Exam 9: Decision Support Systems and Marketing Research

A regional airport manager conducted research to get a better understanding for the types of concessionaires to include in the planned terminal remodeling.She conducted two sets of group interviews,one with ten leisure flyers and another with ten business flyers.In each group,participants discussed what types of food,retail,and other services they wanted in the new terminal.These discussions are examples of:

Fisher-Price employees were engaged in experimental research when they observed,from behind a mirror,children playing with soap bubbles and decided to build a toy lawn mower that spewed soap bubbles.

A _____ is a specially designed phone room used to conduct telephone interviewing.

Caterpillar has been experimenting with replacing the traditional steering mechanism on its graders with a joystick-based steering mechanism.As a part of its research,it built graders that included both a steering wheel and joystick steering mechanisms,then asked operators to use the machines for a few days.After two days of testing,several of the operators liked the joysticks so much that they suggested the steering wheel be removed to provide better visibility.This would be an example of using an experiment to gather _____ data.

What is competitive intelligence? Discuss how it is used and provide an example.

Describe survey research and explain how it differs from observation research.Name six popular forms of survey research.

Once adequate amounts of data have been collected,the researcher should present the report.

The research design specifies:

You must conduct research to find out a great deal of information about the motives and desires of potential customers for a home delivery grocery service.You need a sample of at least 300 people who spend at least $100 weekly at the supermarket,and you don't have a lot of money to conduct the research.You should use:

With which scanner-based research system do IRI panel members shop with an ID card,which is presented at checkout in scanner-equipped grocery and drugstores,thus allowing IRI to electronically track each household's purchasing over time?

Telephone interviews offer:

When Eurasia restaurant,serving Eurasian cuisine,first opened along Chicago's Michigan Avenue,its novelty brought many diners.However,it turned off the important business lunch crowd,and sales went into decline.Before conducting any marketing research to explain the declining sales,management needs to:

A _____ error arises if the sample drawn from a population differs from the target population.

Everyday information about developments in the marketing environment that managers use to prepare and adjust marketing plans is referred to as:

Ethnographic research is a form of experiment research because it is conducted without any preconceptions.

A marketing decision support system (DSS)is an interactive,flexible,computerized information system that bypasses information-processing specialists and gives managers access to useful information from their own desks.

Callaway Golf Co. Callaway Golf Co.has long been a leader in women's golf equipment,but it wanted to expand its lead in this growing sector of the market.While Callaway's technical people knew what could be done with design,they did not know exactly what women wanted in their clubs.Callaway management decided what it needed to do was to bring the technicians and women golfers together.Beginning about three years ago,Callaway sent a team of researchers,designers,and golf pros out to visit with 40 women golfers of various abilities in locations from California to Florida.In selecting the golfers to study,Callaway decided to focus on women who were just beginning to play,as well as,experienced,competitive golfers who wanted to own the latest equipment.Callaway management felt that these two extreme groups of golfers had been overlooked by golf club manufacturers.Further,Callaway felt that if enough could be learned about these two groups,then the company would also learn enough to serve the rest of the women golfer market.Basically,the research team observed the women playing golf and listened to their comments and concerns.The information gathered by this research team was built into every aspect of the design of a new golf club,including the feel of the club,the length of the club shaft and size of the club head,and the weight of the club.When prototypes of the new clubs were completed,they were sent to the women golfers to get their feedback.That feedback was then used to refine the club design.This process went on until the women said the new clubs greatly enhanced their game.The entire process from original prototype to final product took a little less than one year. -Refer to Callaway Golf Co.When Callaway researchers asked questions like "Now that you have played with the new club,how likely would you say you would be to buy it?" they asked golfers to respond on the following scale: 1 = would definitely not buy it 2 = would probably not buy it 3 = might or might not buy it 4 = would probably buy it 5 = would definitely buy it.What type of question is this?

In a survey for her marketing class,Alicia interviewed 80 randomly selected men and asked them their opinions of women with tans.Her initial results showed that the men overwhelmingly believed tans were a health risk.When she conducted the same survey again using the same methodology,she discovered that 50 percent of the surveyed population in the second group found women with tans sexy.This is most likely an example of a _____ error.

The Marriott Mobile survey has which of the following characteristics of ethnographic research.

When Wilson,a manufacturer of tennis racquets,sent a team of researchers,designers,and tennis pros out to visit with 40 women tennis players of various abilities in locations from California to Florida to find out what women players want in a racquet,what kind of research were they conducting?