Essentials of Marketing Research

Book excerpt: Essentials of Marketing Research takes an applied approach to the fundamentals of marketing research by providing examples from the business world of marketing research and showing students how to apply marketing research results. This text focuses on understanding and interpreting marketing research studies. Focusing on the 'how-to' and 'so what' of marketing research helps students understand the value of marketing research and how they can put marketing research into practice. There is a strong emphasis on how to use marketing research to make better management decisions. The unique feature set integrates data analysis, interpretation, application, and decision-making throughout the entire text. The text opens with a discussion of the role of marketing research, along with a breakdown of the marketing research process. The text then moves into a section discussing types of marketing research, including secondary resources, qualitative research, observation research, and survey research. Newer methods (e.g. using blogs or Twitter feeds as secondary resources and using online focus groups) are discussed as extensions of traditional methods such. The third section discusses sampling procedures, measurement methods, marketing scales, and questionnaires. Finally, a section on analyzing and reporting marketing research focuses on the fundamental data analysis skills that students will use in their marketing careers. Features of this text include: - Chapter Openers describe the results of a research study that apply to the topics being presented in that chapter. These are taken from a variety of industries, with a greater emphasis on social media and the Internet. - A Global Concerns section appears in each chapter, helping prepare students to conduct market research on an international scale.This text emphasizes the presentation of research results and uses graphs, tables, and figures extensively. - A Statistics Review section emphasizes the practical interpretation and application of statistical principles being reviewed in each chapter. - Dealing with Data sections in each chapter provide students with opportunities to practice interpreting data and applying results to marketing decisions. Multiple SPSS data sets and step-by-step instructions are available on the companion site to use with this feature. - Each Chapter Summary is tied to the chapter-opening Learning Objectives. - A Continuing Case Study follows a group of students through the research process. It shows potential trade-offs, difficulties and flaws that often occur during the implementation of research project. Accompanying case questions can be used for class discussion, in-class group work, or individual assignments. - End-of-Chapter Critical Thinking Exercises are applied in nature and emphasize key chapter concepts. These can be used as assignments to test students' understanding of marketing research results and how results can be applied to decision-making. - End-of-chapter Your Research Project provides more challenging opportunities for students to apply chapter knowledge on an in-depth basis, and thus olearn by doing.