Market Research and Consumer Behavior
Core concepts
Market research splits into primary (collected for this problem: surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, experiments) and secondary (existing data: syndicated reports, government statistics, internal CRM data). Know the research process: define the problem, design the study, collect data, analyze, and report. Distinguish qualitative (why/how, small samples, exploratory) from quantitative (how many, statistically projectable).
Consumer behavior covers the decision process (need recognition, information search, evaluation, purchase, post-purchase) and influences: cultural, social, personal, and psychological. Key models include Maslow's hierarchy, the elaboration likelihood model (central vs. peripheral routes), and the difference between high-involvement and low-involvement purchases. Understand cognitive dissonance, reference groups, and the buyer versus the user versus the influencer.
Traps in questions
- Calling a focus group "quantitative" - it is qualitative and not projectable.
- Confusing a sample with a population; validity depends on representativeness, not size alone.
- Mixing correlation with causation; only controlled experiments support causal claims.
- Assuming the purchaser is always the decision-maker (think family buying, B2B buying centers).
Worked example
A brand wants to know whether a new ad increases recall. A survey of current customers cannot prove causation. A randomized controlled experiment - exposed vs. control group, same sampling frame - is the design that supports a causal claim.
Rule of thumb: Exploratory questions → qualitative; confirmatory or sizing questions → quantitative.