EOC Week 4: Primary and Secondary Research

1.    Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data

Secondary data usually are historical and already assembled. They require no additional access to research respondents or subjects. “The primary advantage of secondary data is their availability. Obtaining secondary data is almost always faster and less expensive than acquiring primary data. This is particularly true when researchers use electronic retrieval to access data stored digitally. In many situations, collecting secondary data is instantaneous.” Secondary data are essential in instances where data cannot be obtained using primary data collection procedures.

An inherent disadvantage of secondary data is that they were specifically designed to meet the researchers’ needs.  “The most common reasons why secondary data do not adequately satisfy research needs are (1) outdated information, (2) variation in definition of terms, (3) different units of measurement, and (4) lack of information to verify the data's accuracy. Furthermore, in our rapidly changing environment, information quickly becomes outdated. Because the purpose of most studies is to predict the future, secondary data must be timely to be useful.”

1.    Define surveys and describe the type of information that may be gathered in a survey

A survey is defined as “A method of collecting primary data based on communication with a representative sample of individuals.” surveys gather information to assess consumer knowledge and awareness of products, brands, or issues and to measure consumer attitudes and feelings. Additionally, surveys describe consumer characteristics including purchasing patterns, brand usage, and descriptive characteristics including demographics and lifestyle. Thus, psychographic research involves surveys. Information gathered in surveys varies widely depending on its objectives. Most surveys have multiple objectives; few gather only a single type of factual information.

Fragrance Questions: Final (New Product)

How often do you wear perfume?

       On a single buy, how much would you spend on a perfume?

a.     Under $20

b.     $20 - $50

c.      $50 - $80

d.     Over $80

    Are you more likely to try certain colognes with unique bottle designs and/or high impact presentation?

a.     Yes

b.     No

    How many fragrances do you currently own?

What scent do you like most? A-vanilla B-floral C-spices D-musk

What is your age?

How do you like a perfume to make you feel? Use one or two adjectives.

Do you feel like using a nice perfume makes you more attractive?

Do you purchase perfume or cologne as a gift for friends or family?

Does scent attract you when meeting new people?

EOC Week 3: 9 to 5

1. The film was developed from just a concept "Secretaries want to kill their bosses". What market research techniques were used to develop the screenplay? What specific processes that are in the book or discussed in class were used?

Jane Fonda, who wanted to make a movie about real life experiences, chose to look at an issue that was facing women of the 1970’s. It was equal treatment in the workforce. What Jane actually did was interview real-life secretaries about their feelings while at work. Many of them said that they hated their bosses, and fantasized about killing them. She thought this would not only be a funny subject, but an important one to cover. This method is comparable to a focus group. They used Descriptive Research to determine who purchases a product, portray the size of the market, identify competitors' actions, and so on. Descriptive research addresses who, what, when, where, why, and how questions. Descriptive research, as the name implies, describes characteristics of objects, people, groups, organizations, or environments. Put more simply, descriptive research tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation. What Jane did was look at the lives of these women, and paint a picture of what it might be like to walk in their shoes, and what it would be like to deal with their struggles.

2. What ethical issues were parts of the plot line of the actual film? Although we did not watch the actual film, there were many ethical dilemmas referenced. What were they? How were they resolved?

Dilemmas within the movie include sexism and discrimination, gender issues, and the balance of power. The sexist boss in the office used his advantage of having control over all the women in order to manipulate them or harass them. The women could not refuse or complain, because the boss would just fire them. They also felt like they had no outlet to fix the issue, because there was no way for them to complain about grievances. The way they attempted to resolve the problems was to kill their boss. Obviously, this creates an “ethical dilemma” for these women. They hate their boss, but they are not inherently bad people, they have just hit their breaking point. From the looks of the documentary, it seemed as if they were not successful. But by the end, maybe a lesson was learned, or an understanding reached.

Survey Questions

What is your gender?

What is your age range?

How many bottles of perfume do you own?

What is your perfume budget?

Does the bottle or shape of the perfume help you decide whether to buy it or not?

Do you like a generalized perfume, or a perfume that feels like it was made "just for you?"

What feeling do you like to have after using a perfume?

Do you like a colorful bottle or a more neutral scheme?

EOC: Survey Reaserch

The survey chosen for this EOC has to do with Dairy Alternative Beverages in the United States. This means beverages such as soy milk, almond milk and other plant-based milk. Plant-based milks have a long history in both Eastern and Western cultures, with references found in early European cookbooks as well as Oriental literature from the 1500s. Derived from soy, oats, nuts, seeds, legumes, hemp, rice and others, plant milk is a generalized term without legal description or qualifiers. There are a number of varieties of plant milks offered in the retail market, and there are other plant milks not yet produced commercially that have the potential to impact the market in the future. Some of these milks are produced commercially in other countries and could possibly enter the U.S. market in the future.

 Currently, the most commonly known and popular of the commercial plant milks is soymilk. Following in consumer recognition and consumption are almond milk, rice milk and coconut milk, in that order of preference. Additionally, hemp milk, oat milk, hazelnut milk, flax milk, sunflower milk and multigrain milk are available at the retail level, although they enjoy only a very minor market share. Quinoa, lupine, pea, peanut, cashew, and sesame are also used to make RTD plant-based milks in countries other than the United States. These products carry the potential to enter the U.S. market at a later date on a commercial scale, either through domestic production or importation.

The research was obtained by both primary and secondary research.

"Primary research is any type of research that you go out and collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in her writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion."

"Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments."

The survey used descriptive research to estimate and analyzes the size, growth rate, and composition of the plant-based beverage market. Historical sales data, as well as market forecasts to 2016, are provided for soymilk, almond milk, rice milk, coconut milk and hemp milk, as well as coverage of minor products such as flax, hazelnut, multi-grain, oat and sunflower milks. Descriptive research is defined as:

"Characteristics of objects, people, groups, organizations, or environments. Put more simply, descriptive research tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation. Marketing managers frequently need to determine who purchases a product, portray the size of the market, identify competitors' actions, and so on. Descriptive research addresses who, what, when, where, why, and how questions."

New Fragrance Brand: New Product

A new fragrance must be developed using three different concepts. The first thing to consider is the fragrance's “character” or “personality.” Who will be wearing it? Male or female? What is their lifestyle like? What do they enjoy doing? Where do they work/do for a living? How do they feel about themselves? For my fragrance in particular, I want to create something for the target market customer for the future business I would like to open.

Character-

She is a woman, between the ages of 18-35. She is a woman all her own, tamed by no one. She is free, she is mysterious, yet inviting and alluring. She can love black, or she can love color but it's the whole look pulled together with the accessories, makeup, shoes and even hair. She is going for a certain look, and she would fit right in at Cochella, an indie art gallery showing, a rock concert, Soho New York or in L.A.

Ingredients- Should be feminine, but not in an overtly girly way. Should be “Orient Inspired,” with a mystic and magical element to it, without being heavy. Top notes should be orange, patchouli and tubrose, middle notes will be tonka absolute and geranium and gardenia, bottom note will be strawberry and jasmine absolute.

Bottle-  The bottle should be vintage looking, with a boho feel. It would look at home sitting on the shelf of a free-spirited gypsy. It would have a glass design, rounded with a pointed tip. Gold metal overlay would create a fancy yet natural element to it.

EOC Week 1: What I Am Expecting From This Class

I am expecting to learn from this class how to properly conduct market research, and to impliment these findings by being able to compose an action plan surrounding it. Market reserch is impotant to anyone looking to sell a product. You need to find this information from gathering it. Research can seem invasive. You have to gather information from sources as well as the public. You can't ever find out what someone's opinion is if you don't ask them Zora Neale Hurston once said, "Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”

Marketing reaserch is defined as,"The process or set of processes that links the consumers, customers, and end users to the marketer through information — information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications." Making one poor decision based on gut feeling, intuition or judgement can cause a catastrophic loss of revenue. That's why it is nessesacry to conduct marketing reaserch.
There are two characteristics that define good marketing research: systemic and objective. "First, marketing research is systematic. Thus systematic planning is required at all the stages of the marketing research process. The procedures followed at each stage are methodologically sound, well documented, and, as much as possible, planned in advance. Marketing research uses the scientific method in that data are collected and analyzed to test prior notions or hypotheses. Experts in marketing research have shown that studies featuring multiple and often competing hypotheses yield more meaningful results than those featuring only one dominant hypothesis.
Marketing research is objective. It attempts to provide accurate information that reflects a true state of affairs. It should be conducted impartially. While research is always influenced by the researcher's research philosophy, it should be free from the personal or political biases of the researcher or the management. Research which is motivated by personal or political gain involves a breach of professional standards. Such research is deliberately biased so as to result in predetermined findings. The objective nature of marketing research underscores the importance of ethical considerations. Also, researchers should always be objective with regard to the selection of information to be featured in reference texts because such literature should offer a comprehensive view on marketing. Research has shown, however, that many marketing textbooks do not feature important principles in marketing research."