First of all, field research in marketing can be:
Partial. Data is not obtained from each of the respondents – business participants, but from a limited number of people. Various factors, including the human factor and geographical dispersal, may prevent more objective information from being obtained.
Complete. The community of consumers who are united by the use of the product is studied in its entirety.
Classification of field research methods in marketing
Professor N. Malhotra identified a number of methods of field research in marketing:
Search. Aimed at identifying viber database the product's weaknesses and understanding their causes.
Descriptive. They tell about the product and the market relations with it.
Cause-and-effect. They study how the organization's products affect buyers, how the product behaves in the market among other products.
The most common division of field research is differentiation by methods of implementation: questionnaires, observation, experiments and imitation. Let's consider each in more detail below.
Conducting surveys
The most popular and multifunctional method of field research in marketing is a survey, in which information is collected from people directly related to the problem. The sources of information are buyers, specialists, employees of trade organizations.
Depending on the method of implementation, there are several forms of surveys:
Interview – used during search analysis if it is necessary to find out particularly important aspects. It has a small number of refusals, reliability of the collected data, it can be carried out together with supervision and observation. This method can be carried out both individually and in a group of people. If we talk about the disadvantages, then this is the likelihood of pressure on the interviewee, as well as the high cost.
Questionnaire – used to determine the characteristics of the product being studied. It can be conducted either orally or in writing. This is a relatively low-cost option for collecting information, which allows the respondent to think through the answer. Cons – survey forms are rarely returned.
Telephone survey – used to quickly obtain information. This is one of the most cost-effective methods. Although this method shows good results, it can be time-consuming. There is also a possibility of unrepresentative sampling and unwillingness of respondents to undergo interviews.
Conducting surveys
A postal survey is used when there is no possibility of a personal interview. This method allows you to find out personal information, prevent pressure from others when conducting a survey. This option for collecting data is distinguished by its low cost. The disadvantages include low speed, the possibility of losing questionnaires, the lack of alternative answers to questions, and the lack of explanations.
Online survey – to study the opinions of hard-to-reach citizens (disabled people, employed population, etc.). The advantages of this option are cost-effectiveness, automatic analysis, wide volume and objective presentation of information. Negative features of online survey: the problem of identifying respondents, the danger of collecting false information, the exclusivity of selection (Internet users of specific ages).
Apartment survey – allows the use of visual cues (advertising brochures, product examples) and is not distinguished by strict time frames. The negative features of the method are the respondents’ mistrust of people who go to their places of residence, problems establishing trusting communication, high material cost, and complexity of implementation.
Surveys are differentiated by the volume of coverage of those involved. It can be general (contact with the entire group of respondents) and partial (communication with a selected part of all possible). According to the number of studies conducted over a certain period of time, a distinction is made between sporadic (questioning a specific part of buyers) and panel (repeated study of one specific group of people).
The main problem in choosing the right and useful survey methods is considered to be the famous La Pierre contradiction, which states that people often make completely different decisions than they say they will. The field of marketing analysis is an industry that often faces this paradox. It is noteworthy that such a contradiction is a scientific experiment that is implemented in marketing.
Case: VT-metall
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