Once the research problem has been defined, and it has been determined that primary research is required, the next step in the marketing research process is to do a research design. The research design is a “plan of attack.” It outlines what data will be gathered and from whom, how and when the data will be collected, and how it will be analyzed it once it’s been obtained.

Some questions that should be asked at the research design phase are:

• What type of research is necessary to meet the established objectives of the first step?
• How will this data be collected?
• What is the time frame of the research and budget to consider?If one must have information in the next week, a different plan would be implemented than in a situation where several months were allowed.

These are issues that a researcher should address in order to meet the needs identified.

Data collection is the systematic gathering of information that addresses the identified decision problem. Picking the right method of collecting data requires that the researcher understand the target population and the design picked in the previous step. There is no perfect method; each method has both advantages and disadvantages, so it’s essential that the researcher understand the target population of the research and the research objectives in order to pick the best option.

Once it has been determined the methodology of the research – qualitative and / or quantitative – the management and implementation of the data collection process will begin.

References

Albrecht, M. G., Green, M., & Hoffman, L. (2023). Principles of Marketing. OpenStax. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0