Chapter 11 - Market Research

Grade 8 Notes + Assignment

There are two types of businesses:

➢​ Product-oriented business - a business that focuses mainly on the product
itself.
➢​ Market-oriented business - a business that focuses on market research and
find out what the customer wants BEFORE a product is developed.

Market Research - gathering information about consumers' needs or preferences in a

market.
➢​ Market research is important because a business needs to know how many
people would be willing to buy the product, this is to see how profitable it would
be.
➢​ There are two main types of market research:
○​ PRIMARY MARKET RESEARCH (field research).
○​ SECONDARY MARKET RESEARCH (desk research).

Primary Research - Gathering of ORIGINAL data by talking directly with

customers/potential customers.

The Process of Primary Research:

➢​ Stage 1: What is the purpose of the market research?
➢​ Stage 2: Decide on the most suitable method of market research.
➢​ Stage 3: Decide on the size of sample needed and who is going to be asked.
➢​ Stage 4: Carry out the research.
➢​ Stage 5: Collate the data and analyze the results.
➢​ Stage 6: Produce a report of the findings [or] summarize the research.

The Methods of Primary Research include:

1. Questionnaires - They may be conducted face to face, by telephone, by post, or on

the internet.

Advantages:
➢​ Detailed qualitative information can be gathered about the product or service.
➢​ Customers’ opinions about the product or service can be obtained.
➢​ They can be carried out online – ex: Google forms.
➢​ To encourage people to fill in the questionnaire, vouchers can be offered or
participants entered into a ‘prize draw’.
Disadvantages:
➢​ If not filled properly, may mislead the business as there may not be accurate
answers.
➢​ Lots of time and money needed.
➢​ Collating and analyzing data also takes a long time.

2. Online surveys - These can be carried out on specialised websites using any
internet-connected device, including mobile phones.

Advantages:
➢​ Fast, with quicker response times than other forms of survey.
➢​ Cheaper than interviews or postal questionnaires.
➢​ Easy to complete for the participant.
➢​ Data collected can be quickly presented and analysed using IT tools.

Disadvantages:
➢​ Absence of interviewer to explain open-ended questions or to ask follow-up
questions to gain more detailed information.
➢​ Cannot reach potential respondents who do not have access to the internet.
➢​ Scope for fraud – some people will just answer an online survey to gain any
incentives being offered and not give honest answers, or they complete the
survey carelessly.

3. Interviews - a person will interview another person and ask questions.

Advantages:
➢​ The interviewer will be able to explain the questions if not understood.
➢​ Detailed information about the interviewee can be gathered.

Disadvantages:
➢​ The interviewer may lead the interviewee to answer in a certain way, resulting in
inaccurate results due to interviewer bias.
➢​ Time consuming.
➢​ Expensive.

4. Samples - A group of people who are selected (randomly) to answer (i.e.

questionnaire) a market research exercise.
When deciding who to ask to fill a questionnaire or who to interview, a sample would
have to be selected. It can be through two methods:
 ➢​ A random sample - It means that every member of the population has a chance
to be selected. They are selected at random. Everyone has a chance to be
picked.
➢​ A quota sample - People are selected on the basis of certain characteristics.
They are able to find out views of a specific group.

5. Focus Groups - It is where groups of people agree to provide information through a

group discussion with a researcher present about a specific product. It will help sales
and development. These groups may even test a product explaining the likes and
dislikes.

Advantages:
➢​ Can provide detailed information about customers’ tastes and preferences.
➢​ Quicker and cheaper than individual interviews.

Disadvantages:
➢​ Time consuming.
➢​ Expensive if conducted by specialist market research agencies.
➢​ May be biased.

6. Observations - Most inexpensive way of gathering information.

Gives only basic figures. Doesn’t include reasons for the choices.
It can be in the form of:
➢​ Recording.
➢​ Watching.
➢​ Audits.

Secondary Research - Information that has already been collected and is available for
others. This information can be obtained either from:
INTERNAL SOURCES or EXTERNAL SOURCES.

➢​ Internal Sources - within the firm’s own records: sales departments, customer
records, finance department and customer service department.
➢​ External Sources - Government statistics - a detailed source of general
information.
Newspapers - useful articles about the general economic state.
Trade association - information about business in the industry.
Market research agencies - specialist agencies who carry out the research on
company’s behalf wherein commission is paid.
Internet - easily accessible source. Paper based sources can also be found.
Advantages:
➢​ Cheaper than primary as research has already been done by others.
➢​ There is some information (i.e. economic forecasts or population size) that can’t
be obtained by primary research.

Disadvantages:
➢​ You do not get specific results for a certain product or service, you get broad
results.
➢​ Data may be outdated or incorrect as it was collected by others.
➢​ Might not have the specific information.

Regardless on which type of research a business chooses to use, the accuracy of the
research data depends on:
➢​ How carefully the sample was drawn up.
➢​ How the questions in questionnaires/interviews were written to make sure
honest answers were given.
➢​ The sample itself and its size. By using quota sampling you might get more
reliable results.
➢​ The bias - some secondary research will be biased (i.e. articles on newspapers)
which means the information might be unreliable.
➢​ Age of the data - older data might be inaccurate.
 Assignment
Activity 11.7 (pg: 155)
Total marks: 30

You have been asked to carry out some research into the feasibility of opening a new
restaurant in your local area. Design your own questionnaire to carry out on friends
and/or family.

Complete the following steps:

➢​ Design the questionnaire.
➢​ Decide who you are going to ask.
➢​ Decide how many people you are going to ask (it is a good idea to carry out the
questionnaire with friends and then put the results together so that you have a
greater number of replies).
➢​ Produce a summary sheet on which to collate the results.
➢​ Collate the results.
➢​ Present the results you have found.
➢​ Evaluate your findings. What does the data tell you? Should a new restaurant be
opened? If so, what type of restaurant would be successful?
➢​ Evaluate your questionnaire. How accurate were your results? Would you
redesign the questionnaire if you were carrying out the research again?

Requirements:
➢​ A detailed report/essay discussing the designing process, steps, findings,
results, and evaluation.
➢​ A suitable method of presentation which makes use of charts/diagrams to
illustrate the findings + an interpretation of the data presented.

Submission Details:
➢​ Filename must be saved as: Name_Class & Section_Market Research Findings
➢​ Only ppt and pdf files will be accepted.
➢​ No resubmissions or late submissions will be marked/accepted.
➢​ Plagiarism or any form of copying/cheating will lead to an immediate failing
grade.

Tools for the project: MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel.

Assignment deadline: May 15th, 2025 (Thursday) by 11:59 PM.
Submission mail: Fatima@[Link]