Photo by: maldix marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information. This information is used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems to generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions to monitor marketing performance and to improve understanding of the marketing process. Marketing research specifies the information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications. Marketing research is concerned with the application of theories, problem solving methods, and techniques to identify and solve problems in marketing.

In order to offset unpredictable consumer behavior, companies invest in market research. Increased customer focus, demands for resource productivity, and increased domestic and international competition has prompted an increased emphasis on marketing research. Managers cannot always wait for information to arrive in bits and pieces from marketing departments. For example, dell computer might want to know a demographic breakdown of how many and what kinds of people or companies will purchase a new model in its personal computer line. In such situations, the marketing department may not be able to provide from existing knowledge the detailed information needed, and managers normally do not have the skill or time to obtain the information on their own. This formal study, whether performed internally or externally, is called marketing research.

The marketing research process consists of four steps: defining the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, implementing the research plan, and interpreting and reporting the findings. The marketing manager and the researcher must work closely together to define the problem carefully and agree on the research objectives. The manager best understands the decision for which information is needed the researcher best understands marketing research and how to obtain the information. Managers must know enough about marketing research to help in the planning and to interpret research results. Managers who know little about the importance of research may obtain irrelevant information or accept inaccurate conclusions.

Experienced marketing researchers who understand the manager x0027 s problem should also be involved at this stage. The researcher must be able to help the manager define the problem and to suggest ways that research can help the manager make better decisions. Defining the problem and research objectives is often the hardest step in the research process. The manager may know that something is wrong without knowing the specific causes. For example, managers of a retail clothing store chain decided that falling sales were caused by poor floor set up and incorrect product positioning. It turned out that the store had hired sales persons who weren x0027 t properly trained in providing good customer service. Careful problem definition would have avoided the cost and delay of research and would have suggested research on the real problem.

When the problem has been defined, the manager and researcher must set the research objectives. Sometimes the objective is exploratory x2014 to gather preliminary information that will help define the problem and suggest hypotheses. Sometimes the objective is descriptive x2014 to describe things such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers who buy the product. Sometimes the objective is casual x2014 to test hypotheses about cause and effect relationships.

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The second step of the marketing research process calls for determining the information needed, developing a plan for gathering it efficiently, and presenting the plan to marketing management. The plan outlines sources of secondary data and spells out the specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and instruments that researchers will use to gather primary data. Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose. Sources of secondary data include internal sources such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, sales figures, and inventory records and external sources such as government publications, periodicals, books, and commercial data. Primary data collection requires more extensive research, more time, and more money.

Secondary sources can sometimes provide information that is not directly available or would be too expensive to collect. The researcher must evaluate secondary information carefully to make certain of its relevance fits research project needs , accuracy reliably collected and reported , currency up to date enough for current decisions , and impartiality objectively collected and reported. Researchers must also understand how secondary sources define basic terms and concepts, as different sources often use the same terms but mean slightly different things, or they attempt to measure the same thing but go about it in different ways. Either way, the result can be that statistics found in secondary sources may not be as accurate or as relevant as they appear on the surface. Observational research is the gathering of primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations. Observational research can be used to obtain information that people are unwilling or unable to provide. Survey research is the approach best suited for gathering descriptive information.

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A company that wants to know about people x0027 s knowledge, attitudes, preferences, or buying behavior can often find out by asking them directly. Survey research is the most widely used method for primary data collection, and it is often the only method used in a research study. It can be used to obtain many different kinds of information in many different marketing situations.