Using Basic Statistics in the Behavioral and Social Sciences - Case Study Example

Introduction The study will focus on the marketing activities that are usually undertaken by a business to help increase their profits through increased market share for a newly developed product. Marketing research for a newly developed product (herein NPD) provides businesses with a broad picture of the performance of the products and services that they provide to the public [Kot09]. The research helps the companies to identify gaps in the products and services to understand whether they meet the required needs and expectations of the customers. Marketing research is a set of processes set by a given company to help link the consumers of the company’s product to the marketer [Hel14]. The marketing research process provides the marketer with information that is used to identify opportunities that may arise in the market, the problems available and how to generate, refine, monitor and evaluate the performance of the goods and services for decision making purposes. Marketing research provides the researcher with the specific information that is required to assist in addressing the issues and methods that determine the processes used to provide for the good and services available [Suj09]. Marketing research is a very vital part of the business, although, at times considered as an invaluable undertaking, it provides an insight of how to create and improve business for increased customer satisfaction [Ric01]. Categorically, marketing research is partitioned into two sets, either by the methodological approach or the target market. The methodological approach provides for either qualitative or quantitative research while the target market approach provides for business- to- business marketing research or consumer marketing research. A good marketing research should consider at least one of the four templates of business. It should consider changes to be effected to improve customer satisfaction, product and service development, industry specific surveys and demographics [Ann03]. In the case of customer satisfaction, the typical customer analysis survey or the Typical Customer Demographics Survey is most commonly used [Phi10]. Other forms of marketing research used by businesses in their surveys include Employment Survey Template, Target Market Analysis Survey Template, which focuses on the target market for understanding the competition status, consumer types, and repeat business. The Target Market Demographics Survey Template helps to pinpoint the characteristics that are evident in the target market. Most market researchers usually identify some means through which they can achieve maximum results from their research. The most important step in marketing research is to identify the means through which information from the participants would be collected [Ian00]. Research questions for the identified opportunity 1. Apart from the good idea being developed, which other components will need for the successful development and marketing of the new product? 2. What are the main risks identified in the development and marketing of the new product? 3. What should be done to reduce the risks that are faced by the organization developing and marketing the new product? Research methodologies and techniques to use for the research project The study will adopt the methodological approach to marketing aimed at providing us with both the quantitative and qualitative data for the research. Qualitative research helps the researcher to gain a better understanding of the underlying reasons that lead to a particular activity to happen. It helps to provide insights on ideas to uncover any form of prevalent trends that exist in the form of thought or opinion [Anf06]. However, the findings provided by this form of research are usually not conclusive and thus they cannot be used to make any form of generalization on a given population. The Quantitative research methods will thus be used to complement the Qualitative research methods [Mug99]. Quantitative research methods allow the researcher to quantify data and generalize the results that are obtained from the sample to the population as a whole. Quantitative research is frequently used to measure incidents of the different views and opinions provided by the population. It thus develops and employs mathematical models, theories and hypothesis for a given phenomenon. Quantitative measures are important since they provide fundamental connections between the mathematical expressions and empirical observations. The quantitative data subsequently has to be in numerical form and involves numerics such as statistics and percentages [Sma06]. Describe the research process The research process describes the design that is used to conduct the research. The research design is a framework that will be used to obtain the information that will assist in solving the research problem. To effectively deliver the research objectives, a descriptive research will be used. Descriptive research is conclusive research design that will help to describe the characteristics of the new product being evaluated that will be used for marketing. They will help to answer the research questions effectively [Ric09]. The research design is used for both qualitative and quantitative researches. A descriptive research design is suitable to the current study as it helps in answering the main research questions in the study. The design helped to describe the characteristics of the phenomenon being studied, which was the project management in new product development and marketing [Gra111] Public domain sources and interviews will be used to collect data about background information about the selected companies. Major public domain sources to be used included company’s websites, project management journals, and relevant journals that have informative information regarding companies project marketing in NPD processes. To understand the company’s specific practices of project management in NPD processes, a comprehensive interview will be undertaken on specified tasks relevant to the project objective [Pat03]. The study will also adopt semi-structured interviews. This mode of the interview is widely accepted as an established data collection instrument and a primary source of information in qualitative research. The interview will be designed to capture the content, context and process of project marketing in NPD processes of the companies selected. The semi-structured interview allows a flexible generation of analysis thus incorporating subsequent analysis through fresh themes from the respondents. The research questions play a crucial role in developing the interview questions to obtain the required themes from the respondents. Secondary sources will also used to obtain the other relevant research themes not obtained from the respondents. The Proper evaluation was done to avoid data loss and to capture the key concepts that connected with the research objectives [Wil06]. Data collection and analysis methods Data collection methods are determined by the type of data that needs to be collected. The study adopts both primary data collection methods as well as secondary collection methods [Fin00]. The main primary data collection methods that will be used are semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Semi-structured interviews provide a valid way of gaining key information from the respondent and on the same provides a room for the researcher to adopt a similar strategy in handling respondents. Questionnaires are usually the main tools that marketing researchers use in field research. They provide questions that provide the researchers with primary data [Mic08]. Collected data will be assigned codes to make it easy for computer analysis. After coding, data will be edited to remove errors and omissions, to ensure that questions are answered as required. Data cleaning will be done through proofreading to capture any undetected errors. The results will be ready for analysis. The refined data will be checked for completeness and keyed in the computer using the statistical package of social sciences (SPSS) version 22. The results from the SPSS analysis will be presented in the form of tables, bar graphs, pie charts, and histograms [Ann13]. Expected research outcomes The ultimate reason why businesses come into operations is to make profits. They achieve this by minimizing the total costs of the company while increasing the revenue collection. The benefits of the project are that it provides the company with a means through which they achieve their objectives. The research will provide the organization intending to provide a new product with all the necessary options that are available to foresee the success of the business. With a proper understanding of the product development outcomes, the organization is able to iron out the risks that are faced by the new product. Better performance by the product is guaranteed provided the organization takes to use the options that are provided by the research to develop and market the product. It will be possible for the organization to track performance and identify the weak areas in the production and marketing of the new product to help increase its market share and revenues in both the short run and long run. REFERENCES Kot09: , (Kotler & Keller, 2009), Hel14: , (Helen, 2014), Suj09: , (Suja, 2009), Ric01: , (Richard & Allan, 2001), Ann03: , (Annacchino, 2003), Phi10: , (Phillip, 2010), Ian00: , (Ian, et al., 2000), Anf06: , (Anfara & Mertz, 2006), Mug99: , (Mugenda & Mugenda, 1999), Sma06: , (Smart, 2006), Ric09: , (Richard, 2009), Gra111: , (Gravetter & Forzano, 2011), Pat03: , (Patton & Appelbaum, 2003), Wil06: , (William & Lisa, 2006), Fin00: , (Elliott, et al., 2000), Mic08: , (Micheal & Ott, 2008), Ann13: , (Annable, 2013), Read More