Chapter 3 Research Design

Introduction
In this chapter you will learn about: • • • • • The building blocks of intelligence – which includes secondary as well as primary data. The applications for qualitative and quantitative research. How to match the research design to the research method. Things to look out for when choosing a quantitative research method. How a company used a range of different research designs to launch and track the success of a new product.

Sources of market intelligence – secondary and primary data
Every day companies make decisions without market research. In fact, the number of business decisions that are underpinned by formal market research is probably very small. This is not necessarily the result of cavalier management, taking decisions without due care and attention; it is most likely because the investment in market research is not judged to be necessary. There are four sources that management can turn to for intelligence that will help their business decisions. Before spending time and money on market research, managers will scan the quality of infor39

mation that sits underneath their noses in the company. This could be factual (such as sales figures, number of enquiries, lists of prospective customers etc) or it could be opinion (such as the views of the sales force). If these sources are considered reliable, there will be no need to look externally for the data. The internal sources could be considered suspect because they are biased or full of holes, in which case some formal research may be required. This could be similarly viewed as factual (eg official statistics on markets) or opinion (eg the views of one or two experts). Figure 3.1 The Building Blocks Of Business Intelligence

Market researchers prefer to label these building blocks of intelligence in a slightly different way. Information that is already