The 11 steps of marketing research are: 1) Establishing the need, 2) Defining the problem, 3) Establishing research objectives, 4) Determining research design, 5) Identifying information types and sources, 6) Determining methods of accessing data, 7) Designing data collection forms, 8) Determining sample plan and size, 9) Collecting data, 10) Analyzing data, and 11) Preparing and presenting the final report. Not all studies follow all 11 steps in order. Defining the problem correctly in step 2 is crucial, as incorrectly defining the problem can waste all further efforts.