Chapter 3
The Research Process and Problem Formulation
a. A company‘s philosophy of how marketing research fits into its marketing plan
determines its program strategy for marketing research.
b. The design of individual studies themselves addresses the firm‘s project strategy for
marketing research.
c. Project strategy addresses the question of what types of studies the firm should
conduct and for what purposes.
d. Project strategy would address an issue like whether personal or telephone
interviews should be used to measure customer attitudes.
e. They are all true.
a. Program strategy specifies the types of studies that are to be conducted and for what
purposes.
b. Project strategy deals with how a study should be conducted.
c. Program strategy is determined by a company‘s philosophy of how marketing
research fits into its marketing plan.
d. Project strategy involves the design of the individual studies that a firm conducts to
gather information.
e. A program strategy and a project strategy are identical.
a. The choice of a data-collection method for a specific issue reflects the firm’s
program strategy.
b. A company‘s philosophy of how marketing research fits into its marketing plan
determines its project strategy for marketing research.
c. The design of the individual studies themselves defines the firm‘s program strategy
to research.
d. Project strategy should be dealt with before program strategy.
e. A program strategy specifies the types of studies to be conducted and for what
purposes.
a. A research project can provide the most relevant information for managers when it is
based on an imprecise decision problem.
b. A research project should have many objectives; one is too narrow.
c. Specifying the objectives of the research project to be undertaken is part of the
research design process.
d. A research project may have one objective or several objectives.
e. Well designed research projects are broad-based fact finding missions.
customer’s brand awareness and satisfaction with the product. These studies demonstrate
what type of marketing research strategy?
a. advertising evaluation strategy
b. program strategy
c. development strategy
d. project strategy
e. satisfaction research strategy
a. determining the research design.
b. designing data collection method and forms.
c. preparing the research report.
d. analyzing and interpreting the data.
e. formulating the problem.
are
a. design the sample and collect data; analyze and interpret the data.
b. design the data collection method and forms; analyze and interpret the data.
c. design the data collection method and forms; design the sample and collect data.
d. design the sample and collect data; analyze and interpret the data.
e. analyze and interpret the data; prepare the research report.
a. design sample and collect data.
b. design data collection method and forms.
c. formulate problem.
d. prepare the research proposal.
e. none of the above.
a. determine the research design; design the data collection method and forms.
b. design the data collection method and forms; design the sample.
c. design the data collection method and forms; collect data.
d. design the sample; determine the research design.
e. determine the research design; design the sample.
a. the population from which the sample elements will be drawn.
b. the sampling frame.
c. the type of sample.
d. the sample size.
e. all of the above.
a. the list of population elements from which the sample will be selected.
b. the procedure used to select the sample from the population.
c. the number of population elements to be chosen as the sample.
d. the form of the sample to be chosen from the population elements.
e. none of the above are representative of a sampling frame.
a. Decreasing the sample size is a sure way to reduce total error since it reduces
sampling error which is an important component of total error.
b. In designing a research project, the most important type of research error is total
error.
c. In designing a research project, the most important type of research error is sampling
error.
d. Increasing the sample size is a sure way to reduce total error since it reduces
sampling error, which is an important component of total error.
e. They are all false.
research process?
a. scanning the data collection forms
b. assignment of numerals to the responses
c. deciding the number of points on a measurement scale
d. orderly arrangement of data in summary tables
e. a and c
steps are
a. tabulating, coding, and editing.
b. coding, tabulating, and editing.
c. editing, coding, and tabulating.
d. editing, tabulating, and coding.
e. coding, editing, and tabulating.
adherence to instructions is known as
a. tabulation.
b. scanning.
c. coding.
d. editing.
e. skip-tracing.
a. Decision problem formulation is the first step in the research process.
b. Sampling error is the key error associated with a research project.
c. The stages in the research process are interrelated in that a decision with respect to
one stage affect is decisions made at the other stages as well.
d. Revision of the decision problem is not possible after data have been collected.
e. b and d are false.
a. communication between the researcher and the decision maker can be reduced.
b. research can be designed properly.
c. the researcher knows what results to come up with.
d. the decision maker understands the decision to be made.
e. all of the above.
a. The largest source of marketing problems is serendipity in the form of new ideas.
b. Marketing problems develop from not only real marketing problems but also
marketing situations called opportunities.
c. The marketing problem should be defined clearly so that research can be designed
properly.
d. Change is a fundamental source of marketing problems.
e. They are all true.
a. The decision maker does not need to understand what marketing research can and
cannot accomplish.
b. Many managers cannot clearly and precisely state the nature of the decision problem
they want investigated.
c. Managers do not need to be actively involved in the marketing research process.
d. If a decision maker will not change his decision regardless of the result of the
research, the research should still be conducted for informational purposes.
e. A researcher should not worry about the decision alternatives as decision makers
typically will provide researchers with a complete list of them.
a. unanticipated change in the marketing environment in the form of competitor
initiatives.
b. a firm’s planned change of a marketing variable.
c. customer complaint letters.
d. a and c.
e. a, b and c.
a. customer complaint letters.
b. salesperson‘s call reports.
c. comments in trade publications.
d. customer calls to toll-free service assistance centers.
e. all of the above are sources of new ideas.
a. The decision problem is also the research problem.
b. The decision problem involves determining what information to provide and how
that information can best be secured.
c. The key difference between the decision problem and the research problem is the
decision problem focuses on what action needs to be taken while the research
problem focuses on what information to provide and how that information can best
be secured.
d. The key difference between the decision problem and the research problem is the
research problem focuses on what action needs to be taken while the decision
problem focuses on what information to provide and how that information can best
be secured.
e. They are all true.
project?
a. the decision maker‘s environment
b. the corporate culture
c. the consequences of alternative actions
d. the objectives of the decision maker
e. all of the above should affect the design of the research
a. outcomes
b. a choice among differentially desired and unequally probable alternatives
c. an individual operating within some environment
d. all of the above
e. a and c
when
a. there is a group of people charged with the decision rather than a single individual.
b. there are many possible courses of action rather than a few.
c. the courses of action provide an equal rather than unequal chance of attaining the
desired outcome.
d. there are many rather than a few outcomes associated with any choice.
e. they are all true.
a. Marketing research is a science.
b. The first step in choosing a research supplier is to ask for references.
c. Marketing research should be carried out whenever there is the potential for learning
something new about the problem.
d. If decision makers do not know what they want to achieve, a research study can help
them make the decision.
e. The researcher‘s written statement describing his or her understanding of the
decision problem is called the research request statement.
a. personal interviews in national consumer studies
b. mail questionnaires in a brand tracking study
c. telephone interviews when measuring brand awareness
d. all of the above
e. a and c
a. reviewing published data
b. interviewing knowledgeable people
c. conducting focus groups
d. investigating trade literature
e. all of the above
a. the scales for the measures.
b. the contemplated actions upon which the research is based.
c. the target population from which a sample will be drawn.
d. an approximation of the time and expense of the research report.
e. how each measure will be used to make the decision at hand.
a. statement of the marketing problem.
b. purposes and limits of the project.
c. cost estimates.
d. hypothesized results.
e. data sources and research methodology.
agreed upon before the research project is begun, EXCEPT
a. development of a research request statement.
b. hypothetical scenario questioning of the decision maker.
c. development of a research proposal.
d. anticipation of the final research report contents in a form such as a dummy table.
e. all of the above are useful techniques to ensure the purpose of the research is agreed
upon.
a. Secondary data help specify problem formulations.
b. A plan for analyzing the data should exist before collecting the data.
c. Research design may be modified after data analysis.
d. Interpretation of results can inform the marketing problem.
e. Research reports should be both accessible to nontechnical people as well as contain
the technical details for readers who wish to see them.
true: a. Data from paper-pencil surveys need to be checked for editing.
b. Data from paper-pencil surveys need to be coded.
c. Data from Web-surveys need to be coded.
d. a & b are true
e. all these statements are true
a. caveats and limitations regarding the scope of the project
b. caveats and limitations regarding the sample
c. technical appendix describing analyses to be conducted
d. labor costs estimates
e. indication of understanding of the client’s marketing problem