Table Of ContentPRAISE FOR
Market research
in Practice
‘If you are new to market research then this should be your bible. If you hate guessing
what your customers are thinking, then this should be your road map. And if you are a
marketer, young or old, then this masterly reference piece will serve as a timely reminder
that the most effective marketing is still about thinking and planning.’
John Dodds, Global Director Brand and Marketing Communications
Excellence Air Products
‘We are reminded of the scope of issues that market research helps us with and how
exciting market research can be. Grounded in the realities of the product lifecycle along
with the core strategic decisions (about products and markets) and management
decisions (about the marketing mix) that are made in marketing, this is a very useful
explanation and guide to using and undertaking market research.
‘Whether you are interested in understanding markets, customers, the offer or
positioning, this book offers accessible explanations of methods and applications. With
top tips and helpful summaries, this is an excellent handbook for all those seeking to
implement data collection and use market research information. It will help those
commissioning or undertaking market research to plan to get the best form each project.
This book will be useful to those interested in information-based decisions – practitioners
and students of management in both the public and private sectors. The book covers both
secondary and primary data it encompasses our move to interest in big data as well as
making the most of small-sample qualitative studies. In this context, it puts sampling into
context and gives insight into the appreciation of validity. The section on analysis
suggests practical approaches to presenting results based on descriptive outcomes and
multivariate analysis to understand market segmentation.
‘The book clearly draws on a wealth of experience; it is credible and understandable,
and I would recommend it to anyone undertaking marketing information gathering.’
Prof Gill Wright, Chair of Strategic Marketing, Manchester
Metropolitan University
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‘The world of market research is constantly evolving with new methods and technologies.
It’s important to have a resource that you trust to remind you of the foundations of
research-done-well. A valuable tool for insights professionals of all types, this is the book
that I use with my team, whether we’re searching for new inspiration or just want to go
back to basics.’
Rebecca Cunningham, Senior Market Research Manager,
Consumer Products Group
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Market
Research
in Practice
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Market
Research
in Practice
An introduction to
gaining greater
market insight
Paul Hague, Matthew Harrison,
Julia Cupman and Oliver Truman
third Edition
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Publisher’s note
Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate
at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors
or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting,
or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor,
the publisher or any of the authors.
First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2004 by Kogan Page Limited
Second edition 2013
This third edition 2016
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or trans-
mitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:
2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street
1518 Walnut Street, Suite 1100
4737/23 Ansari Road
London EC1V 3RS
Philadelphia PA 19102
Daryaganj
United Kingdom
USA
New Delhi 110002
www.koganpage.com
India
© Paul Hague, Matthew Harrison, Julia Cupman and Oliver Truman, 2016
The right of Paul Hague, Matthew Harrison, Julia Cupman and Oliver Truman to be identified as the authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN
978 0 7494 7585 7
E-ISBN 978 0 7494 7586 4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Control Number
2016932638
Typeset by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
Print production managed by Jellyfish
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
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For everyone who is fascinated by the question ‘Why?’
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COntEntS
Preface xvii
Part onE
Planning a market research study 1
01
Introduction 3
Who needs market research? 3
New roles for market research 4
The effect of regional culture on the use of market research 5
The use of market research in business models and frameworks 5
Consumer and business-to-business market research 7
The scope of market research information 8
Quantitative and qualitative research 10
The market research process 11
The organization of market research 14
Summary 16
02
Market research design 17
What is worth researching? 17
Market research suppliers 19
The market research brief: a statement of the problem/opportunity 20
The market research proposal: the return of brief (ROB) 23
The information required 23
The accuracy 25
The budget 25
The timetable 27
What to expect in a proposal (return of brief) 28
Summary 32
03
Uses of market research 33
Understanding markets 34
Understanding customers 35
Understanding and developing the offer 38
ix
Contents
x
Positioning the brand and communications 39
Summary 42
Part two
Qualitative research 43
04
Qualitative research 45
What is qualitative research? 45
The tools of qualitative research 46
When to use qualitative research 47
The uses of qualitative research 48
Summary 51
05
Desk research 52
A veritable gold mine 52
An important principle of desk research 54
Sources of sources: the high-level view 54
Industry experts 55
The internet 55
Online market reports 57
The press 58
Company data 58
Government statistics 59
Trade and industry bodies 60
Directories and lists 60
The range of information available from desk research 61
Planning, recording and evaluating desk research 63
The limits of desk research 65
Summary 66
06
Focus groups 67
The focus group 67
The people that make up a focus group 67
When to use focus groups 69
Areas of special consideration 71
Planning and recruiting groups 73
Number of groups 73
Venues of groups 73
Getting participants to attend 74
Contents
xi
The group moderator 76
Tools of the group moderator 77
Summary 80
07
Depth interviewing 81
Why use depth interviews? 82
Depth interviews in market research design 83
How many depth interviews are needed? 84
The role of the telephone in depth interviewing 84
Winning cooperation for the interview 85
The principles of interviewing 85
The interview itself 87
The line of questioning 88
Developing the discussion guide for the interview 88
Probes and prompts 89
Summary 92
08
Observation and ethnography 93
Observation: a research method you can believe 93
When to use observation 94
The audit: a major application for observation 95
Observation in shopping surveys 96
Observation in product research 97
Observation in poster checks 98
Observation in checking television viewing 98
Setting up observation programmes 100
Reporting observational data 100
Summary 101
Part thrEE
Quantitative research 103
09
Quantitative research 105
What is quantitative research? 105
Determining the size of the sample 105
The tools of the quantitative researcher 106
What quantitative research is used for 107
Analysing quantitative research 108
Summary 110
Contents
xii
10
Sampling and statistics 111
The principles of sampling 111
Random sampling in consumer markets 112
Choosing the size of the sample 113
Sampling error 114
Random sampling and non-response 117
Quota samples 118
Sampling in business-to-business markets 121
Using statistics to derive importance of factors 123
Using statistics to arrive at needs-based segmentations 124
Summary 126
11
Questionnaire design 127
What is so difficult about designing a questionnaire? 127
The role of questionnaires 127
Different types of questionnaires 128
Different types of questions 129
Behavioural questions 131
Attitudinal questions 132
Classification questions 138
Three steps in questionnaire design 141
Formulating the questions 141
Arranging the questionnaire layout 147
Piloting and testing the draft questionnaire 149
Special questionnaires: conjoint analysis 149
Trade-off grids (SIMALTO – simulated multi-attribute level trade-off) 152
Summary 153
12
Face-to-face interviewing 156
Advantages of face-to-face interviews 156
Disadvantages of face-to-face interviews 157
Street interviews 159
Household interviews 160
Questionnaire design 161
Response rates to surveys: an industry problem 162
Hall tests (mall intercepts) 163
Summary 167
Contents
xiii
13
Telephone interviewing 168
Why interview by telephone? 168
CATI: computer-assisted telephone interviewing 169
The art of telephone interviewing: carrying out a successful interview 169
Limitations of telephone interviews 172
Summary 174
14
Self-completion questionnaires 175
The ubiquitous self-completion questionnaire 175
When to use and when not to use self-completion questionnaires 175
Principles of designing self-completion questionnaires 177
Good practice in self-completion questionnaires 182
Summary 188
15
Online surveys 189
The life cycles of research methods 189
Sending out e-surveys 189
The growth of online panels 190
The advantages and disadvantages of panel research 191
Organizing an online survey 193
Online focus groups 195
Collecting information from a website 198
Google and the rise of the DIY researcher 198
Mobile surveys 198
Using the net to pose questions 199
Summary 200
16
Data analysis 201
The analysis of closed questions 201
Data analysis of open-ended questions 208
Analysis of numerical responses 210
A note on data validation 212
Multivariate analysis 214
Qualitative data analysis 216
Semiotics and qualitative research 217
Summary 218
Contents
xiv
Part Four
Using market research 219
17
Using market research to segment markets 221
Why use market segmentation? 221
Types of segmentation approach 222
Qualitative/judgement-based approaches 227
Quantitative methods 228
Successfully embedding segmentation within a client organization 231
Summary 236
18
Using market research to improve a brand position 238
Research at the birth (and re-birth) of a brand 239
Researching new visual identities 241
Brand health monitoring 242
Other topics covered as part of brand tracking studies 246
Research design of brand tracking studies 247
Brand positioning 248
Valuing brands/brand equity 253
Summary 256
19
Using market research to improve customer satisfaction
and loyalty 257
Defining customer satisfaction and loyalty 257
The importance of customer satisfaction and loyalty 257
Assessing customer satisfaction and loyalty through market research 258
Summary 269
20
Using market research to achieve optimum pricing 270
The importance of price 270
What do we mean by price? 271
Equating price with value 272
Setting price according to business objectives 273
Using market research to achieve optimum pricing 274
Researching the potential price it is possible to charge 275
Researching the value of different aspects of the offer 277
The challenges of researching price 281
Conclusions 283
