Market research in practice: how to get greater insight from your market

Machine generated contents note: Preface01 Introduction

Who needs market research?

New roles for market research

The effect of regional culture on the use of market research

The use of market research in business models and frameworks

Consumer and business-to-business market research

The scope of market research information

Quantitative and qualitative research

The market research process

The organization of market research

Summary02 Uses of market research

Understanding markets

Understanding customers

Understanding and developing the offer

Positioning the brand and communications

Summary03 Market research design

What is worth researching?

Market research suppliers

The market research brief: a statement of the problem/opportunity

The market research proposal: the return of brief (ROB)

The information required

The accuracy

The budget

The timetable

What to expect in a proposal (return of brief)

Summary04 Desk research

A veritable gold mine

An important principle of desk research

Sources of sources: the high-level view

Industry experts

The internet

Online market reports

The press

Company data

Government statistics

Trade and industry bodies

Directories and lists

The range of information available from desk research

Planning, recording and evaluating desk research

The limits of desk research

Summary05 Focus groups

The focus group

The people that make up a focus group

When to use focus groups

Areas of special consideration

Planning and recruiting groups

Number of groups

Venues of groups

Getting participants to attend

The group moderator

Tools of the group moderator

Summary06 Depth interviewing

Why use depth interviews?

Depth interviews in market research design

How many depth interviews are needed?

The role of the telephone in depth interviewing

Winning cooperation for the interview

The principles of interviewing

The interview itself

The line of questioning

Developing the discussion guide for the interview

Probes and prompts

Summary07 Observation and ethnography

Observation: a research method you can believe

When to use observation

The audit: a major application for observation

Observation in shopping surveys

Observation in product research

Observation in poster checks

Observation in checking television viewing

Setting up observation programmes

Reporting observational data

Summary08 Sampling and statistics

The principles of sampling

Random sampling in consumer markets

Choosing the size of the sample

Sampling error

Random sampling and non-response

Quota samples

Sampling in business-to-business markets

Using statistics to derive importance of factors

Using statistics to arrive at needs-based segmentations

Summary09 Questionnaire design

What is so difficult about designing a questionnaire?

The role of questionnaires

Different types of questionnaires

Different types of questions

Behavioural questions

Attitudinal questions

Classification questions

Three steps in questionnaire design

Formulating the questions

Arranging the questionnaire layout

Piloting and testing the draft questionnaire

Special questionnaires: conjoint analysis

Trade-off grids (SIMALTO

simulated multi-attribute level trade-off)

Summary10 Self-completion questionnaires

The ubiquitous self-completion questionnaire

When to use and when not to use self-completion questionnaires

Principles of designing self-completion questionnaires

Good practice in self-completion questionnaires

Summary11 Face-to-face interviewing

Advantages of face-to-face interviews

Disadvantages of face-to-face interviews

Street interviews

Household interviews

Questionnaire design

Response rates to surveys: an industry problem

Hall tests (mall intercepts)

Summary12 Telephone interviewing

Why interview by telephone?

CATI: computer-assisted telephone interviewing

The art of telephone interviewing: carrying out a successful interview

Limitations of telephone interviews

Summary13 Online surveys

The life cycles of research methods

Sending out e-surveys

The growth of online panels

The advantages and disadvantages of panel research

Organizing an online survey

Online focus groups

Collecting information from a website

Google and the rise of the DIY researcher

Mobile surveys

Using the net to pose questions

Summary14 Data analysis

The analysis of closed questions

Data analysis of open-ended questions

Analysis of numerical responses

A note on data validation

Multivariate analysis

Qualitative data analysis

Semiotics and qualitative research

Summary15 Reporting

Common rules for both written reports and presentations

Reporting qualitative data

Reporting quantitative data

Drawing conclusions

Making a presentation

Summary16 International market research

Seeing things more clearly

The structure of the global market research industry

Response rates internationally

Measuring attitudes across nations

Coordinating multi-country studies

Using desk research (secondary research) to carry out international market research

Summary17 Research trends

Drivers of change

Trends in quantitative research

Trends in qualitative research

Making questionnaires more engaging

Trends amongst users of market research

Specialization in market research skills

SummaryBibliography

Index.