U11. 2

MARKET RESEARCH​​​​​​

When carrying out primary research it is often too expensive and too time- consuming to get the views of every consumer in the market.

Methods of primary research

Quantitative research: the collection of numerical data that can be analysed using statistical techniques.

Focus groups

Presentation and use of market research results

Qualitative research: the collection of information about consumers' buying behaviour and their opinions about products.

Observation

Test market

Consumer surveys

The need for sampling

This problem can be overcome by selecting a sample: (a representative sample of the target market selected to take part in market research.

Accurancy of market research data

It is important for users of market research data to recognise that the data may sometimes be innacurate. Some reasons are...

The sample chosen may be too small or not representative of the population.

The business may have chosen the wrong type of method to collect the data.

People who are interviewed as part of the market research process may not answer questions truthfully.

Once the market research has been carried out, the results need to be presented and analysed...

Tables: in most cases, data is presented in tables.

Bar charts: the bars can be drawn vertically or horizontally, and the height of ecah one shows the size of ecah answer.

Pie charts: they are drawn as circles. and each part of the data is shown as a 'slice' of the pie.

Pictograms: this method uses pictures or symbols to represent data, and every picture or symbol has a numerical value.

Line graphs: this type of graph shoes the relationship between two variables. They are useful to show trends, how data has changed over time.