Ethics & social responsibilities (MR, unit 4)

Important to behave responsible as research relies on people willing to provide data

Data protection
Legislation exists in most developed countries. Concern due to ...
incorrect details can cause minor irritation to big financial problems
databases may be sold and people receive unwanted contact about other products
inappropriate personalised mailings e.g. people who've died

Data Protection Act 1998 (originally introduced in 80s)
Concerned with personal data about living, identifiable individuals
Gives inds (data subjects) rights and requires 'data controllers' to be open about use of information and follow proper practices

8 data protection principles, data must be...

1. fairly & lawfully processed
2. processed for limited purposes
3. adequate, relevant and not excessive
4. accurate
5. not kept for longer than necessary
6. processed in accordance with individual's rights
7. secure
8. not transferred to countries that don't have adequate data protection laws

If org holds data on PC, need to notify (complete form about the data and how it's used to the Office of the Information Commissioner)

Fair processing for limited purposes
Be open about why you want info and have legitimate reason for processing
Explain: who you are, what you intend to use info. for, who intend to give it to (if anyone)

Adequate, relevant, not excessive, accurate and no longer than necessary
Hold neither too much nor too little
Be accurate & up-to-date as far as possible
Remove when no longer required

The rights of data subjects
Individuals have rights to...

• be informed of all the information held about them by an organisation (written request must be processed within 40 days, max £10 charge)
• prevent the processing of their data for the purposes of direct marketing
• compensation if they can show damage caused by contravention

Example: govt tries to block information requests as too costly

Security
Access to PC records for authorised staff (passwords)
Control access by people other than staff (verify identification of callers)
Measures to prevent accidental loss or theft (backups, fire precautions)
Example: HMRC loses 25million child benefit details

Enforcement
Commissioner has powers to force compliance
An enforcement notice means they can enter & search premises
Fines & criminal penalties for holding data without being registered

Professional codes of practice
ICC/ESOMAR code covers rights of respondents, professional responsibilities of researchers, mutual responsibilities of researchers & clients

[read code for key points]

Selecting a market research supplier (MR, unit 4)

Choosing & using consultants: previous experience & expertise, associated with professional body, market specific knowledge

External agencies v. in-house programmes (might be best to combine the two)
Tenders & beauty parades (oral presentations)

Nature & structure of market research industry (MR, unit 4)

Internal departments: generally only in large companies, others have liaison person

Specialist agencies: may specialise in particular markets, market sectors, particular research services (e.g. 'field agencies' specialise in conducting tel. interviews/e-mail surveys), independent consultants can do a variety of tasks on a smaller scale

Full service agencies: offer everything e.g. BMRB, Ipsos

Syndicated research agencies: research conducted into areas the agency know people are interested in, then sells. Not conducted for any specific client. Examples: Mintel, trendwatching

List brokers: create or acquire lists of potential customers to sell on. The "do you mind being contacted by a third party" guys. Presented in easily compatible formats and checked for accuracy.

Profilers: superimpose profiling information on the basis of postcodes allowing for segmentation of databases. Best known in UK is CACI who produce ACORN

Professional bodies: Marketing Research Society, ESOMAR (World Assoc. of Opinion & Marketing Research Professionals)

Marketing research in context (MR, unit 4)

The stages of the market research process (DODCAR)

1. Definition - identify and define the opportunity or threat
2. Objectives - what you need to know to deal with O/T
3. Design - the research and methods to be used
4. Collect
5. Analyse
6. Report

(if sending a research brief to an agency, stop at stage 2)

Stage 1) Definition
Arises from strategic & marketing planning processes. Need to ascertain how the market is likely to react to possible solutions you may have to these opportunities & threats.

Stage 2) Objectives
Set out precise information required as clearly as possible. Consider budget, timescale and outline methods to be used.
Must:
- reference the decisions its finding will influence
- be well designed & carried out
- have conclusive results
(Wilson 02) suggests early consultation & involvement of all those involved in actioning the results. Those closest to a project are likely to know what information an organisation has and what needs to be asked.

Stage 3) Design the research & methods to be used
Research methods should involve as little cost & time as possible, use as much existing research as possible

Determine the category of research
Exploratory - breaks new ground

• customers might be disinterested and need to abandon
• customers might not understand how a product benefits them (simplify or introduce in new way)
• research methods may be inappropriate or target wrong group

Descriptive - cross-sectional study (single snapshot - happening now) or longitudinal study (several snapshots - over limited time)

• published market research reports are examples of descriptive research
• difficult to ensure respondents are same group of people over a time period. If no possible, answers from very similar respondents are aggregated
• methods include telephone research, specially hired panels of respondents

Casual - attempts to identify relationships between all the variable & determine if one variable affects the value of others

• experimental research, deliberately change one variable to see what else affected
• research methods similar to longitudinal study but information may be more extensive and time period longer

Stage 4) Collect
Secondary - data collected for another purpose not specifically related to the proposed research e.g. published reports, govt information, trade magazines
Primary - information collected specifically for the study. May be quantitative, qualitative or observational

Stage 5) Analyse the data
Enter on PC, use stats and other analytical means to find out what revealed

Stage 6) Report on the findings
Powerpoint presentations & detailed written reports with appendices of figures & tables