Preface

Every market researcher or business analyst needs to be aware of marketing research ­methods. Market researchers will find it difficult to conduct an in-depth analysis in their areas of specialization without a sound knowledge of the scientific process of conducting research. Researchers may consult many books and articles but their knowledge may remain inadequate if they lack the patience to devote the time required to understand research techniques prevailing in the contemporary marketing world. They must remember that little knowledge is dangerous and devote time and energy to understand the essence of research before executing any type of marketing research. This book provides readers with an opportunity to understand the crux of marketing research in a scientific and systematic manner. Market researchers who are potential readers of the book must systematically read all the chapters without resorting to shortcuts such as focusing on only a few chapters. This book deals with real examples from the business world that exemplify market research concepts. For example, it uses the example of consumer attitude or consumer satisfaction to deal with the different dimensions of research. It comes in handy even for a researcher involved in organizational behaviour analysis, as any topic related to employee attitude or employee satisfaction can be dealt with using the same kind of research methodology by merely changing the dimension of study from the business level to the organizational level. Similarly, other research topics related to varied streams, such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, social ­psychology, etc. can be analysed using the tools and techniques presented here. Broadly, any research related to primary data collection or field data collection can be effectively performed with the help of this book.

A basic prerequisite that any researcher who aims at becoming an expert at market research techniques needs to possess is a sound knowledge of statistical techniques. Thus, before one sets out to read this book, it is advisable to first become familiar with application-oriented statistics. Marketing research is designed using the concepts of statistics. Hence, this book unfolds basic and advanced marketing research methods with the assumption that the readers have prior knowledge of the fundamentals of statistics. For example, common terms in statistics such as average, median, mode, standard deviation, etc. are used throughout this book. Similarly, readers must have a solid knowledge of probability and probability distributions. My books, Business Statistics (2009) and Business Research Methods (2011), published by Pearson Education, provide tools to understand some of the basic concepts of statistics commonly applied to research methods. It will be a good idea for readers to go through these two books before going through the marketing research methods presented here.

Designed to meet the requirements of students in business schools across India, this book also presents case studies and problems developed using real data gathered from organizations such as the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) and Indiastat.com. Statistical concepts are explained in a simple manner without going into the derivation of formulas. The only prerequisite to understand these concepts is a basic knowledge of algebra. Clear instructions help readers to use these programs for statistical analysis and interpret the outputs obtained. The focus on interpretation rather than computation develops competencies that will aid students in their future careers as managers. This book guides students to make the best use of marketing research by using a variety of learning tools. Each chapter opens with a list of learning objectives that introduce the reader to the topics covered in the chapter. This is followed by an opening vignette that links theory to actual industry practice. The introductory section in all chapters provides a broad outline of the subject. Scenarios from day-to-day life are used to illustrate complex theories. Problems are provided at the end of important sections to enable students to practice the ideas discussed. Solved examples framed using real data from organizations such as Indiastat. com and CMIE highlight the business applications of marketing research methods. Unsolved numerical problems are designed to strengthen problem-solving skills. A case study at the end of each chapter acquaints the student with an assortment of organizational scenarios that they may encounter in the future.

COVERAGE

This book is divided into six parts consisting of a total of 22 chapters. These six parts are: Introduction to Marketing Research; Research Design Formulation; Sources and Collection of Data: Descriptive Statistics and Data Analysis; Result Presentation and Applications of Marketing Research. The first and the most important aspect of conducting any research is to define the research problem properly. In addition, the researcher must have a strong background in marketing research and be knowledgeable about the various stages in conducting a scientific research programme. Part I: Introduction to Marketing Research comprises two chapters. Chapter 1: Marketing Research: An Introduction introduces readers to marketing research. Chapter 2: Market Research Process Design explains the stages in the research process and focuses on the sequential steps in conducting research.

Part II: Research Design Formulation consists of three chapters. Chapter 3: Measurement and Scaling deals with measurement issues and discusses the various scales for measurement. Chapter 4: Questionnaire Design discusses the development of the questionnaire as a research tool. Chapter 5: Sampling and Sampling Distributions discusses sampling, types of sampling, sampling and non-sampling errors and sampling distributions.

Part III: Sources and Collection of Data consists of four chapters. Chapter 6: Secondary Data Sources focuses exclusively on the sources of secondary data, especially in India. Chapter 7: Data Collection: Survey and Observation explains various survey and observation techniques. Chapter 8: Experimentation deals with the validity issue, the process of conducting experiments and the classification of experimental designs. Chapter 9: Fieldwork and Data Preparation describes the process of gathering data through field work as well as editing, coding, and preparation of the data matrix for statistical analysis.

Part IV: Descriptive Statistics and Data Analysis consists of 11 chapters. Chapter 10: Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central Tendency gives insights into the central tendency of data. Chapter 11: Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Dispersion focuses on the various measures of dispersion. Chapter 12: Statistical Inference: Hypothesis Testing for Single Populations introduces readers to the hypothesis-testing procedure for single populations. Chapter 13: Statistical Inference: Hypothesis Testing for Two Populations discusses the hypothesis-testing procedure for two populations. Chapter 14: Analysis of Variance and Experimental Designs deals with the analysis of variance and designs of experiments. Chapter 15: Hypothesis Testing for Categorical Data (Chi-Square Test) discusses the chi-square test and its applications. Chapter 16: Correlation and Simple Regression Analysis discusses the applications of bivariate correlation and regression. Chapters 17, 18 and 19 focus on the widely used multivariate statistical techniques in the field of marketing research. ­Chapter 17: Multivariate Analysis I: Multiple Regression Analysis discusses multiple regression. Chapter 18: Multivariate Analysis II: Discriminant Analysis and Conjoint Analysis focuses on discriminant analysis and conjoint analysis. Chapter 19: Multivariate Analysis III: Factor ­Analysis, ­Cluster Analysis, Multidimensional Scaling and Correspondence Analysis discusses advanced, interdependent multivariate techniques in marketing research such as factor analysis, cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling and correspondence analysis. Chapter 20: Sales Forecasting discusses the various techniques of sales forecasting.

Part V: Result Presentation comprises Chapter 21: Presentation of Result: Report Writing. This chapter explains the systematic method to present the results of a marketing research project.

Part VI: Applications of Marketing Research includes the final chapter, Chapter 22: Marketing Mix Research: Product, Price, Place and Promotion Research. This chapter focuses on the role played by marketing research in making critical decisions regarding the different elements of the marketing mix.

Key Features

The Teaching and Learning Package

The following resources included with the book are available at www.pearsoned.co.in/navalbajpai:

• An instructors’ solution manual that contains solutions for all the problems and case studies in the text.
• PowerPoint lecture slides with chapter outlines that facilitate the teaching process.
• Multiple-choice and true/false questions that are designed to test students’ comprehension of key topics.

Naval Bajpai