Deck 7: Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

Question 1

What is the creation of a large computerized file of customers' and potential customers' names,profiles,and purchase patterns?

A) competitive data mining
B) sampling procedure specification
C) database marketing
D) consumer behaviour marketing

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The publisher of a Canadian business magazine wanted to make several major changes in the magazine's content and format.To determine what changes would be supported by its subscribers and what changes would not be welcomed,what should the publisher engage in?

A) marketing research
B) database marketing
C) secondary data
D) a data retrieval system

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Why must managers combine specific pieces of information to identify the marketing research problem?

A) Their field service objective is to provide insightful decision-making information.
B) Their marketing research objective is to provide insightful decision-making information.
C) Their company-correlated goal is to provide insightful decision-making information.
D) Their autonomous task is to provide insightful decision-making information.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

What can marketing managers use marketing research for?

A) to implement a sales promotion
B) to improve the quality of their decision making
C) to learn how to more efficiently respond to customers
D) to find out why a marketing plan failed to launch

Question 5

Marketing research has three functional roles.What are they?

A) descriptive,explanatory,and predictive
B) descriptive,diagnostic,and predictive
C) normative,descriptive,and explanatory
D) predictive,normative,and persuasive

Question 6

What is an interactive,flexible information system that enables managers to obtain and manipulate information as they are making decisions?

A) a database marketing system
B) a marketing information system
C) a marketing decision support system
D) an artificial intelligence system

Question 7

In contrast to marketing research problems,what are management decision problems?

A) narrower in scope
B) information-oriented
C) pervasive
D) action-oriented

Question 8

What is the first step in the marketing research process?

A) Collect the data.
B) Plan the research design.
C) Specify the sampling plan.
D) Define the marketing problem to be studied.

Question 9

Post Properties is a company that manages apartments in various communities.It is concerned with a glut of apartments in Moose Jaw,Prince Albert,and Saskatoon.Its market researcher begins by examining the rental markets in Saskatchewan,the history of apartment buildings,local economies,competitive rents,and ownership-all information that was on hand and did not require any new research to locate.What did the market researcher look at?

A) secondary data
B) primary data
C) priority databases
D) a statistical analysis

Question 10

Soon after the Laura Secord Museum expanded its hours and began charging a small fee to pay for the extra help needed to keep it open longer hours,attendance decreased.What could museum staff use to determine why this decrease in attendance occurred?

A) secondary data
B) marketing research
C) database marketing
D) an internal marketing audit

Question 11

A manufacturer of an all-natural fruit and veggie bar targeted to people who want nutritious snacks has asked for marketing research to explain the reasons for the recent failure of its Apple-Broccoli bar.What is this type of research?

A) diagnostic
B) historical
C) predictive
D) descriptive

Question 12

What would marketing managers typically use marketing research for?

A) to implement a sales promotion
B) to eliminate any guesswork in decision making
C) to handle an individual customer's complaint
D) to determine why a new product failed

Question 13

A private academy for children with learning disabilities has noticed a steadily declining enrollment in spite of the addition of several scholarships.Before conducting any marketing research to explain the decline in enrollment,what will the school's staff need to do?

A) Develop a survey to find out exactly what's wrong.
B) Define the problem to be researched.
C) Determine who will be most likely to respond to their survey.
D) Select a market sample from everyone in the population.

Question 14

Which of the following BEST describes the marketing research problem?

A) It is information-oriented.
B) It involves determining what resources will be used in research efforts.
C) It is action-driven.
D) It does not rely on managerial experience.

Question 15

Data previously collected for purposes other than the one at hand are an important source of information as the researcher defines the problem.What are these data called?

A) secondary data
B) convenience data
C) primary data
D) single-source data

Question 16

What entails planning,collecting,and analyzing data relevant to marketing decision making,the communication of the results of this analysis to management,and the addressing of "what if" questions?

A) artificial intelligence
B) single-source research
C) marketing research
D) data collection

Question 17

What should a true marketing decision support system be?

A) rigorous
B) interactive
C) reactive
D) customer-oriented

Question 18

Market research firms,commercial publications,and government data can be used as sources of which of the following?

A) consensual information
B) primary data
C) marketing audits
D) secondary data

Question 19

A bowling alley operator could use which of the following to determine why customers do not seem to like his bowling alley's new location?

A) transactional marketing
B) marketing research
C) market synergy
D) public relations

Question 20

Wango Ltd's product manager in charge of "Wangochewy," a dog treat,declared that the product's weak sales were a result of a poor advertising effort.He decided to get to the root of the problem by having focus groups examine the advertising campaign.The focus group results indicated that the campaign was well executed and the message conveyed to consumers was clear and strong.What,if anything,is wrong here?

A) Before the focus groups were arranged,primary data should have been collected.
B) Before the focus groups were arranged,secondary data should have been collected.
C) The product manager should have conducted quantitative research instead of qualitative research.
D) The product manager did not properly identify and formulate the problem.

Question 21

The most popular method for gathering primary data is one in which a researcher interacts with people to obtain facts,opinions,and attitudes.Which of the following is that method?

A) heuristic-oriented
B) experiments
C) single-source research
D) survey research

Question 22

The TNT cable channel began using the slogan,"TNT knows drama," in early 2002.It wants to determine how its viewership has changed since it has changed its programming focus.It has decided to use secondary data to determine if its viewers' demographics have changed.What is a potential disadvantage of this research plan?

A) the difficulty of holding certain variables constant while varying one factor of interest
B) the high cost of collecting secondary data
C) the information not fitting the needs of the research problem
D) interviewer bias during the collection process

Question 23

Which of the following is correct when assessing the quality of secondary data?

A) It is not necessary to know why the data were collected in the first place.
B) It is important to know the purpose for which the data were originally collected.
C) It is important to use the same methods and procedures as when primary data are collected.
D) It is important to be able to have easy access to the data.

Question 24

Fred Farkle,marketing manager at Thebee Industries,was trying to decide whether to collect information via personal interviews,telephone,or snail mail for a project he was working on.In which step of the marketing research process was Fred currently engaged?

A) planning the research design and gathering primary data
B) analyzing the data
C) identifying and formulating the problem
D) specifying the sampling procedures

Question 25

In addition to using search engines to locate secondary data,people can also use subject directories.The two types of directors are academic and professional directories and which of the following?

A) federal records
B) commercial portals
C) business-to-business Web pages
D) compiled lists

Question 26

As Key Energy Services,Inc.planned its first marketing research project,its marketing director recommended it use primary data.Why?

A) It will provide a benchmark for new secondary information.
B) It will fit the information Key Energy Services needs exactly since the data will be collected specifically for this study.
C) Its value is unrelated to sample size.
D) This is information that is available free to all interested parties.

Question 27

What specifies the research questions to be answered,how and when the data will be gathered,and how the data will be analyzed?

A) the research design
B) secondary data use plan
C) the sampling plan
D) the research collaborative plan

Question 28

Which of the following is an example of secondary data?

A) a physical count of the number of cars passing through an intersection to determine the need for a traffic signal
B) a collection of trade journal articles about the future of a particular industry
C) the creation of a customer database
D) a newspaper story describing the lifestyle of the average Internet user

Question 29

What does the research design specify?

A) the information that will be found
B) follow-up procedures for the research
C) the research questions to be answered using primary data
D) how the information gathered will be used to predict external environmental changes

Question 30

Stair Specialist,Inc.builds customized circular staircases for homes in southern Ontario.Its sales have plateaued.Nothing it does seems to change its sales picture.Its owner has asked you to advise the company on what it should do to increase its sales.Which of the following is an example of primary data that could be used for examining this marketing research problem?

A) information from the Toronto Yellow Pages showing that the number of building contractors has declined over the past five years
B) industry predictions that the number of new homes built in Quebec will increase by 15 percent
C) a survey done of new home start-up buyers in southern Ontario
D) an article in a construction trade journal predicting fewer housing starts during the next decade

Question 31

Which of the following function much like bulletin boards and are established to focus on a particular topic?

A) commercial portals
B) search engines
C) newsgroups
D) visitation portals

Question 32

Mel and Mimi is the name of an upscale boutique that has outgrown the building it has been located in for the last two decades.Its owners want to know how its customers will react to a move and if the addition of new product lines will make the new location more attractive to its loyal customers.The store's owners have surveyed several of their customers to gauge their reaction to various potential locations and changes in product lines.The survey results are an example of what type of data?

A) Collaborative
B) Observation
C) Primary
D) Secondary

Question 33

What are metasearch engines?

A) a source of proprietary data
B) companies designed to generate secondary data
C) electronic scanners of consumer behaviour patterns
D) search engines for search engines

Question 34

Which of the following collect data on two different projects using one questionnaire?

A) experiential data
B) dichotomous inquiries
C) single-source studies
D) piggyback studies

Question 35

The Salvation Army is collecting data on ways to make it simpler to give cash donations and assess public opinion toward the uniforms worn by its members using one questionnaire.What is this an example of?

A) dichotomous inquiries
B) piggyback studies
C) dual experimentation
D) Siamese twin projects

Question 36

Which of the following BEST describes in-home personal interviews?

A) They are becoming increasingly more popular.
B) They offer high-quality data at low cost.
C) They offer high-quality data at high cost.
D) They offer information of moderate quality,but at a low cost.

Question 37

Which of the following BEST describes a search engine?

A) It answers specific,consultative marketing research questions.
B) It provides a limited amount of information in response to a general search request.
C) It requires a complete knowledge of Boolean logic and calculus.
D) It contains collections of links to documents.

Question 38

What is information that is collected for the first time for the purpose of solving a particular problem under investigation?

A) convenience data
B) primary data
C) observation data
D) secondary data

Question 39

What is the chief advantage of primary data?

A) its relevance to the problem at hand
B) its availability to any interested party for use
C) its accessibility through computerized databases
D) avoiding interviewer biases

Question 40

Avon Meadows Travel Agency has seen its number of customers decline by almost 15 percent in the last two years.The agency needs to understand the reason(s)for the decline before it can make plans to reverse the trend.The agency's manager has identified the problem as a smaller number of vacationers willing to travel by airplane.What is the agency's next step in the marketing research process?

A) Specify the sampling plan.
B) Collect the data.
C) Plan the research design.
D) Recognize the marketing problem.

Question 41

What do telephone interviews offer?

A) speed in gathering data
B) the ability to collect complex and large amounts of data
C) the highest-cost method for obtaining data
D) a potential for reaching all households

Question 42

Which of the following have essentially the same advantages and disadvantages of in-home interviews?

A) focus groups
B) mall intercept interviews
C) CLT interviews
D) executive interviews

Question 43

Mail surveys can provide more thoughtful replies than other research methods can,but they often produce low response rates.Why is this an important consideration?

A) It would be less expensive to use telephone surveys and get a higher response rate.
B) Certain members of the population are more likely to respond to mail surveys than others.
C) The respondents may elaborate too much on their responses.
D) Thoughtful replies are harder to quantify and are,therefore,of less value.

Question 44

A furniture manufacturer wants to test how consumers will respond to furniture upholstered in fabric made from recycled plastic.Which form of survey would allow it to do this?

A) a laboratory test
B) a mall intercept
C) an observation study
D) a telephone interview

Question 45

Computer-assisted personal interviewing and computer-assisted self-interviewing are two computerized methods for conducting which of the following?

A) mall intercept interviews
B) in-home interviews
C) CLT interviews
D) focus groups

Question 46

What is a specially designed phone room used to conduct telephone interviewing?

A) a central-location telephone (CLT)facility
B) a multi-interviewer location site
C) a telephone outsourcing centre
D) a controlled-feedback facility (CFF)

Question 47

What is a major limitation of the mall intercept interview?

A) the difficulty of demonstrating new products
B) the difficulty of measuring attitudes and opinions
C) the difficulty of obtaining a representative sample of the population of interest
D) the need to interview people standing up

Question 48

Your supervisor has instructed you to conduct a marketing research effort that will determine how your company's business customer demographics have changed.You have also been instructed to use primary data.What will you do?

A) Make sure you locate Internet information by using a search engine.
B) Develop a mail survey to study your primary market.
C) Employ studies done by Statistics Canada.
D) Ask the Conference Board for its latest study.

Question 49

Low response rate is a problem commonly associated with which of the following?

A) exit interviews
B) mail surveys
C) mall intercept interviews
D) executive interviews

Question 50

What is a form of personal interviewing that uses a group of seven to ten people who have been recruited because of certain desired consumer characteristics?

A) a primary data group
B) a focus group
C) a CLT interview
D) a passive people meter

Question 51

A promoter wants to know if there is a market for a convention devoted to understanding how the intellectual property of music companies,book publishers,and software development companies will be protected in the future from unauthorized use.What type of survey technique would be most appropriate for gathering this type of primary data?

A) in-home interviews
B) executive interviews
C) cyber focus groups
D) CLT interviews

Question 52

What is the most popular method of primary data collection?

A) survey research
B) observational studies
C) personal interviews
D) focus groups

Question 53

What is essential to the success of focus group research?

A) group dynamics
B) corporate synergy
C) individualism
D) empowerment

Question 54

In which of the following situations would a marketing researcher be most likely to use executive interviews?

A) A shampoo manufacturer wants to test which smells consumers perceive as relaxing and exhilarating.
B) The producers of children's programming on public television want to learn more about the viewing habits of an audience composed of 5- to 12-year-old males.
C) A manufacturer of frozen dinners wants to research the eating habits of its target market.
D) A manufacturer of extruded plastic wants to determine where there are other markets for its products.

Question 55

Adidas,the athletic shoe manufacturer,wants to collect data on consumer receptivity to its newest product line extension-Adidas perfume,a perfume with a floral scent.The marketing research director has recommended using a mail panel operated by NPD Research.What can Adidas expect from a mail panel?

A) data collection more rapid than telephone interviews
B) the panel of consumers meeting monthly to discuss products that were sent to them to try
C) the participants not usually being compensated for their assistance,so it will be inexpensive
D) a very high response rate

Question 56

What is the most expensive type of survey research?

A) focus groups
B) mall intercept interviews
C) CLT interviews
D) executive interviews

Question 57

You need to collect information quickly using a complex questionnaire that probes for feelings behind why people purchase your products.You also want each interviewer to conduct the survey in the same manner.Fortunately,you have access to a computerized questioning system.Which of the following is your best option?

A) focus groups
B) central-location telephone (CLT)interviews
C) in-home personal interviews
D) mall intercept interviews

Question 58

According to the text,which of the following statements about the mall intercept interview is true?

A) Mall intercept interviews are the least expensive method to conduct surveys.
B) It is difficult to get a representative sample of the population with a mall intercept interview.
C) The mall intercept interviews offers researchers the ability to collect large quantities of information through complex surveys.
D) Mall intercept interviews must be brief.

Question 59

One day before the limited release of a multi-million-dollar movie about the bombing of the World Trade Center,a group of relatives of people who lost their family members on that day appeared on the news to tell everyone how wrong it was for any company to try to profit from the tragedy.To find out whether these relatives had an impact on the number of people who wanted to see the movie,the production company hired a research company to obtain questionnaire data from theatre goers in the cities where the movie was scheduled to open.Given the circumstances,what should the research company use?

A) personal interview surveys
B) a telephone survey
C) a mail survey
D) focus group interviews

Question 60

You must conduct research to find out a great deal of information about the motives and desires of potential customers for a home-delivery grocery service.You need a sample size of at least 300 people who spend at least $100 weekly at the supermarket,and you don't have a lot of money to conduct the research.What should you use?

A) a marketing experiment
B) in-home personal interviews
C) observation research
D) mail surveys

Question 61

What is characterized by the researcher's altering one or more variables-such as price or package design-while observing the effects of those alterations on another variable (usually sales)?

A) research problem
B) correlation of facts study
C) observation research project
D) experiment

Question 62

After McDonald's Canada introduced a Lighter Choice menu,its researchers conducted intercept interviews in store and asked consumers,"What motivated you to buy a Veggie Burger?" and "If you were to change the product in any way,how would you?" What are these examples of?

A) open-ended questions
B) dichotomous questions
C) scaled-response questions
D) multiple choice questions

Question 63

In a survey about new washing machine features,survey respondents were asked,"How often do you wash clothes? Check one: once a month,twice a month,every week,twice a week,more than twice a week." What type of question is this?

A) scaled-response
B) open-ended
C) double-barrelled
D) dichotomous

Question 64

You have been given the task of creating a questionnaire that requires each respondent to provide a rich array of information based on his or her own frame of reference.Which of the following types of questions would best deliver such information?

A) true-false questions
B) closed-ended questions
C) scaled-response questions
D) open-ended questions

Question 65

Mystery shoppers engage in a form of which of the following?

A) experiential study
B) market audit
C) mall intercept study
D) observation research

Question 66

Boston Pizza is trying to decide which of two potential new menu offerings it will add to its restaurant menu across Canada.Which research method would be best suited to make this decision?

A) on-line research
B) observation research
C) experimental research
D) mass telephone interviews

Question 67

Which of the following is the BEST example of an effective question on a mail survey?

A) "What is the economy of scale achieved by the transference of heat through solar cells?"
B) "Do you believe the synergy of the indigenous population has created a precursor to ecological disaster?"
C) "Have you ever put food out for wild birds?"
D) "Why do you think dogs make good pets and cats make poor pets?"

Question 68

In a survey of consumer buying habits,Visa Canada asked Canadian shoppers,"Do you ever buy holiday gifts for your pets? What kind of survey question is this?

A) Likert scale
B) multiple choice
C) open-ended
D) dichotomous

Question 69

When people are hired to record traffic patterns in a shopping mall,what type of research are they engaging in?

A) sample framing
B) observation
C) experimental
D) survey sampling

Question 70

In the survey Homer filled out after spending the night at a New Brunswick inn,he was asked,"Have you ever stayed at an inn before your visit here? Circle YES or NO." What type of question is this?

A) scaled-response
B) open-ended
C) dichotomous
D) double-barrelled

Question 71

What type of research depends on watching what people do?

A) personal scanner
B) anonymous viewership
C) survey
D) observation

Question 72

Murray Moman has a unique job.His mission is to walk the streets of Japan and locate fads.According to Moman,"Japan is advanced.What will happen 10 years from now is already happening in Japan." What kind of research is Moman conducting?

A) observation
B) open-ended
C) experiment
D) survey

Question 73

When the marketing researcher for Avon Meadows Travel Agency was putting together its questionnaire for studying the domestic travel market and the travel habits of people who travel at least four times a year,it listed five possible answers for each question and asked the respondent to choose one.What is this an example of?

A) sampling frame questions
B) open-ended questions
C) scaled-response questions
D) closed-ended questions

Question 74

A retailer of sporting goods equipment is interested in learning what peoples' attitudes,motivations,and feelings are about its product lines.All of the following are potential sources for this information EXCEPT which one?

A) focus group interviews
B) observation study
C) telephone survey
D) mail questionnaire

Question 75

Suppose the Canadian Red Cross sent out a questionnaire that included the question,"Why are so many people reluctant to donate blood?" What would this be an example of?

A) an open-ended question
B) a sampling frame question
C) a scaled-response question
D) a dichotomous response

Question 76

The owner of a small amusement park wanted to know how his employees interacted with park guests.Which of the following research methods is most appropriate for learning this information?

A) a mail questionnaire of a sample of current customers
B) a telephone survey of current and potential customers
C) an employee focus group interview
D) a mystery shopper

Question 77

In the late 1990s,Procter & Gamble launched Dryel product,which allowed consumers to dry-clean their clothes in a dryer.Before launching the product,P&G researchers visited consumers' homes and watched as people sorted laundry,creating piles of darks,whites,and delicates,and a pile that would go to the dry cleaners because they were unsure how to clean it.This was an example of what type of research?

A) experiment
B) survey
C) mall intercept
D) observation

Question 78

Which of the following consists of gathering seven to ten people together for a few hours with a qualified moderator to talk about products,services,companies,and/or brands?

A) executive interviewing
B) conversational interviewing
C) computer-assisted personal interviewing
D) focus group interviewing

Question 79

A survey by RoperASW asked consumers to state where they were most likely to look for information about a new book.Choices were book club catalogues,book reviews in newspapers,book reviews in magazines,television programs,friends,radio programs,local reading groups,or the Internet.What type of question was used in this survey?

A) sampling frame
B) scaled-response
C) multiple choice
D) open-ended

Question 80

Which are the best experiments?

A) those in which all variables are held constant except the ones manipulated
B) those in which the subjects are unpaid volunteers
C) those in which all variables are allowed to act freely
D) those in which two variables are held constant while all of the others are manipulated