Market Research

Question 1

what is market research?

Answer 1

gathering primary and secondary research on the buying
habits, lifestyles, usage and attitudes of customers and potential ones

Question 2

what are the benefits of market research?

Answer 2

• can identify opportunities / threats
• identify target market
• reduces risk of failure

Question 3

what are the drawbacks of market research?

Answer 3

• time consuming
• costs money
• does not guarantee success

Question 4

why is having an understanding of the market a major priority?

Answer 4

• the expense of launching new products
• the importance of maintaining market share
• the importance of maintaining brand value of existing products

Question 5

reasons for carrying out market research?

Answer 5

• helps make informed decisions
• find out customer wants and needs
• gains competitive advantage
• reduces risk

Question 6

reasons against carrying out market research?

Answer 6

• may predict success but not always the case
• does not always reach the specific needs of a business (secondary research)
• time consuming to gather

Question 7

what is primary (field) research? + examples?

Answer 7

collecting data that doesn’t alredy exist - for a specific purpose
e.g interviews, surveys

Question 8

what are the advantages and drawbacks of primary research?

Answer 8

up to date + specific to the business
but…
expensive and time consuming

Question 9

what is secondary (desk) research? + examples?

Answer 9

inexpensive and cost effective
but…
out of date and might not be relevant

Question 10

what is quantative research?

Answer 10

collection of data that can be measured - numbers and statistics
- sales figures, market share

Question 11

what is qualitative research?

Answer 11

collection of data about attitudes, beliefs and intentions - words, pictures and objects
- focus groups, interviews

Question 12

what is sampling?

Answer 12

a group of respondents to a market research exercise who are selected to be representative of the target market as a whole

Question 13

what is quota sampling?

Answer 13

the population is segmented into a number of groups that share specific characteristics e.g age, sex
(cheap method)

Question 14

what is random sampling?

Answer 14

every member of the population has an equal chance of being interviewed e.g drawn from local electoral registers
(expensive and time consuming)

Question 15

what is sample size?

Answer 15

size of the sample used is very important - too small means it will become inaccurate, too big means it’s expensive and time consuming
(gives larger business advantage)

Question 16

what is bias?

Answer 16

something that may cause data within a sample to be weighted towards one side