Market research is an important factor in the whole marketing field. It connects consumers, customers, the public and marketers through information, and has the following functions: identifying and defining market opportunities and possible problems, formulating and optimizing marketing mix, and evaluating its effect. Market research should determine the information needed to explain the problem, design the method of collecting information, monitor and implement the process of data collection, analyze the results, and provide the survey results and their significance to customers. Market surveys include quantitative surveys, qualitative surveys, media and advertising surveys, surveys of businessmen and industrial products, surveys of special social groups, opinion polls and case studies.
2. What are the purposes, objects, contents, principles and results of market research?
The purpose of market research is to provide reference for management departments. The departments that use market research can be management decision-makers or individuals of enterprises, companies, organizations and any enterprises and institutions. The purpose of market research may be to make long-term strategic planning, or to provide reference for formulating specific policies or strategies at a certain stage or for a certain problem. Research can be academic or practical.
The object of market research is people or people. It can be a very broad crowd or a crowd with certain characteristics. The content of market research can be any question involving people's views, concepts, habits, behaviors and attitudes, and it can be an abstract concept, such as people's ideals, beliefs, values and outlook on life. It can also be a specific habit or behavior, such as people's habit of contacting the media; Preference for commodity brands; Shopping habits and behaviors, etc. It can be purely academic, commercial or other practical problems.
The principle of market research is to follow science and objectivity. Researchers should keep an objective attitude from beginning to end, seek accurate information reflecting the real state of things, face up to the facts and accept the results of the investigation. It is not allowed to engage in research activities with any personal subjective will or prejudice, nor should it be influenced or "pressured" by anyone or management department. The motto of researchers should be: "Find things as they are, and tell them as they are". The objectivity of market research also emphasizes the importance of professional ethics. We should adopt scientific methods to design the scheme, define the problem, collect and analyze the data, and extract effective, relevant, accurate, reliable and representative current information from it.
The results of market research are basic data and materials processed and analyzed by scientific methods, which can be published to the society or customers in various forms of research reports (if there is an agreement or contract, it should be implemented according to the requirements of documents). The problems found in the investigation, the enlightenment obtained and the relevant suggestions should be prompted in the report to help the management decision-making department make use of this information and make corresponding responses or behaviors. However, it must be emphasized that the results of market research are only used to help management departments make correct decisions. The result is not an end in itself.
3. What is the task of market research?
The task of market research is to provide relevant, accurate, reliable, effective and up-to-date information for management and decision-making departments. The right decision is not made by intuition and guess. Lack of well-founded information may lead to wrong decisions. For example, Johnson & Johnson in the United States failed because it named its products intuitively. Johnson company named baby aspirin after the company name. Johnson & Johnson products are famous for their gentleness, but "gentleness" is not the performance people need for baby aspirin. Infant aspirin should be "safe". In addition, "mild" aspirin may mislead some people into thinking that it is not effective enough. Therefore, things that seem natural intuitively can lead to wrong decisions.
4. What are the characteristics of market survey results?
(1) The market survey covers a wide range. Market survey can be used to measure very simple things, such as the height, weight or gender, age, education level and other basic conditions of the respondents; It can also be used to measure complex problems, such as attitudes or hobbies. Of course, this is limited. Some questions may not be answered by the respondents, they may not know how to answer this question, or they may be too sensitive to answer, such as things related to social taboos or taboos (such as sexual behavior, drug abuse, etc.). To obtain this information, we must rely on considerable professional knowledge, efforts and wisdom. Usually, it is impossible to get the required information from the questions that most interviewees are embarrassed by only a general survey.
(2) Conduct market research according to the specific situation of customers. When designing a survey, the first three questions that come to mind are: How much will this survey cost? How long will it take? How much information can I get? These questions often can't be answered accurately, and need specific analysis, because the situation of different inspection projects may be different. Because market research can be tailored to the specific situation of customers, we can try our best to design a plan that meets the information needs and budget of customers as much as possible. A survey project can cost only a few thousand yuan, or hundreds of thousands, millions or even tens of millions of yuan; It can be completed in one day or several months; You can provide a little data in a small range, or you can give a lot of information in a large range. In short, the design of the project should adapt to the needs and financial resources of customers. For example, for customers with less funds, we can choose more economical investigation methods and provide more qualitative data.
(3) There are various methods of market research. The scheme design of investigation and study is diverse, and the way of collecting information can be face to face, telephone interview or direct mail. The survey site can be in the respondents' homes, workplaces, shopping places, and even their entertainment places. Respondents may spend only a few minutes, or they may spend almost an hour.
(4) the flexibility of market research. According to the required information and available funds, the quantity and complexity of data collection can be selected. A simple survey can be designed with only a few pages of recording paper and a calculator that can be put in your pocket, and the result is a few pages of report. Complex large-scale investigations need to use advanced computers and data analysis programs to process, calculate and generate a large number of accurate information, which was impossible to obtain a decade or two ago.
(5) The market survey results are valid. Because the survey adopts sampling method, a large number of population information can be obtained from a relatively small sample. The sample size of the survey rarely exceeds the level of 1000 people, even if the survey results are used to infer 1000 people. Good design and organization are very important to ensure the efficiency of investigation and research. Through careful design and arrangement, hundreds of questions can be answered in a few minutes; Otherwise, it may take several hours.
(6) Limited market research. Market research should and often can obtain information several times higher than the input cost value. However, besides time and cost, investigation needs wisdom and effort, especially in the design and implementation of every step of the plan. One person must take full responsibility for the investigation. Although this person does not need to make all the decisions and do all the work, he must continue to fully lead, manage and supervise the design and implementation process of the scheme. He should have very specific ideas about every step of a research, otherwise some potential problems in the previous steps may lead to a dead end in the research process or serious problems in the later stage.
(7) The conclusion of market survey is not perfect. Just like any other work, there are inevitably mistakes, mistakes and omissions in market research. The purpose of carefully designing and implementing the scheme is to avoid big mistakes and omissions. Small mistakes can be tolerated as long as the value of investigation information is not seriously damaged. If a slight error is found after the investigation or after the investigation, its influence on the investigation information should be investigated. It is not appropriate to belittle or abandon the survey results just because of some minor mistakes. It should be corrected according to the specific situation of the error, which may require some modifications in the interpretation of the results or some changes in the dependence of the survey results.
(8) Market research cannot directly guide decision-making. Even if no mistakes were found, the investigation was carried out in full accordance with the designed scheme, and the results were not completely certain, which could not show or decide the final answer. The findings should only be regarded as another kind of evidence. The evaluation must refer to general experience, common sense and other information. Human sensibility and judgment are always necessary. We should seriously consider, understand and see if the survey results are basically consistent with our perceptual understanding of the problem; If not, what are the reasons; Further investigation and analysis are needed when necessary. The survey result is an important reference for decision-making, but it does not mean that the decision-making answer is accurate.
5. Several basic problems that need to be solved in advance?
(1) Why do you want to do research? The establishment of research purpose is also the result that management decision-making departments will use. This step requires a good understanding of the decisions to be made and the problems or opportunities to be identified.
(2) What kind of investigation should be made? In this step, the purpose of the management decision-making department is transformed into specific goals, and the questions to be asked in the investigation and study should be decided exactly.
(3) Is this survey worth doing? It depends on whether the value of the information that may be obtained from the investigation is higher than the cost of collecting these data, that is, making forecast analysis and budget.
(4) How to design the scheme to achieve the required research objectives? This includes how to choose research methods ―― whether to rely on second-hand data and surveys or to use experimental methods, and what methods are used to collect data? Wait a minute.
6. What are the common sampling methods?
(1) Simple random sampling: including direct lottery, lottery and random number table.
(2) Classified sampling: also called type sampling or stratified sampling, all units in the population are first divided into several categories (groups) according to a certain sign, and then samples are randomly selected from each category.
(3) Mechanical sampling: firstly, the sampling units are queued in a certain order, and the sampling interval (sampling distance) is calculated according to the total number of units and the number of sample units, and then the sample units are selected at a certain interval. Because the sampling interval is equal, it is also called equidistant sampling.
(4) Cluster sampling: firstly, divide the crowd into several groups or groups, and then select them in groups, each group contains several sample units.
7. General working steps of sampling survey
(1) design stage: determine the purpose, function and requirements of the sampling survey; Determine the scope of the survey object (crowd) and the style of the sample unit; Determine the sampling method and number of sample units; Organize the work of sampling units; Prepare auxiliary work, such as personnel training, data printing and work schedule.
(2) Collection of sample data
(3) data sorting and calculation
8. What are the main sampling errors?
Sampling error is the quantitative error between sample index and population index. Sampling error refers to representative error, but does not include registration error. There are two kinds of representative errors, one is deviation, which only destroys the stochastic principle, and the other is random error, which means that although the stochastic principle is observed, there will still be errors. This error is inevitable, but we can calculate and control it. Sampling error is usually understood as random error.
There are two kinds of random errors, actual error and average error. The actual error is the difference between sample index and population index. This is a mistake that we can't know. The average error is the standard deviation of all possible sample indicators and can be calculated. The sampling error we usually say refers to the average error.
9. What are the main errors caused by the mistakes of investigators (investigation companies)?
The errors caused by the mistakes of investigators mainly include the following aspects:
(1) The error of substitute information can be defined as the change between the information needed to investigate the problem and the information collected by the researcher. For example, what is needed is information about consumers choosing new brands, but what researchers get is information about consumers' preferences, because the selection process is not easy to observe.
(2) Measurement error can be defined as the change between the searched information and the information generated by the measurement process adopted by researchers. For example, when measuring consumer preferences, researchers do not use the scale of measuring preferences, but use the scale of measuring concepts.
(3) The error of population definition can be defined as the variation between the real population related to the problem at hand and the population defined by researchers. For example, to understand the image of a hospital in the eyes of patients, the real population should be patients in a certain area, but researchers define it as all residents in a certain area.
(4) The sampling frame error can be defined as the variation between the population defined by the researcher and the population implied by the sampling frame used. For example, taking the phone book as a sampling box cannot represent all potential consumers, because some phone numbers are not in the phone book, some numbers can't be contacted (not at home or for other reasons), and many numbers can't be used (moving, etc.). ).
(5) Data analysis error refers to the error generated when the original data in the questionnaire are converted into the survey results. For example, using inappropriate statistical methods will lead to incorrect explanations and results. What are the main errors caused by the mistakes of investigators (interviewers)?
10. What are the main errors caused by the mistakes of investigators (interviewers)?
(1) Question-and-answer errors refer to errors in asking the respondents, or errors in asking for more information without further inquiry. For example, during the investigation, the investigators did not ask questions exactly according to the wording in the questionnaire.
(2) Recording errors refer to the errors when listening, understanding and recording the answers of the respondents. For example, the respondents gave a neutral answer (such as not yet decided), but the respondents mistakenly translated it into a positive answer (to buy this new brand).
(3) Deception errors are caused by investigators forging part or all of the answers. For example, the investigator did not ask the respondents a sensitive question about their beliefs, and later the investigator filled in the answer according to his own personal judgment.
1 1. What are the main errors caused by the mistakes of the respondents (customers)?
(1) Incorrect answers are caused by the respondents' inability to provide accurate answers. The reasons why respondents provide inaccurate answers may include: unfamiliarity, fatigue, boredom, forgetfulness, poor question format, unclear question content, and other factors. For example, a respondent can't remember the name of the TV series he watched a month ago.
(2) Unwilling to answer correctly is because respondents are unwilling to provide accurate information. The reasons why the respondents deliberately made the wrong answer may be: to give a socially acceptable answer, to avoid trouble, or to please the investigators. For example, in order to impress the investigators, a respondent deliberately said that he had read Sales Market magazine.
12, how to identify and reduce the error?
There are many sources of error. In the process of scheme design, researchers should pay attention to minimizing the total error, rather than just paying attention to a certain error. Especially in the minds of students and some junior researchers, they only pay attention to controlling sampling error through large samples. Of course, increasing the sample size can reduce the sampling error, but it may increase the non-sampling error because of increasing the investigator error. Non-sampling error is more serious than sampling error.
Sampling error can be calculated, but many forms of non-sampling error can not be estimated at all. Studies have shown that non-sampling error accounts for the main part of the total error, and random sampling error is relatively small. What matters is the total error. A certain kind of error is important only when it accounts for a large proportion of the total error. In some cases, researchers even added an error in order to reduce the total error by reducing other errors.