Problem Identification
Problem Identification
Problem identification
The first step in a marketing research process is to identify the problem or opportunity. The problem may be about
decrease in sales, increase in competition, expansion of market, etc.
2. Problem definition
The second step in a marketing research process is to define the problem. In this stage, the researcher must
understand the problem correctly. He must find out the scope of the problem, the type of information needed, etc. If
the problem is not defined properly, then it will result in waste of time, money and resources.
3. Research design
The fourth step in a marketing research process is to determine the data needs. The researcher must consider the
following issues:
1. Whether to use primary data or secondary data or both.
2. The accuracy and reliability of the data.
3. The availability of accurate and reliable data.
4. The cost and time required to collect the data.
5. Determining data sources
The fifth step in a marketing research process is to determine the data sources.
The researcher decides the sources of collecting data. The two main sources are secondary data and primary data.
The researcher first collects secondary data. This is because it is easily available and less costly. It is collected by
Desk Research. Desk Research can be internal for e.g. collected from company's records or external i.e. acquired
from libraries, trade journals, government sources, etc. If the secondary data is not sufficient to solve the marketing
problem, then primary data is wheeled.
Collecting primary data is very costly and time consuming. It can be collected by using survey methods, i.e. by doing
personal interviews, telephone interviews and mail surveys. It can also be collected by using observational method
and experimentation method.
So in this step the researcher decides what source and what method to use for collecting data.
6. Sampling design
7. Designing questionnaire
The ninth step in a marketing research process is of collection and processing of data.
In this stage, the data is collected from the respondents. The questionnaire is used for collecting data. In case of mail
surveys, the questionnaire is sent to the respondents by post. In case of telephone interviews, the data is collected
through telephone. In case of personal interviews, the data is collected by the field interviewers. The researcher can
also use observation method and experimentation method for collecting data. The data collected must be reliable and
complete. It must also be collected quickly. Secondary data is also collected. The data collected is raw. It cannot be
used directly. It has to be processed and organised neatly. That is, the data must be edited, coded, classified and
tabulated. Editing helps to remove the unwanted data. Coding, classification and tabulation make the data ready for
analysis and interpretation.
The tenth step in a marketing research process is of analysis and interpretation of data.
In this stage, the researcher analyzes and interprets the data. That is, he studies the data very careful and draws
conclusions from it. These conclusions are then used to solve the marketing problem.