Chapter 6—Secondary Data Research in a Digital Age
TRUE/FALSE
1. Secondary data are data that have already been collected for some other purpose than the one at hand.
2. The use of secondary data requires current access to respondents who provided the data.
3. The primary advantage of secondary data is their validity.
4. It is always possible to gather the primary data needed for a research project.
5. A disadvantage to secondary data is that they were not designed specifically to meet the objectives of
the current project.
6. A disadvantage of secondary data is that the current researcher has no control over the accuracy of the
data.
7. One disadvantage of secondary data is that rescaling and other transformations are not possible.
8. A researcher should always evaluate the professional reputation of the organization that has gathered
secondary data in the process of evaluating the quality of the data.
9. Cross-checking data can help determine the similarity of independent projects.
10. Fact-finding is the most complicated form of secondary data analysis.
11. Market tracking is the observation and analysis of trends in industry volume and brand share over
time.
12. Model building is the simplest form of secondary data analysis.
13. Market potential is frequently estimated through the use of secondary data.
14. Marketing researchers frequently use internal accounting data to generate sales forecasts.
15. A moving average sales forecast works best in a dynamic competitive environment.
16. The index of retail saturation is the ratio of moving average projection to local market potential
(demand).
17. Data mining techniques can help to define the underlying meaning of data.
18. Schematic networks are a form of artificial intelligence in which a computer is programmed to mimic
the way that human brains process information.
19. Customer discovery is a form of data mining that analyzes anonymous point-of-sale transactions
databases to identify coinciding purchases or relationships between products purchased and other retail
shopping information.
20. By definition, secondary data are always data that are external to the organization.
21. Secondary data can be bought and sold like other products.
22. Trade associations gather data to help the organizations in a specific industry.
23. Diary panel data are data gathered by households that have agreed to record their consumption
behavior over an extended period of time.
24. The marketing research industry uses the term primary-source data for diverse types of data offered by
one particular company.
25. Financial data from different countries tend to be the same due to standardization of accounting and
recording practices for economic concepts.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Obtaining secondary data is typically ____ and ____ expensive than obtaining primary data.
a.
faster; more
b.
slower; more
c.
faster; less
d.
slower; less
2. A researcher who is interested in new car sales discovers that the secondary data are in the form of
statistics that include both car and light truck sales combined. What criterion have the data failed to
meet?
a.
The data should be in the correct unit of measurement.
b.
The data should apply to the time period of interest.
c.
The data should be supplied by a reputable source.
d.
The data should show evidence of reliability and validity.
3. All of the following are common reasons why secondary data do not adequately satisfy research needs
EXCEPT ____.
a.
outdated information
b.
too expensive
c.
variation in definition of terms
d.
different units of measurement
4. Shawn is interested in average monthly sales for automobiles in Memphis, TN. He found information
on the Internet that gives annual automobile sales by cities, so he took the annual sales for Memphis
and divided it by twelve to get a monthly average for that city. This is an example of ____.
a.
data mining
b.
data division
c.
data transformation
d.
data validation
5. One disadvantage of secondary data is that ____.
a.
the user has no control over their reliability and validity
b.
the data cannot be converted
c.
it typically requires additional access to research respondents
d.
it takes more time to collect than primary data
6. When a researcher compares secondary data from one source with data from another source, the
researcher is doing a(n) ____.
a.
data transformation
b.
cross-check
c.
data mining
d.
data enhancement
7. Data purchased from a company such as NPD Group, Inc. on the consumption of frozen pizza in the
U.S. is most likely going to be used for ____.
a.
model building
b.
database marketing
c.
data mining
d.
fact-finding
8. Tracking monthly sales trends over the past year is best described as an example of ____.
a.
model building
b.
fact-finding
c.
database marketing
d.
environmental scanning
9. The observation and analysis of trends in industry volume and brand share over time is called ____.
a.
market tracking
b.
model building
c.
data mining
d.
database marketing
10. When a marketing manager reads publications like The Wall Street Journal and Business Week to try
to determine changes in consumer behavior, the manager is best described as engaging in ____.
a.
environmental scanning
b.
model building
c.
database marketing
d.
data mining
11. Lance has noticed that companies that advertise a lot seem to have higher sales than those that do not.
His use of secondary data to help specify this relationship is an example of ____.
a.
data transformation
b.
validation
c.
reliability
d.
model building
12. Every year, Westview Marble goes through the process of estimating sales for the upcoming year by
looking at the company’s previous years’ sales and market sales along with economic trends and
predictions by experts. This process of predicting sales totals over a specific time period is called
____.
a.
model building
b.
trend analysis
c.
sales forecasting
d.
market potential estimation
13. Kyle is conducting a sales forecast by adding up his company’s sales over the past five years and then
dividing that by five (the number of years). The forecasting technique he is using is called ____.
a.
moving average forecasting
b.
dynamic forecasting
c.
static forecasting
d.
indexing
14. When Subway Sandwiches uses secondary data to determine the best location for its franchise outlets,
they are engaged in ____.
a.
site analysis
b.
model building
c.
database marketing
d.
market tracking
15. Which index describes the relationship between retail demand and supply?
a.
index of retail sales
b.
index of retail utilization
c.
index of retail saturation
d.
index of retail sites
16. The population of a city is 230,000 and its annual per person expenditure on athletic shoes is $45. If
there are 64,688 square feet of retail space used to sell athletic shoes in this city, its index of retail
saturation is ____.
a.
12.65
b.
79.01
c.
159.99
d.
1437.51
17. Bath and Body Works is a retail chain of bath and home fragrance products. Before entering a new
geographic area, the company develops an index consisting of a ratio of local market potential in
dollars (demand) to local market retailing space in square feet. If this ratio is below a predetermined
level, the site is not considered further. However, if this ratio is greater than that level, further site-
selection analyses are performed. This index is called the ____.
a.
index of retailers
b.
index of retail utilization
c.
index of retail sales
d.
index of retail saturation
18. Many companies use powerful computers to dig through volumes of data to discover patterns about
their customers and products. This activity is called data ____.
a.
mining
b.
snooping
c.
surveying
d.
discovery
19. A(n) ____ network is a form of artificial intelligence in which a computer is programmed to mimic the
way that people process information.
a.
cognitive
b.
neural
c.
schematic
d.
intelligent
20. Many retailers mine the databases provided by checkout scanners to identify coinciding purchases or
relationships between products purchased and other retail shopping information. This type of analysis
is referred to as ____.
a.
neural networking
b.
scandowns
c.
database marketing
d.
market-basket analysis
21. Which activity involves mining data to look for patterns identifying who is likely to be a valuable
customer?
a.
customer discovery
b.
data dissection
c.
data profiling
d.
customer cloning
22. A credit card company uses information about each customer’s age, gender, income, and past credit
history to find patterns that make customers a poor credit risk. This company is using ____.
a.
single-source data
b.
data transformation
c.
customer discovery
d.
index of customer saturation
23. The practice of using databases to promote one-to-one relationships with customers and create
precisely targeted promotions is called ____.
a.
zoned marketing
b.
target marketing
c.
database marketing
d.
electronic marketing
24. All of the following are examples of internal secondary data EXCEPT:
a.
sales invoices
b.
U.S. Census data
c.
inventory levels
d.
back orders
25. Secondary data that are owned and controlled by the organization are best called ____.
a.
first order data
b.
proprietary data
c.
exclusive data
d.
valid data
26. All of the following are producers of external secondary data EXCEPT ____.
a.
libraries
b.
trade associations
c.
government
d.
media
27. Which type of data cannot be purchased (legally and ethically) from commercial sources?
a.
demographic and census updates
b.
market-share data
c.
consumer attitudes and public opinions
d.
proprietary research and development data
28. Buying new-car purchase data by zip code from the Polk Company is an example of the use of a(n)
____.
a.
media source
b.
commercial source
c.
trade association source
d.
primary source
29. Asking a group of households to record their consumption of certain products over a two-year period
is an example of ____.
a.
model building
b.
database marketing
c.
data transformation
d.
diary panel data
30. Which term is used by the marketing research industry to refer to diverse types of data offered by a
single company?
a.
primary data
b.
single-source data
c.
compound data
d.
integrated data
COMPLETION
1. Data that were collected previously for a different research study are known as
____________________ data.
2. When original data are changed to a different format in order to make them consistent with a research
objective, the data are said to have been ____________________.
3. Comparing data from one source with data from other sources to determine the consistency of the data
is known as performing a(n) ____________________.
4. Tracking industry unit sales over the past twelve months is a form of ____________________
tracking.
5. Reading The New York Times to study possible changes in consumer consumption patterns of specific
products is an example of ____________________.
6. Using secondary data to study relationships between two variables is an example of
____________________.
7. Predicting next month’s dollar sales based on past sales for the previous twelve months is an example
of a(n) ____________________.
8. The mathematical result of describing the relationship between retail demand and supply for a specific
geographic area for a specific product is known as the index of ____________________.
9. Techniques that use secondary data to select the best location for a retail or wholesale operation are
called ____________________ techniques.
10. When an organization uses powerful computers to try to discover patterns of customer relationships
for its products, this is known as ____________________.
11. Using CRM systems to create one-to–one relationships with customers for specific promotions is an
example of ____________________ marketing.
12. ____________________ analysis is a form of data mining that analyzes anonymous point-of-sale
transaction databases to identify coinciding purchases or relationships between products purchased and
other retail shopping information.
13. Secondary data owned and controlled by a specific organization are called ____________________
data.
14. Data which are created outside of the organization are called ____________________ secondary data.
15. Diverse types of data offered by a single company are known as ____________________ data.
ESSAY
1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of secondary data.
2. Explain the three broad objectives that can be achieved using secondary data and give an example of
each.
3. Identify various internal and proprietary sources of secondary data.
4. Provide examples of various external sources of secondary data and discuss how information, as a
product, is distributed.
5. Discuss the additional challenges researchers face when using secondary data compiled outside the
United States.