Marketing research is the systematic and objective search for, and analysis of, information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of marketing." Marketing research can be concerned with any of a variety of aspects of the market: the product, sales, buyer behaviour, promotion, distribution, pricing, packaging, etc. Since the researcher cannot investigate everything about a market, he/she must be selective. The brief must inform the researcher which aspects of the market are particularly important. In particular, the research brief should include:
- the purpose of the research
- the objectives stated in a clear, concise, attainable, measurable and quantifiable way
- a time horizon
- a resource allocation, including the budget and facilities
- a reporting period.
Role: Market research is one of the
vital components of marketing: it plays its part before one makes any policy
decisions in the field of marketing and communications. Market research can be
defined as "the implementation of subjective and objective research
methods, whose aim is to collect information and analyze it. This information
constitutes the basis that enables marketers to (re)define and evaluate their
strategies". This information is generally concerning behavior, attitudes
and motivations of a particular target group. Market research is the first step
before any decisions are taken. As a supplier of information its role is only
effective if it enables companies to make useful marketing decisions. Research
is conducted throughout the marketing process: at each stage the reactions of
the target public, after being analyzed, enable one to review the policies.
Types
and Methods of Research
Every Research needs lots of
dedication from the researcher’s part-the amount of dedication mainly depends
on the subject matter of the research. Any scientific research may fall into
the following three broadly categories:
Exploratory
research-This type
of research may generate any novel idea in the domain of knowledge. It is
primarily done for the purpose of finding anything new in any subject arena and
always tries to shed some light in the unknown domain of knowledge.
Constructive
research- This is
mainly done by many technological corporates in order to find new/alternative
solutions to any particular crisis or problems. For example-renewable energy
research or development of the capacity of optical fiber may fall into this
category of research.
Empirical
research-This is
very impressive observational type of research, where one observes or test on real-life
data or analysis the pattern of some specific events in order to identify the
nature or the class of trend that specific phenomenon maintains. Based on the
test result, researchers try to draw lines in order to predict the result of
that type of incidents with certain level of confidence.
Research
method is a
way of collecting inputs and finding the outputs, to conduct your research
successfully.
As a
research method you can choose one of the following or a combination:
Experiments-this is used in exploratory type
research. What types of experiments necessary depends on the research topic.
This is very time consuming and expensive type of research method.
Surveys-this is used in empirical or
exploratory type of research, usually used in business studies. You can use
questionnaires or even interview some specific group of people to get your
research result.
Observation
– observational
data can be recorded in order to find empirical relationship between different
parameters of your research. One disadvantage of this type of research is that
it is very time-consuming and expensive method.
Existing data-this type of research is done on the available data to find any findings or patterns in the data. This is the most effortless, time-saving and less-expensive type of