Methods for collecting marketing information. Marketing information system and methods of its collection - abstract

Question 26 Methods for obtaining primary information. Experiment Answer An experiment is a research method used to assess cause-and-effect relationships, implying the active intervention of researchers in certain processes: they change one parameter or

Question 27 Methods for obtaining primary information. Poll Answer Poll – finding out the subjective opinions and preferences of respondents (persons surveyed) in relation to any object. The surveys are very diverse. The classification of surveys is given in Table. 21.Table 21

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Analysis of information from the external marketing environment The macro environment is the main external factors influencing business, writes M. MacDonald in his wonderful book “Marketing. An illustrated guide to the business jungle." He called the macro environment “weather”

Chapter 1 Bringing Covert Concepts to the Business World: Basic Intelligence Gathering In the summer of 2003, I had the dubious honor of working as part of a team searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I arrived in Baghdad just

Data sources and information collection tools Several methods are available to the manager for obtaining additional information about employees. Historical data. Firstly, this is the company archive. A personal file can be a very valuable source of information about a coach, especially

Chapter 7 INFORMATION Gathering TECHNIQUES In this chapter, you will learn two unique techniques for identifying customer needs, benefits, and values. If you find out what the customer “really” wants, then you are 99% of the time making the sale. Novice and experienced salespeople often

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher professional education

"Russian Economic University named after. G.V. Plekhanov"

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND SOCIOLOGY

TEST

METHODS OF INFORMATION COLLECTION IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Performed:

Student of group 22 D 2nd year FPP

Yu.N. Kurilina

Checked by: N.A. Mukhin

Associate Professor of the Department of Political Science and Sociology,

Candidate of Philosophy

Moscow 2013

ANNOTATION

Marketing research and the development of marketing strategies based on it are inextricably linked with the collection, processing and analysis of information. The necessary information is most often not available in the required form. It must be found, processed and interpreted correctly. The problem is that, in relation to each specific case, a marketer must not only determine the sources of information, but also independently develop a methodology for its analysis. Information gathering methods in marketing research include primary research and desk methods of information gathering.

INTRODUCTION

In sociology, marketing research is of considerable importance. Since the current market situation directly affects public life, people need to receive information related to this topic. In market conditions, those firms and companies that know these needs better than others and produce goods that can satisfy them receive advantages. But the market is constantly changing, people's needs also change under the influence of various factors, so firms must constantly monitor market conditions in order to make a profit.

It is with the help of marketing research that firms can track changes in customer needs. Marketing research is a marketing tool, or its information and analytical support, which is an integral part of marketing activities. Marketing research allows managers to concentrate efforts on short-, medium-, and long-term decisions. Research results can serve as a reliable basis for planning, solving management and control problems.

The implementation of marketing research involves the use of a wide variety of information collection methods. Which methods are the most effective in which cases, the advantages and disadvantages of the methods, how to correctly structure the interaction of methods with each other to achieve the highest quality research results.

The purpose of the work is to study the main methods of collecting information in marketing research.

1.PRIMARY (FIELD) RESEARCH

Primary (field) research is based on market information collected for the first time for a specific purpose. They are carried out in cases where high costs are compensated by the significance of the tasks being solved. There are two types of primary research in marketing.

A complete (continuous) study covers all respondents. It is usually used to study a small number of them, for example, large consumers or counterparties. Continuous studies are distinguished by accuracy, as well as low costs of resources and time to conduct.

A partial (sample) study covers a certain percentage or target group of respondents. Usually it is an ordinary sociological study conducted on the basis of a sample from a statistical population of respondents in accordance with its structure. The more accurate the sample, the more accurate the result obtained.

Field research methods in marketing can be divided into three groups.

Surveys of consumers and counterparties. There are two approaches to organizing surveys: questionnaires and interviews. The difference between these methods is insignificant, but still exists. The difference is who fills out the questionnaire. When conducting a survey, this is done by the respondent, and when conducting an interview, this is done by the interviewer.

Questioning is a written form of survey carried out outside of direct contact with the respondent. Carrying out anctification, in my opinion, is simpler, cheaper and faster. However, it gives a very high percentage of defects due to the respondent’s lack of understanding of the question, inattention when filling out, not taking the questions seriously, etc. The most simplified questionnaires with a minimum number of questions will give the best result in terms of accuracy.

Interviewing is a written form of questioning carried out in the process of direct contact with the respondent. An interview requires attentiveness, the greatest accuracy, time and effort. In addition, special training for interviewers is required. Sometimes it is necessary to draw up special instructions for conducting interviews. A significant advantage of this form of survey is the ability to use complex questionnaires with a large number of questions.

Survey technology provides many options.

Personal conversation through direct contact with the respondent is divided into three types:

standardized survey - based on the use of standard answer options (for example: 1. You sing. 2. You do not sing). This method is often used in self-administered surveys;

non-standardized survey - based on the use in surveys, in addition to standard answer options, of so-called open-ended answers to questions (for example: 1. You sing. 2. You don’t sing. 3. Other (name)). This method is used both in questionnaires and in interviewing respondents. The main disadvantage of this method is the high labor intensity of processing questionnaires with a large number of open answers;

An expert survey does not imply the use of questionnaires at all. Usually the conversation is conducted while recording on a voice recorder, after which the recording is transcribed and analyzed.

Telephone survey - this method of conducting a survey is indispensable in the case of conducting preliminary research. In addition, it is often used in cases of strong geographical dispersion of research objects.

The computer survey includes three options: direct mailing, interactive survey on websites, and emailing questionnaires to contractors and potential partners. In the first case, the response rate is less than 1%. In the second case, it is not known who is responsible. And only the third option gives a significant effect due to time savings and high information content.

A postal survey reduces the labor intensity of the study, especially when covering large areas. Its disadvantages: increased time consumption, low call efficiency (usually 3-5%) and problems with sample control. A postal survey is most effective when combined with the provision of gifts, lotteries, various promotions, etc.

Group interviews are a very effective form of market research. A type of group interview are consumer conferences at which new products are presented and the characteristics of demand are identified.

A focus group is an unstructured interview that a specially trained facilitator casually conducts with a small group of respondents. The facilitator directs the discussion. The main purpose of conducting focus groups is to get an idea of ​​what a group of people representing a specific target market thinks about the problems of interest to the researcher. The value of this method is that the free nature of the conversation often allows you to obtain unexpected information.

Group II.

Observation of respondents is research that does not involve personal contact between the marketer and respondents.

Observation with the participation of a researcher - when a marketer is present at the point of sale and independently records information about customer behavior. Information may relate to staff behavior, size of purchases, product quality, efficiency of product display, etc.

The indifference of the researcher is that the marketer delegates the collection of information to employees of other departments of the company or uses technical means. Then the received materials are summarized and used for further analysis of the marketing situation.

This also includes the method of momentary observations, when an object is studied not dynamically (over a period of time), but statically (at a specific moment). For example, in the most typical of a company's many retail outlets, the size of the purchase and the number of visitors during rush hour and off period, on a weekday and on a weekend, are recorded.

Group III.

Test marketing. Involves studying how changing the parameters of a sales proposal affects sales performance. There are two types of this kind of research in marketing.

An experiment is a local change in the parameters of a product (price, quality, design, advertising, etc.) before a final decision is made on them. For example, at the most typical of many retail outlets, product parameters (price, appearance, assortment, etc.) are changed in order to identify consumer reaction to planned innovations. If the experiment produces a financial result (additional profit), the innovation spreads to all retail outlets.

Market testing involves selling trial quantities of a new product in the market to study consumer reactions. This method is equally suitable for both manufacturers and trade organizations. Manufacturers often provide trial quantities of goods to wholesalers free of charge to study consumer demand in the market. If the product is not sold, it is returned to the supplier, and if it is sold, the seller makes full or partial payment and enters into a contract with the supplier for the sale of the product.

2.DESK METHODS FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION

There are a number of advantages of conducting desk research: it is carried out quickly and inexpensively, it allows you to get acquainted with the industry, track the main market trends, obtain data that the company is not able to collect on its own, it often uses several sources, which allows you to compare data, and identify several approaches to solving a problem.

There are also negative aspects of desk research. They are associated with deficiencies in the quality of the information used. Desk methods of collecting information use sources of secondary information. What are sources of secondary information? These are subjects who provide information about other objects in processed form or from other sources intended for other purposes of studying the object. As a rule, it is difficult to verify the accuracy and reliability of secondary information; it may be out of date.

Information from different sources may be contradictory, since different sources of secondary information use different object classification systems and measurement techniques. Not all study results may be published, so the information may not be complete.

In order to ensure the quality of secondary information, the following techniques are used:

1.To ensure comparability of information, the used indicator measurement units, data classification, value intervals, indicator measurement methods, and publication dates are compared.

2.To ensure the reliability of the information, the purpose is assessed
publication, source of the message (reputation of the author, his qualifications and his ability to collect the necessary information), methods of collecting information and their correctness, consistency of information with data from other sources, degree of primacy of the source. The degree of primacy of the source of secondary information means proximity to the original source, the source of origin of the data. The primary source of secondary information, as a rule, reveals the research methodology on the basis of which primary information was collected and summarized, indicators were calculated, and contains the necessary links and comments.

Secondary sources provide information based on publications from other sources; they are not direct collectors of information. At the same time, the accuracy of the information provided is reduced, since there may be inaccuracies and errors when quoting, abbreviations, and the method of collecting information is not indicated. Desk research can be used to study sources such as newspapers, magazines and other printed publications, radio and television programs, films, questionnaires, focus groups and free interviews, instructions and other documents.

Obtaining information from secondary sources is carried out using various methods - methods of document analysis. Obtaining quantitative information already in the document does not require special knowledge and techniques. This is the simplest and most obvious way. Therefore, document analysis methods are understood mainly as methods for studying qualitative information, which, as a rule, is “blurred” within large amounts of text. Identifying this information and processing it into a form convenient for use in marketing, preferably in quantitative form on some scale of measuring information, is the task of document analysis methods.

The set of methods for document analysis can be divided into two large groups:

traditional analysis,

formalized analysis.

The first group of methods is based on the assumption that the expert studying the document is able to process information arrays of documents and can determine the content of the main information.

The second group of methods is based on the premise that the intuition and experience of an expert cannot be trusted and it is necessary to formalize the search and identification of information to the maximum extent possible.

Let's look at each of these methods in more detail.

Traditional Document Analysis

Traditional document analysis is carried out by a highly qualified expert who gives his own interpretation of the studied material. This method is based on the researcher's intuition and is therefore subject to the danger of subjective biases in the perception and interpretation of materials. In addition, different experts can interpret the same information contained in the text differently and give it different degrees of significance.

At the same time, no formalized analysis will allow one to obtain the information contained “between the lines.” This is the prerogative of traditional document analysis only.

For maximum objectivity of the results of traditional document analysis, they try to formalize it as much as possible. For this purpose, a strict procedure for document analysis has been developed.

There are two stages of document research: external analysis and internal analysis of the document.

It should be noted that in the practice of marketing research, in the vast majority of cases, marketers immediately begin internal analysis of the document. The fallacy of this approach should be pointed out.

External analysis is necessary in order to study the reason for the publication of the document, the reliability of the material presented, the qualifications of the author of the publication, and, therefore, the validity of the conclusions and information contained in the document. It is this part of traditional document analysis that makes it possible to determine the need for further analysis of the document and the possibility of using document materials for the purposes of the intended marketing research.

Internal analysis constitutes the main part of the study. It is difficult to formalize, but there are still some recommendations that should be followed. In First, it is necessary to briefly and clearly formulate the purpose of document analysis, that is, to determine what exactly interests the researcher in it, and write down the resulting formulation before starting document analysis. When analyzing a document, a written statement of purpose should be constantly in front of the researcher’s eyes so that he can always check the criterion for assessing the content of the document.

In secondly, before studying the text, it is marked by an expert in such a way that, using text identification symbols, the researcher can easily find any segment of the text. Most often, paragraph numbering is used for this. In this case, two numbering methods are possible - continuous numbering and page numbering. The first method is used when analyzing small texts.

IN Third, when studying a document, it is necessary to highlight paragraphs that contain information relevant to the formulated goal. It is assumed that correctly composed text is arranged so that each individual paragraph contains a complete thought, or self-sufficient information. Therefore, the expert, after reading a paragraph of text, having identified its meaningful meaning, makes a decision about whether its content corresponds to the purpose of the study. If doubts arise, the expert returns to the research goal previously formulated in writing and checks his opinion about the content of the paragraph with the selection criterion, which consists in the formulated goal.

IN fourth, after highlighting the paragraphs that contain information relevant to the formulated goal, the expert must formulate their summary in terms of the research goal. This formulation is obviously carried out in writing. In this case, the expert indicates the paragraph number.

A brief summary of the essence of the information contained in the highlighted paragraph allows you to compress the content of the information to the limits that are amenable to more thorough analysis.

IN fifth, after studying the text and recording brief information on the selected paragraphs of this text, the essence of the marketing information obtained in a condensed form is analyzed and a final document is prepared on the results of the analysis of the document.

As a result of such formalization of the results of the analysis of the content of documents, their conclusions become as objective as possible. In addition, both the documents themselves and the results of the examination can easily be subjected to re-examination. To do this, you can set some control points in the text of the report, for example, highlighted and numbered paragraphs of the document and subject these paragraphs to re-examination with the help of another specialist. If the results coincide, we should talk about the high objectivity of the document analysis. In another case, the document is sent for re-examination. However, despite the significant formalization of the text, it is still not possible to achieve an objective examination of the text. This is due to the fact that the information contained in the document is studied and assessed by an expert whose psychology is very individual. Therefore, the perception of the text and its content by each expert is different, just as the emotions that the text evokes are different. Subjective and poorly controllable factors such as the expert’s well-being and his mood have a significant impact on the objectivity of the analysis results. In addition, the expert must carefully and completely read the text, so the speed of information processing is low, and the costs of obtaining marketing information from the text are very high. At the same time, it is impossible to require an expert to read the text “diagonally”, since the main advantage of traditional document analysis is the expert’s ability to identify not only the information clearly contained in the text of the document, but also the information that is “between the lines” of the document.

Methods for formalized document analysis

The essence of formal analysis methods is to find easily recognizable features and properties of a document that reflect a piece of information related to the purpose of the study. The most common method of formalized document analysis is “content analysis.”

The term “content analysis” itself, as well as the first attempts to make statistically accurate measurements of the content of mass media materials, originate from research in the field of American journalism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the first works in this area was carried out by J. Speed ​​in 1893. He analyzed Sunday editions of New York newspapers for the years 1881 - 1883. By comparing the content of materials from these two years, he found out what changes had occurred in the New York press during this time. J. Speed ​​classified the content of materials by topic (literature, politics, religion, gossip, scandals, business, etc.) and measured the length of newspaper columns allocated to cover these topics. After comparing the data over the years, he came to a number of conclusions. Thus, the New York Times newspaper began to publish much more materials containing retellings of various scandalous stories, gossip and rumors. This was the reason that the readership of the newspaper expanded, its circulation increased, and the newspaper was able to reduce the price for each issue by a third (from three cents to two cents), while increasing its total volume.

The success of the study marked the beginning of a rapid growth in the number of works devoted to the practice and theory of content analysis. Already by the beginning of 30 s of the twentieth century, the basic principles of content theory were formulated analysis. In the Soviet Union content analysis began to be applied in practice and developed only at the end of the 60s x years. There are three important elements in the procedure for carrying it out.

The first element of the procedure is the development of categories of analysis. Categories of analysis are understood as concepts in accordance with which the selection and sorting of units of analysis will be carried out. These categories, in turn, can be the subject of analysis (decomposition into component parts). Such categories may include, for example, income. The system of analysis categories should be built in such a way as to make it possible to make comparisons between various sources containing the required information, that is, the analysis categories are subject to the requirement of universal comparability, high standardization of categories, which allows the use of statistical methods of document analysis.

When formulating categories of analysis, care should be taken to ensure that they fully describe the information identified as a result of the analysis and the information required, and also do not leave room for unclear gradation. The system of analysis categories should provide maximum accuracy and reduce the element of subjectivity to a minimum.

The second element of the procedure is the selection of units of analysis. From a methodological point of view, the question of the unit of analysis is the starting point when constructing a methodology for any specific content study. Each selected category of analysis is divided according to some criterion into indivisible units of analysis. It is these units of analysis that are identified in the process of studying the document. Here it is necessary to remember that they act as a kind of score indicators, which means they must be clearly formalized and easily defined. So, if income was chosen as the category of analysis, then the units of analysis can be: low income, low income, average income, high income and ultra-high income.

In a text, a unit of analysis can be designated by a word or phrase; in the most complex case, it may not have a terminological expression; its presence is determined by its hidden meaning. Typically the units of analysis include:

concept expressed by a single word or phrase,

topic expressed in individual judgments, paragraphs, pieces of text,

common nouns or names of events.

Third element of the procedure allocation of units of account. Counting units can be the number of occurrences of units of analysis, the number of lines with these units, the number of paragraphs, square centimeters of area, columns in printed texts, etc.

Once all the specified elements have been selected, the document can be analyzed. As a result of isolating and counting content elements, a model of text content is created, which can serve as an object of analysis. When models of all analyzed texts are obtained, they can be compared with each other and trends in changes or preservation of the content of texts over time, in various sources of information, etc. can be traced. A comparative analysis of such models allows us to identify the most characteristic trends in the movement of information.

Sometimes other ways of processing the results of document analysis are more informative; for example, a very important indicator may be the ratio between the volume of information of interest to a marketer contained in the text of the document and the volume of the text itself, and some other statistical indicators.

General content structure analysis can be modified in several different ways. American sociologist R. Merton identifies six types of content analysis.

First type of content analysis is based on the elementary selection and study of units of analysis contained in the document. This is, of course, very important information that characterizes, for example, the importance of the analyzed information for the compilers of the analyzed document. You can highlight other properties of the document (for example, by comparative analysis). This type of content

analysis is very simple in practical application during marketing research, but its results are far from complete comprehensive knowledge about the object of analysis.

Second type of content analysis is a complicated modification of the first type. It is sometimes called “classification by relation.” Units of analysis reflect not just the presence of the required information, but also the attitude towards it - they are classified in a favorable and unfavorable aspect in relation to the object of study.

The third type of analysis is analysis by units of analysis. When using this type of analysis, the main and minor units of analysis are identified from the perspective of the research being conducted. Units of analysis can be classified not just into major and minor, but a complex system of hierarchy of importance of units of analysis can be built for the purposes of marketing research. Thus, the document model turns out to be richer in its research properties.

When there is a need to determine the total value of a number of parts of the analyzed document, the fourth type of content is used analysis - thematic analysis. To a certain extent, it allows us to identify the explicit and hidden purposes of publishing a document and give a complete picture of the content of the document. To do this, the set of categories of analysis is expanded in such a way as to cover the entire set of topics related to a given subject of study. Each category of analysis is fully described by units of analysis. The resulting set of data most broadly represents the content of the text, and it is easy to trace its thematic content, changes in topics, their relationship and interdependence.

Fifth type of content analysis - structural analysis is general in nature and its name is associated not with the method of obtaining information, but with the purpose of the study. Since its main goal is to analyze the relationships between various topics and relationships in the analyzed text, that is, to analyze the structure of the document, it received the appropriate name.

The sixth type of analysis is associated with the study of a set of documents prepared by one source or several related sources. This type of content analysis is called propaganda analysis, since a set of documents devoted to one topic pursues what or a goal, and this goal can be fully disclosed only in the case of a meaningful analysis of the entire set of documents. At the same time, a model of each document is built, and the general orientation of the documents, the system of causal investigative connections between documents and document topics, trends and methods of presenting information in the identified direction.

The high degree of formalization of the procedure allows the widespread use of computer technology for its implementation. This leads to the fact that the amount of content processed using document analysis and the volumes of secondary information studied are several orders of magnitude greater than the number of documents and volumes of information studied using traditional document analysis. A marketer can use special software for these purposes, but can also use other software.

The disadvantages of formalized analysis include, first of all, the fact that the content of a document can be revealed by expressions that are not among the easily recognizable properties. For example, a document written in good literary style contains a significant number of synonyms, some of which may be missed. The second fundamental drawback is the fact that very important, but isolated messages about the object of research may not be covered as a result of the content analysis or simply ignored in a large array of information. This drawback can be eliminated by using traditional document analysis.

CONCLUSION

In my work, I reviewed all the main methods of collecting information in marketing research. Since the current market situation directly affects public life, people need to receive information related to this topic.

It should be noted that it is with the help of marketing research that firms can monitor changes in customer needs. A marketing tool, or its information and analytical support, is marketing research - an integral part of marketing activities. Marketing research allows managers to concentrate efforts on short-, medium-, and long-term decisions. Research results can serve as a reliable basis for planning, solving management and control problems.

The implementation of marketing research involves the use of a wide variety of methods for collecting information. Which methods are the most effective in which cases, the advantages and disadvantages of the methods, how to correctly structure the interaction of methods with each other to achieve the highest quality research results.

The purpose of my work was to study the main methods of collecting information in marketing research. The goal was successfully achieved.

During the research work I performed the following tasks:

Identify the main methods of collecting information.

Consider each method separately and characterize it.

Explore the features and effectiveness of methods.

In each chapter of the essay, I tried to describe in detail the process of solving the problems I set at the beginning of the work.

List of used literature

1.Golubkov E. P. Marketing research: theory, practice and methodology. M. Finpress, 2009.

2.Neresh K. Marketing research. URL:<#"center">collecting information marketing survey

Glossary

.Method is a set of techniques and operations of cognition and practical activity; a way to achieve certain results in knowledge and practice.

.Research is the study, analysis of a phenomenon or object.

.Marketing is a set of all types of business activities that ensure the promotion of goods and services from producers to consumers, as well as the study of the position, preferences and attitudes of consumers and the systematic use of this information to create new consumer goods and services.

.Marketing research is a form of business research and branch of applied sociology that focuses on understanding the behavior, desires and preferences of consumers, competitors and markets in a market-driven economy.

.Questioning is a written form of survey carried out outside of direct contact with the respondent.

.Interviewing is a written form of questioning carried out in the process of direct contact with the respondent.

.Standardized survey - a survey based on the use of standard answer options.

.Non-standardized survey - based on the use in surveys, in addition to standard answer options, of so-called open-ended answers to questions.

9. Expert survey - a type of survey , during which the respondents are experts - highly qualified specialists in a specific field of activity.

Information - information, data.

A respondent is a person being surveyed, a subject answering questions.

A survey is a method of collecting primary information by finding out subjective opinions, preferences, and attitudes of people regarding an object.

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After processing the received data, they must be presented in the form of a report of the appropriate form. Depending on the nature of the research conducted, the report may take the form of a summary or other textual material that helps evaluate the results obtained. In all cases, it is necessary to indicate by what method the information was obtained.

The collection of information about the internal and external environment of the organization must be carried out continuously. For this purpose, marketing information and marketing decision support systems should be created. A marketing information system is a permanent system that includes personnel, equipment, procedures and methods for collecting, processing, analyzing, evaluating and distributing relevant and reliable information necessary for preparing and making marketing decisions. A marketing information system transforms data received from external and internal sources into information that is required by enterprise management. The system allows you to determine the information needs for making marketing decisions, obtain it and provide it to managers in a timely manner.

The purpose of the study, which follows from the strategic guidelines of the enterprise’s marketing activities, depends on the general statement of objectives and the actual market situation. A complete marketing research program is not necessary for all cases, especially in the field of small and medium-sized businesses. When developing it, one should proceed from the degree of need for information, the costs of obtaining it and the value for achieving the set goals.

Marketing research is the collection, processing and analysis of data with the aim of reducing the uncertainty associated with making marketing decisions, and, consequently, increasing their economic sustainability. The market, competitors, consumers, prices, and internal potential of enterprises are subject to research.

Information support for marketing research consists of desk and external research and various sources of information available to the enterprise (see data in Table 2). As the results of marketing research are generalized, it is necessary to carry out a series of measures for the creation and operational maintenance of an information base.

Table 2.

Directions and content of market research

An adequate assessment of the importance of marketing in small and medium-sized enterprises is hampered by the widespread opinion among Russian entrepreneurs that marketing, due to its complexity, is possible only at large enterprises. Indeed, serious marketing research, monitoring the market environment, developing forecasts and market experiments require large financial as well as human resources. But leaving marketing inaccessible to all small and medium-sized enterprises means depriving the future of the main link of any normal economy. It is possible to make marketing accessible to small and medium-sized businesses on the basis of partnership, development of an associative type, with the effective support of the Federation and the regions. However, for a long time the state did not make any efforts in this direction, since there was a widespread point of view on marketing as an “intra-company management system.” Such a one-sided understanding of marketing forces us to abandon in marketing all the tools that help a company influence other market actors external to it: competitors, intermediaries, and even the customers themselves. This stereotype easily justifies the inaction of the authorities in the field of supporting marketing development. In this case, the biggest losers are, first of all, small and medium-sized businesses, and, ultimately, the consumer and society.

In close connection with this, it is necessary to consider the problems of creating a modern system for collecting and analyzing marketing information in industries and regions, throughout the country, and a network of consulting marketing services. Without accessible marketing and market information, the market itself is unthinkable, at least in its mature forms. Meanwhile, the problem of information support for internal marketing was (and in many ways still remains) essentially insoluble for small and medium-sized businesses.

Only under conditions of glasnost did it become possible to access even such information of a very general nature, such as the exact number of people employed in the national economy (taking into account defense industries), inflation indicators, unmet demand, etc. But as before, manufacturers could not, on the basis of official data (for example , directory of enterprise passport data) to form a picture of the potential market for the means of production they produce. Only little by little, on the basis of sample surveys, the parameters of demand for consumer goods and services began to be identified, and information about their supply and its correlation with demand became more reliable.

For effective marketing, the data on population characteristics that could be extracted from published census results is clearly insufficient. The lack of information about trends in its development remained very high, which did not make it possible to predict changes in demand. In this sense, marketing requires data not only on the absolute size of the population and its geographic distribution, but also on density, mobility, regional indicators of age and sex distribution, birth and death rates, marriage and divorce, racial, ethnic, religious structures. It is important to navigate the pace of manifestation of such trends as an increase in the share of the elderly category, the spread of small children, one- and two-generation families, increasingly late marriages, an increase in the number of divorces, an increase in the proportion of unemployed women, single citizens, families with one adult member, all greater spread of the “dormitory” type of residence, etc. Traditionally, it has been easier for us to find out such information about the peoples of other countries than about ourselves.

Current information about geographic trends in development and population dynamics has begun to acquire increasing importance for internal marketing, especially in connection with growing regional independence, a number of complex and contradictory phenomena caused by ethnic, racial, religious reasons that our society is increasingly faced with. .

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..3

2. Marketing information system……………………………..4

3. Methods of collecting information:…………………………………………..7

Survey;

observation;

experiment;

imitation;

panel study.

4. Conclusion……………………………………………………………13

5. References…………………………………………………….14

INTRODUCTION

In order to make the optimal management decision in a highly competitive environment, an enterprise needs to have huge amounts of information. A serious analysis of the markets for products produced and planned for production, raw materials, capital and labor is required, which is completely impossible without marketing research.

Meanwhile, an incorrect assessment of the economic situation or incorrect interpretation of economic news is often associated with an erroneous choice of source of information. Often the most famous information providers in advertising are not the best, since most of their efforts are focused on organizing advertising activities, and the quality problems of the products supplied remain in the background.

Therefore, any research is preceded by a detailed analysis of the marketing information market in order to search for sources of data of high reliability and completeness of reflection of real market processes.

Formation of high-quality information funds of an enterprise is a complex process. When compiling information funds, it is especially important to take into account the needs of the enterprise. Based on the needs, they determine what services are needed. Then the required information resources are divided into sectors of the information market and in each sector possible options for databases and information systems are selected. A comprehensive study of the information services market involves analyzing the commodity market, monitoring the price level for information services, identifying potential producers of the required information, etc.

In marketing research, along with the importance of choosing methods for collecting information, no less important is the choice of adequate methods for analyzing the collected information, and not only the correctness of the conclusions drawn, but also their accuracy and certainty largely depends on this.

MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM.

In successfully functioning organizations, marketing information is collected, analyzed and distributed within the framework of a marketing information system (MIS), which is part of the organization's management information system.

MIS is a set (single complex) of personnel, equipment, procedures and methods designed for collecting, processing, analyzing and distributing, in a set time, reliable information necessary for preparing and making marketing decisions. It is sometimes said that MIS is a way of thinking through decisions to find the marketing information managers need. It is generally accepted that managers and marketing specialists have a need for specific information and methods for obtaining it.

Thus, MIS is a conceptual system that helps solve both marketing and strategic planning problems.

MIS transforms data obtained from internal and external sources into information necessary for managers and marketing specialists.

MIS distributes information among managers and marketing specialists who make appropriate decisions. In addition, MIS, interacting with other automated systems of the organization, supplies the necessary information to the heads of other services (production, R&D, etc.).

Internal information contains data on orders for products, sales volumes, shipment of products, inventory levels, payment for shipped products, etc.

Data from external sources is obtained on the basis of marketing intelligence (from the subsystem of current external information) and marketing research.

Sources for obtaining current external information can be of a very different nature; formal and informal procedures are used to collect it.

Such information is obtained by studying books, newspapers, trade publications, and reports of competing firms; as a result of conversations with customers, suppliers, distributors and other persons external to the organization, who should be effectively motivated to collect and provide the necessary information; based on conversations with other managers and employees, for example, employees of the sales services of this organization; through industrial and commercial espionage (although foreign books write a lot about the ethical problems of marketing research).

MIS also includes a marketing research subsystem - a systematic determination of the range of data needed by the company in connection with the marketing situation facing it (their collection, analysis and preparation of a report on the results necessary to study the market potential, consumer preferences, the attitude of the target market towards this company and etc.).

Different companies organize the function of conducting marketing research in different ways. Some have a dedicated marketing research department, others have only one specialist responsible for marketing research. There are organizations whose structure does not formally reflect the function of marketing research.

Marketing research can be carried out independently, on the organization's own, or the organization can resort to the services of specialized consulting organizations. When choosing between the first and second options for conducting marketing research, many factors are taken into account:

1. Cost of the study. Many organizations find that it is cheaper to conduct market research in-house. (For reference: the cost of conducting marketing research based on the expert assessment of foreign specialists is on average less than 0.2 of each percent of the cost of the product).

2. Availability of experience in conducting research and specialists with the necessary qualifications. This is especially important to consider when using complex methods of conducting marketing research and processing the results obtained.

3. Deep knowledge of the technical features of the product. Usually, the organization’s specialists know them better, and this knowledge cannot be transferred so easily and quickly to specialists from other organizations.

4. Objectivity. Specialists from specialized organizations are usually more objective in their assessments.

5. Availability of special equipment: computers and special programs for them, equipment for testing. Such equipment, as a rule, is more fully possessed by specialized organizations.

6. Confidentiality is better preserved when marketing research is carried out by employees of this organization. Sometimes an organization conducts one part of marketing research with its own employees, and the other with the help of specialized marketing agencies. After solving organizational issues, they begin to conduct marketing research. Below, the content of the individual stages of marketing research is discussed sequentially.

METHODS OF INFORMATION COLLECTION.

Researchers usually begin by collecting secondary data. Secondary data can usually be obtained faster and cheaper than primary data. The work of collecting primary data can take weeks or even months and be expensive. However, secondary data is a good starting point for research and often helps clarify the problem and define the objectives of the study.

Qualitative research (qualitative research). Exploratory research conducted to discover consumer motivations, reactions, and behavior. Conducting focus groups and interviews - methods used during this study

Quantitative Research (quantitative research). A survey that involves obtaining information from a large number of customers through mail or personal interviews for statistical analysis.

All types of research can be divided into field and desk research.

Field research - a method of collecting and assessing information directly about the object of study, recorded through questioning, experiment and observation at the time of their occurrence. Sources of primary information are the object of research itself, which creates information in accordance with the stated goals of its collection.

Desk research - a method of collecting and evaluating existing marketing information contained in sources (statistics or reports) prepared for other purposes. Desk methods of collecting information include the traditional (classical) method of document analysis, information-targeted analysis, and content analysis of documents.

To obtain information in marketing, the following methods are used: survey, observation, experiment, panel. The choice of a specific method depends on the purpose of the characteristic being studied (person, object).

Under poll refers to the method of collecting information by establishing contacts with research objects. As a survey research tool, a questionnaire is used, which is a questionnaire that provides for recording answers.

A survey is the most common and most important form of data collection in marketing. Oral and telephone surveys are usually called interviews.

Polls are divided:

According to the range of persons interviewed (private individuals, experts, entrepreneurs, etc.);

By the number of people interviewed at the same time (single or group interview);

By the number of topics included in the survey (one or several (omnibus));

By level of standardization (free scheme or structured, fully standardized);

By polling frequency (single or multiple polling).

During the written survey, participants receive questionnaires that they must fill out and return to their destination.

The advantage of this method lies, first of all, in the practically unlimited scope of its possible application. Thus, this method allows you to obtain data not only about the current behavior of an object, but also about its behavior in the past and intentions in the future.

Surveys have practically no alternative in cases where a company needs information about the knowledge, beliefs and preferences of consumers, the degree of their satisfaction, the image of the company, etc.

Observation as a method of obtaining information is used in market research much less frequently than a survey.

Observation is a method of collecting information by recording the functioning of the objects under study without the researchers establishing contact with them and in the absence of control over the factors influencing their behavior.

Surveillance can be carried out both openly and covertly. Because the subject's awareness of being under observation may influence his behavior and distort the data. In practice, as a rule, covert observations are carried out.

Scientific observation is understood as a process that:

serves a specific research purpose;

proceeds systematically and systematically;

serves for generalizing judgments, does not represent only the collection of interesting facts;

subject to constant monitoring in terms of reliability and accuracy.

The advantages of this method include, firstly, its simplicity and relative cheapness, and secondly, the elimination of distortions caused by contacts of objects with researchers (which, for example, cannot be completely excluded during a survey).

The main disadvantage of this method is that it does not allow one to unambiguously establish the internal motives of the behavior of objects of observation and their decision-making processes, and, therefore, they can be misinterpreted by observers. Therefore, observation is used mainly when conducting exploratory studies, that is, those that are preliminary in nature and aimed at specifying the problems facing researchers.

The following can be distinguished forms observations:

By nature of the environment observation can be field - this means that the processes take place in a natural setting (a store, at a window) or laboratory, that is, carried out in an artificially created situation. The advantage of the first form is the naturalness of the observed behavior. The second form allows you to maintain more stable observation conditions and makes it possible to use a number of technical means;

By observer's place distinguish between a process with the direct participation of the researcher and observation from the outside;

By form of perception an object can be distinguished between personal observation (directly by the observing person) and non-personal observation - through instruments or by recording traces of behavior;

By degree of standardization differentiate between standardized and free observation.

Experiment is a method of collecting information about the behavior of objects under study, which involves researchers establishing control over all factors affecting the functioning of these objects.

Purpose Research conducted using an experiment is, as a rule, to establish cause-and-effect relationships between marketing factors and the behavior of the objects under study.

Essential signs experiment:

Isolable changes (individual values ​​are varied by the researcher, others should be kept as constant as possible);

The researcher actively intervenes in the process of data emergence;

To ensure the reliability of the experimental results, the values ​​of all factors except the one under study must remain unchanged. If multiple factors need to be investigated, a series of experiments may be required.

TO merits This method includes, first of all, its objective nature and the possibility of establishing cause-and-effect relationships between marketing factors and the behavior of the objects under study.

Flaws This method lies in the difficulty of controlling all marketing factors in natural conditions, on the one hand, and the difficulty of reproducing the normal behavior of a socio-economic object in laboratory conditions, on the other hand. In addition, conducting an experiment is usually associated with greater costs than observations, and especially when it is necessary to study several marketing factors. Therefore, in practice, this method is used relatively rarely and, above all, in cases where it is necessary to establish with a high degree of reliability the nature of the cause-and-effect relationships between marketing factors and the behavior of the object under study.

Imitation is a method for collecting data generated by a computer using a pre-developed mathematical model that adequately reproduces the behavior of the research object.

Dignity This method consists in the ability to quickly analyze many options for marketing actions and select the best one on this basis.

TO shortcomings This method includes, first of all, the complexity and labor intensity of creating the model itself, which requires an in-depth study and formalization of cause-and-effect relationships between all factors of marketing, its external environment and the factors that determine purchasing behavior.

Panel study - repeated examination of the same object after some time.

The panel has the following main features:

The subject and topic of research are constant;

Data collection is repeated at regular intervals;

The permanent set of research objects is housewives, trade enterprises, industrial consumers.

In practice, a number of panel types have emerged (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Types of panels.

Some data, such as data on the consumption of various consumer products or data on consumer media preferences, are better obtained diary panel method . Panel of households by food consumption presents reports from families who use standard diary forms to record their monthly purchases for different food categories. At the beginning of the study, households are selected in accordance with the sample, where all family members - study participants are instructed in filling out standard questionnaire forms. At a certain frequency, all data from all households is collected together and processed. As a result, from the research reports you can obtain an assessment of such important indicators as:

the size of the market, the proportion of families who are regular buyers, and the number of purchases per consumer;

share of the manufacturer's brand in the market; brand loyalty or switching from manufacturer to manufacturer;

how often purchases are made and the size of a single purchase;

the impact of price and discounts on customers;

the impact of the emergence of new brands on the purchase of existing brands;

Conclusion.

Currently, marketing research and its proper organization is becoming a tool with which the risk of entrepreneurship is significantly reduced. By conducting research in advance, we can identify at an early stage all possible problems that may arise when carrying out business activities, and the quality of solving consumer problems increases.

The main purpose (result) of marketing research is the generation of marketing information for making decisions in the field of interaction (communications) of subjects of the marketing system, such decisions that would provide the quantity and quality of product and service transactions required by the market, observing the requirements of the main factors of the external environment and the consumer.

The main goal of marketing research is to develop a concept for a general idea of ​​the structure and patterns of market dynamics and to substantiate the need and capabilities of a particular company to more effectively adapt its production, technology and structure, as well as products or services introduced to the market, to the demand and requirements of the end consumer.

In accordance with the goals and objectives of the course work, the following conclusions can be drawn:

Analysis of marketing information is the most important and basic tool for obtaining sufficiently reliable data on the state of all components of the marketing environment. Moreover, the choice of analysis methods must be selected in accordance with the goals and objectives of the study; the effectiveness and reliability of the study and its final results will fully depend on this. Well-organized, thoughtful research is the key to success in the market.

Bibliography:

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Golubkov E.P. Marketing theory and methodology: present and future. – M.: Business and Service, - 2008.

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