Market Research: Valuable Information

Market research is the process of collecting data to determine whether a particular product or service will satisfy the need of the consumers. Market research helps to identify valuable information such as the competitors, economic shifts and the demography of a particular region. It is also important to understand the recent marketing trends of the customer. Research helps to fill the gap of knowledge (Saunders & Lewis, 2014). Market research starts with the collection of data from various sources. After data collection, the data is evaluated. The information gathered from these data is evaluated and the potentiality of the needs of the consumers is recognized. Market research helps to develop the basic knowledge required for the betterment of the business of a particular company.

Wilson et al. (2012) has stated five steps in marketing research. These are:

• Defining the problem
• Analyzing the situation
• Getting problem specific data from different sources
• Interpretation of the collected data
• Developing a conclusion

Once these steps are fulfilled, the company or the marketers need to come up with an action plan that is required to achieve the business strategies and profitability.

There are two major sampling techniques; Probability and non-probability sampling techniques. Probability sampling method increases the chances of getting better result of the research (Hair et al., 2012). On the other hand, in case non-probability sampling, there remains a dilemma in getting proper response from the respondents.

Marketing research helps to find out what consumers wants. There are two types of researches:

Primary research: Field based researches are called primary research. The research that does not depend on the existing data and is done by making an approach towards collecting qualitative data (Johanson & Mattsson, 2015). In order to gather primary data, a questionnaire is made and is distributed among potential respondents. Primarily, there are two types of questionnaires; descriptive and analytical. Primary researches are of two types:

• Quantitative research: For quantitative approach, a questionnaire is distributed among the selected respondents and depending upon their response, a conclusion is drawn.
• Qualitative research: For qualitative research approach, a number of experts are asked to give their opinion on the research topic (Kugytė & Šliburytė, 2015).

De Groot, (2014) has pointed out a number of important things that are important to follow before conducting a primary research. These are:

• The research questions should be short and simple
• It must be interesting enough to hold the attention of the respondents
• The questions must be directly related to the topic of research (Saunders & Lewis, 2014)

There are two types of questionnaires: Open ended and close ended. In case of quantitative research, the questions are generally close ended and the main intention to get acknowledged of the major response towards a particular query. On the other hand, it is preferable to ask the experts a number of open-ended questions (Ritchie et al., 2013). It is important because acknowledging the opinion of the experts is the main intention of the qualitative research. Therefore, they shall be given the opportunity to come up with their opinion.

Secondary Research:

As opposed to the field research, the research technique that is used to gather information from the available sources either paid or free falls under the secondary research. Information collected from the official websites of government, official data etc. Other information available from the sources like newspaper, magazines and even from the internet that helps to come down at a conclusion is called the secondary sources of information (Saunders & Lewis, 2014). These information acts as the basic sources that provides the basic infrastructure of the research. Primarily, at the time of doing a research, a researcher takes a note of the available secondary data. It is only after acquiring knowledge from the secondary sources further researches is conducted.

A thorough research helps a company in the following ways:

• A research helps to identify the problems in the area of the business
• It helps to understand the needs of the existing customers and find the reason behind their selection of product (Ritchie et al., 2013).
• Research can also help to understand new business opportunities and potentials
• A well-informed market research will help to develop better business strategies for the company.

In both the cases, preparing a questionnaire that would address the research is the most important part of conducting the research. These questionnaires can be distributed among the respondents by various methods such as handouts, mail, telephonic conversation and even by using the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter (Saunders & Lewis, 2014). Another important point that has to be kept in mind is that the sampling size has to be big enough to support the research.

It is important for both big and small companies to conduct a research for their business. Research is important at every part of time. At the time of launching a new product a thorough research on the various factors like consumer choice, the recent market scenario, the impact of competitors on the business and other factors are needed to be analyzed to achieve better result. In fact, it is beneficial for a company to carry out research to understand the present condition of the company and to find out better steps to improve their business.

Future of Research:

As commented by Ritchie et al. (2013), future research will be conducted by utilizing the GPS technology. With the advent of Social Networking Sites and the increasing number of users of these sites, the impact of these sites is increasing. At the time of conducting a research, it has become easier to target the right respondents. In addition to this, the response is also spontaneous and the conclusion can be drawn easily.

Conclusion:

The entire lessons taught during the course helped to understand the importance of research as a part of marketing. It has helped to understand the various techniques that are required to conduct a useful and impactful research. This knowledge will help to conduct future researches in both academic and professional career. 

References:

De Groot, A. D. (2014). The meaning of “significance” for different types of research [translated and annotated by Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, Denny Borsboom, Josine Verhagen, Rogier Kievit, Marjan Bakker, Angelique Cramer, Dora Matzke, Don Mellenbergh, and Han LJ van der Maas]. Acta psychologica, 148, 188-194.

Derlaga, V. J., & Berg, J. H. (Eds.). (2013). Self-disclosure: Theory, research, and therapy. Springer Science & Business Media.

Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Mena, J. A. (2012). An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 40(3), 414-433.

Johanson, J., & Mattsson, L. G. (2015). Internationalisation in industrial systems—a network approach. In Knowledge, Networks and Power (pp. 111-132). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Kugytė, R., & Šliburytė, L. (2015). A standardized model of service provider selection criteria for different service types: a consumer-oriented approach.Engineering Economics, 44(4), 56-63.

Ritchie, J., Lewis, J., Nicholls, C. M., & Ormston, R. (Eds.). (2013).Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. Sage.

Saunders, M. N., & Lewis, P. (2014). Doing research in business and management: An essential guide to planning your project. Pearson Higher Ed.

Wilson, A., Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2012). Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm. McGraw Hill

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