Market Research

In the last class, we began with an exercise of listening, we watched a video and we had that to fill up activities about the video and to make a brief writing on which to have happened.

After, the teacher explained the market research to us

Market Research

Learning objectives

- To understand the difference between primary and secondary market research
- To understand how primary and secondary market research may be used by a business to help inform its marketing decisions.


At first, we will see the first step about primary research, then secondary reseach, purpose and finally the sampling methods.


The primary research contains:

- Questionnaires
- Focus groups
- User groups
- Postal Survey
- Telephone Surveys
- Customer Interviews
- Test markets
- Technology - Internet feedback

Primary Research

– First hand information
– Expensive to collect, analyse and evaluate
– Can be highly focussed and relevant
– Care needs to be taken with the approach and methodology to ensure accuracy
– Types of question – Closed – limited information gained; Open – useful information but difficult to analyse.


Quantitative and Qualitative Information:

- Quantitative – based on numbers – 56% of eighteen year olds drink alcohol at least four times a week.

Doesn’t tell you why, when, how.

- Qualitative – more detail – tells you why, when and how

The secondary step is about secondary research which contains internal and external sources

Internal Sources consist of

- Company Accounts
- Internal Reports and Analysis
- Stock Analysis
- Retail data - till data, etc

External Sources consist of

- Government Statistics
- EU - Euro Stat
- Household Expenditure Survey
- Magazine surveys
- Other firms’ research
- Research documents – publications, journals, etc.
- Web sites: commercial & non-commercial


The Sampling Methods are based on
- Random Samples
- Stratified or Segment Random Sampling
- Quota Sampling
- Cluster Sampling
- Contact or "snowball" Sampling
- Multi-Stage Sampling


Sampling Methods:

Random Samples – equal chance of anyone being picked

– May select those not in the target group – indiscriminate
– Sample sizes may need to be large to be representative
– Can be very expensive


Stratified or Segment Random Sampling

– Samples on the basis of a representative strata or segment
– Still random but more focussed
– May give more relevant information
– May be more cost effective


Quota Sampling

– Again – by segment
– Not randomly selected
– Specific number on each segment are interviewed etc
– May not be fully representative
– Cheaper method


Cluster Sampling

–Primarily based on geographical areas or ‘clusters’ that can be seen as being representative of the whole population

Multi-Stage Sampling

–Sample selected from multi stage sub-groups

Snowball Sampling

–Samples developed from contacts of existing customers – ‘word of mouth’ type approach

The purpose consist of:

- Size of market
- Market Trends
- Forecasting
- Planning
- Evaluation of Strategies/Promotion
- Assessing Marketing Mix
- Identifying market segments
- Identifying consumer needs
- Identifying Competition
- Identifying Opportunities/gaps in the market
- Reduce Risk



Advantages of Market Research

– Helps focus attention on objectives
– Aids forecasting, planning and strategic development
– May help to reduce risk of new product development
– Communicates image, vision, etc.
– Globalisation makes market information valuable


Disadvantages of Market Research

– Information only as good as the methodology used
– Can be inaccurate or unreliable
– Results may not be what the business wants to hear!
– May stifle initiative and ‘gut feeling’
– Always a problem that we may never know enough to be sure!