1. Compare reliability and validity. Why are they important considerations in marketing research?
2. Why is defining a problem the most important step in marketing research?
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
3. Explain the conditions that would favor an exploratory study over a conclusive study.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
4. How is it possible to increase the response rate of a mail survey?
5. Why would a personal interview be favored over a mail or telephone survey?
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
6. Why is it essential that a questionnaire be carefully designed and prepared? Describe the three kinds of questions
used in research project.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
7. What is sampling in marketing research? Describe the two basic types of sampling. Compare the advantages and
disadvantages of the two types of collecting a sample.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
8. What pitfalls should a marketing researcher avoid in preparing a report for a company executive? Why?
9. Discuss the role of the marketing information system in helping marketing managers make better decisions.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
10. How can companies use information technology as a competitive advantage?
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
11. Why is ethics an important consideration in marketing research?
12. How does marketing research differ when conducted in other countries?
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
13. Marketing research is best defined as:
a. the systematic design, collection, interpretation, and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific
marketing problems or take advantage of market opportunities.
b. a framework for the day-to-day management and structuring of information gathered by marketers.
c. a continuous gathering of data of an organization to make marketing decisions.
d. the collection of data from secondary sources and internal documents.
e. an intuitive process for making decisions based on personal knowledge and experience.
14. Marketing research is a process designed to gather information:
a. exclusively about a company’s customers.
b. from the company’s database.
c. not currently available to decision makers.
d. about the needs and desires of employees.
e. concerning the interpretation of the company’s sales goals.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
15. The use of marketing research is:
a. limited strictly to large corporations.
b. limited to for-profit businesses of all sizes.
c. controlled by the federal government.
d. widespread throughout business and nonprofit organizations.
e. carefully monitored by each state’s trade agencies.
16. The real value of marketing research to the organization can best be measured by:
a. its immediate impact on profits of the firm.
b. the amount of time spent in conducting the research.
c. the costs incurred during the market research.
d. improvements in the ability to make decisions.
e. the increase in sales volume or market share.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
17. Wade is puzzled by the recent decrease in sales at one of the Auto Zone locations for which he is the regional
manager. He knows that new car sales are down by reading the paper, so he thinks that people should be driving
more used cars, which need repairs. Wade knows that he needs to find out why customers are coming to the stores
in his area, and the best way to approach this problem and obtain accurate information is to use:
a. the marketing research process.
b. the opinions of store managers.
c. the company sales data.
d. hypothesis testing.
e. stratified sampling of customers.
18. All of the following are steps in the marketing research process except:
a. collecting data.
b. interpreting research findings.
c. designing the research project.
d. reporting research findings.
e. understanding your customer.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
19. Pointing out any deficiencies and the possible reasons for them should be done in the _____ step of the marketing
research process.
a. interpreting research findings
b. collecting data
c. defining the issue or problem
d. reporting research findings
e. designing the research project
20. Problem location and definition is the first step toward finding a solution to a marketing problem or launching a
research study. The first sign of a problem:
a. involves an informed guess or assumption about a certain set of circumstances.
b. is usually accompanied by a cost/benefit analysis.
c. most often comes in the form of customer complaints.
d. is often mentioned in secondary data reports, such as trade journals.
e. is typically a departure from some normal function.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
21. To maintain the control needed to obtain accurate information, marketers approach marketing research as a
process. Which of the following steps of that process focuses on uncovering the nature and boundaries of the
marketing situation to be studied?
a. Locating and defining problems
b. Designing the project
c. Collecting data
d. Interpreting findings
e. Reporting and analyzing findings
22. Declining sales, increasing expenses, or decreasing profits:
a. are to be expected during the marketing research process.
b. are examples of symptoms that point to larger problems.
c. usually have no effect on the marketing research process.
d. are important considerations in designing the research project.
e. should be carefully considered before collecting data.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
23. An overall plan for obtaining the information needed to address a research problem or an issue is known as _____.
a. research design
b. problem recognition
c. hypothesis
d. data collection method
e. sampling procedure
24. Jack knows his business has a problem because of an increasing number of consumer complaints received recently.
He has decided how to make this problem a precise, researchable statement and should move on to:
a. calculating reliability and validity.
b. designing the research project.
c. collecting data.
d. interpreting research findings.
e. taking corrective action.
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
25. An informed guess or assumption about a certain problem or a set of circumstances is known as _____.
a. a description of the situation
b. good research design
c. a hypothesis
d. a reliable guess
e. managerial intuition
26. Students from a marketing research class are involved in a project about the level of sleep, exercise, and stress
which individuals experience. They have decided to collect data from three student-center areas on campus. When
they analyze their data they find the responses are very similar across the three areas. The students feel
comfortable they have achieved _____ with regard to their data.
a. reliability
b. causal relationships
c. validity
d. sampling accuracy
e. measurability
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
27. Costco believes that most of its sales are to small businesses rather than consumers, and that women are more
likely to be making the purchasing decisions. This is an example of a(n) ____ that Costco could test through
marketing research.
a. descriptive sample
b. hypothesis
c. experimental question
d. sampling error
e. conceptual error
28. _____, that are either accepted or rejected, become the primary conclusions of a marketing research study.
a. Descriptions
b. Issues
c. Primary data
d. Samples
e. Hypotheses
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
29. When more information is needed about a problem and a tentative hypothesis needs to be made more specific,
marketers usually conduct a(n) ____ research.
a. descriptive
b. experimental
c. exploratory
d. analytical statistical
e. conclusive
30. Cover Girl believes that sales of one of its lipstick lines have fallen due to the introduction of a new color palette.
However, in order to best determine the impact of the color palette, Cover Girl should conduct a(n) _____ before
proceeding with this tentative hypothesis.
a. experimental research
b. hypothesis testing
c. exploratory research
d. conclusive research
e. descriptive research
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
31. A research designed to verify insights through an objective procedure to help marketers to choose between several
alternatives is known as a(n) _____ research.
a. primary
b. secondary
c. exploratory
d. conclusive
e. hypothetical
32. A research that is conducted to clarify the characteristics of certain phenomena to solve a particular problem is
called a(n) ____ research.
a. primary
b. experimental
c. descriptive
d. secondary
e. exploratory
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
33. A research that allows marketers to make causal deductions about relationships between variables is known as a(n)
_____.
a. variable research
b. relational research
c. exploratory research
d. linkage research
e. experimental research
34. Suppose that marketers at Lever Bros. are trying to determine whether the use of free samples of Snuggle fabric
softener was the reason for the sales to increase in a particular store. The type of research conducted to answer
this question is _____.
a. exploratory
b. descriptive
c. experimental
d. informal
e. qualitative
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems
35. If Little Caesars wants to determine the impact of different coupon offers on pizza unit sales, it needs to conduct
a(n) _____.
a. exploratory research
b. hypothesis development
c. survey research
d. stratified sampling
e. experimental research
36. When marketing researchers try to manipulate an independent variable and measure the resulting changes in a
dependent variable, they are engaging in _____.
a. surveys
b. secondary data gathering
c. interviews
d. observation
e. experimentation
Chapter 4 – Marketing Research and Information Systems