Marketing research insurance program - Essay Example

? [19/08 Introduction The primary purpose of this assignment is to highlight the importance andrelevance of an effective and well planned research. Insurance has emerged as one of the highly preferred safety instrument offering wide arrays of benefits and advantages to people with different needs and requirements. There are a number of insurance plans and policies for retired people but not many with embedded future engagements. There are a number of people under NTUC insurance and with an innovative initiative of insuring the life of people along with engaging them in certain acts; the organization is looking to tab an unexplored territory that requires effective research. Research Objective The research aims at assessing the potential of proposed insurance program by garnering data from the target audience. The research approach and data collection methods would further highlight the research objective. Primary research method has been favored to achieve the objective of the research as it would offer current information and understanding. Research Approach The research is based on offering a new and innovative insurance program to elder people who find it difficult to manage their finances and time. As per the current Elder Shield plan, insured people would get $300 per month for a maximum period of 5 years and $400 for a maximum period of 6 years. The new insurance program would offer the same benefits along with wide arrays of physical and mental activities that would offer great results in the short as well as in the long run. Moreover, for each referral, there would be certain rewards and awards that would further motivate and influence people to insure their life and health along with spreading the message in a positive manner. There is no denying that elder people are more prone to injuries and health issues and thus this insurance plan would try to help them regain their health through physical and mental activities. This can also be considered as a noble cause by taking care of the elder people along with making their life exciting and problem free. As per the statistics of the United States Department of Labor, around 20% of the retirement income is attributed to health expenses that can be considered as quite high (United States Department of Labor, 2011). Moreover, basic Elder Shield Plan offers $300 per month for a maximum period of five years that can be considered as good enough to meet health demands. This insurance plan would help in engaging retired people in physical activities like golf and Taichi along with few mental activities like chess and emotional intelligence games. This insurance plan would also help in saving more money as people who are healthy and fit tend to spend less on health problems. This statement can only be considered as a valid one once views and opinions of the respondents confirm it. However, there is no denying that garnering personal opinions and offering wide arrays of information to the respondents would help in achieving the research objectives in a desired manner. Research Design Research design plays an important role in achieving desired results pertaining to the research. Research designs are classified as explanatory, descriptive and casual with distinctive features. Explanatory design is useful in analysing secondary data as it determines the hypotheses that can be tested. Descriptive design is based on primary data collection methods favoring quantitative analysis. It also examines the association and relationship with wide arrays of variables. In this particular research paper, descriptive and explanatory designs have been preferred as explanatory design helped in examining the hypotheses through secondary data and information while descriptive design would help in understanding the utility of introducing new and innovative insurance plan for retired people. There is no denying that descriptive design is time consuming and often a cumbersome task but the validity and reliability of hypotheses is majorly tested through this design only. However, there is no denying that explanatory design also helps in testing the hypotheses as the above mentioned hypotheses have been tested by the statistics generated by the United States Department of Labor. After garnering the primary data, the overall validity and reliability of hypotheses would be further tested to make the study all the more conclusive. As mentioned above that the targeted customers for this insurance plan are retired people and thus questions would be asked on their living pattern, lifestyle and general spending. This will help in garnering some valuable information that can be further used in making the insurance plan all the more attractive and feasible for the targeted customers. Moreover, the questionnaire would be compared to secondary data in order to find out and similarity. The research aims at aligning primary and secondary research to ascertain the overall findings and results accepting or rejecting the designed hypotheses. Thus, research design can be considered as an integral part of the research developed and designed to analyse the research approaches in an effective and analytical manner. The next part of the research would highlight the data collection methods and its significance and importance in achieving the goals and objectives of the research along with concluding the research by generating results. Data Collection Methods The data collection methods include primary and secondary research favoring descriptive and explanatory design respectively. The primary data has been garnered through questionnaires testing hypotheses and secondary data has been garnered through multiple sources like websites, journals and academic books. Primary data are often considered as first hand raw data that offers clear insight on the current happenings and can be considered as quite useful in the context of the research. The key sources of primary data are interviews, questionnaire and surveys. In order to make this study conclusive, questionnaire has been designed for the retired people in order to garner their opinions and views on the proposed insurance plan along with knowing and analysing their opinions on their life style, spending pattern and insurance history. Primary data is often supported by secondary data as most of the past studies have something in common with the current study. Secondary data often strengthen the research and this particular research, information and data has been garnered from websites and journals. The secondary data clearly supported the hypotheses as confirmed by the statistics of the United States Department of Labor. The primary data would further help in understanding the relationship with secondary data. Moreover, it would help in analysing the feasibility of the proposed insurance plan that aims to offer freedom of mind along with engaging the mind and body to create an active life style for most of the retired people spending their leisure time doing nothing and spending on their health expenses that keep increasing in the short as well as in the long run. A set of questions can be referred in the appendix section of the research paper that would help in garnering real and genuine opinions of the respondents. For this particular research, primary research can be considered as an ideal data garnering tool offering current information on preferences and need of respondents. It would also help in formulating sales and marketing strategies for the new and innovative insurance plan in the present as well as in future. Conclusion The research highlights the importance and relevance of an effective insurance plan especially for the retired people along with analysing wide arrays of factors through an effective research approach and design. Overall, the research has been conducted as per the mentioned guidelines in an appropriate and ethical manner. Appendix (Questionnaire) 1. Your gender A. Male B. Female 2. Your monthly retirement income A. $3,000 to $5,000 B. $5,000 to $8,000 C. $8,000 to $ 12,000 D. Above 3. How much would you able to spend on insurance policy (per month)? A. Within $400 B. $400 to $800 C. $800 to $1,200 D. Above $1,200 4. What are your monthly health expenses? A. Within $400 B. $400 to $800 C. $800 to $1,200 D. Above $1,200 5. What leisure activity you prefer A. Chess B. Tennis c. Taichi D. Golf 6. Do you like the idea of getting engaged in physical and mental activities along with getting health insurance and benefits? A. Yes B. No C. Not Sure 7. Do you see certain advantages in the proposed policy? A. Yes B. No C. Not Sure 8. Will you recommend this insurance plan to your friends and relatives? A. Yes B. No C. Not Sure Reference United States Department of Labor, “Taking the Mystery out of Retirement Planning URL”.dol.gov. 19 September.2011. Read More