MARKET RESEARCH PLAN
INTRODUCTION
In this part of the research I will evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot research
recommending changes that should be made to the final market research activity. In this
task, I will need to reflect on my P2, P3 and P4 tasks looking what I have created and
explained. I have to evaluate the effectiveness of the research.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE RESEARCH
The primary method that I will be using is a questionnaire. They are a research instrument
consisting of a series of questions for gathering information from respondents.
Questionnaires also provide a relatively cheap, quick and efficient way of obtaining large
amounts of information from a large sample of people. I chose this method because data
can be collected relatively quickly and is useful for large populations when interviews would
be impractical. Furthermore, questionnaires are an effective and useful way in measuring
the behaviour, attitudes, preferences, opinions and, intentions of relatively large numbers of
subjects more cheaply and quickly than other methods. This questionnaire will help my
market research by getting data from respondents that will allow me to find out information
such as attitudes and opinions from people towards coffee and other drinks.
The benefits for this method are that they are one of the most affordable ways to gather
quantitative data in an inexpensive way. Apart from being inexpensive, questionnaires are
also a practical way to gather data. They can be targeted to selected groups and managed in
various ways. Another advantage is that they are quick and easy to collect results with
online and mobile tools. Also, when data has been quantified, it can be used to compare
and contrast other research and may be used to measure change. Another advantage is that
questionnaire providers are quantitative in nature and allow easy analysis of results.
However, a problem with questionnaires is that while there are many positives to
questionnaires, dishonesty can be an issue, this suggest respondents may not be 100%
truthful with their answers. Also, when using questionnaires, there is a chance that some
questions will be ignored or left unanswered. Another disadvantage is that each respondent
may have different interpretations of the questions given. Furthermore, a questionnaire
cannot fully capture emotional responses or feelings of respondents.
The data that will be collected from this method will be quantitative data which emphasize
objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data
collected through polls. Statistics help me to turn quantitative data into useful information
to help with decision making. The advantages of quantitative data are they are larger
sample, objectivity and accuracy, and faster and easier. The cons of this type of data are less
detail, artificiality and limiting. This method(questionnaire) collects quantitative data
because focuses on gathering numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or
to explain a particular phenomenon.
, Review of pilot research
A pilot study is a practice / small-scale study conducted before the main study. It allows the
researcher to try out the study with a few participants so that adjustments can be made
before the main study, so saving time and money. It is important to conduct a questionnaire
pilot study because it check that respondents understand the terminology used in the
questionnaire, check that emotive questions have not been used as they make people
defensive and could invalidate their answers, check that leading questions have not been
used as they could bias the respondent's answer and ensure the questionnaire can be
completed in an appropriate time frame (i.e., it's not too long).
After creating my questionnaire, I sampled this with two friends from other courses and
received their feedback and with their feedback I could check if some questions and options
were right or if I need to change it. In addition, I highlighted the parts in the questionnaire
where they told me that I have to do a change to improve the questionnaire. I expected to
gain an honest feedback because these two friends are not in my same course area as me,
so they will think and act as a real customer who is giving its feedback to a new business.
When I finished creating the pilot questionnaire with its first feedback, I have asked my
friends if they could check it again. The feedback that I received it was positive, helpful and
useful before I move onto the next part of the assignment and do my final questionnaire.
The feedback was useful because if I sent the questionnaire straight away to people there
could be some things wrong with the questionnaire making it unsuccessfully. For example,
the responder may not understand the question and could not truly respond. Also, if I only
focus the questions towards one product e.g. coffee, there may be customers who do not
drink coffee and I will be losing these customers and they will feel that this new business is
not for them.
The advantages of this pilot research are that provides valuable feedback so that I can revise
and improve the questionnaire before sending it to people. However, the downsides of pilot
research are that can cause lengthy delays in the dissemination of research findings and can
be a time-consuming process.
Finally, when I finished modifying the final questionnaire, I sent it to 17 people to respond
and complete the questionnaire so I can get some data from there.
Final questionnaire
1. How often do you visit tea/coffee shops?
1-2 times per week
3-4 times per week
4+ times per week
I don’t go to coffee shops
2. What times of the day would you drink coffee (you can select multiple times)?
Morning
Afternoon
