Conducting market research around the world is big business for U.S. firms. In 2009, among the top 50 U.S. research firms nearly 50 percent of revenues came from projects outside the United States.27However, market conditions and consumer preferences vary worldwide,
and there are major differences in the sophistication of market research operations and the amount of data available to global marketers. In Mexico, for instance, because there are still large areas where native tribes speak languages other than Spanish, researchers may end up bypassing these groups in surveys. In Egypt, where the government must sign off on any survey, the approval process can take months or years. And in many developing countries,
infrastructure is an impediment to executing phone or mail surveys and lack of online connectivity blocks Web-based research.
For these and other reasons, choosing an appropriate data collection method is difficult. In some countries, many people may not have phones, or low literacy rates may interfere with mail surveys. Understanding local
customs can be a challenge, and cultural differences also affect responses to
survey items. Both Danish and British consumers, for example, agree that it is important to eat breakfast. However, the Danish sample may be thinking of fruit and yogurt while the British sample has toast and tea in mind. Some- times marketers can overcome these problems by involving local researchers in decisions about the research design.
Another problem with conducting marketing research in global mar- kets is language. Sometimes translations just don’t come out right. In some cases entire subcultures within a country might be excluded from the re- search sample. In fact, this issue is becoming more and more prevalent in- side the United States as non-English speakers increase as a percentage of the population.
To overcome language difficulties, researchers use a process of back- translation, which requires two steps. First, a native speaker translates the questionnaire into the language of the targeted respondents. Then they translate this new version back into the original language to ensure that the correct meanings survive the process. Even with precautions such as these, researchers must interpret data they obtain from other cultures with care.
Step 6: Analyze and Interpret the Data
Once marketing researchers collect the data, what’s next? It’s like a spin on the old “if a tree falls in the woods” question: “If results exist but there’s no one to interpret them, do they have a meaning?” Well, let’s leave the philoso- phers out of it and just say that marketers would answer “no.” Data need in- terpretation if the results are going to be useful.
To understand the important role of data analysis, let’s take a look at a hypothetical research example. Say a company that markets frozen foods wishes to better understand consumers’ preferences for varying levels of fat content in their diets. They conducted a descriptive research study
where they collected primary data via telephone interviews. Because they know that di- etary preferences relate to gender, they used a stratified sample that includes 175 males and 175 females.
Typically, marketers first tabulate the data as Table 4.4 shows—that is, they arrange the data in a table or other summary form so they can get a broad picture of the overall re- sponses. The data in Table 4.4 show that 43 percent of the sample prefers a low-fat meal. In addition, there may be a desire to cross-classify or cross-tabulate the answers to questions by other variables. Cross-tabulation means that we examine the data we break down into
subgroups, in this case males and females separately, to see how results vary between cate-
gories. The cross-tabulation in Table 4.4 shows that 59 percent of females versus only 27 per- cent of males prefer a meal with low-fat content. In addition, researchers may wish to apply additional statistical tests, which you’ll probably learn about in subsequent courses (some- thing to look forward to).
Based on the tabulation and cross-tabulations, the researcher interprets the results and makes recommendations. For example, the study results in Table 4.4 may lead to the conclu- sion that females are more likely than males to be concerned about a low-fat diet. Based on these data, the researcher might then recommend that the firm should target females when it introduces a new line of low-fat foods.
Estimated expenditures for research by marketing research companies rank China number two in Asia Pacific markets with nearly $500 million, topped only by Japan. In fact, the amount firms spend on marketing research in China is growing faster than in any other country in the world, with growth rates of over 25 percent per year. The reason for such expenditures is obvious: China is an emerging market of more than 1.3 billion potential consumers. Interestingly, however, there’s an erroneous impression among foreign marketers that most of the population lives in large cities. Coupled with real infrastructure and transportation challenges, this demographic misconception has left large portions of the vast Chinese countryside virtually untouched by modern marketing—at least so far.
back-translation
The process of translating material to a foreign language and then back to the original language.
Ryan
Garton
APPLYING Data Analysis
Ryan’s decision relates to the process by which Discover will incorporate consumer data with other sources and how much weight each data component will carry when researchers process information from both internal and external sources.
Table 4.4
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Examples of Data Tabulation and Cross-Tabulation Tables
Fat Content Preference (number and percentages of responses)Questionnaire Response Number of Responses Percentage of Responses
Do you prefer a meal with high fat content, medium fat content, or low fat content?
High fat 21 6
Medium fat 179 51
Low fat 150 43
Total 350 100
Fat Content Preference by Gender (number and percentages of responses) Questionnaire Response Number of Females Percentage of Females Number of Males Percentage of Males Total Number Total Percentage
Do you prefer a meal with high fat content, medium fat content, or low fat content?
High fat 4 2 17 10 21 6
Medium fat 68 39 111 64 179 51
Low fat 103 59 47 27 150 43
Total 175 100 175 100 350 100
Step 7: Prepare the Research Report
The final step in the marketing research process is to prepare a report of the research results. In general, a research report must clearly and concisely tell the readers—top management, clients, creative departments, and many others—what they need to know in a way that they can easily understand and that won’t put them to sleep (kind of like a good textbook). A typ- ical research report includes the following sections:
• An Executive Summary of the report that covers the high points of the total report • An understandable description of the research methods
• A complete discussion of the results of the study, including the tabulations, cross-tabu- lations, and additional statistical analyses
• Limitations of the study (no study is perfect)
• Conclusions drawn from the results and the recommendations for managerial action based on the results