Market research involves the systematic collection and analysis of information to assist marketing decisions. It has four main purposes: descriptive, explanatory, predictive, and exploratory. There are two main types of market research: primary research which collects new data, and secondary research which uses existing data. Primary research methods include surveys, experiments, observation, and focus groups.

1. Conducting start-up market
research

2. Key words
Marketing: the anticipation and
satisfying of customers’ wants in a way
that delights consumers and also
meets the needs of the organisation
Market research: the systematic and
objective collection, analysis and
evaluation of information that is
intended to assist the marketing
process

3. Purposes of market research
• Descriptive reasons
o Achieving objectives
o Identifying trends
o Comparisons
• Explanatory reasons
o Helps an organisation to investigate why certain
things occur e.g. does the weather affect sales?

4. Purposes of market research
• Predictive reasons
o To predict trends and find links between sets of
data e.g. calculating the extent to which
advertising influences sales volume
• Exploratory reasons
o Occasions such as when a new product is
launched, there will be no existing information, a
business may conduct research into probably
consumer reaction

5. Types of market research- how it is
collected
Primary market Secondary research:
research: The use of
The collection of information that has
information first- already been
hand for a specific collected for a
purpose different purpose

6. Types of market research- the content
of the data
Qualitative:
Quantitative:
The collection of
The collection of
information about the
market based on information about the
subjective factors such market based on
as opinions and numbers
reasons

7. Experiment
Test
Observation
marketing
Primary
market
research
Focus
Surveys
groups

8. Task
From your textbook, create summary notes on
the 5 types of primary research. Pages 43-47
Include the following:
1. An explanation
2. Benefits
3. Drawbacks

9. Government
publications
Loyalty Newspapers
cards
Market
research Secondary Magazines
organisations research
Internet
Company
Competitors records

10. Content of data- Qualitative MR
Benefits Drawbacks
The business can gain a better insight into It is expensive to gather, as it usually
what it needs to do to appeal to its requires skilled personnel to interpret it, as a
consumers. It also can be used to appeal to result it is conducted on a small scale. This
new potential customers can lead to bias or unrepresentative
opinions.
This research can highlight issues that the
business was not aware of and as a result, It is difficult to tabulate the data and
take action compare them with other data as the
opinions are often unstructured.
Can give a detailed insight into customers’
thinking processes when they buy products.
It can enable business to modify their
marketing strategies.

11. Content of data- Quantitative MR
Benefits Drawbacks
It summarises data in a concise and
meaningful way It only shows ‘what’ rather than ‘why’
The use of numerical data makes it easier It can lack reliability and validity if the
to compare results with those of other sample is too small or biased.
organisations, such as competitors or
divisions of the same organisation
Can be used to identify trend and project
future trends

12. Sampling
Sample: a group of respondents or factors
whose views or behaviour should be
representative of the target market as a whole

13. Sample size
• The sample size measures the number of people or
items in a sample
• A firm needs to balance the need for accuracy
against the cost of the survey
• Large samples increase reliability but cost more,
small samples do the opposite
• The degree to which the statistics are a reliable
predictor of actual events is known as the
‘confidence level’

14. Types of
sampling
Random sampling Quota sampling Stratified sample
A group of respondents in A group of respondents
A group of respondents
which each member of the comprising several different
selected according to
target population has an segments, each sharing a
particular features e.g. age
equal chance of being common features e.g. age
or gender. However unlike
selected or gender. Interviewees are
quota sampling where the
selected non-randomly by
final selecting is left to the
the interviewer
interviewer, in stratified the
sub-groups and their sizes
are chosen specifically

15. Factors influencing the choice of
sampling methods
• Cost and availability of finance
• Time
• The importance of market segments
• Whether the business is targeting a specific group
of customers
• The firm’s understanding of its customer base.