THEVALUEOFMARKETINGRESEARCH 67
stratetomanagementthekindofprojectthatis goingtobeundertaken. Agreementbythe
managementgroupthatthekindsofinformationanticipatedwillassistinthesolvingofa
marketingproblemis helpfulinobtainingapprovalfortheprojectandinrestrainingman-
agementexpectationsastothescopeandpurposeoftheproject.
ConductingtheResearch
Theattentiondevotedinthepreviousparagraphstothedesignoftheresearchplanmight
leavetheimpressionthatoncea marketingresearchprojecthasbee;!carefullydesigned,
thejobisalmostdone. Clearly,thisisnotthecase. Theimplementationofa researchplan
isseldomaneasytask.Oftena researchprogramrequiresextraeffortfromalready-busy
personnelinthecompany.Inoiliercases,outsidersmustberecruited, hired, andtrained.
Ineithersituation,carryingouta marketingresearcnplanis difficultandrequiresveryclose
supervisionandcontrol.Totheextentthattheplanhasbeenwellconceived,supervision
andcontrolarerestrictedtomakingsurethattneresearchactivit:escalledforintheplan
arecarriedoutaccordingtoscheduleandinthemanne,prescribed.
ProcessingtheData
Processingthedataobtainedina marketsurveyinvolvestransformingthein formation
obtainedintoa reporttobeusedbymanagement. Fourstepsareinvolved:(1)editingthe
data;(2)tabulatingthedata;(3)interpretingtiledata;and(4)presentingthereport.If,in
theanticipationoftheresultsofthesurvey,theproceduresforhandlingthedata havebeen
sentforthandtheformofthefinalreportconceived. thesefinalfoursteps intheresearch
proceduremaybequitemechanical.Agoodplanfortheanalysisandinterpretationofthe
dataisofimmenseassistanceinbringinga projecttoa successfulconclusion,butit should
neverlimitthekindsofinterpretationsthateventuallyaremadeorrestrictthecontentof
thefinalreport.
Thefinalreportofa marketingresearchstUdyshouldordinarilybewritten.Sincevast
amountsofdataoftenareinvolved,thewrittenreportis theonlyappropriatemethodof
presentingthesefindings. Thewrittenrepo:talsohastheadvantageofbeingpermanent,
thuspermittingmanagementtostudythefindingscarefullyandtorefertotheminthefuture.
Unfortunately,manymarketingresearchprojectsarenevertranslatedintomanagement
action-sometimesbecausetheresearchconclusionsdonotdirectlycontribute tothesolu-
tionoftheproblem,sometimesbecausethereportistootechnicalanddifficulttounder-
stand,andsometimesbecausethe reportwriterhasnotofferedspecific suggestionsasto
howthereportshouldbetranslatedintomanagementstrategy.
TheValueofMarketingResearch
Itisimportanttopointoutthatit:snot alwaysnecessarytoconductresearchbeforeattempt-
ingtosolveaprobleminmarketingmanagement.Themanagermayfeelthathealready
knowsenoughtomakea gooddecision.Ina fewinstances,theremaybenochoiceamong
alternativesandhencenodecisiontomake.It is ratherpointlesstostudya problemif there
isonlyonepossiblesolutions.Butin~nostbusinesssituations,themanagermustmakea
choiceamongtwoormorecoursesofaction.Thisiswherefact-findingentersintohelp
makethechoice.
