MM 2 Reply

Rely to each of the 6 postings individually.

#1:

The best type of marketing research is defined by what type of information a company is looking to gather, how they intend to gather that research, how much they wish to spend on the project and what the demographic is of the target audience. There are five primary ways to gain data including: observational research, focus groups, surveys, behavioral data, and experiments. Observational marketing research is a qualitative method of collecting and analyzing information by watching and observing individuals in natural and planned environments. This allows researchers to identify the various items that customers are interested in purchasing, what their habits may be and what brands the customers tend to navigate towards. Focus group research is used as a marketing tool to encourage individuals in the group to give their opinions, perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about products, services, packaging, ads, etc. This is also a qualitative research method. It is a way for companies to determine the best way to advertise their products and services before launching a full marketing campaign and wasting money. Survey research is a data collection tool used to collect self-reported data from individuals willing to take the survey. Surveys are used to cover a wide variety of topics, like politics, the economy, health concerns and culture. These surveys can be done in-person, over the phone, or online by researchers working for banks, department stores, political campaigns or any other company needing to collect information in an inexpensive manner. The definition of behavioral data research is, “information employed in marketing for designing promotional campaigns based on consumers’ buying habits, brand preferences and product usage.” (www.businessdictionary.com). Behavioral research is collected whenever a customer uses a scanner at a department store or grocery, buys something online or makes catalog purchases. Researchers find that this is often the most reliable research because the customer is buying an item that they want or need. ( (Kotler, 2016). Experimental marketing research is done to understand different casual processes through manipulation and control testing. It is the most scientifically valued research and the most trusted by marketing managers.

#2:

Qualitative is the best type of marketing research to start with. Qualitative research is how market researchers are able to get feedback using open-ended questions. For example, if a company rolled out a new product they may conduct a focus group where they would ask the users of the product what they liked best and what they liked least about the product. Once that research is complete and changes are made to the product then it would be beneficial for the company to conduct quantitative market research. This type of research includes close-ended questions such as multiple choice. For example, let’s say that when McDonald’s was developing the recipe for their special sauce they conducted qualitative research which indicated that the taste was too sweet. Once they got the flavor perfected they conducted quantitative research to find out if customers wanted the sauce on one bun or two buns. While quantitative research is less expensive to conduct and also less time consuming I still feel that it is important to use both types of research together in order to get a better picture of what the customer really wants.

#3:

There are two methods to market research, qualitative, which is more focused and tries to garner a deeper understanding of the target market. Quantitative research is more broad and is more of an attempt to gather as much basic information as possible. In my opinion qualitative would be the better of the two because it provides more accurate market research. Quantitative may gather more information but much of it may not translate directly to profitability being that it only scratches the surface of what the target market is seeking as far as products or services. “Qualitative research studies can provide you with details about human behavior, emotion, and personality characteristics that quantitative studies cannot match. Qualitative data includes information about user behaviors, needs, desires, routines, use cases, and a variety of other information that is essential in designing a product that will actually fit into a user’s life.” (Madrigal, McClain) Qualitative research will provide a better understanding of which direction a business entity should strive towards to profit from their product or service in their current target market.

#4:

When talking about which marketing research is best, qualitative, or quantitative, I think it comes down to the reasoning behind why the research is being conducted. Is it for a start-up business trying to find out if there are potential target markets and buyers for a certain product? Then I would say quantitative research may be sounder. Or perhaps is it because a product is trying to be more refined to meet a certain buyer preference? If that is the case, then I would recommend qualitative marketing techniques to be the best fit. I think that in our modern-day society with a lot of doors already opened and established for businesses, qualitative research is the best marketing research in nature, because many customers already know what they like and dislike in certain products, having something specific in mind. It is also due to the fact that, eventually, more in-depth inquires on consumer interests and trends will have to be performed to keep sales constant. “Quantitative market research highlights areas of further investigation before exploring the reasons through qualitative market research” (Brandenburg, 2013). So if an establishment is looking for general information about which products and services to provide, quantitative research may be the best suitable. Though if an establishment wants to know exactly why a consumer makes a purchase or the market trends a certain way they may need to pursue qualitative research.

#5:

In my opinion, market research is more quantitative in nature. When using quantitative research you are getting a larger sample size, there is more data to use for your marketing. The larger amount of data and statistics helps guide you toward your target market. While I believe there is a place for both quantitative and qualitative, quantitative allows you to produce a larger number that you can work with more efficiently. Qualitative could be more accurate at times because it is smaller but at the same time could be less accurate because of the smaller sample size. If a company is going to market their product, company, service, etc. they are going to make sure they have the most amount of data possible, regardless of how accurate a smaller sample size might be. Quantitative research is more structured by nature because of the larger sample size and more definitive answers to questions. Again, both of the research methods have their place in marketing because in the end you are chasing the same result.

#6:

I think both methods or techniques are useful. Which one is better depends on what case it is being applied to. Quantitative research is definitely useful and that is evident because we have all filled out structured surveys or have been surveyed over the phone with yes/no or limited choice responses many times. Depending on what type of product or service you are researching, quantitative research may be the most effective and efficient way for covering the consumer base. For instance, a cable service provider deciding whether or not to provide a new network to their service may conduct automated phone surveys asking simply if this is something their existing customers would be interested in before signing a contract with the network. This type of marketing research does not require anything more than an “interested” or “not interested” response. In qualitative research, simple yes/no or limited response surveys are not used. Instead, more detailed and in-depth interviews are conducted. Qualitative research can be better in markets that require more understanding of what the consumers want or what they believe they need. For instance, if a company is looking to develop a new product, it may be more beneficial to allow consumers to give details about what they are interested in and why. The reason I believe qualitative research is better is because it can help develop quantitative research questionnaires. In many questionnaires or surveys, qualitative research is used to come up with the questions and the most common answers to allow for a faster and broader consumer input range for measurement.