Step 1: Develop a Marketing Research Problem
Develop a marketing research problem that interests you. This marketing research problem needs to be different from the marketing research problem for your group marketing research project. You can choose problems from your own experience, your work experience, or something else that interests you. Here are some examples:
How can Amazon improve its customers’ online shopping experience?
How can Walmart attract high-end customers to its stores?
What extra features should Ford incorporate in its new F-150 truck?
What would be the most effective way for your local bakery to promote itself for an upcoming special event?
It is very important to carefully formulate your marketing research problem! Note that you are not expected to solve the problem completely, but your task is to get some initial insights into some answers.
Step 2: Conduct Interviews
Conduct two in-depth interviews of about 15 minutes each with two different participants. You can interview them in person (face-to-face) or online. Each interview should have only one participant. You can conveniently select participants from your family, friends, colleagues, and so on. You do not have to report their names, but you should report how you selected them. Ask whether you can record the interview. If they do not want the interview to be recorded, make notes during the interview.
Prepare a list of topics or questions that you want to discuss. You can also bring stimuli if you think that will improve the results of the interview. Make sure you prepare open-ended questions and ask probing follow-up questions to get deeper insights.
Step 3: Conduct Focus Group
Conduct an online focus group with at least four participants. The focus group should last between 30 and 60 minutes. (Professional practice is that focus groups last between 60 and 90 minutes, but for the purpose of this assignment you can shorten this by half an hour.) Note that not all respondents may show up for the focus group, so it is wise to invite more than four respondents.
Prepare a list of topics or questions that you want to discuss with them. You can also show some stimuli to the participants through video (for example, if you want to discuss a specific product you can bring it to the online forum), if you think that will improve the results of the focus group. Make sure you prepare open-ended questions and ask probing follow-up questions to get deeper insights. The questions can be similar to those used in the in-depth interviews, but feel free to adapt them for the focus group based on the information obtained in the interviews.
There are multiple ways in which you can conduct and record an online focus group. You can use Zoom at Penn State to have a group conversation with multiple people at the same time and have the flexibility to record and archive the meeting to be shared and reviewed later. For more information on using Zoom, visit the Zoom at Penn State Website (Links to an external site.).
Step 4: Write a Report
Write a report of no more than three pages in which you provide the following information:
State the marketing research problem.
Describe how you selected the respondents for the interviews and focus groups.
Describe any difficulties you encountered in this process—for example, where respondents were willing to participate, whether they let you record the interviews, whether everybody showed up, and so on.
Describe the respondents briefly. For example, report their relation to you or the product (e.g., colleague, heavy user), gender, and age group (e.g., 30–40 years old).
Report whether you used any stimuli or provided them with specific information before or during the interview or focus group.
Summarize the outcomes of the interviews and the focus groups.
Comment on how the insights you obtained from the interviews and focus group differ.
Report the pros and cons of the different methods you used—for example, the time you invested, technical difficulties, difficulties in conducting the interview or focus group, reporting the results, and so on.
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