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The Marketing Research Process

Data

Information

Action

Marketing Researcher

Marketer

Problem Identification

Marketing Researcher and Marketers

Knowledge and Experiences

Research Methods

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Qualitative Knowledge vs. Quantitative Knowledge

Qualitative knowledge is associated with descriptions, characteristics, and ideas that are often expressed in words, themes, or narratives

        • Subjective in capturing opinions, experiences, and emotions of people
        • Requires human interpretation to obtain information from the data

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Quantitative knowledge is associated with a measure (i.e., a number)

        • Involves counting and measuring to identify patterns
        • Requires statistical analyses to obtain information

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Goal of Obtaining Knowledge: To Understand the Population.

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What is the Population?

�Definition: The complete group of people that share a common characteristic of interest, which we are interested in studying.

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Important to note about the above definition:

        • Complete Group: Includes everyone that exists who share this characteristic
        • Common Characteristic: Everyone is different in the population, but each must have this characteristic to belong to the population
        • Our Interest in Studying: Based on what we wish to study, the target population can change

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What is the Population?

“If produced, will our subscribers watch James Bond?”

Population: Subscribers of Disney+

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What is the Population?

“What factor drives consumers to buy Coke over Pepsi?”

Population: Consumers of Soft Drinks

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What is a Sample?

�Definition: Subset of individuals from the population.

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Not all samples are good samples. Here are three standards to evaluate:

        • Sample Size
        • Randomness in Collecting the Sample
        • Representativeness of the Sample

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Bell Curve (The Normal Distribution)

Sir Francis Galton

(1822 - 1911)

How are populations distributed?

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Bell Curve (The Normal Distribution)

What are the characteristics of this distribution?

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  1. People are clustered at the center (or the average)�
  2. Further away from you go from the center, the rarer people become

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Innate Characteristics: “Soccer Talent”

ASU Students

ASU Varsity

National Club

Lionel Messi

Me

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Innate Characteristics: “Liking Apple as a Brand”

Extremely Loyal to Apple

Disgusted by Apple

The Average Person

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“Do You Think James Bond is Appropriate for Kids?”

No way!

Yes!!

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“James Bond is Appropriate for Kids.”

Please rate from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree with regards to the above statement.

Total Answers

Percentage

Strongly Agree

3%

Agree

7%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

10%

Disagree

25%

Strongly Disagree

55%

Average

Parents with Children Over the Age of 14

Percentage

Strongly Agree

9%

Agree

11%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

25%

Disagree

25%

Strongly Disagree

30%

Parents with Children Under the Age 14

Percentage

Strongly Agree

1%

Agree

5%

Neither Agree nor Disagree

14%

Disagree

30%

Strongly Disagree

50%

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Randomness in Collecting the Sample

�Definition: the process of picking individuals in the sample from the population has to be random (i.e., every individual in the population has equal chance to be chosen)��Without randomness, results may be skewed:

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“Skewed Distribution”

“Symmetric Distribution”

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“How Much Do You Like Apple as a Brand?”

To collect data on this, you decide to survey the attendants at an Apple Product Convention.

What is the problem with this?

Not everyone in the population are going to go to the convention. Probably only those that are the most passionate about Apple!