The Market Research Toolbox: A Concise Guide for Beginners

Edward F. McQuarrie
1996, 154 pages, softcover (0803958579).

Many managers tend to dismiss books on marketing research as weighty tomes full of arcane discussions of statistics and methodology, which are accessible only to a limited number of specialists. One result is a wide gap between gatherers and processors of marketing information, and those who use it. The Marketing Research Toolbox is a very different kind of book, which helps to bridge that gap. Essentially a survey of selected marketing research techniques and a description of the circumstances under which they should be used, it is, as its title suggests, very practically oriented. It is also both concise and readable; you can read it from cover to cover in 3 to 4 hours. If you are a manager with the need for an overview of marketing research that highlights its payoffs and pitfalls, reading this book will be time well spent.

Its intended audience is R&D project managers, program managers, engineers, and quality managers. It will also be worthwhile for MBAs who have had some formal exposure to marketing research methodology but are in need of a refresher. In an academic setting, it may be useful as a supplemental text in new product or entrepreneurship courses where students with a variety of backgrounds are required to gather information on prospective markets.

The book is structured in three parts. Part I consists of two chapters, the first of which discusses the nature of marketing research. The chapter opens with a discussion of the reciprocal relationship between business strategy and marketing research, which leads into the difference in objectives between exploratory research (discovery) and confirmatory research (resolution of a problem). An important element in this chapter is the treatment of the cost of marketing research relative to its payback. McQuarrie provides a formula for the calculation of the value of a research project with an example. Although deriving the figures that constitute the inputs to this formula would not be easy, he suggests some rough cost estimates that should be useful.

Much of the second chapter is concerned with the identification of the technique appropriate to achieve a given marketing research objective. McQuarrie begins by breaking the decision cycle down into four decision-making stages: scanning the environment, generating opinions, selecting an option, and evaluating success. He then identifies the objectives associated with each stage and provides a brief overview of the suitability of each of six marketing research techniques in attaining each objective. For example, focus groups are found to be somewhat effective for the "scanning" and "describing" objectives associated with the scanning the environment stage, but are much more effective for the "defining" and "exploring" objectives associated with the generating options stage. Focus groups are of no value for any objective relating to selecting an option or evaluating success, however.

All this is by way of an introduction to Part II, each chapter of which constitutes a detailed discussion of the application of one of the six marketing research techniques: secondary research, customer visits, focus groups, survey research, choice modeling, and experimentation. To give some idea of the flavor of each of these chapters, I have picked Chapter 6, Survey Research, as an example.

Survey research is a marketing research technique that is deceptively simple - in concept. Determine what you want to know, find out who knows it, ask them, analyzed and evaluate their answers, then report the results. The reality is much more complex, as McQuarrie points out in a straightforward manner.

After a brief discussion of the general aspects of survey research, he takes you through the step-by-step procedures for conducting a survey with the assistance of a vendor. He not only describes what is to be done at each step, but he also alerts the reader to potential pitfalls. For example, in step 2, creating the questionnaire, he points out that it is your obligation, as a client, to be very clear about the kind of information that you need. With regard to step 3, selection of the sample, he discusses the relationship between sample size and precision of the estimate in a very nontechnical way, pointing out that if your vendor's explanation of his sample size recommendation is evasive or unclear you should be on your guard. He concludes his description of step 6, the last step in the survey procedure, by describing what you should expect your vendor to provide in terms of a research report.

All this would be complete in itself, but McQuarrie also provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of survey research, specific factors affecting costs, as well as numerous examples of survey research applications. He also cautions the reader against do-it-yourself survey research, citing four specific circumstances under which it would probably be a bad idea. The chapter concludes with a list of dos and don'ts, e.g., "Do conduct focus groups or customer visits in preparation for surveys," "Don't assume you can draft a perfectly good questionnaire by yourself in a couple of hours."

Section III of the book consists of two chapters. The first of these, "New Market Research Techniques," touches briefly on three emerging research techniques of interest to business: usability testing, contextual inquiry, and computer simulation. The first two of these are particularly relevant to the development of complex new products.

The last chapter is titled "Combining Research Techniques into Strategies." In it, McQuarrie points out that few research problems are solved by the application of a single technique. He then goes on to illustrate the way in which the techniques that are the subject of this book can be combined to perform specific functions in connection with such activities as "developing new products" and "segmenting a market".

This book will not tell you everything you ever wanted to know about marketing research. For example, it omits coverage of such widely used research techniques as factor analysis and discriminant analysis. It does live up to the promise of its title, however, doing an excellent job of providing a concise explanation of mainstream marketing research practice. For people seeking more information, every chapter is followed by a short list of additional readings. The Marketing Research Toolbox is clearly more valuable for those faced with the need to understand and evaluate the marketing research efforts of others than it is for those who want to learn how to do marketing research themselves. The former, in particular, will find this book a worthwhile addition to their libraries.

Laurence P. Feldman
University of Illinois at Chicago