Friends, presumptions work sometimes. But, relying on it for making major marketing decisions is a real gamble only. That is why in today’s competitive world almost every renowned company is increasingly using marketing research reports for marketing decision making. Marketing research has created its own pivotal place both in academia and industry because many companies have started using marketing research as their competitive strategies.

Marketing research is an area of marketing management that explores massive data and creates business value for firms by use of mathematical model. Marketing research help organizations to know about existing and potential customers. We can know the level of customer satisfaction, measure brand image, estimate future demand and even calculate the effectiveness of promotions through marketing research.

How many customers are expected in a particular day in a saloon or which variant of a product will be demanded maximum in the market; marketing research has a wide range of applications in across multiple sectors including automobile to banking and consumer durables to FMCG. But, before going to conduct actual marketing research one needs to know the basic fundamentals of it. And this course is the best place for you to start understanding marketing research right from the scratch.

Welcome to this course. The following are the topics to be covered in this course.

Introduction to marketing research: Definition, classification and nature of MR, MR suppliers and services, careers in MR, ethics in MR, role of MR in MIS and DSS, Marketing research process: steps in MR, defining the MR problem, research design, sample design, Data Collection: Methods of Data Collection: Collection of primary data, observation method, interview method, data collection through questionnaires and schedules, other methods of data collection including Case study method, collection of secondary data, appropriate method for data collection, Measurement and Scaling: Measurement in research and measurement scales, Errors in measurements, Tests for sound measurements, Technique for developing measurement tools. Scaling: Meaning of scaling, Scale classification bases, Important scaling techniques, Interpretation and Report Writing: Meaning of interpretation and why interpretation, technique of interpretation and precaution in interpretation, Significance of Report Writing, different steps in report writing, layout of research report, oral presentation, mechanics of writing a research report, precautions for writing research report.