Marketing Research Standards

Read through the document on code of marketing research. Click here to open.

Rights of a Research Respondent

Respondents are people who during a marketing research project take out time and express their opinions and receive nothing much in return. However these people have their own rights and this should be honored by the market research firm.

Right to Choose

Everyone individual who has been contacted for the purpose of research can decide whether or not to participate. Any person who is being forced to participate may end up giving incomplete answers or false data.

Right to Safety

Every individual participating in a research project has the right to safety from physical or psychological harm. During the process of say an interview, the research suppliers should clearly mention the issue/problem/harm w.r.t. to a research project.

Right to Be Informed

Continuing with the earlier right, research participants need to be informed of all the aspects related to a research project. What is involved, duration of questionnaire, reasons for data collection all need to be made known to the participant.

Right to Privacy

Major research organizations like Marketing Research Association (MRA), the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO), the Internet Marketing Research Association (IMRO),

the American Marketing Association (AMA), and the Advertising Research Foundation

(ARF), have privacy codes. The respondent has every right of privacy and these organizations spell out the regulations.

Client Ethics

In the previous post I had mentioned some of the prevalent ethical issues related to research suppliers. In this post I will be mentioning a few points pertaining to the ethical issues in clients (users/firms/organizations etc.) who utilize the services of the research suppliers to marketing research for them. Some of the prevalent ethical issues in this field are:

Requesting for newer bids when a research supplier has already been identified

It is quite common for a firm to prefer a particular research supplier for their marketing research problem. There are multiple reasons for such strong relationships which may be due to previous good working relationship, previous success stories, punctuality in completion of projects, quality of people involved in the project, personal relation favoring a firm etc.

It is quite natural in the industry that firms may prefer a certain research supplier, but what is wrong is that even after identifying the supplier the organization calls for bids from other research suppliers. In such a scenario the research firms interested will have to invest their time, energy, and money for a predetermined result, which is unfair and unethical.

Requesting Bids to Obtain Free Advice and Methodology

Prior to winning the project, the firm may  ask the research suppliers who are interested in the project  to present their views and sample materials on the methodology to be used, the survey sample, the survey questionnaire, etc. This way the client will be able to gather a lot of inputs form the suppliers and this can be used by the client to carry on its research project. Here the client himself will do the market research. In other cases, the client will identify the lowest bidder and will supply him the collect information (from all the suppliers) and provide it to the lowest bidder and ask him to conduct the research.

Making False Promises

This involves giving false promises to the supplier and getting the current project done at a very low price. Usually, they lure the suppliers by telling him that they will be given preference in the projects coming in the future. And then this never happens as the next time the same trick will be played on another unsuspecting player.

Requesting Proposals without Authorization

In this case the client representative asks for bids for a research project without the complete approval of the management. Some of the situation may be like:

1.       Call the suppliers to check the proposal and pricing and then check with the management for the funds to support.

2.       Clash between the client representative and the management on the problem and objectives and even the preferred research supplier.

Research Supplier Ethics

Some of the unethical behavior on the part of research suppliers are listed below.

Low-Ball Pricing

Research suppliers should quote and demand the price for a marketing research program based on

1.       Incidence rate (percentage of the respondents who qualify to complete the survey (from the selected sample))

2.       Length of the questionnaire and the time required to complete it.

The contract price varies with the change in the 2 parameters mentioned above.

Low-ball pricing is in reality quoting an unrealistically low price in order to secure a firm’s project and then using different modes to systematically increase the cost (by a substantial amount) of the entire project.

Example: After pocketing the research project, placing the demand in front of the firm the cost of connecting and calling the respondents (say for qualitative research) would be separate.

Allowing Subjectivity into the Research

Research suppliers must avoid the following in any research condition:

1.       Using biased samples

2.       Misusing statistics

3.       Ignoring relevant data

4.       Creating a research design with the goal of supporting a predetermined objective

Advocacy studies: These are studies that are commissioned by companies to advocate or prove a position of the company or for public relations purposes. Most of the times the advocacy studies are done on samples that are not representative of the population. This sort of research will bring subjectivity into the researcher.

Abusing Respondents

Respondent abuse can take several forms like:

1.       Perhaps the most common is lengthy interviews. Due to lengthy questionnaires and sales pitches, more and more people (who are aware of this) refuse to participate in a survey research.

2.       Misrepresenting the interview duration (if the actual duration is long) to attract respondents, will cause the respondents to feel disconnected and cheated in the entire process.

3.       Predictive dialers call up people ahead based on system information on availability of interviewers. But if mismanaged, predictive dialers will call people and then will make them wait or disconnect the line because on non-availability of the interviewers.

4.       Data collected during interview process is confidential, as it includes personal data of the respondent. Leaking out this data to other sources is infringing on the privacy of the respondent.

Selling unnecessary Research

This includes increasing the sample size to an irrelevant level, increasing the numbers and complexity of a research questionnaire etc.

One of the ways to tackle this situation is by presenting multiple research design proposals, informing the company of the pros and cons of each and the different pricing levels for each.

Then, based on the focus of the research and the requirements, a suitable design should be chosen.

Violating Client Confidentiality

During the course of interaction and working for the client, research firms gain a lot of information on the client, their business activities, plan etc. this information should not be revealed to any third party.

Evan after a project is over, there a lot of data sitting with the research firm and this should not be misused in helping the competitors in any way. 

Ethics in Marketing Research

The most important characteristics required to maintain a strong and growing relationship between an organization and a marketing research organizations are:

1.       Client confidentiality

2.       Honesty

These two are a representation of the all encompassing factor of ethics in the filed of marketing research. Ethics and ethical behavior is not just a one way phenomenon, with all the participants i.e. clients, suppliers, and well as field services equally responsible.

Ethics can range from:

1.       Narrowly defined practical issues, like being honest to the customers

2.       Broader philosophical and social questions

Ethical Theories

While reading through some of the materials on marketing research and the trends associated with his field, I encountered some of the theories related to the ethics in marketing research. In this post I will try to summarize these theories for you.

I.            Deontology

According to the theory of Deontology people need to adhere to their responsibilities / duties whenever they are analyzing any ethical dilemma.

They compulsorily need to follow their responsibilities towards a society or person because it is considered to be ethically correct. This will result in consistent decisions and solutions for a given problem or situation.

The only issue with the theory of Deontology is the complications arising from conflicts. In case of conflicting obligations, it would result in the good for the targeted person or society but might be detrimental to the good of other people or sections of the society.

II.            Utilitarianism

The basis of this theory is that there is an ability to predict the future based on the actions taken by you. According to this theory, the choice or selection which leads to the greatest amount of benefits to a majority of the population under consideration is the ethically correct action.

In this method or approach all the possible solutions are compared and weighed against each other to determine which is the best one – which will be both logical as well as rational for a given situation/problem.

The types of Utilitarianism are:

1.       Act utilitarianism

2.       Rule utilitarianism

Act utilitarianism: In this type Utilitarianism a person does the things which are most beneficial to the majority of the people and society. There may also be cases where it might be completely against the law of the land and the established moral values.

Rule utilitarianism: In this type Utilitarianism a person does the things which are most beneficial to the majority of the people and society but keeping in mind the principles of law and morality in a fair and a just way. This is better than Rule Utilitarianism.

The flaw with both the methods is that it is all dependent on the predictions of the future which is usually uncertain. Another flaw is that different consequences of a situation (which are usually of varied types) need to compare against each other on a similar scale, which is not the best way to do it.

III.            Casuist

The basis of this theory is the comparison of the present ethical dilemma with similar ethical dilemmas in the past and analyzing the old results to come up with a successful solution for the current ethical dilemma. Herein you take the learning from the experiences of others to take a successful decision for your problem.

Challenges Facing the Marketing Research Industry

A survey done to understand the challenges facing the field of marketing research yielded the following results. The challenges were considered to be of a great impact.

1.       Maximizing survey participation and completion rates                          38.7%

2.       Contacting the representative sample of the population/segment         30.2%

3.       Creating surveys which is acceptable by the respondents                     10.2%

4.       Creating the survey                                                                                  12.0%

5.       Analyzing the results of the survey                                                         17.6%

6.       Coding the survey operations                                                                  18.6%

Current state of the Marketing Research Industry

The marketing research industry is an industry which has been continually growing approximately at a rate of 5% over the past years. There are multiple reasons attributed for such a sustained positive growth. One of the reasons is the how well the users and consumers of the activities have been growing. Along with this the other reasons being how most of the users/organizations believe in going for a proper scientific marketing research prior to taking decisions, and they would prefer an outside agency which works on it full time and has all the theoretical as well the practical knowledge to handle it. Be it a time of economic boom when companies want to grow leaps and bounds, or be season(s) of economic distress when companies want to consolidate, keep their best feet forward and survive, marketing research is of primary importance.

1.       Users/ Consumers/ Organizations: Every company in the present time has been increasing its spend/budget for marketing research, but the size of marketing research department has being shrinking continuously.  This is primarily due to the reason that the users/companies are opting for external marketing research service providers. Money is wisely spent by users/organizations to focus only on important projects and the fad of spending money for the “nice to know/have” projects are over. More and more accountability and the returns on investments are of topmost priority. Each and every dollar spent on a research project should help the organization take a strategic decision which will impact the future growth of the company.

2.       Marketing Research Suppliers: The current markets have witnesses a growth in the number of organizations proving support to other organizations in marketing research. With the current flooding of the market with more suppliers it is important for them to maintain their visibility in front of the organizations by continuing in to do excellent research work, maintaining good relations and interactions with the organizations and providing the cost based advantage. Now some marketing research firms are even outsourcing parts of the work to reduce their own internal costs and maintain their attractiveness in terms of cost to other companies. There is also a shift from the traditional modes of doing research, i.e. face to face, and now there is a prevalence of research being done (primarily interviews) telephonically, online etc.

Scope of Marketing Research

Marketing research is a very potential and a necessary tool to gauge the requirements of the market and to understand the suitability and acceptance of a product or a service.

As I am in the process of understanding the details and finer aspects related to marketing research, both as a part of my academic curriculum and my interest, I would like to share some insights into the most common uses of marketing research in the corporate environment. In this post I have made an attempt to list out a few of them. I want to clarify right at the start the research field is vast and the applications and uses are enormous. What is being highlighted in this post are some of the most common uses.

I.    Sales Analysis Research:

The following areas are by definition are included under Sales Analysis:

1.       Measuring and evaluating the market potential

2.       Understanding the characteristics of the market under consideration

3.       Estimating the (probable/possible) market share

4.       Understanding the current and relevant business trends

 

Under Sales Analysis, the following studies/research can be carries out:

1.       Consumer types in the market being targeted

2.       Market size

3.       Market location

4.       Growth in the target market

5.       Product competitiveness

6.       Competitor strategies

7.       Purchasing habits in the current market under consideration

8.       Other possible parameters affecting a purchase

9.       People involved in taking the decision

10.   Operational fit of the product or service in the customer’s lifestyle?

11.   Current brand preferences of the customers

The information collected during these studies can be analyzed and it can be used to arrive at a suitable marketing decision.

II.    Sales Methods / Policies Research:

This consists of:

1.      Evaluating effectiveness of current distribution system to decide on establishing or revising sales territories.

2.      Specifying and analyzing the sales quotas, target market territory boundary design, sales force compensation, distribution cost etc.

3.      Assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of various promotional activities.

III. Product Management Research:

The following are researched under this category:

1.       Using the research information to create new products and manage existing products.

2.       Analyzing the markets feedback on the competitor’s offerings.

3.       Defining market segments based on the analysis.

4.       Analyzing the customer’s feedback on the current product offerings and collating the desire and specification given by customers, and also the acceptance for the current product.

5.       Perception of brands in people’s minds, helping the companies to reposition their brands as required.

6.       Simulated test marketing (STM) – for monitoring the performance of a test brand.

7.       Research on pricing, packaging, availability etc.

IV.  Advertising Research:  

The following fall in this category:

1.     Evaluating the relative effectiveness of different media (e.g. print, digital etc.) for certain products or services – to analyze their impact and effectiveness.

2.     Testing of advertisements to get a feedback from the audience in the targeted segment. Multiple copies of the ads are shown to find out the most effective advertisement (prior to releasing the ad campaign on full scale).

3.      Evaluate the effectiveness of the ad after its mass release.

V.   Corporate Research

Corporate research is done quite frequently to understand the perceived image of the organization. This may include the following:

1.       Social values research

2.       Political studies

3.       Customer service studies

VI.  Syndicated Research:

Market information is being continually being gathered by research agencies at the behest of organizations and this information is usually sent in a monthly/quarterly basis. This type of research is quite prevalent in the retail sector, pharmaceutical sector.  TV program/channel viewership and readership of newspapers and magazines is also collected this way.

Classification of marketing research

Stages in the Marketing Research process - II

In the previous post (Stages in the Marketing Research process - I), the first four steps in the marketing research process was explained.

In this article a basic idea of what happens in the last four stages of marketing research is being presented.

Collect the data:

After defining the sample, it is required that the appropriate data be collected from this sample. This involves identifying the right type of questions and the right medium to serve the questionnaire and collect the feedback/data. Based on the type of research being undertaken – appropriate questions should be identified. The mediums to serve the questions and collect the data may also depend on the type of research. But sometimes these preconceived and accepted modes may be altered based on the demands and objectives of the person/group/organization running/funding the research.

The data collection process can be secondary, primary, or both secondary and primary. The tools used to capture this data can be classified as:

1.       Observation methods

2.       Communication methods

Analyze the data:

After collecting the data it needs to be converted into a format which can be easily analyzed to get the solution for the defined problem and objectives. Data processing involves editing of data and coding it. Editing the data involves checking the collected data for omission(s), contradiction(s) and consistency.

Coding is process by which helps in manual or computer based tabulation, and coding defines the rules for categorizing  recording and transferring the data to data storage media.

Analysis involves breaking this data in an appropriate way and running relevant tests using the correct use of logic (based on the research needs) keeping in view the research design and nature of the data collected. Based on the complexity of the analysis, the analysis may be simple uni-variate analysis or complex multivariate analysis.

Generate Conclusion(s):

 In this state, the researches based on the data analysis, come out with conclusion(s), which can be used to shape/make the decision(s). It is very important to showcase the reasoning and the facts behind the conclusions being developed, because erroneous conclusions based on incomplete/wrong analysis may lead to decisions which might prove very costly to the person/group/organization.

Prepare and Present the Data/Report

The research report should:

1.       Clearly and accurately mention the concrete findings

2.       be technically accurate

3.       understandable

4.       useful (for taking managerial decisions)

An effective report should include the following details (you may use another appropriate report structure if needed):

1.       Title Page

2.       Table of contents

3.       Introduction

4.       Objectives

5.       Methodology

                     i.            Research design

                   ii.            Data collection methodology

                  iii.            Sampling

                 iv.            Data collection (primary and secondary)

                   v.            Analysis

                 vi.            Interpretation

6.       Limitations

7.       Findings

8.       Conclusions and recommendations

9.       Appendix

                     i.            Questionnaire

                   ii.            Tables and data not included in report

                  iii.            Bibliography

Stages in the Marketing Research process - I

Marketing research is a systematic process requiring a lot of careful planning and analysis. It is not possible to define a generic structure for the entire marketing research process (i.e. the process may vary from case to case). But, most of the marketing research activities usually follow the following steps:

You will observe that (based on your work experience and learning’s in the field of marketing research) majority of the marketing research activities follow this selected pattern, with some minor modifications or tweaks.

In this article a basic idea of what happens in the first four stages of marketing research is being presented. In the next article we will take up the next four steps.

Define the problem:

Marketing research involves a lot of time and cost and therefore is a costly process and thus a misguided/misconceived problem definition can lead to a large amount of losses.  Thus, defining a very clear definition of the problem is of utmost importance. Precise definition of the problem will help further in clearly defining the objectives and also to collect the data as per the requirements.

Defining the problem is a step prior to determining the purpose of the research. Exploratory research may come in handy to define the problem more precisely. Usually, some pilot studies, experience surveys, and secondary research will help.

Define the research objectives:

After defining the research problem research objectives need to be compulsorily identified/defined.

Research Objectives may be in:

1.       Quantitative terms 

2.       Qualitative terms

3.       Both quantitative and qualitative terms

These research objectives can be expressed as:

1.       Research question statements

2.       Hypothesis

[Definition - Hypothesis: A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.]

Plan the research design:

After defining the problem and the research objective, the next step involves planning the research and the activities included. During this phase you should be able to identify the sources of information to be tapped, the methodology to collect and collate the data, defining the sample size and targeted demography along with the cost and time involved, considering the timelines for conducting the research.

Define/Plan the sample:

In this stage, you will identify the part of the population that should be ideal for rolling out a research and to get results which are authentic and speak for the entire population being targeted. Defining the targeted population also may be a difficult.

Another important issue is the sample size and how big or small it should be? Common wisdom says that larger samples will provide us with more reliable information. A small sample can also give a reliable measure of the universe if probability sampling is used.

The two classic sampling methods are:

1.       Probabilistic

2.       Non-probabilistic

[Note: the next four stages are explained in the next post - Stages in the Marketing Research process - II]

Marketing Research - Introduction

Research - some just hate this term and some make a living out of it. Research is an indispensably part of any study which involves products or services, be it pure sciences, medicine, or marketing. It encompasses the entire scope of identifying issues, looking out for solutions, analyzing the given set of solutions, testing people perception and association with the solution(s) and then publishing it.


In the series of posts that follow an attempt will be made to understand the various concepts and parts associated with market / marketing research and also address the ethical issues involved in this field.

Now let us define marketing research:
Marketing research is a process or series of steps (usually a complicated process) which involves gathering the data from the market under consideration, analyzing this collected data (from multiple sources and with using multiple means) and interpreting this analysis to gain an understanding of the current / potential users of a product or service. Along with this we can also understanding the customer profile, the entire scope of the industry and your competition by doing marketing research.

Ethics by definition go like this:

1. Moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior.
2. The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture etc.

Ethics in marketing research can range from narrowly defined issues to broader issues which may be social and philosophical. A sincere attempt should be made to maintain a fine balance between what is ideal and what is practical - so as to safeguard the interest of the stakeholders.