ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Describe the PRC as discussed in the opening vignette by the COO of the Marketing
Research Association.
The Professional Researcher Certification (PRC) came about in 2005 when the Marketing
Research Association (MRA) began certifying U.S. individuals involved in research. Over
2. Who is credited for conducting the first continuous and organized marketing research? (He
is also known as the “father of marketing research.”)
3. Explain why marketing research was not widespread prior to the Industrial Revolution.
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, businesses and their customers were in close proximity,
4. Roughly, how much is the worldwide marketing research industry worth? How much is the
U.S. marketing research industry worth?
Worldwide, it was a $32.5 billion industry in 2008. Due to the worldwide recession, it is a
$30 billion industry in 2010. The chapter states that the top 50 United States research firms
5. What is the difference between the Honomichl Global Top 25 and the Honomichl Top 50
reports?
The Honomichl Global Top 25 is a report of the top 25 marketing/advertising/public opinion
research services firms ranked in terms of worldwide revenues received. The Honomichl
6. What is meant by a “strategic alliance”? Give an example of one.
A strategic alliance allows firms with strong expertise in one area to form partnerships with
firms offering expertise in other areas. Examples given in the text are: GfK and Arbor
7. We categorized firms as internal and external suppliers of marketing research information.
Explain what is meant by each, and give an example of each type of firm.
An internal supplier is an entity inside a firm that supplies marketing research. An example
would be a marketing research department such as those noted—Kraft Foods, IBM, Kodak,
8. Distinguish among full-service, limited-service firms, syndicated data services, standardized
services, customized service, and online research services firms.
9. How would you categorize the following firms?
a. One specializing in marketing to kids (ages six to twelve years)
b. One that specializes in a computerized scent generator for testing reactions to smells
c. One that offers a method for conducting “mock trials”
d. One that offers clients samples drawn according to the client’s sample plan
e. One that collects data over the Internet
10. What makes an online marketing research firm different from other marketing research
firms?
Online research firms specialize in providing services online. We define online research as
the use of computer networks, including the Internet, to assist in any phase of the marketing
11. What is the advantage in a firm having its own formal marketing research department?
Explain three different ways such a department may be internally organized.
The advantage is that the marketing research department staff is fully aware of the company’s
The three internal organization alternatives are: (1) area of application such as industrial
12. What are four challenges to the marketing research industry?
The challenges are:
Issues with the economy meaning fallouts, alliances, and the need to demonstrate
value-added services.
Declining consumer cooperation to take part in surveys due to telemarketing and
desire for privacy.
13. Explain how being “too tool oriented” may hurt the marketing research industry.
Researchers too readily apply a tool instead of focusing on the more complex strategic issues
14. Explain how certification and education may improve the marketing research industry.
Certification such as the PRC is a system that guarantees minimum standards will be
15. How would you define ethics?
Ethics may be defined as a field of inquiry into determining what behaviors are deemed
16. What are the two fundamental philosophies that can be used as a basis for making ethical
decisions?
Deontology is concerned with the rights of the individual. If an individual’s rights are
Teleology analyzes a given behavior in terms of its benefits and costs to society. If there are
17. List where you can find some codes of ethics applicable to the marketing research industry.
Various associations and organizations such as American Marketing Association, Council of
American Survey Organizations, Qualitative Research Consultants Association, Marketing
18. Name some of the ethical issues facing the marketing research industry.
Some of the ethical issues noted are: worldwide issues, codes of ethics, sugging and
frugging, research integrity, treating others fairly (buyers, suppliers and the public),
19. Explain why sugging and frugging are bad for marketing researchers.
Sugging refers to “selling under the guise of a survey.” Frugging refers to “fund-raising
ANSWERS TO APPLICATION QUESTIONS
20. Go to the websites of either CASRO, MRA, or IMRO and look up their codes of
ethics/professional standards. What do they have to say about doing online surveys?
CASRO refers to “active agent technology” such as spyware, which is strictly prohibited.
MRA has a complete set of ethical standards for online research—“Use of the Internet for
21. Look up “marketing research” in your Yellow Pages directory. Given the information
provided there, can you classify the research firms in your area according to the
classification system of research firms we used in this chapter?
There is no set answer to this exercise. Instructors who are located in small cities or places
where there is little industry or commerce should refrain from assigning this exercise as
students will find few or no marketing research companies in their directories. An alternative
22. Comment on each practice in the following list. Is it ethical? Indicate your reasoning in each
case.
a. A research company conducts a telephone survey and gathers information that it uses
later to send a salesperson to the home of potential buyers for the purpose of selling
a product. It makes no attempt to sell the product over the telephone.
This is ethical as long as the respondents were informed that information was being
gathered to qualify them for the sales call; it is unethical if there were promises of
b. Would your answer to (a) change if you found out that the information gathered
during the telephone survey was used as part of a “legitimate” marketing research
report?
If the company is doing research, and it is confidential and/or anonymous, the use of
the information to send a salesperson is unethical. However, if the survey did not
c. A door-to-door salesperson finds that by telling people that he is conducting a survey
they are more likely to listen to his sales pitch.
d. Greenpeace sends out a direct-mail piece described as a survey and asks for
donations as the last question.
e. In the appendix of the final report, the researcher lists the names of all respondents
who took part in the survey and places an asterisk beside the names of those who
indicated a willingness to be contacted by the client’s sales personnel.
f. A list of randomly generated telephone numbers is drawn in order to conduct a
telephone survey.
g. A list of randomly generated e-mail addresses is generated using a “Spambot” (an
electronic “robot” that searches the Internet looking for and retaining e-mail
addresses) in order to conduct a random online research project.
h. Students conducting a marketing research project randomly select e-mail addresses
of other students from the student directory in order to conduct their term project.
Not only would this be unethical, it would be illegal as it would be considered SPAM.
The rule is that a respondent to an e-mail survey must have some sort of established
relationship with the person sending the e-mail request to complete the survey. In the
Consider the following examples of established relationships:
You buy a Die-Hard battery at Sears. In the paperwork you provide your e-mail
The Dean of your college decides to send an e-mail to all students attending the
school asking them to complete a survey about preferences for future courses.