The American marketing association defines marketing research as:

The function which links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems.

Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyses the results and communicates the findings and their implications.

In simpler terms, Marketing research is the systematic and objective approach to the development and provision of information for the marketing management decision making process.

The best explanation for marketing research is understanding the different parts of the world for more effective marketing.

Each part of the world has unique characteristics in relation to marketing research.

Understanding these differences is essential for effective collection and utilisation of your marketing research.

You must describe each region of the world by sectors, a good example of this is categorise them into these groups. Gender,age,ethnic back ground, habits, life style, area, income etc, there are no limits to setting your criteria but it is foolish to limit your criteria.

These are a few questions that i listed for my self that helped me gain valuable data regarding my target market.

  • What is the problem that limits your ability to achieve your overall goal
  • What opportunities are available to make a life alot easier.
  • What are my primary objectives
  • What are my secondary objectives
  • Am i qualified to do this task or do i need help
  • How much would it cost me
  • When is my due date to complete my work.

    • THE RESEARCH PROCESS

    • Establishing the need for information is the first stage. You must thoroughly understand why the information is needed, either you or the person involved is responsible for explaining the situation surrounding the request for help and establishing that information will facilitate the decision making process. For the research project to provide pertinent information for decision making, your research information must be precisely defined. Do not make assumptions, it is the mother of all F>>>>>
    • Research objectives and information needs. Once you have clearly established the need for research information, you must specify the objectives of the proposed research and develop a specific list of information requirement.
    • Research design and Data sources. Once your study objectives have been determined and the information needs listed, the next step is to design the formal research project and identify the appropriate sources of the data for the study. A research design is the basic plan that guides the data collection process and analysis phases of the project. It is the frame work that specifies the type of information to be collected, the sources of data, and the data collection process. Data sources can either be internal or external.
    • Internal sources are previous research studies and your records.
    • External sources are commercial research reports,government reports,trade magazines and industry reports.
    • If both internal and external sources are available, the next step is collect new data via phone,mail, electronic mail and personal interviews.
    • Data collection procedure, In developing the data collection procedure, you must establish an effective link between the information needs and the questions that are going to be asked or observations to be recorded.
    • Sample design, This is where you include who or what in the sample, this means that a clear definition is needed of your target group from which the sample will be drawn. In the sample design you also decide on what methods you will use to the select your target group. When that is all done you must choose the size of your target market. A lower target will not give you favorable results with regard to the overall plan. Use a medium to large scale sample if possible.
    • Data collection, This is critical since it involves a large proportion of the research budget and a large proportion of the total error in the results. Consequently, the selection, training and control of the interviewers is essential to effective research studies.
    • Data processing, once you have recorded th data, the processing of that data begins, these are the functions of editing and coding. Editing is the process of reviewing the data as legibility, if it is consistent and if it is complete. Coding is the process of establishing categories fro responses or groups of responses so that numerals can be used to represent the categories.
    • Data Analysis. It is extremely important that the data analysis is consistent with your research objectives and information needs.