This chapter is concerned with research into print media in the sense of newspapers and magazines, whether aimed at a wide, general audience or a narrower, more specialised one. This introductory section comprises, first, a brief review of the several purposes to which research in this area is put and, second, a synopsis of the order and content of the other parts of the chapter.
This chapter is concerned with panels. Like so many common English words placed in a market research context, its special research meaning is entirely familiar to the practitioners and confusing to the layman. Its nearest common meaning is a list of names (doctors, jurors, etc.), but in its research meaning this list of names has to be performing certain functions for certain desired objectives before it takes the form of a panel.
Packaging is the key vehicle in the passage of many products from the manufactured state to the point of consumption. At the very least, it has to: contain the product physically; protect it from contamination or degradation; stand up to transportation and storage by the trade; present the product to the consumer; allow consumer transportation and storage; allow the product to be dispensed (and perhaps resealed) whenever needed; and stimulate purchase and repurchase.
Omnibus surveys are in very widespread use within the market research industry and have become a well-established, valuable and cost-effective means of conducting market research surveys. This chapter explains briefly what omnibus surveys are and how they operate, and then goes on to examine the specific strengths and weaknesses of this particular research methodology. Though there are many market research problems which can be very adequately solved using the omnibus technique, equally there are some situations where they are inappropriate. Thus it is very important for the research practitioner to be aware of the advantages and the limitations that omnibus surveys offer in order to make the most effective use of them.
Most multivariate techniques require an immense number of calculations which, whilst not beyond the resources of clerks and adding machines, are more quickly and economically carried out by computer. It is not my intention in this chapter to dwell at large on the theoretical properties underlying the basis of the varying types of multivariate procedures. The inclusion of statistical and mathematical formulae will be kept to a minimum. References to the appropriate literature will be quoted for the interested reader to pursue at his leisure. The main aim is to present a somewhat simplified overview of a rather complex subject matter in as non mathematical a manner as possible.
Financial market research covers two main types of work: (a) Survey research tor financial institutions among audiences of relevance to them. This includes surveys among customers, both personal and corporate, and potential customers of banks, building societies, insurance companies, credit card organizations and finance houses. (b) Survey research among the financial community, on behalf of any organisations. Frequently abbreviated to City" research, this part incorporates studies among stockbrokers, merchant banks, pension funds, insurance companies, investment trusts and others responsible for investing large sums of money, and surveys of the financial media and among private shareholders. Market research came relatively late to the financial sector. The following decade has seen increasing use made of research by the financial sector, particularly by the major banks. Insurance companies and building societies were slower off the mark and will probably develop rapidly over the next decade.
Modelling is a diverse and complex area. It is also a controversial one. For more than two decades, researchers have developed and adapted models of widely differing kinds, ranging from econometric systems designed to forecast changes at the global market level to theories about individual decision processes. There has been considerable activity and enthusiasm, among research practitioners and marketing managers as well as marketing academics. On the other hand, some researchers and marketing men have reacted with either indifference or scepticism. Models have been condemned as too complicated, both conceptually and methodologically; as necessitating long and costly procedures of data collection and analysis; as being difficult to implement; and as irrelevant for practical decision making. These criticisms have stimulated protagonists of the modelling approach to pay more attention to building usable models and to finding ways of getting models used. Successful case histories have been reported and two are quoted later in the chapter. The purpose of this chapter is to draw attention to some major issues in the area.
This section, as in earlier editions, concentrates on marketing research techniques. While the section is aimed principally at practitioners and students of market research, it may also prove useful to the market research user as a guide to the methods by which the answers sought are obtained. The section is written around the time sequence involved in carrying out a market research project. Thus, it starts with defining the problem and gaining the necessary background information before going on to techniques employed to solve marketing problems. An attempt has been made to cover all of the major research techniques now employed perhaps at the sacrifice of depth in the analysis of the use and limitations of each technique examined. Each contributor has attempted to show the purpose of the technique covered in the chapter, its advantages and disadvantages, how it actually operates and, in each case, where to look for further information.
The role of market research is to make marketing operations more efficient and profitable, by improving the quality of planning and decision taking. This is the only way in which market research can justify itself. The following chapters, therefore, illustrate how the research tools described earlier are applied to various problems encountered in marketing.
It must be stressed that, in this chapter, we are concerned with the role of professionally trained research interviewers who alone should be responsible for this vital phase in any project.
This chapter looks at a number of the key issues which are encountered in such research. Certain of the issues are peculiar to the international field. Many of the problems are, however, to be found in national or domestic research also, although on the international front they tend to appear on a larger scale and sometimes in a rather different guise.
This chapter is divided into two distinct parts: experimental design and models. The researcher must consider the question of experimental design and models before proceeding to the choice of sampling techniques, sample size or questionnaire design, hence the placing of these two subjects early on in this section.