Week 10 Discussion

1.  What is the difference between secondary data and primary data (please refer to Chapter 9)?

Primary data is gathered by the researcher themself in real time and applies directly to the situation being researched. Secondary data, on the other hand, is gathered by someone other than the researcher on an issue that occurred in the past and may relate to the situation being researched.

2.  Please give an example of a Portland-based business that performs marketing research. How does this company collect marketing data? List sources (i.e., URL) if necessary.

Portland Research Group (portlandresearch.com) is a firm that performs primary research through methods such as product testing and trials as well as many other research services. The company will analyze the experience of current customers, as well as the effect that current marketing efforts have on current and potential customers.

3.  What is the relationship between Advertising Expenditure and Sales (please refer to http://www.mktresearch.org/wiki/Regression)?

The independent variable in this relationship is advertising expenditure, which is directly correlated to sales. Given this relationship, higher sales should be connected with higher marketing expenditure.

4.  How do you interpret the coefficient for the variable “$Online Advertising Expenditure” (please refer to http://www.mktresearch.org/wiki/Regression)?

Advertising expenditure must be broken down into categories - i.e. how much is spent on radio, TV, billboard, online advertising, etc. In this case, the coefficient of online expenditure is 3.2, while TV expenditure has a coefficient of 4.1, indicating that TV expenditure is 128% as effective as online expenditure.

5.  What is the most important statistics when interpreting a regression table (please refer to goeppner-multiple-regression-analysis_a-case-study)?

The most important statistic on a regression table is the adjusted r squared value. This value allows us to determine how much the dependent variable is actually influenced by the independent variable while accounting for degrees of freedom.

6.  Which variable is the most important for predicting monthly rent (please refer to goeppner-multiple-regression-analysis_a-case-study)?

In this case, the rented square footage was the most important variable for determining the lease rate, however many variables were determined to be significant.

7.  Will Big Data replace market research? Why or why not (please refer to Will Big Data Replace Market Research?  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-FsyW3l9Kg)?

Early in the video, Beth Schneider states that understanding why certain events happen is pivotal to effective marketing and corporate decision making. While Big Data is certainly useful, it can't provide these explanations that market research can uncover, so I believe that while Big Data may take on a more major role, market research will always remain a pivotal part of the marketing process.