Primary Research includes: Observation - This is observing/ watching something, which could be a company carefully in order to gain information for market research.
Mystery shoppers are a good example of observation as this person will check on the products and services the business is offering. The main disadvantage for observation is that it is time- consuming and expensive. - Experimentation - The purpose of experimentation is to find out what happens as a result of taking a particular action.In terms of primary market research, this typically involves making a change in the marketing mix and then recording and analyzing the results.
For example an experiment may consist of changing the price off product. - Surveys - This Is when you're researching a racket and want to find out what people Like or dislike, so you offer potential customers a survey to fill out, which then you get the data back and can come to conclusions about what you asked people.There are different types of surveys you get come in contact with, which include: Face-to-face, Postal, Telephone, e-mail and m-mail - Focus Groups - A variety of people are brought together to take part in a guided discussion about a particular product before it is launched, promoted and put in shops, a focus group provides instant feedback back on the product and also allows you to hear what people would want to see in the product. - Panels - Panels are small groups of people brought together to discuss, investigate, or decide a specific matter. Field trials and piloting - A field trial or pilot trial, is like the first test of the product, the trials are taken to test the engineering of the product to reveal anything wrong with the product, and this allows you to Iron out any problems with the product.
Customers can be involved In some trials for example In testing a new detergent. Secondary Research also known as desk research involves the summary or collation f existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from your own experiments.There are 2 main sources of secondary research; Internal which is information that exists in the business already and External information which is published by other organizations Secondary Research includes: Internal Data Records - Companies keep data records of their customers actions, where they live, how much they spend and how often they make purchases with them. This is all for market research. - EPOSES (Electric Point of Sale) - The Barbados on sales Items generate a lot of useful Information.
Each barded records stock coming Into a business and the sales that are made, Barbados allow businesses to record sales immediately which is an excellent form of market research. ; Website monitoring - application. Website monitoring is often used by businesses to ensure that their sites are live and working. - E-transactions - Electronic transactions provide useful secondary information for the seller, as the seller can see who has bought the item, how much they've spent, how frequently they purchased.The seller can then use this information and offer them a similar product that they may like and buy, for example f someone were to buy a console game, the provider would then offer the buyer a similar product which relates to the product they are looking at, so If someone bought a shooting game on Amazon, then Amazon could offer them to buy a similar shooting game as they may like it, and it also shows what other people bought while buying the same product. Accounting & production records - Businesses keep their accounting and production records as they have to release how much money they've earned or profited their production costs and what they have produced.
- Sales personnel - These are people that work for a company that sell the businesses products. Sales personnel can work on wages, or more likely sales personnel work on commission which can be decreased or increased based on the amount of goods or services sold. -Delphi technique (Predict future patterns) - This is a method that is employed to predict future patterns, for example, likely consumers spending patterns.It draws on the ideas of wise people who have knowledge about the problem they are asked to look at and the Delphi technique will offer and suggest a number of likely future possibilities.
External Internet - The internet is the most accessible source of information. Researchers need to be cautions when using this source and first ask themselves what were the purposes that the information was collected for. Google ranks topics under headings according to how popular they are, and how frequently they are searched. Government Statistics - The government analysis business trends and changes taking place in the economy. This information is published in books and Journals.
Many of these sources can be accessed directly through the internet by typing in the correct terms. Useful government publications include the following: Social Trends Monthly Digest of Statistics Expenditure and Food survey Regional Trends Annual Abstract of Statistics Business monitors Libraries/Universities - A library is the perfect way to start to search for secondary data.The library will contain books and Journals located in the business section. The library may also have market research reports, telephone directories and newspapers.
- Company Reports - Public companies are required to produce and Annual General Report. These reports can be ordered by anyone and supply details f the company's current activities. The most important aspect for market research in the report is that it shows current market trends in the area the company operates in. Market Research Reports - Market research companies produce information about markets and products.
They give good idea of trends. These reports contain such things as, market size, main competitors, projected growth, market share of trade Journal is a publication produced for businesses which work in a particular trade. These Journals provide inside information about new developments in a pacific area of a business they help the business to keep up to date with recent trends in the industry, market trends and what competitors are doing.Qualitative Research - This method compared to Quantitative research often takes longer to record as it involves collecting views and opinions which may be written or spoken.
The data is usually collected through interviews and focus groups; a typical question asked in the research is What do you think about X?. Qualitative research is also great for finding out detailed views and opinions. Quantitative Research - This is a method that produces numbers. These provide a measurable record or a number of values, which can then be analyses.For example, quantitative data might be produced showing what sorts of people and how many watches TV on a Friday between 7.
00 PM and 9. 00 PM. There are four components of quantitative measurement, these include: - A case - the object, person, situation or organization being measured and recorded. - A variable - the characteristic that is being measured and classified. -A scale - a series of values/outcomes which the research measures.
- A value - what is actually recorded - the number or measure.Triangulation Triangulation involves researching the same issue using several different methods, usually its three methods. The more data that market research can reveal about a particular topic or issue, the greater the chance that a researcher will understand the topic being studied. If you can use more than one suitable method to research a topic, this will be helpful. For example you could research teenager's views about popular computer games by:- Creating a questionnaire for them Holding focus group interviews Observing which popular game teenagers pick up at your local gaming shop.
