Exam 8: Marketing Research, Decision Support Systems, and Sales Forecasting

Long-run sales forecasts cover periods in excess of five years.

Salespeople recognize the role of sales forecasts in determining the sales quotas for their territories, so they are likely to make slightly exaggerated estimates.

The people metre relies on a microcircuit embedded beneath a person's skin to record his or her TV viewing and radio listening behaviour.

Which of the following describes a symptom?

What is the most common method for conducting primary research outside Canada?

Firms usually decide whether to conduct a marketing research study internally or through an outside organization based on cost, reliability, and accuracy of the data collected by the outside firm.

Which of the following is NOT a good source of secondary data for marketing research studies?

What is a statement called that potentially explains the relationship among variables, which, in turn, carries clear implications for testing the relationship?

Online surveys are not necessarily fast, nor do they provide adequate sample sizes in most cases.

Mail surveys are a common data collection method because they may encourage respondents to give candid answers.

How do marketers obtain primary data?

Which technique is used in quantitative forecasting methods?

Match each item to the statement or sentence listed below. a.marketing research b.exploratory research c.secondary data d.primary data e.sampling f.hypothesis g.nonprobability sample h.interpretative research i.focus group j.marketing decision support system k.sales forecast l.jury of executive opinion m.Delphi technique n.sales force composite o.trend analysis p.exponential smoothing q.marketing information system r.data mining s.mall intercept t.simple random sample u.cluster sample v.convenience sample w.controlled experiment -A(n) _____ is a nonprobability sample selected from among readily available respondents.

A marketing research organization that regularly provides a standardized set of data to its customers is called a full-service research supplier.

Identify the strengths and limitations of secondary data.

During the last year, General Gasket Co. has experienced a sales decrease of nearly 20 percent. In order to define the problem, General Gasket must look for the underlying causes of its declining sales. A logical starting point is the firm's marketing mix and target market.

What kind of probability sample is constructed so that randomly selected subsamples of different groups are represented in the total sample?

In a cluster sample, areas or "clusters" are selected from which respondents are drawn. It is an expensive form of sampling and is not recommended unless absolutely necessary.

Hi-Test Cola Company wanted to create a sample that would contain 25 of its regular cola drinkers, 25 of its diet cola drinkers, 25 of its diet caffeine-free drinkers, and 25 of its caffeine-free regular cola drinkers. The company did this by stopping people on the street and continuing until it had spoken to enough people to meet the requirement. Which sampling method was used?

One drawback associated with doing telephone interviews is the hesitance of many respondents to give personal characteristics about themselves over the telephone.