Business Studies
Write an essay (750-1,000 words) that assesses concerns about the validity of marketing research. The essay should address the following:
What are the benefits and drawbacks or risks of utilizing the services of market research firms?
What codes and restrictions are in place to promote ethics within the industry? Are they sufficient in your opinion?
How has the advancement of technology impacted market research and reporting practices?
What steps can marketing managers take in the design of marketing research projects to mitigate risk while increasing the quality and reliability of the information they receive?
Cite four secondary sources in your essay from reliable sources, such as trade journals, academic journals, and websites from professional marketing associations.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
ANSWER
Concerns About the Validity of Marketing Research
What are the benefits and drawbacks or risks of utilizing the services of market research firms?
Benefits
New Perspectives for Innovation
Market research firms introduce new perspectives that might not be easily identifiable by the organization (Dzhalolovna, 2020). Organizations that are stuck in doing things the same way can get a second opinion on how to market their products and attract more customer acceptance.
Customer Confidentiality
Customers who participate in surveys often fear that the responses they give would be directly connected to their names. Market research firms act as the middleman between the customer and the organization making customer responses to services and wants out of the immediate control of the sponsoring company.
Time-saving
Unlike internal teams that have other company responsibilities, market research firms dedicate their work to conducting valuable research on the market. This enables them to cut to half the time that an organization would take to conduct complete market research if it was done in-house.
Expertise That Is Not In-House
Market research firms are composed of experts in different fields of market research. This makes their work more accurate and applicable in making strategic decisions for the organization. The firms have advanced survey tools, market research resources, and human resources that are not readily available in-house.
Drawbacks and Risks
Cost
The cost of hiring market research firms is high compared to if the activities were conducted in-house by company staff. Many administration and consultancy fees that accompany market research firms increase the cost of their activities significantly making them not affordable for smaller companies (Mooi et al., 2018).
Misuse of Company Data by Third Parties
Marketing firms are given the ability to access company data to create more focus and perspective to their research. These firms also access customer data as part of the research components. Such critical information can be misused by third parties hence jeopardize the position of the company. Market firms can lose objectivity to conflict of interest hence producing inaccurate information.
What codes and restrictions are in place to promote ethics within the industry? Are they sufficient in your opinion?
Professional Behavior
Market research firms should behave professionally by ensuring respondents have confidentiality and privacy. Those who conduct the research must vow either in writing or verbally to keep the respondent’s secrecy. Data collectors are required to avoid bias and objectively report only the truth.
Rules and Regulations
Every research drive should be guided by clear rules and regulations that all participants must adhere to. For instance, rules should be set on how data collectors interview respondents below 18 and how they process that information. Forms must also adhere to applicable local, state, or federal laws when conducting market research.
Confidentiality
Private information is provided and should be kept confidential by the organization. Participants must be given a clear choice to decide whether or not to participate. The data collected about respondents should be accessed by third parties only upon written authorization (Alsmadi, 2010).
Informed Consent
Respondents must give consent before they participate in the research process. companies authorizing the research must also clearly define the scope and extent to which the research process will go.
Respondent’s Opinions
The respondent’s opinion must be respected regardless of the inconvenience that it causes to the firm. This ensures that the reported information is true and relevant in strategic decision-making.
The provided codes and restrictions that provide ethics and in market research are sufficient and effective in ensuring that the industry remains objective and true to its goal. The confidentiality laws ensure that respondent’s privacy and confidentiality are not violated. Researchers are also compelled to report the truth only by a set of high integrity standards. Market researchers are compelled to follow jurisdictional laws and regulations hence making them compliant with all relevant legal standards of the land.
How has the advancement of technology impacted market research and reporting practices?
Social Media
Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ among others have expanded the market research landscape. A substantial portion of the target market can be accessed by social media today hence market research firms must increase their social media research capability.
New Data Collection Methods
Technological advancement has led to a constant stream of new data collection software that surpasses traditional methods like paper surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Technology provides has offered software that can collect data in a more targeted manner and provide quick feedback. Software like mood-sensing devices has been used to the personalized shopping experience.
Enhanced Data Analysis Tools
Data analysis with the aid of high-end software has been enhanced by technological advancement in market research. Computer models and algorithms are used to determine customer retention and guide strategic decision-making in an organization.
Creation of New Research Roles
New skills are required to fill in new marketing research roles such as social media marketing. A traditional market researcher cannot understand the influence of social media unless they gain skills in the sector. The rise of new data collection and analytics software also requires the services of more advanced IT and data analytics experts to guide company decisions on marketing.
The Rise of Big Data
Marketing research has taken a surprising turn with technological advancement thanks to the more relevance placed on big data. Companies like Facebook and Google leverage data collected from their websites and sell them to businesses to enhance their marketing purposes. The industry has ballooned to the extent that privacy concerns have rocked each corner of its operation (Erevelles et al., 2016).
What steps can marketing managers take in the design of marketing research projects to mitigate risk while increasing the quality and reliability of the information they receive?
- Define The Crucial Knowledge Needed
Marketing managers need to define the specific information about the market that they need. This enables them to contract the right market research firms and ask the right questions. It is the marketing manager’s role to define all the aspects of the information they need to run a successful marketing process.
- Designing Market Research Around Key Knowledge Needs
The scale and nature of the marketing research need to match the threats and financial consequences the business decisions affected.
- Focus
The marketing manager should lead a focused process that does not ask too many questions and switches participants. When conducting the marketing research each aspect of the market research should be precisely investigated with clearly worded questions.
- Manage Expectations
The marketing manager needs to interact with participants to manage expectations during the research process. the marketing manager has the most relevant information and reasons for the study and must therefore participate fully in it. The marketing manager should inform the participants of what has been accomplished by their participation (Sarstedt & Mooi, 2014).
- Manage Bias
The marketing manager must beware of bias that might arise during the marketing research process. Sometimes objectivity is overshadowed by cases of bias and conflict of interest. A clear conflict of interest code of operation should be set to ensure that all participants objectively participate in the process.
- Mode of Research
Marketing research can be outsourced to outside firms or conducted in-house by the organization. The marketing manager must calculate the cost-benefit analysis of all the modes of market research and come up with one that will provide the most relevant results to the organizations.
References
Alsmadi, S. (2010). Marketing Research and Social Responsibility: Ethical Obligations toward the Society. Journal of Accounting, Business & Management, 17(1).
Dzhalolovna, M. S. (2020). The Role of Marketing Research in the Formation of Competitive Advantages. JournalNX, 6(10), 403-406.
Erevelles, S., Fukawa, N., & Swayne, L. (2016). Big Data consumer analytics and the transformation of marketing. Journal of business research, 69(2), 897-904.
Mooi, E., Sarstedt, M., & Mooi-Reci, I. (2018). Market research. The process, data, and methods using stata.
Sarstedt, M., & Mooi, E. (2014). A concise guide to market research. The Process, Data, and, 12.
