Marketing Research Mix - Purpose

Purpose

The purpose of the research is the reason why it is being done. The word “purpose” is useful because it has a wide coverage. It can be specifically defined or it can be loosely explained. The wide term also embraces studies to gather marketing intelligence, where the manager’s role is to scan the environment for useful data, and there may be no specific objective.

Many marketers avoid the term hypothesis entirely and tend to use the words “research objective” or “aim”. The word hypothesis (plural, hypotheses) is quite different from the terms mentioned above. It is an essential starting point for quantitative researchers, but takes a lesser role for qualitative researchers. The term is deeply rooted in the history of scientific thought. In statistics we expend much time and energy to generate hypotheses, to test hypotheses, and to reject them. Some people argue that we should only test one hypothesis; others say we should test several. In hypothesis testing we create a statement, which may be true or false, this statement is a "proposition" - we propose that something may be the case. If it is right then we accept it. If it is not right, if it is "wrong" then we reject it.

The first step is to formulate the null-hypothesis, abbreviated to Ho. This is usually intended to be rejected. Another carefully constructed hypothesis is the alternative hypothesis or the H1; this is actually called the 'research hypothesis'. After these have been articulated the researcher can design a research programme to test the hypotheses. When the results are received, they are examined against the prediction of the null hypothesis. The basic idea is to use this possible explanation and then look for data to support the explanation (or not). It is best to spend as much time as possible on the hypothesis: it is the research question, and it determines how the study is carried out. It determines the design because it defines the problem.

The subject of hypothesis testing has been debated heavily for many years and there are suggestions that misuse of null hypothesis significance testing is widespread and damaging (Finch et al. 2001), at least in psychological research. It is relevant to cite an article on hypothesis testing in marketing research by Lawrence (1982) who tells us: "Practical survey researchers (realise) that, in many cases, no adequate theory exists for setting up hypotheses in advance". The article continues: "Drawing one-off hypotheses out of the air offers no solution to the problem. Researchers will be guided by their own ideas, experiences, hunches".