generation, lead qualification, sale of a product or service, or maintenance of
customer relationships.Some techniques that are becoming increasingly popular are data warehousing
and data mining—but they are not without risks. See the Marketing for the Millen-
nium box, “Companies Turn to Data Warehousing and Data Mining: Exercise Care.”
Research Approaches. Primary data can be collected in five ways: observation,
focus groups, surveys, behavioral data, and experiments.
■ Observational research:Fresh data can be gathered by observing the relevant ac-
tors and settings. The American Airlines researchers might meander around air-
ports, airline offices, and travel agencies to hear how travelers talk about the
different carriers. The researchers can fly on American and competitors’ planes to
observe the quality of in-flight service. This exploratory research might yield
some useful hypotheses about how travelers choose air carriers.
■ Focus-group research:Afocus groupis a gathering of six to ten people who are in-
vited to spend a few hours with a skilled moderator to discuss a product, service,
organization, or other marketing entity. The moderator needs to be objective,
knowledgeable on the issue, and skilled in group dynamics. Participants are nor-
mally paid a small sum for attending. The meeting is typically held in pleasant
surroundings and refreshments are served.
In the American Airlines research, the moderator might start with a broad
question, such as “How do you feel about air travel?” Questions then move to
how people regard the different airlines, different services, and in-flight tele-
phone service. The moderator encourages free and easy discussion, hoping that
the group dynamics will reveal deep feelings and thoughts. At the same time,
the moderator “focuses” the discussion. The discussion, recorded through note
taking or on audiotape or videotape, is subsequently studied to understand con-
sumer beliefs, attitudes, and behavior.
Focus-group research is a useful exploratory step. Consumer-goods companies
have been using focus groups for many years, and an increasing number of
newspapers, law firms, hospitals and public-service organizations are discovering
Gathering Information
and Measuring
Market Demand^107(continued)
■ National Trade Data Bank—free access
to over 18,000 market research reports
analyzing trends and competition in
scores of industries and for hundreds of
products (www.stat-usa.gov)
■ Public Register’s Annual Report Ser-
vice—allows searches of 3,200 public
companies by company name or in-
dustry and offers annual reports via
e-mail (www.prars.com/index.html)
■ Quote.Com—access to a wide range
of business wires, companies’ directo-
ries, and stock quotes
(www.quote.com)Government Information
■ Census Bureau (www.census.gov)
■ FedWorld—a clearinghouse for over
100 federal government agencies
(www.fedworld.gov)
■ Thomas—indexes federal govern-
ment sites (thomas.loc.gov)
■ Trade/Exporting/business:Stat-USA
(www.stat-usa.gov)
■ US Business Advisor
(www.business.gov)International Information
■ CIA World Factbook—a comprehen-
sive statistical and demographic direc-
tory covering 264 countries around the
world (www.odic.gov/cia/publications)
■ The Electronic Embassy (www.em-
bassy.org)
■ I-Trade—free and fee-based informa-
tion services for firms wishing to do
business internationally (www.i-
trade.com)
■ The United Nations (www.un.org)
Sources:Based on information from Robert I. Berk-
man,Find It Fast: How to Uncover Expert Information
on Any Subject in Print or Online(New York: Harper-
Collins, 1997); Christine Galea, “Surf City: The Best
Places for Business on the Web,”Sales & Marketing
Management, January 1997, pp. 69–73; David Curle,
“Out-of-the-Way Sources of Market Research on the
Web, ”Online,January–February 1998,pp.63–68.See
also Jan Davis Tudor,“Brewing Up: A Web Approach to
Industry Research,”Online, July–August 1996, p. 12.