MARKETING MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT- I

Quantitative VS Qualitative

When any company is developing a new product and is preparing to commission a market

research study to ensure the product meets their customers' needs. Having multiple choice

companies are not sure to which methodology to choose.

All market research methods can be divided into two primary types-quantitative and

qualitative. Establishing how these are defined, assessing their relative strengths and

weaknesses, and understanding how and when each style is most effectively utilized can help

companies to choose the type of market research that's right for them.

Quantitative research deals in numbers, logic and the objective, while qualitative research

deals in words, images and the subjective.

Quantitative research focuses on the left brain - objective, comfortable with logic, numbers,

and unchanging static data and detailed, convergent reasoning rather than divergent

reasoning. Qualitative research deals with the right brain - the hemisphere accountable for

processing data as words, emotions, feelings, emotions, colour, and music.

Quantitative Research — Has its strength in Numbers

Strength in numbers characterizes the many advantages of quantitative research. A numbers-

based research discipline, quantitative research statistically measures customer attitudes,

behavior, and performance. Utilizing a series of tests and techniques, quantitative research

will often yield data that's projectable to a larger population. Because it is so deeply rooted in

numbers and statistics, quantitative research has the ability to effectively translate data into

easily quantifiable charts and graphs. Real-world examples have shown the effectiveness of

quantitative research in measuring product awareness, establishing customer profiles, and

determining market size.

Quantitative research is about measuring a market and quantifying that measurement with

data. Most often the data required relates to market size, market share, penetration, installed

base and market growth rates.

At the heart of all quantitative research is the statistical sample. Great care has to be taken in

selecting the sample and also in the design of the sample questionnaire and the quality of the

analysis of data collected.

Market research involves the collection of data to obtain insight and knowledge into the

needs and wants of customers and the structure and dynamics of a market. In nearly all cases,

it would be very costly and time-consuming to collect data from the entire population of a

market. Accordingly, in market research, extensive use is made of sampling from which,

through careful design and analysis, Marketers can draw information about the market.

Quantitative research has these advantages:

* The results are statistically reliable. That is, quantitative research can reliably determine

if one idea, concept, product, package, etc., is better than the alternatives.

* The results are projectable to the population. That is, the proportion of respondents

answering a certain way are similar to the proportion of the total population that would have

answered that way if they all had been asked.

Qualitative Research — It’s not about Size

When it comes to dealing with large sample size, quantitative research reaffirms the axiom

"bigger is better." Yet when it comes to dealing with smaller, more focused samples,

qualitative research proves that "size doesn't matter." Qualitative research is a highly

subjective research discipline, designed to look beyond the percentages to gain an

understanding of the customer's feelings, impressions and viewpoints.

Gaining such insight into the hearts and minds of the customer is best acquired through the

use of smaller, highly targeted samples. Expert moderators, unencumbered by the strict time

and structure constraints of a quantitative survey, use a multitude of techniques to obtain in-

depth information. Interviews are lengthy, oftentimes as long as four hours, allowing the

moderator to elicit extremely candid, highly complex responses. The result is rich, in-depth

data laden with insight unobtainable from quantitative market research techniques.

Qualitative research is based on human behavior and the reasons behind an individual’s

choices and feelings. Simplistically, qualitative research is harder to classify and catalog into

perfect charts and graphs, however it in imperative to an overall understanding of how the

target audience understands the brand message. Qualitative research is based on non-

numerical data, so while it’s important to understanding how an audience receives the brand

message.

Good, sound qualitative research has many strengths. It's flexible, highly-focused, and

designed to be completed quickly. Because the results are seen or heard first-hand,

management relates to the findings easily.

Qualitative research is not without its weaknesses and limitations. Misuse or

misunderstanding the capabilities of qualitative research is commonplace. Companies often

fall in love with the data-rich results and assume that the results are projectable. This

assumption is incorrect. Because the analysis is subjective and deals with a small sample size,

projectability is not possible. Another common misconception is the expectation that

qualitative research will always produce definitive conclusions. In reality, the results will not

provide companies with definitive conclusions, but only with enough information to establish

a firm basis for decision making.

Trained moderators are essential to the success of qualitative research. Placed in the hands of

an untrained moderator, a qualitative research study's chance of success is vastly diminished.

Conclusion-

My conclusion after understanding both qualitative & quantitative methods of market

research. In my view quantitative methods are more accurate & realistic compare to

qualitative research.

The qualitative analysis becomes bias because in qualitative research the possibility of the

researcher taking a ‘neutral’ or transcendental position is seen as more problematic in

practical and/or philosophical terms. So qualitative researchers often reflect their perception

& views on the research process & make their analysis which ultimately becomes bias.

Why Quantitative research ?

However, quantitative research can also be used to measure customer attitudes, satisfaction,

commitment and a range of other useful market data that can tracked over time like

qualitative research.

Quantitative research can also be used to measure customer awareness and attitudes to

different manufacturers and to understand overall customer behaviour in a market by taking a

statistical sample of customers to understand the market as a whole. Such techniques are

extremely powerful when combined with techniques such segmentation analysis and mean

that key audiences can be targeted and monitored over time to ensure the optimal use of the

marketing budget.

While quantitative research is a fundamental step to market research, without qualitative

research companies can miss an enormous opportunity to truly understand their audience.

The objective of quantitative research is to gather enough information to employ

mathematical models, strategic market graphs, and hypotheses regarding future marketing

plans. It’s based on statistics, an array of numbers gathered from points on surveys or

percentages on polls that can be seamlessly applied to graphs and charts.

To conclude if I would have to select method for market research I would chose quantitative

market research because of benefits of quantitative research:

Results are easy to summarise and analyse

Comparisons between groups, locations and times can be measured for difference

Researching a small group can give a reliable indication of the views of a larger

population