Data Collection Methods for Market Research

Observation	How to conduct: Observe relevant people, actions, and situations and take notes to document or record what have been observed. Example: A fast food chain sends researchers to their own store to observe how customers are being served by their front-line employees (i.e. customer service), the speed of the service, the most frequently ordered items…
Survey	How to conduct: Ask consumers to provide information pertaining to the research problem on a questionnaire or comment card. (means: direct mails, telephones, personal interviews, and computer). Example: A hotel identifies customers’ perceptions towards its product and service attributes (i.e. employees’ friendliness, ambience, safety, etc.) using a survey. Customers are asked to rate how important is each attribute and how they perceive the hotel is performing in terms of each attribute.
Experiment	How to conduct: The researcher divides consumers into groups and exposes each group to a different treatment to see how it affects the studied outcome, while also controlling for other extraneous factors that may affect the outcome. Example: To determine the best approach to work, Marriott International has allowed a group of its salespeople to work from home while another group to work from an office in the hotel. The performance of the two groups in terms of sales volume and revenues are then compared to determine the best approach.
Focus group	How to conduct: A small group of people, about 6-12, are brought together to discuss about the research problem guided by a moderator. Example: A focus group interview is conducted by a coffeehouse chain to identify the reasons that motivate them to patronize coffeehouses.

There are indeed different ways to collect data for our market research. Sometimes information may be readily available for your research and we call this type of information as secondary data. Methods suggested in Tableare considered primary data collection methods. Secondary data allow managers to access the information very quickly and it is much less expensive because they are available from the existing sources.

• Guest histories and sales data

• Customer feedback

• Front-line employees and management staff who know their guests

• Trade journals and periodicals

• Internet

• Government sources

• Syndicated services – these are firms that specialize in collecting and distributing marketing information for a fee.

Concluding example:Ritz-Carlton Hotel is serious about tracking its guest satisfaction. The hotel relies on a post-visit survey to identify how satisfied their customers are. The survey includes numerous questions covering the following areas: market image, important product/ service features, problem significance and competitive standing. The survey results response to guest concerns.

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Unit 4 Market Research	\|	Make up a survey on the attributes that are important to customers when choosing a hotel in your city. Add some more attributes and point out the sources of information.

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