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Titled: ‘STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IS USED NOT ONLY FOR RESEARCH FINDING PURPOSE IN THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS’ – AN ANALYSIS Get the Marketing category RSS Feed

‘STATISTICAL ANALYSIS IS USED NOT ONLY FOR RESEARCH FINDING PURPOSE IN THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS’ – AN ANALYSIS

Article Summary: Statistical Analysis is the process of collection and analysis of data and arriving at the findings.

I)Introduction

Statistical Analysis is the process of collection and analysis of data and arriving at the findings.

Statistical Analysis is used in most of the stages of research process namely Population definition, Hypothesis formulation, Sample size determination and data analysis

Hence the Researcher has to be very careful in selecting and using the Statistical tools at each and every stage of the research process

Hence the Researcher compulsorily need to perform analysis of data using relevant Statistical tools irrespective of whether he conducts research using Population inference analysis or Sampling inference analysis at the Data analysis stage

The author discusses the areas in which Statistical Analysis is used in the Marketing Research Process by explaining with the Steps in Research process

II) The steps involved in Research Process are

The steps involved in Marketing Research in the proper sequence is mentioned below

1) Problem Definition
2) Literature Survey
3) Exploratory research to formulate Hypothesis
4) Research Approach
5) Sampling Design
6) Data collection Design
7) Statistical Analysis Design / Testing of Hypothesis
8) Administrative Design

The following paragraphs explains how the Statistical Analysis is being applied in each and every stage of the Marketing Research process

1) Statistical Analysis in Problem Definition

The Researcher need to define the identified problem more clearly in terms of Unit of measurement, Time & Space boundary, Environment & Population characteristics

Population characteristics is very important in identifying the Population from which the sample has to be drawn. If the Researcher goes wrong in not defining the Population properly the entire research process will be a futile exercise. Like the Marketing Manager segments the Market for marketing the production the Researcher should also segment the respondents effectively to collect the data from the proper respondents

To conduct any Marketing Research effectively the Researcher needs to conduct a Detailed Market Research by collecting data from both the sources ( viz ) Secondary source and Primary source which will enable the Researcher in understanding the respondents better, problem better and to plan the research methodology better. Hence the Researcher should try to quantify the findings in each and every stage of the research process to support his decisions. This could be achieved by usage of the appropriate Statistical tools Then only the Researcher will be able arrive at the right population from which the data is to be collected

To collect data from the correct population the researcher should start applying Statistical tools like Cluster Analysis, Discriminant Analysis, etc

Example

A foreign company, newly established in India, which is engaged in the business of Mutual Fund investment business wants to mobilize funds from the customers of India. It wants to grab the Market share of other companies by canvassing orders from existing investors in Mutual Funds

It wants to arrive at an appropriate Marketing strategy to achieve the objective. The company wanted to conduct Marketing research for this purpose and entrusted the work of finding out the Market segment it should cater, estimate the size of the market and the behavioral attitude of the target market to arrive at an appropriate strategy to market the investments

The company Researcher decided to proceed with the Marketing research process in the following manner to achieve the objectives

The Researcher starts with the Cluster Analysis of segmenting Total Market by Geographical area ( Metropolitan city, square miles, etc ) then by Demographic characteristics ( age, income, etc ) then by Psychological characteristic ( risk taking, life style, etc ) finally by Behavior aspects ( investment level, frequency of investing, influencer, etc ). Data collected through Secondary and Primary sources

The Researcher has identified from the Profile of the customer segment group based on the Occupation of the investors is the right variable to decide the Target customers which is arrived on the favorable Psychological behavior exhibited by the customers in terms of the investment pattern, risk taking mentality, etc

By this process the Researcher has identified the cluster Pensioner category an as Potential customer for the company

Then with the objective of estimating the Market size of the market ( Pensioner’s category ) the object is classified into High risk taking, Medium risk taking and Low risk taking Pensioners taking criteria like Age, Qualification, Designation at the time of retirement, the monthly pension mount, etc. The Researcher carried out Discriminant Analysis using the above variables into defined groups. Data collected through Primary survey. Depending on the number in the groups discriminated categories Population / Sample size, Sampling Design is arrived by the Researcher

On the identified segment the Researcher conducts research to come out with the findings on the behavioral aspects of the customers to come out with the findings which help to decide the elements of Marketing strategy using 4P’s ( Price, Promotion, Place and Product )

Thus from the above example it could be seen that Statistical analysis is used to a considerable extent in identifying the Target segment on which the research has to be conducted by the Researcher

2) Statistical Analysis in Literature Survey

Negligible usage of Statistical Analysis in this stage

3) Statistical Analysis in Hypothesis Formulation

Researcher can use the available Statistical Analysis methods to arrive at Hypothesis

During the Exploratory research, the Researcher to understand and to get familiarized with the Problem in depth adopts all research approaches

Using the data collected through Descriptive research approach ( done in a small way ) the Researcher conducts a Sample survey with the end users ( taking a very small sample ) to use the results for establishing the Statistical Hypothesis and Working Hypothesis

Using the data collected through Historical research approach on the past data the Researcher undertakes Trend Analysis to use the results in establishing the Statistical Hypothesis and Working Hypothesis

4) Statistical Analysis in deciding the Research Approach

Not much scope exists at this stage in the research process

5) Statistical Analysis in deciding the Sampling Design

Knowing the Population size and its characteristics and with the available Sample Frame the Sample size is determined using the Statistical Analysis method. Sample size is an important factor in deciding the Sampling Design

6) Statistical Analysis in deciding the Data collection Design

After calculating the cost involved in collecting data the Data collection Design is finalized. Not much of Statistical Analysis is used at this stage

7) Statistical Analysis Design for collected data / for Testing of Hypothesis

Wide scope exists for the Researcher to use Statistical tools to analyse the data collected

A) Test of Significance between Sample and Population ( t test / Z test / Chi Square test, Goodness of fit test )
B) Test of relationship between variables ( Correlation analysis, Regression Analysis, Chi Square, etc )
C) Test of Variance within and between variables ( t test, ANOVA, MONAVA, etc )
D) Test on objects / Quantitative research / Tests on interdependent variables ( Cluster analysis, Factor analysis, Multi dimentional scaling, etc

To come out with the findings for the set objectives of the research

8) Statistical Analysis for Administrative Design

Refers on how the research proceedings are going to be managed using the available resources ( viz ) time, money, man power and other resources

Researchers use Statistical tools like Trend Analysis, Regression Analysis, etc to Plan ( budgeting, scheduling, etc ) Organise and Control the proposed research study

III) Conclusion

As could be seen from the above paragraphs, the Statistical Analysis plays important role in the research process right from the beginning of the process ( ie ) from Problem definition till findings are derived

Just to highlight the importance of Statistical Analysis in Research Process the Researcher has considered a very few statistical tools and scope exists for using many more advanced statistical tools which are used not only for Testing Hypothesis or to arrive at findings but also for other purposes as discussed

The more the usage relevant Statistical tools ( from the beginning till the end of Research process ) in the research more will be the accuracy in research results

Article Source: http://www.upublish.info

About the Author:
V S RANGARAJAN
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION B TECH , MBA, M PHIL, ( PH D ) EXPERIENCE INDUSTRIAL CONSULTANCY 18 YEARS INDUSTRY 3 YEARS TEACHING 5 YEARS