Marketing Research, 8e (Burns/Bush)
Chapter 5 Secondary Data & Packaged Information
1) The umbrella term ________ is information that is available from more sources than ever
before-from government statistics to sensor data to tracking studies.
A) basic data
B) big data
C) proprietary data
D) primary data
2) Given the large amounts of data available, researchers need to be ________ about their use.
A) strategic
B) cautious
C) tactical
D) enthusiastic
3) Data referring to information that is developed or gathered by the researcher specifically for
the research project at hand is called:
A) Proprietary data.
B) Secondary data.
C) Primary data.
D) Big data.
4) Data that have been gathered by another source other than the researcher or for some other
purpose than the research project is:
A) Primary data.
B) Published data.
C) Proprietary data.
D) Secondary data.
5) Which of the following is NOT an example of secondary data?
A) Census data
B) Export data
C) Economic trends data
D) Data from a custom survey
6) Suggested applications for ________ include forecasting economic trends analyzing the
competition, choosing international markets to enter, understanding consumer concerns during a
crisis situation, and many others.
A) secondary data
B) government data
C) primary data
D) big data
7) ________ is an example of internal secondary data.
A) U.S. census data
B) Corporate sales data
C) Online information database
D) Sales tax data
8) Which of the following is NOT an example of external secondary data?
A) Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources
B) Business Source Complete
C) Salesforce.com sales data
D) Brands and Their Companies
9) ________ are sources of information that are prepared for public distribution and are normally
found in libraries and online.
A) Data aggregators
B) Official statistics
C) Published sources
D) Custom sources
10) You can investigate all the free data that are collected by U.S. government agencies and now
are available by law due to the U.S. Open Data Policy. The website location is:
A) www.census.gov.
B) www.usa.gov.
C) www.bls.gov.
D) www.data.gov.
11) The general manager of a jewelry store would like to allocate radio ad dollars to the three
markets in which the store has locations. The manager’s review of secondary data shows that
retail sales of jewelry are available by radio market area. Allotting the radio budget based on the
percentage of sales in a given market would be an excellent way to:
A) Solve the manager’s problem and satisfy the research objective.
B) Solve the manager’s problem by predicting actual sales of pieces of jewelry.
C) Complicate the manager’s problem on how much inventory to order.
D) Complicate the manager’s problem and satisfy the objective.
12) There are several distinct advantages of using secondary data. Which is NOT an advantage?
A) Secondary data can usually be obtained quickly.
B) Secondary data may be obtained in any form desired.
C) Secondary data are relatively inexpensive.
D) Secondary data may achieve the research objective.
13) There are some disadvantages associated with secondary data. Which of the following is
NOT listed in the text as a disadvantage?
A) Data are often reported in incompatible reporting units.
B) Measurement units do not match researchers’ needs.
C) Source and origin of data are not identified.
D) Class definitions are incompatible with the researchers’ needs.
14) Problems exist with secondary data because:
A) Data have been collected specifically to address the problem at hand but is proprietary.
B) Data have not been collected specifically to address the problem at hand and belongs to
another company.
C) Data have not been collected specifically to address the problem at hand and is out-of-date.
D) Data have not been collected specifically to address the problem at hand but have been
collected for some other purpose.
15) Researchers must carefully ________ of secondary data in deciding whether to use it as a
basis for making decisions.
A) assess the quality and validity
B) consider the cost against the value of the project
C) assess the quality and cost
D) assess the cost, quality, and value
16) Researchers need to use multiple methods of evaluating secondary data. Which one of the
following is NOT a method of evaluating secondary data?
A) Evaluate how the information was gathered
B) Evaluate the availability of the data
C) Evaluate the purpose of the study
D) Evaluate the source of collection of the data
17) Some studies are conducted to “prove” some position or to:
A) Attract investors or be acquired.
B) Protect unfit or negligent management.
C) Advance the special interest of those conducting the study.
D) Ensure financial stability.
18) It is important to consider who collected data that a company may use. An emerging trend is
the:
A) Rise of commissioned studies.
B) Outsourcing of data.
C) Subcontracting of data.
D) Crowdsourcing of data.
19) Most reputable organizations that provide secondary data also provide detailed information
on which of the following?
A) Their data collection methods
B) Their clients and prior projects
C) The budget for the project
D) Background on the researchers
20) The ________ may represent the most significant change in the availability of secondary
data to be used for marketing research purposes in several decades.
A) U.S. Census
B) American Community Survey
C) County Business Patterns
D) Census of e-Retail Trade
21) What is the main advantage of the ACS?
A) It provides data monthly instead of once a year.
B) It provides data bi-monthly instead of once a year.
C) It provides data annually instead of once every 10 years.
D) It provides data every two years instead of once every 10 years.
22) Why is the ACS a major secondary data resource for marketing researchers?
A) The data have high reliability since major research firms collect it.
B) The data have “high marks” for reliability since it is collected from social media.
C) The data have “high marks” for reliability since it is continuously collected from online
panels
D) The data have the U.S. Census Bureau’s “high marks” for reliable data and will be current,
23) Packaged information is a special form of:
A) Secondary data.
B) Social media data.
C) Primary data.
D) Consumer data
24) Packaged services provide each client with:
A) Data from a common database.
B) A marketing research process that is used to generate information.
C) Data provided periodically.
D) Data collected in a standard format.
25) Nielsen Ratings service, which measures TV audience size and viewer demographics for TV
programs, is an example of:
A) A syndicated data processing firm.
B) A standardized data processing firm.
C) A syndicated data services firms.
D) A packaged data services firms.
26) Instead of a client firm trying to “reinvent the wheel” by developing its own process for
measuring customer satisfaction, the firm may elect to use a ________ to accomplish this aim.
A) syndicated service
B) custom data service
C) customer relationship management service
D) packaged service
27) Firms providing specialized routine information needed by a given industry in the form of
ready-to–use packaged data to subscribing firms are:
A) Syndicated data firms.
B) Custom research data firms.
C) Government data recyclers.
D) Industry research data firms.
28) Syndicated data has several advantages. Of the following, which is NOT a key advantage of
syndicated data?
A) The quality of the data collected is typically high.
B) The client has control over which data are to be collected.
C) Because there are many subscribers, the cost is usually reduced.
D) Information is collected and is quickly disseminated to subscribers.
29) Like syndicated data, packaged information has several advantages. Of the following, which
is NOT a key advantage of packaged information?
A) The experience of the firm gathering the data
B) The collection of the information by the supplier is efficient and far less costly
C) Customization of various portions of the project
D) Reduced turnaround time from start to finish
30) Manufacturers interested in prevailing attitudes about pollution and government regulation
would be an application of what type of research?
A) Opinion polling research
B) Syndicated research
C) Customized research
D) Packaged information research
31) Geodemographics is the term used to describe the classification of geographic areas in terms
of the socioeconomic characteristics of their inhabitants. The term geodemographics is
associated with what type of research application?
A) Packaged information
B) Census-related
C) Syndicated
D) Customized
32) ________ are available to monitor the effectiveness of print media promotional messages.
A) Syndicated services
B) Packaged services
C) Customized services
D) Media services
33) Nielsen tracking studies are ________ that monitor a variable such as sales or market share
over time.
A) cross-sectional studies
B) prevalence studies
C) longitudinal studies
D) transversal studies
34) Professors Kotler and Keller describe several ways companies use their databases as part of
data mining. Of the following, which is NOT a way companies primarily use their databases?
A) Identify prospects
B) Deepen customer loyalty
C) Reactivate customer purchases
D) Discover illegal customer activities
35) Retailers who purchase Nielsen’s tracking data for their category get up–to-date information
about what brands are selling at which retailers at the SKU level, and learn what their
competitors are selling. The tracking studies are examples of:
A) Syndicated services.
B) Customized services.
C) Media services.
D) Packaged services
36) One of the fastest-growing areas of marketing research involves the organization and
analysis of:
A) Social media data.
B) Consumer products data.
C) Consumer healthcare data.
D) Mass media usage data.
37) What is the term for any information that is created by users of online systems and intended
to be shared with others?
A) E-commerce-generated data
B) User-generated data
C) Product-generated data
D) Media-generated data
38) Social media have a number of strengths as a source of marketing research data. Which of
the following is NOT considered one of those strengths?
A) Fast, immediate, up-to-date feedback from consumers
B) Relatively inexpensive to access data
C) Little or no expertise is needed to organize and analyze data
D) Unprompted, unfiltered, and authentic voice of the consumer
39) The use of social media data for marketing research also has quite a few disadvantages.
Which of the following is NOT considered one of those disadvantages?
A) Commenters may not represent a brand’s target audience
B) Vocal critics may have a more active voice and distort the conversation.
C) Even though much of the material on social media is shallow or useless, it is always relevant
D) Demographic and geographic information of the consumers may not be identifiable or may be
falsified
40) ________ is the ratio of positive to negative comments posted about products and brands on
the web.
A) Feedback
B) Commentary
C) Reaction
D) Sentiment
41) An important emerging source of big data that uses sensors and monitors is:
A) the Internet of Things (IoT).
B) Mass media data.
C) Online consumer panels.
D) Social media data.
42) ________ are information that is collected without overt consumer activity.
A) Covert data
B) Passive data
C) Monitored data
D) Active data
43) Smartglasses (e.g., Google Glass), fitness trackers (e.g., Fitbit), and smart watches (e.g.,
Apple Watch) are examples of what?
A) Smart technologies
B) Big data technologies
C) Wearable technologies
D) Smartphone technologies
44) Wearables turn people into walking, talking trails of data. The generated data from wearables
can be particularly valuable to which industry?
A) Consumer products industries
B) Entertainment industry
C) Electronics industries
D) Healthcare and fitness industries
45) The Internet of Things offers real promise for greater ________ and exciting applications for
the future.
A) automation of marketing research
B) automation of marketing
C) automation of sales
D) retail store automation
46) Since the data from the IoT generally lack context, pairing passive data with ________ will
be important.
A) quantitative data
B) active data
C) qualitative data
D) non-descript data
47) The phrase, “big data” is often used to indicate alarm and apprehension about the enormous–
and multiplying-amounts of data that are being created on an ongoing basis.
48) Due to advances in technology, decisions are routine about what data to collect and how to
analyze the data to find trends, patterns, and relationships among data from multiple sources.
49) Proper management of big data has the potential to increase productivity for companies
significantly.
50) Given the large amounts of data available, researchers need to be more tactical than strategic
about their use.