Some of the major steps involved in marketing research process are as follows: 1. Identification and Defining the Problem 2. Statement of Research Objectives 3. Planning the Research Design or Designing the Research Study 4. Planning the Sample 5. Data Collection 6. Data Processing and Analysis 7. Formulating Conclusion, Preparing and Presenting the Report.
Marketing research exercise may take many forms but systematic enquiry is a feature common to all such forms. Being a systematic enquiry, it requires a careful planning of the orderly investigation process.
Though it is not necessary that all research processes would invariably follow a given sequence, yet marketing research often follows a generalised pattern which can be broken down and studied as sequential stages.
The various stages or steps in the marketing research process are discussed below:
1. Identification and Defining the Problem:
The market research process begins with the identification “of a problem faced by the company. The clear-cut statement of problem may not be possible at the very outset of research process because often only the symptoms of the problems are apparent at that stage. Then, after some explanatory research, clear definition of the problem is of crucial importance in marketing research because such research is a costly process involving time, energy and money.
Clear definition of the problem helps the researcher in all subsequent research efforts including setting of proper research objectives, the determination of the techniques to be used, and the extent of information to be collected.
It may be noted that the methods of explanatory research popularly in use are—survey of secondary data, experience survey, or pilot studies, i.e., studies of a small initial sample. All this is also known as ‘preliminary investigation’.
2. Statement of Research Objectives:
After identifying and defining the problem with or without