Consumer
Psychology (PSY -
514)
VU
Lesson
07
MAJOR
STEPS IN CONSUMER RESEARCH
PROCESS
The
major steps in consumer research
process include:
7.
Defining the Objectives of
Research
The
first and most difficult
step in the consumer research
process is designing the objectives of
research. What is
the
research being carried out for?
For example to:
Segment
the market for
bicycles
Learn
about consumers attitudes about on-line
shopping
Determine
how many households use
e-mails?
Carefully
designed statement helps
determine type and level of information
needed. Purpose of study
determines
what
kind of research will be undertaken,
whether it will be qualitative research
or quantitative research.
If
the purpose of study is to come up
with new ideas for
promotional campaigns then
qualitative study is
usually
undertaken.
Respondents spend time with
highly trained interviewer-analyst who
interview them and analyse
their
responses.
If
the purpose of study is find
out how many respondents
use certain products and how
frequently then
quantitative
study that can be
computerized may be
used
Sometimes
the researchers don't know what
questions to ask. In such
cases small scale
Exploratory Research is
carried
out before conducting a full scale study.
This is done in order to explore the main
issues
8.
Collecting and Evaluating Secondary
Data
Second
step of the research is to collect
secondary data. Secondary
information is data originally
generated for
some
purpose other than the
present research objectives.
Such data may be collected
from earlier in-house
studies
or
customer's information collected by the
firm's sales or credit department
9.
Designing a Primary Research
Study
Primary
Information is original research
conducted by individual researchers
and organizations to meet
with
specific
objectives. Secondary research provides
sufficient insight into the clues
and directions for the design
of
primary
information
Primary
research is conducted when detailed
information on consumers' purchasing
patterns or product usage
is
required
or the consumers' socio-cultural or psychological
information is needed. Research to
secure such
information
is more costly and time
consuming than secondary
research
Syndicated
Data
It
is often very costly to collect primary
data. Many companies
routinely purchase syndicated
data on consumption
patterns.
Syndicated data are data of
interest to a large number of users
that are collected periodically
and compiled
and
analyzed according to a standard
procedure; then sold to
interested buyers
Design
of Primary research
Design
of a primary research is based upon the
purposes of study
Qualitative
Study: To get new
ides
Quantitative
Study: Descriptive Information
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