The Role of Mobile Technologies in Marketing Research Essay Example

Research as “the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services. ” It is a systematic and objective study of problems pertaining to the marketing of goods and services. Marketing Research is an integral function of companies which links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through crucial information which helps the company identify and define marketing opportunities and problems.

It helps companies generate, refine and evaluate marketing actions and monitor marketing performance. It improves understanding of marketing as a process.

Most importantly it enables companies to collect information to understand customers, competitors and the environment better. This is done either through ad-hoc research studies or through continuous research. The reliability of the studies in both these methods depends on the accuracy of the primary data collected. While collecting primary data, the respondents should be given enough time and convenience in order to elicit accurate responses.

But the enumerator, most often concerned with time and cost effectiveness will not be able to give the respondent the time and the convenience required to elicit correct responses. Therefore it can be concluded that an adequate method wherein the reliability levels are high is that which addresses the concerns of both the enumerator and the respondent.

This study also highlights the ways and means of using various applications of mobile technology in the area of Market research and consumer behavior. OBJECTIVES: •To study the demerits of the traditional method. •To analyze the growth of mobile technology. To enlighten the application of mobile technology in marketing research. •To assess the benefits of using mobile technology in data collection.

STATEMENT

OF PROBLEM:- Companies adopt continuous studies or ad-hoc research as an attempt to combat increasing competition and rapidly changing consumer preferences. Whatever be the type of research, the research design should identify the best method of collecting information from the relevant respondents in the most effective and efficient manner so that the data collected are reliable and therefore the results too.

There are many traditional methods of data collection and each method has its own merits and demerits. Most of the consumer is interested in searching and finding the required product but they are not ready to spend time to give information about their requirement. So it becomes a challenge to marketer to collect information from ultimate consumer.

To get valid information the instrument and the source used to collect information must be convenient for the respondent. The search for such technology enters with emergence of mobile technology.

Primary data can be collected through various methods. Each method of primary data collection has its own merits and limitations. For instance, while focus groups provide rich qualitative information, conducting large scale representative studies are inefficient in terms of cost and time.

Survey methods are best for gathering information from a large respondent base. Typically the survey method increases the representative ness in the sample chosen for study. The results of such a study are used by managers for making important strategic decisions. Surveys can be conducted by personal means, through telephone or by using direct mails.

The advent of information technology has given rise to new methods of data collection. Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection (CASIC) is one such.

It is now commonplace for large-scale face-to-face

interviews to be conducted using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), whereby the questionnaire is a computer program loaded on to a lap-top computer that an interviewer takes out into the field. Respondents' answers are entered into the laptop and interviews transmitted back to the office via modem. Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) is widely used.

Here the questionnaire is accessed via a computer terminal located in a centralized telephone unit.

Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing (CASI) enables respondents to complete a self-completion questionnaire using a laptop computer. Audio-CASI enables respondents to hear the questions rather than relying on them being read. CASIC methods offer many advantages for surveys. They: •Automatically direct the interviewer or respondent to the appropriate questions based on answers given earlier in the questionnaire. It prevents interviewers from making routing errors.

Allow complex routing that would be impractical on paper questionnaires and potentially error-prone (e. g. missing data, answers to inapplicable questions). •Interviewer can concentrate on the actual questions and respondents' answers, if CAPI or CATI, or if CASI the respondent can concentrate on answering the questions. •In CAPI and CATI warnings can be triggered if improbably extreme values are entered, or if there is an inconsistency between answers at different questions.