Chapter 3 - The Marketing Research Process: An Overview

Decision Making - The process used to resolve a problem or to choose
  from alternative opportunities

  Continuum of Decision Making
   Certainty - the decision maker knows the exact nature of the marketing
    problem or opportunity and all the information that the they need is
    available.

   Uncertainty - the decision maker grasps the general nature of the
    desired objectives but the information is incomplete.

   Ambiguity - the nature of the problem to be solved is incomplete.

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Types of Marketing Research
   Exploratory Research 




   Descriptive Research




   Causal Research




     Showing Causality
     1)Temporal order of events - One event cannot be considered the
       "cause" of another if it occurs after the other event.
     2)Concomitant variation -Two variables must be correlated if they
       are causally related.
     3)Alternative explanations can be ruled out.


Stages in the Research Process:
 * Problem Discovery and Definition



     Problem Discovery



     Problem Definition



* Planning the Research Design 
   Research Design - The framework for a study that specifies the method
     and is used as a guide in collecting and analyzing data.  

  Survey - a research technique in which information is gathered using a
     questionnaire.




   Experiment - An analysis of cause-effect relationships by manipulating
    some conditions and holding others constant.




   Secondary Data - Using past numbers to forcast future figures for an
    event or phenomenon


Observation - Collecting data by observing people.




* Sampling Stage
    Sampling - studying part of a population to make generalizations
     about the whole population. 


   Two important questions:
    1. 


    2.


   Two Basic Sampling Techniques:
     Probability Samples:  Each person in the population has a known and
      equal chance of being selected. 


     Nonprobability sampling:  Based on the researcher's personal judgment.  


* Collecting Data






* Data Processing and Analysis
    Editing - cleaning up the data by finding and removing omission and
      legibility problems

    Coding - involves converting the data to meaningful categories and
       recording the data by hand or on a computer


    Data analysis - applying logic to understand the data.




* Conclusions and Report Preparation