discussion 319

Chapter 4 'What do we need to know?'

1. Write an outline Market Research Plan to identify the market for a proposed new product/service. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. What forms of research might usefully be conducted with a view to increasing the effectiveness of below-the-line activities? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

Chapter S Developing a research design

1. What marketing information should be collected by a marketing manager planning to launch a new product? How will he collect and use it? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. Why is quota sampling used in survey research extensively, in preference to the theoretically superior random sampling? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

3. A manufacturer of diesel engines, used in lorries and buses, wants to determine the characteristics of their domestic market. As a marketing research agency called in to advise them, produce a proposal describing how you would proceed. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

4. How can marketing research contribute to a better understanding of buying behaviour, so as to enhance the marketing efforts of an organisation? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

Chapter 6 Sampling

1. Evaluate the potential applications, advantages and disadvantages of purposive sampling. (Strathclyde University)

2. What criteria should a researcher take into account in selecting the size of sample for a quantitative survey of domestic households? (Strathclyde University)

3. 'The use of non-probability sampling methods is indicative of an ill­prepared researcher or a journalist looking for a news item.' How valid is this statement? (Strathclyde University)

4. The problems facing researchers is to identify the relevant population and then to select and contact suitable respondents. Explain the problems

320 Research for marketing

involved in identifying and selecting respondents, and how sampling techniques can help. (Strathclyde University)

5. If you were to conduct a telephone survey of travel agents, what benefits would you derive from using a stratified sample compared with any other form of sampling? (Strathclyde University)

6. 'To use a probability sample where a quota sample would be suitable is to incur opportunity costs: the opportunity within the research budget to enlarge the sample or carry out further research' (Crimp). In what circumstances would you agree and when, if ever, would you disagree with this statement? (Strathclyde University)

8. 'The choice of sample size (for a survey) is a matter of subjective judgement, capable of rationalisation but not scientific justification.' Comment. (City University)

9. Kish implies that quota sampling is an art-form, highly dependent on the researcher's experience; but does it have a basis in statistical theory? Discuss the nature and the likely validity of the assumption underlying quota sampling. (City University)

10. Discuss the role of interviewers in sample surveys with particular reference to their impact on the quality of the data obtained. (City University)

11. Discuss the operational usefulness of THREE of the following outlining their possible advantages and disadvantages:

simple random sample stratified random sample cluster sampling quasi-random sampling

What criteria would you find useful in evaluating the suitability of a sampling frame? (The Polytechnic, Huddersfield)

12. Random samples, for all their claimed advantages, are not often used in market research. Why is this? In what circumstances would you not recommend a random sample for a market research enquiry? What would be your alternatives? (The Hatfield Polytechnic)

13. What is sampling, how is it commonly practised, and why is it so important in survey research? (Polytechnic of North London)

14. Explain briefly the theory underlying sampling and discuss some of the sampling methods and procedures commonly used in survey research. (Plymouth Polytechnic)

Questions for discussion 321

Chapter 7 Data collection - questionnaire design

1. Discuss, using examples, the uses and limitations of open-ended marketing research questions. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. What are ordinal and interval scales7 Illustrate how these scales may be of use to the market researcher. (Strathclyde University)

3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using a Likert scale in postal questionnaires to business executives. (Strathclyde University)

4. Identify and discuss the aspects of questionnaire design with which a marketing research manager should be familiar, in order that he can evaluate a draft questionnaire put forward with a proposal by a research agency (Strathclyde University)

5. 'The major problem in constructing a battery of scales of the semantic differential type, lies in identifying the relevant dimensions, i.e. the adjectives or descriptions for each bipolar scale.' (Elliot and Christopher) Explain what is meant by 'relevant dimensions' and outline possible approaches to the task of identifying them. (The Polytechnic, Huddersfield)

6. As it is relatively easy to criticise a bad questionnaire, why is it so difficult to design a good one7 (Hurnberside College of Higher Education)

7. 'Attitudes are complex and not completely understood. They are a composite of such things as beliefs, preferences, and readiness to respond behaviourally.' To what extent can the attitudinal scaling techniques provide an objective measurement of attitudes? (Plymouth Polytechnic)

Chapter 8 Data collection - methods

1. Researchers may collect primary data in face-to-face interviews, over the telephone or through the post. Discuss the advantages and limitations of these methods. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. Outline reasons why market researchers use focus group interviews compared with other forms of interviewing. (Strathclyde University)

3. 'Test marketing is costly and time consuming and the same information can often be obtained more efficiently through other research techniques.' Suggest some of these 'other research techniques' and give examples of when they may be used in preference to test marketing. Discuss the application and limitations of observation as a market research technique. (Strathclyde University)

4. Within ten years, face-to-face interviewing will by used only in qualitative research; all other research will be conducted by telephone.' To what

322 Research for marketing

extent is this forecast justified by the strengths and weaknesses of telephone interviewing? (City University)

5. The group interview or discussion is a widely used technique. Explain its use and contrast it with that of the individual depth interview. (The Polytechnic, Huddersfield)

6. William Schlackman has criticised group discussions as ' ... Likely to give you consensus data based on the need of individuals to conform to group pressure'. What are the implications of this and how can the problems be overcome? (Ealing College of Higher Education)

Chapter 9 Data interpretation

1. In discussing the precision, reliability and relevance of quantitative research Goode and Hatt state: 'If the observations are crude, casting them in statistical form will not help the research. If other scientists cannot repeat them, mathematical manipulation is futile. If the data do not satisfy a rigorous logic of proof, the conclusions remain doubtful.' Discuss this viewpoint. (Strathclyde University)

2. 'Data dredging is the sign of a desperate researcher.' Discuss the validity of this statement. (Strathclyde University)

3. Wherever marketing management is interested in measuring the effects of alternative courses of action, experimentation may be a practical means of reducing the risk involved in deciding among the alternatives' (Cox and Enis). Discuss the extent to which the use of marketing experiments is a viable alternative to the questionnaire survey based approach to marketing research. (City of Birmingham Polytechnic)

Chapter 10 Report presentation

1. 'Market research reports tend to be technical and much effort is required to find the significant findings.' How may a market researcher avoid such criticisms? (Strathclyde University)

2. 'There is a standard format that all market research reports should comply to.' Critically analyse the above statement illustrating with examples where you feel differences between report formats are justified. (Strathclyde University)

Questions for discussion 323

Chapter 11 Syndicated market research services

1. What is a retail audit, how is it conducted and what is it used for? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. The availability of telephone omnibus surveys from a growing number of marketing research agencies in London suggests an increase in the use of these methods by client companies/ organisations. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this method from the viewpoints of both consumer and industrial marketing companies. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

3. 'The use of these data only to monitor small and usually temporary shifts in brand-shares cannot possibly justify the expenditure involved.' Discuss this comment in respect of EITHER retail audits OR consumer panels. (City University)

4. How far is it justifiable for a manufacturer of fast-moving consumer goods to buy both retail audit and consumer panel data? If you had to choose between the two, which would you choose and why? How would you seek to compensate for the loss of the other service? (City University)

5. A marketing research agency has been retained by a firm selling baby food and accessories to provide specific information regarding consumer purchases of products in this field. The agency has proposed setting up a panel of mothers who could record relevant purchases in a special diary. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the diary panel method in this context and the practical problems that could arise in setting up, and evaluating the results obtained in this way. (City of Birmingham Polytechnic)

Chapter 13 Marketing information systems

1. Explain the major difficulties encountered when trying to achieve a marketing information system which meets the requirements of all concerned. (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

2. What faults can be experienced with marketing information systems? As a market planner, how would you seek to prevent their occurrence? (The Chartered Institute of Marketing)

3. Discuss the contention that marketing information systems exist in all organisations. (Strathclyde University)

4. To what extent does a market researcher need to understand the principles of successful marketing management. (Strathclyde University)

5. Starting from your own definition of a marketing information system describe the main components of such a system. Highlight the advantages

324 Research for marketing

that a firm may gain from adopting a formal marketing information system. (Strathclyde University)

6. 'Information is the lifeblood of successful marketing decision-making, however, information can be expensive to obtain and process.' Discuss this statement with respect to the design and implementation of a marketing information system. What methods could be used to avoid unnecessary costs? (The Polytechnic, Huddersfield)

7. In an article on management information systems, Ackoff refers to them as management misinformation systems. In what circumstances do you think that the marketing information system might become a marketing misinformation system, and how should the marketing manager guard against this happening? (Humberside College of Higher Education)

[The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the permission of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the named institutions to reproduce the above examination questions.]

Index

Abstract or executive summary 261 Acquisitions and mergers,

companies 43, 44 Actual value 228 Adjective checklist 152 Adler, Lee 309, 310, 311 Advertising Research Unit 109,

182-203, 279, 280 Agencies, market research

code of conduct, extract 72 directories/ sources of 72

Aguilar, Francis 29 AIO (Activities, Interests, Opinions)

research 91 Alreck, P. and Settle, R. B. 26, 66, 88,

89, 91, 92, 123, 125, 134, 141, 153, 220, 224, 228, 232

Ames, C. B. 313 Analysis 171 Antilla, Mai et al. 236 Appendices, rules for inclusion 262 Association 134 Attitude 7 ,144, 145 Attitude measurement scales 145-9,

196--8 interval 145 Likert 147-9 nominal 145 ordinal 145 ratio 145 Thurstone 146--7

Babbie, E. R. 88 Bacon, Frances 20

Baker, M. ]. 12, 36, 84, 91, 150 Baker, M.J. and Hart, S.J. 70, 172, 173,

256 Barron, Michael and Targett, David 67,

68 Bayes, T. 39 Bayesian analysis 67 Berenson, Conrad 312 Bias 100, 101 Bibliography 262 Binomial distribution 120 Bivariate analysis 219, 233 Black, ]. A. and Champion, D. S. 166 Borden, Neil 37 Bowen, ]. M. 15, 154, 155, 156 Brainwashing 92 Brech, E. F. L. 12 Britt, S. H. 254 Brook, Linsday 204, 205 Brown, Stephen 79, 205, 206 Buyer behaviour 90-1 Buyers and marketing research,

checklist 201

CAC Model 89, 90 CA T1 203, 204, 294, 295 Campbell, D. T. and Stanley, ]. C. 82, 83 Categorical data 225 Caulcott, Evelyn 118, 120 Causality 81, 224 Chi-square 228, 229 Chisnall, Peter M. 12, 134, 147 Churchill, Gilbert A. 47, 133, 134, 144 Classification data 154

325

326 Index

Claycamp, Henry J. 232 Clumping 247 Clustering techniques 246 Coefficient of determination 231 Cohen, M. R. and Nagel, E. 77 Collins, M. 109 Commissioning syndicated

research 268 Communication model 251, 252 Consistency 102 Consumerism 6 Contents list 261 Contingency tables 229 Continuous data 224, 225 Converse, J. M. and Presser, S. 135,

136, 143, 156 Cooper, Joseph D 34 Cox, Donald and F. Good, Robert

E 312 Crisp, Richard 37 Crouch, Sunny 279 Croxton, Frederick E. 122 Curvilinear 232

Davies, Richard 280 De-Almeida, P.M. 169 De Moivre, Abraham 120 Decision-making process 8-10 Degrees of freedom 228, 229 Delphi group interviewing 170 Dependent variable 224 Depth-interview 169 Desabie, J 108 Desk research 43-5 Dichotomous 142 Dichter, Ernst 92, 93, 163 Dickens, J. 170 Discrete data 224 Dispersion 220 'Don't know' responses 184 Drakeford, John F. and Farbridge,

Valerie 201 Durkheim, Emile 212

Ehrenberg, A. S.C. 61, 119, 120, 122 Elementary Sampling Unit (ESU) 102 Elicitation interview 169 Energy crisis 4, 7

Environment, characteristics of 4, 5 Environmental turbulence 2-5 Everitt, Brian 246, 247 Expected value of information 66,

69-70, 228 model (EV) 90

Experiments, 3 types of 81-2 Exploratory studies 34

F-test 229 Factors, interpretation of - an

example 239-45 Fahad, G.A. 167, 170 Field control 202 Fieldwork guide 182-203

asking questions 182-4 coding answers 185-8 probing 188-95; basic

probes 188-90; probes for open-ended questions 190-2; specific probes 192-3; summary of 194-5

routing 184-5 show cards 195

Fishbein, M. 90 Frequencies 118, 119, 120 Freud, Sigmund 163 Frey, James H. 203, 204 Focused interview procedure 164-5

Galbraith, John Kenneth 6 Gallagher, William J. 252, 254, 257 Gaussian dishibution see normal

distribution Gauss, Carl 120 General Motors 6 Glossary 262, 263 Gorden, R. L. 167 Gordon, G. et al. 96 Gordon, Wendy and Langmaid,

Roy 93, 94 Gower, Ernest 138, 139 Green, Paul E. and Tull, Donald S. 8, 9 Group discussions 166-9

advantages and disadvantages 167-9 key attributes and

characteristics 166-7

3-way classification structure I69 success of I 70

Group interviewing I 70

Hague, P. N. 64, 286 Halfpenny, P. 33 Hart, Susan J. 88, 89 Hartman, }. and Hedblom, }. H. I69 Hastorf. A. H. and Cantril, H. I 13 Hawthorne effect 84, I63, I64 Heenan, D.A. and Adelman, R.B. 233 Hierarchical clustering techniques 246 Hierarchy of effects model 27, 25I, 252 Highly-structured group discussion I69 Holmes, Cliff 234, 237 Home Office Banking (HOB) 288 Honours marketing students at

Strathclyde (I989) 313, 3I5 Hooley, Graham 233, 234, 237, 248 Hooley, Graham and West.

Christopher I7, 70 Hypothesis, definition 77, 78

IT application 290 Image 90 Independent variable 224 Index 262 Information gap 60 Information sources, informal and

formal 307 Interval scales I45, 220, 229, 232 Interview code of conduct I64 Interviewer guide, an example I72-3,

20I Interviews, definition I59 Interviews, summary of points I99-20I Interviews, venues and format I7I Introduction - to a report 255, 256,

261, 262

Kane, Alan 289 Kelly repertory grid technique I69 Kennedy, A.M. 97 Kerlinger, F.N. 88 Kinnear, Thomas C. and Taylor,

James R. I6, 47, 88, I67, 268, 269 Knowledge 7 Kurtosis 222, 223

Lawson, Rob 235 Levitt, Theodore 7 Life-style, definition 9I Likert, R. 96, I47-9 Linear relationships 232 Lucey, T. 287, 288

Index 327

Luck David K. and Rubin, Ronald S. 47, 48

Madge, John I60, I64, 2IO, 212 Management decisions IO Mannheim, Karl 2IO Market research, function of 8, 3 I5 Market research process, the - a

model 39 Market research report.

guidelines 253-4 Marketing decisions IO-I I, 24, 25 Marketing, definition 5, 94 Marketing mix 36, 37 Marketing operations IO Marketing research, classification I6-I 7

conclusive research I6, I 7 exploratory research I6 performance-monitoring I 7

Marketing research, scope of 13-I6 advertising research I4 business economics I5 competition I5 export marketing research IS market research 13, I4 product research I4 sales research I4

Marketing strategy IO, 27, 28 Martin, Paul and Bateson, Patrick IOI Maslow, Abraham H. 6 Mayer, Charles S. 38, 39, 84, 88, I05,

134 Mayo, Elton I63 McCarthy, E.}. 37, 36 Mean 121, 22I-2 Meaning question I5 7 Median 12 I, 22 I Melkman, Alan 289, 289 Memory 134 Merton, R. L. and KendalL P. L. I64 MIS, design 3 I4 MIS, reasons for not adopting 288

328 Index

Mitchell, John 253, 262 Mode 121, 221 Moroney. M.J. 119 Moser, C. A. and Kalton, G. 79, 80, 81,

82, 84, 87, 104, 109, 132, 134, 147 Motivation research 92 Motives 91 Multiple-choice questions 142 Multivariate analysis 219, 233

Nader, Ralph 6 Naisbitt, John 5 Newson-Smith, Nigel 42 Nominal data 219, 224 Nominal scales, definition 145 Non-response 116 Normal distribution 119-23

Observation, advantages/ disadvantages 19

Omnibus surveys- 5 uses 281-2 On-line databases 48 Open-ended group discussion 169 Ordinal scales 145, 220 Osgood, Charles E. et al. 152

Packard, Vance 6, 92 Panel data, analysis of 278 Panel research, advantages and

disadvantages 276 Parasuraman, A. 8, 9, 12, 47 Pareto's Law 149 Parfitt, John 274, 276, 277 Partitioning techniques 247 Payne, J. L. 136, 138 Piercy, Nigel and Evans, Martin 11 Piloting 156 Plotting 217 Poisson distribution 120 Popper, Karl 76 Population/universe 100, 122 Pre-coded questions 185 Preliminary planning 170 Presentation of data, trade research 271 Pretesting, reasons for 156 Probability 118, 119, 120 Problem definition 10, 254, 255 Problem identification 36

Problems, characteristics 62 Product moment correlation 231 Profile analysis 148 Projective and enabling techniques 93-4

choice ordering 94 completion procedures 94 construction procedures 94 expressive procedures 94 word association 94

Psychoanalytic techniques 92 Pymont, Brian and Welch, Gillian 269,

270, 271, 272, 273

Qualitative research 32, 33, 34, 93 Quality control 202 Quantitative 32, 33 Quantitative versus qualitative

research 212 Question

ambiguity 136 brevity 138 double-negatives 136 length 136 meaning 133 non-specific 13 7 vagueness 136 focus 138

Questionnaire validity, aids to 135 bounded recall 135 landmarks and cues 135 narrowing the reference point 135 understandability 135, 136

Raiffa, H. and Schleiffer, R. 27, 67 Range, statistical 22 7 Ratio scales 145, 220, 229, 232 Reliability, definition 101, 102 Reliability, interview 160 Repertory grid technique 169 Report content 253-61

conclusions 254, 259, 261 discussion 254, 257, 258 introduction 255, 256 method 254, 256 problem 254 results 254, 256, 25 7

Report scope 255

Research brief 62--6 checklist 64--6 development of 62, 63 essentials 62 purpose of 63

Research cycle, the 31 Research Machine, the, cost

justification 304--6 Research reports, evaluation 264--6

applicability 265 candour 266 design 264, 265 execution 265 meaning 265 origin 264 reading 264 stability 265

Resolution 102 Respondent, interest and attention 15 7 Respondent, recruitment of 170 Respondent, self-selection 205 Respondent, types of 160-2

experts 160, 161, 162 people 160, 162 potentates 160, 161, 162

Response 132-3 ability 132, 133 bias 141 willingness 133

Risk and uncertainty 27, 28 Roethlisberger, F.]. and

Dickson, W. ]. 161, 163 Rogers, Everett 224 Rostow, Walt 6

Sample size, factors determining 125 Sample survey, planning of 114 Samples

area 106 cluster 106 multi-stage 107 stratified 105-7 systematic 106

Sampling error 228 Sampling frame 102 Sampling unit 102 Sampson, Peter 34, 166, 169, Saunders, John 248

Index 329

Scales 146-53, 197, 198 Scanning 29, 78 Schramm 251, 252 Scientific method 76-8 Secondary data

accuracy 47 availability 46, 47 relevance 4 7

Secondary research steps in 48 uses of 42, 60

Selective perception 27, 28, 252 Seltiz, Claire et al. 75, 77, 138, 218 Semantic differential see scales Semi-structured interview guide 173-81 Sensitivity 101 Sheth,]. N. 249 Shopping behaviour 79-80 Simple linear regression 231 Skewness 222 Skills 7 Sloan, Alfred 3 Small Business Units (SBUs) 316 Smith, Samuel V. et al. 312 Sociology of knowledge 210 Sonquist, ]. A. and Morgan, ]. M. 237 Spearman's rank correlation 231 Standard deviation 121 Stapel scale 153 Statistical elements 118-25 Statistical measures of association 225 Stewart, David 49 Stocks, J.M.B. 109, 113 Stoll, Martin and Stewart, David W. 47 Stone, Sue 160 Structured questionnaires 141, 142 Student-t 229 Subsamples 124 Successive focusing 28, 29, 30, 78 Successive forecasting 42, 49 Survey methods - advantages/

disadvantages 203 Survey research 86-9

advantages/ disadvantages 88 reasons for 86 taxonomy of 87 topic categories 89 types of 86

330 Index

Surveys, choice of - checklist 114 Surveys, definition 84, 85 Syndicated data - 5 major

categories 268-9 advertising evaluation data 269 consumer data 268 industrial data 268, 269 retail data 268 wholesale data 268

Tabulation 215 Technological change I, 308 Terms of reference 254, 255 Thurstone, L.L. 147 Title pages 261 Tool selection 220 Trade research 271-2 Tull, D. S. and Albaum, G. S. 84 Tull, D. S. and Hawkins, D. I. 8, 9, 115,

132, 133, 134.

Ughanwa, D. 0. and Baker, M. ]. 238 Univariate analysis 219, 223, 233 Unstructured questions 141, 142

Validity 101-2 internal, threats to external, sources of

Validity of interview Value of information Variability 222

Wants, definition 91 Wilson, D. 306

82 83, 84

160 26, 68-70

Words, complex and simple 139

Yates, F. 109 Young, S. 249