Basic Marketing Research

Tracy A. Suter received his Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas in 1997. Prior to joining the marketing faculty at Oklahoma State University, he served as a full-time faculty member at the University of Southern Mississippi. Professor Suter teaches a wide range of courses with emphasis on marketing research. Professor Suter's research interests include public policy, the use of new technologies in marketing, and integrated marketing communications. He has published in journals such as the Journal of Business Research, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and Journal of Retailing. He also serves on two editorial review boards of academic journals and is a frequent reviewer for other journals and conferences. Professor Suter has received numerous awards for both research and teaching activities including the University of Arkansas Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Sherwin-Williams Distinguished Teaching Competition Award given by the Society for Marketing Advances, and the President's Outstanding Faculty Award at Oklahoma State University. Tracy is frequently asked to speak to doctoral students about teaching excellence and transitioning to becoming university faculty members. Tom J. Brown received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994. Prior to joining the marketing faculty at Oklahoma State University, he served on the faculty at Southern Methodist University. Professor Brown teaches marketing research and has supervised dozens of student research projects for industry clients ranging from not-for-profit service organizations to Fortune 500 companies. Professor Brown is a past recipient of the Sheth Foundation Best Paper Award in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. In addition, he received a Richard D. Irwin Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship while at the University of Wisconsin, the Kenneth D. and Leitner Greiner Teaching Award, and the Regents Distinguished Research Award, both at Oklahoma State University. Professor Brown's articles have appeared in such publications as the JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF MARKETING, JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF THE ACADEMY OF MARKETING SCIENCE, JOURNAL OF RETAILING, CORNELL HOTEL and RESTAURANT ADMINISTRATION QUARTERLY, and JOURNAL OF SERVICE RESEARCH, among others. His research interests include services marketing and corporate branding and reputation. He has served on the editorial review boards of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and Corporate Reputation Review and is cofounder of the Corporate Associations/Identity Research Group. He is currently a member of the Academic Council of the American Marketing Association. A recognized leader in the field of marketing research, Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr., joined the University of Wisconsin faculty after receiving his D.B.A. from Indiana University in 1966. Professor Churchill was named Distinguished Marketing Educator by the American Marketing Association in 1986, the second individual so honored. This lifetime achievement award recognizes and honors a living marketing educator for distinguished service and outstanding contributions in the field of marketing education. Professor Churchill was also awarded the Academy of Marketing Science's lifetime achievement award in 1993 for his significant scholarly contributions. In 1996, he received a Paul D. Converse Award, which is given to the most influential marketing scholars, as judged by a national jury drawn from universities, businesses, and government. Also in 1996, the Marketing Research Group of the American Marketing Association established the Gilbert A. Churchill, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, which is awarded each year to an individual who has made significant contributions to marketing research. Dr. Churchill is a past recipient of the yearly William O'Dell Award for an outstanding article in the JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH. He has also been a finalist for the award five additional times. He is a co-author of the most and third-most influential articles of the past century in sales management, as judged by a panel of experts in the field. His articles have appeared in such publications as the JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF MARKETING, JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, JOURNAL OF RETAILING, JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, DECISION SCIENCES, TECHNOMETRICS, and ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE.

BRIEF CONTENTS. PART I: INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING RESEARCH AND PROBLEM FORMULATION. 1. The Role of Marketing Research. 2. The Research Process and Ethical Concerns. 3. Problem Formulation. 4. Exploratory Research. PART II: Working with Existing Information to Solve Problems. 5. Decision Support Systems: Introduction. 6. Decision Support Systems: Working with "Big Data". 7. Using External Secondary Data. PART III: COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. 8. Causal Research. 9. Collecting Descriptive Primary Data. 10. Collecting Data by Observation. 11. Collecting Data by Communication. 12. Asking Good Questions. 13. Designing the Data Collection Form. 14. Developing the Sampling Plan. 15. Data Collection: Enhancing Response Rates while Limiting Errors. PART IV: ANALYZING DATA. 16. Data Preparation for Analysis. 17. Analysis and Interpretation: Individual Variables Independently. 18. Analysis and Interpretation: Multiple Variables Simultaneously. PART IV: REPORTING THE RESULTS. 19. The Oral Research Presentation. 20. The Written Research Report. Appendix. Endnotes. Glossary. Index.