Deck 10: Marketing Research and Sales Forecasting

Question 1

The symptoms of a problem merely alert the marketer that a problem exists.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The process of discussing a marketing problem with informed sources both within and outside the firm and examining information from secondary sources is known as test marketing.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Studying the underlying causes of customer defections,even partial defections,can be useful for identifying problem areas that need attention.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Antrix Corporation is a marketing research firm that specializes in data collection in shopping malls.This information indicates that Antrix Corporation is a full-service research supplier.

Question 5

The first step in the marketing research process is to conduct exploratory research,and then use the information to define the problem.

Question 6

Marketers can gain valuable insights by examining the dissatisfaction of the customers that leads to abandoning certain products for those offered by competitors.

Question 7

The interviews conducted during exploratory research with informed people outside the firm are termed as formal investigations.

Question 8

The size and organizational form of the marketing research function is usually independent of the structure of the company.

Question 9

Typical sources of internal company data are sales records,financial statements,and marketing cost analyses.

Question 10

A marketing related problem can be identified by evaluating the firm's marketing mix elements and target market.

Question 11

The information gathered by an outside marketing research firm is often more thorough and accurate than that collected by in-house staff.

Question 12

A marketing research firm can provide technical assistance and expertise not available within the contracting firm.

Question 13

A syndicated service can also be considered a type of limited-service research supplier.

Question 14

A marketing research organization that regularly provides a standardized set of data to all customers is called a full-service research supplier.

Question 15

Marketing research aids decision makers in analyzing data and in suggesting possible actions.

Question 16

A full-service research supplier is a marketing research organization that performs all the steps in the marketing research process for a client.

Question 17

After defining the problem,the next step in the marketing research process is to conduct the exploratory research.

Question 18

Firms usually decide whether to conduct a marketing research study internally or through an outside organization based on cost,reliability,and accuracy of the data collected by the outside firm.

Question 19

A well-defined problem allows the researcher to focus on securing the exact information needed to solve the problem.

Question 20

Prior to the 1930s,most of the marketing research involved gathering written testimonials from purchasers of firms' products.

Question 21

Sampling is the process of selecting survey respondents or research participants.

Question 22

A well-designed Internet-based marketing research project can cost less than offline research yet yields faster results.

Question 23

Researchers rarely use an entire population for a study,unless the total population is small,because of the high costs associated with it.

Question 24

A research design is a master plan or model for conducting marketing research.

Question 25

The data obtained from government records and industry publications can be classified as external data.

Question 26

Marketing cost analysis is most useful when it provides information linked to other forms of marketing research.

Question 27

Researchers usually spend less time and money in gathering primary data compared to secondary data.

Question 28

Census data is an example of primary data.

Question 29

Researchers can help decision makers understand the findings and reach consensus by presenting the results to all key executives at a single sitting.

Question 30

A population,used for market research purposes,is a subgroup of the total sample selected for analysis.

Question 31

In a stratified sample,each selected subgroup is relatively homogeneous for a certain characteristic.

Question 32

The choice between secondary and primary data is tied to cost,applicability,and effectiveness.

Question 33

A stratified sample is a type of nonprobability sample.

Question 34

A hypothesis sets the stage for more in-depth research by further clarifying what researchers need to test.

Question 35

Analysis of sales performance records helps marketers to find clues to potential problems.

Question 36

In a cluster sample,each cluster reflects the diversity of the whole population sampled.

Question 37

A small service agency is trying to assess clients' view of the quality of service over the past year.If the company has had 1000 clients over the past 12 months,then all 1000 clients constitute the population considered for the survey.

Question 38

Marketing researchers must remember to direct their reports toward management and not to other researchers.

Question 39

Secondary data has the advantage of being more completely relevant to the research than primary data.

Question 40

A simple random sample is a nonprobability sample selected from among readily available respondents.

Question 41

Convenience samples are mostly used in definitive studies.

Question 42

A convenience sample is also called an accidental sample as those included just happen to be in the place where the study is being conducted.

Question 43

Videotaping consumers in action is gaining acceptance as an observational research technique.

Question 44

Personal interviews is usually the best means to obtain detailed information about consumers.

Question 45

While shopping at the mall,Luiz is approached by a representative of a marketing research company doing an exploratory study.He is asked to spend 10 minutes answering questions in return for a 25 percent coupon good at any store in the mall.From a marketer's perspective,Luiz is part of an accidental sample.

Question 46

At present,no industry-wide standards define techniques for measuring Web use.

Question 47

A quota sample differs from a stratified sample,as in a quota sample,researchers select subsamples by some random process.

Question 48

Telephone surveys have relatively high response rates and are effective at drawing appropriate responses.

Question 49

Online surveys are less intrusive than telephone surveys and allow participants to respond at their leisure.

Question 50

Due to its low cost,the controlled experiment is the most commonly used method of collecting primary data for marketing research.

Question 51

The response rates for mail questionnaires are much higher compared to personal interviews.

Question 52

Interpretative research is an observational method that observes consumers in their natural setting.

Question 53

Observation alone cannot supply all the necessary information as it is difficult to get exact demographic information from observation.

Question 54

Focus groups elicit information from the customers through a question-and-answer format.

Question 55

When H&C Research Corporation wanted to test the popularity of a new flavor of ice-cream,they selected a number of U.S.cities as test sites,and then randomly selected supermarkets within those cities as trial vendors.This is an example of quota sampling.

Question 56

A quota sample is a nonprobability sample divided to maintain the proportion of certain characteristics among different segments or groups seen in the population as a whole.

Question 57

The number of "hits" for a web page represents the number of times a visitor accesses the page.

Question 58

Observation is a useful technique to collect primary data for marketers trying to understand how consumers behave in certain situations.

Question 59

Fizzy Cola Company created a sample containing 25 of their regular cola drinkers,25 of their diet cola drinkers,and 25 of their diet caffeine-free drinkers.They created the sample by stopping people on the street and continuing until they had spoken to enough people to meet the requirement.Such a sample is a nonprobability cluster sample.

Question 60

A probability sample relies on personal judgement somewhere in the selection process.

Question 61

Interpretative research is often used to interpret consumer behavior within a foreign culture where consumer expectations are subject to different cultural influences.

Question 62

Firms rarely use test marketing for long lived durable goods.

Question 63

A company using exponential smoothing technique for forecasting their sales in 2012,is likely to award a 1.5 weight for sales data of 2012,2.0 weight for sales data from 2011,and 2.5 weight for the sales data from 2009.

Question 64

Planners apply qualitative sales forecasting techniques when they want judgmental or subjective indicators.

Question 65

A marketing information system (MIS)is a part of a firm's overall management information system that deals specifically with marketing data and issues.

Question 66

Interpretative research focuses on understanding the meaning of a product or the consumption experience in a consumer's life.

Question 67

Millions of consumers purchase Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids each year.Due to this large consumer base,the best method that Johnson & Johnson can use to forecast sales of Band-Aid is the survey of buyer intentions.

Question 68

Test marketing a new product is expensive and communicates company plans to competitors prior to its full-scale introduction.

Question 69

A marketing information system allows marketers to store data,classify and analyze that data,and retrieve it easily when needed.

Question 70

Emily,a custom homebuilder,observes that the last year's sales were $1,500,000 and the sales growth rate for the past several years has been averaging 10 percent.On that basis,Emily predicts that this year's sales should be $1,650,000.Emily is using the method of trend analysis for forecasting sales.

Question 71

A sales forecast is an important tool for marketing control because it sets standards against which actual performance can be measured.

Question 72

Mail surveys and telephonic interviews are the most common methods for conducting primary research in developing countries.

Question 73

Businesses may need to adjust their data collection methods for primary research in foreign countries since some methods do not easily transfer across national borders.

Question 74

The jury of executive opinion not only gathers information from company executives,but also from experts outside the firm such as academic researchers.

Question 75

The Delphi technique is preferred by marketers as it is quick and inexpensive,and works best for short-run forecasting.

Question 76

Buyer surveys gather useful information only when customers willingly reveal their buying intentions.

Question 77

Quantitative forecasting methods rely on subjective data that reports opinions rather than exact historical data.

Question 78

A marketing information system (MIS)develops available data into information useful for decision making.

Question 79

Online companies need to be careful while using the personal data of consumers as there are various laws imposed to govern the use of personal data by online companies and data aggregators.

Question 80

Data mining focuses on identifying relationships that are not obvious to the marketers.