So let's move on to see the different steps that need to be well designed and executed, to successfully conduct market research. So this figure summarizes the market research process in six steps. The first step consists of defining the problem and the objectives of the market research. This is an important step in any market research. The second step is dedicated to the preparation of the research design. In the first step the instruments that will be used to collect the data are identified and designed. In the fourth step respondents are sampling and the data is collected. In the fifth step the data is analyzed. Finally, in step six, the results are interpreted and reported. In a report, that we will see at the end of this section, how the report has to be organized. So, in the next few slides, I will briefly describe each of these six steps. So let's start with the first step: problem and objective formulation. Before embarking on your marketing research you must define the problem and your research objectives. This step is the most important and you should set aside a decent amount of time and effort. Two, to define the right problem to do preliminary investigation, if needed in order to help identify the right problem and define the right objectives of the research. So, it is worthwhile to spend more time and effort and do a primary investigation than basing your market research study on incomplete or wrong problems and objectives. Furthermore, the objectives of the research should be expressed as research questions, statements or hypotheses. To illustrate an appropriate problem statement should be or should reflect felt needs, be based on factual evidence, suggest meaningful and testable hypotheses and finally, be relevant and manageable, okay. I want to highlight here the word manageable, ok. So, you can't conduct a research study at any cost and taking all the time you need. Sometimes you are, in most of the cases, if not all, you are constrained by time and cost, okay. So, this is an important thing to focus on, when you are preparing your plan for a market research study. Once the problem to be addressed and the objectives of the research are well-defined the following step consists of preparing the research design. A research design consists of preparing a plan of action, that specifies the objectives of the research, the type of information, that needs to be collected and analyzed, to answer the research questions. The sampling process and the sample size, the method that will be used to collect the data, the methodology of data analysis and finally the research design must also specify the time frame and possible costs of the research to be undertaken. Once the plan of action for the market research is prepared, the investigator proceeds with the design of the instruments that would be used to collect the data. This is the step, where you start executing the research plan, prepared in the previous steps. For example, if the survey is the most appropriate tool to collect data, you will begin by writing your questions and designing your questionnaire. after the research instrument is designed, it is highly recommended to test the instrument with a small group of people. This will allow you to catch potential problems early. This is in some cases ignored by master student and PhD student and even researcher, so it is a very important step, ok, is to test the instruments for example, if you decided to collect data using a survey, you need to test whether the questions you are including in the survey are the right ones, whether they are well understood by respondents and so on. So you don't need to test that the survey or the instrument to collect data with a large sample, just with a small group of people should be enough and does the job, ok. So the first step of a market research process is sampling and data collection. This step is the meat and potatoes of your market research, ok. So sampling, just to first to mention So, what is meant by sampling here. So sampling is the selection of a sub-set of the whole population. This sub-set is technically called 'the sample'. Sampling is often done for reason of cost and practicality. First, for example it is less expensive to interview a sample of 10,000 consumers than a population of 10 millions. Practicality - an example of practicality: it is impractical, for example, to perform a crash test on every new car model. This is not just impractical, but it is also impossible. Lastly, keep in mind that it is necessary to select a representative sample, if you need to draw conclusions about the population. I mentioned this point earlier and I am stressing the same point again, because it is very important if one of your objectives is to generalize your results to the population. We could technically call it 'to infer the results'. It is important from the beginning to select a representative sample, ok. So, if when you have costs and time restrains, okay, so you need to select a representative sample, if you want to infer the results. Otherwise you need to change your objectives from the beginning, okay, so from the beginning we are assuming that at the end if I am not using the representative sample, I will not be able to generalize the results okay. So, there are different sampling methods. In this lesson, I am going to mention the two most commonly used sampling methods. The first one is the random sampling, which consists of selecting a sample in such a way, that every individual to the population has the same probability to be selected. The second sampling method is the stratified random sampling and it consists of obtaining a sample by separating the population into mutually exclusive stratum and then drawing a random sample from each stratum. This is the stratified random sampling. Now another important sampling issue is the sample size. In this lesson, I am not going to mention the several numerical techniques for determining the sample of a representative or the size of a representative sample, but I would like to highlight the fact that the larger the sample size the more accurate the results of the analysis of the data, okay. So have in mind that a larger sample is better. Once the sample is selected, you can proceed with the data collection, which is going to be described in detail in the next lesson, ok. So in the last next lesson, I will describe in details the different methods used to collect different types of data. The fifth step of market research procedure is the analysis of the collected data. This step starts by preparing the data for the analysis and data preparation includes data cleaning, which consists of finding and eliminating errors in the data. Examples of errors that should be eliminated are important or impossible or other ways incorrect values for specific variables. Also, another type of error that should be eliminated, are the duplicate cases and also the missing data or the outliers. Data preparation also includes creating new variables. In fact, once the data are free of errors, you need to set up the variables that will directly answer your research question and in many case these require creating new variables from the original variables you have in your data set. Also data preparation consists of formatting variables. This includes setting all missing data codes, formatting date variables as dates, a numerical variable as numbers and finally labeling all variables and categorical values, so you don't have to keep looking them up later on. It is important. So once the data is ready to be analyzed, three types of analysis can be carried out: descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis. I will explain these types of analysis in details in the next lesson. The last step of the market research process is the interpretation and the reporting of the results. In this step, the results are presented and discussed in a report, that is generally organized as follows: first, the research objectives are stated, then the methodology of data collection and analysis is described, then the results are presented in tables and graphs. After that, the results are described and discussed then the recommendations based on the research results are presented and finally, the limitation of the study and future research ideas are explicitly mentioned. More or less, this is also the same structure of an academic paper. Now, I am going to conclude this lesson by briefly talking about the ethics that must be considered, when conducting market research. This is is an important step in any market research. So please, have it in mind when you decide to conduct the market research study, okay. Look, for example, if you are working for the university or doing a master thesis or a PhD thesis, look at the university policy for this kind of ethical issues when you are conducting market research and especially when you are collecting data. Ethics of market research are principals and standards, that must be respected and fulfilled, to avoid economic, physical or mental harm to respondents, clients and other parties. The main ethical issues that arise when carrying out a market research are: privacy, confidentiality, deception, imposition and misrepresentation. By privacy we mean, so that respondents must be informed that they are participating in a market research study; by confidentiality we mean, that respondents must be told or reassured that their responses will be treated with confidentiality, okay, here I mean, the collected data are not going to be passed to third parties; deception: this means that respondents must not be deceived, for example misleading a respondent telling them, that an interview will take five minutes just to influence they're willing to accept to complete example the survey, when the researcher knows it will take much more than that, okay, this is deception. It is not allowed in market research studies. Imposition; for example respondents must not be forced or intimidated to grant an interview. And finally misrepresentation: the research results must not be presented in a way, likely to mislead readers or clients, okay. So these are the five most important ethical issues, that you need to take into account when you are conducting a market research study, okay. As I said before these are very important issues, okay, so please have them in mind. So now and before saying goodbye, because I almost finished the lesson, I would like to encourage you to answer this question: the techniques, that are used in a market research study are contingent valuation, and ANOVA analysis and random sample. So, with this slide we conclude the first lesson 'Introduction to market research of modern ways about market research. Many thanks for being with me in this lesson. I hope you have found the information presented in this lesson helpful and useful and see you in the next lesson about the different types of data and what are the most commonly used methods to collect data. So see you then, many thanks again and good bye!
