3 THEME 3: MARKETING RESEARCH, EVALUATAION AND CONTROL

Learning Objectives

*Understand the types and the importance of marketing research

*Understand the basic procedures for conducting marketing research

*Understand the different research design and data collection methods

*Utilize the obtained information and findings (either qualitative or quantitative) to perform evaluation and controlling function

Introduction

Marketing administrators may not necessarily need to conduct the marketing research by themselves. However, it is vital for them to understand how marketing research and database management can help them effectively and efficiently operate the organization and execute the marketing plan. Marketing research is defined as a systematic process approach involving the collection, organization, examination, and presentation of information on a defined area of study to enhance decisions throughout the strategic marketing process (Parkhouse et al., 2012). In Theme 2, the authors address the importance for sport marketers to recognize the ideal target markets and select the best strategies for carrying out the marketing actions. In order to achieve those tasks, the marketers will need to conduct marketing research to acquire strategic information and analyze the collected results. Marketing research can also prompt solutions to pricing issues, concerns with consumer satisfaction, low attendance, and consumer loyalty. For this reason, both database management (DBM) and customer relationship management (CRM) heavily emphasize the need of marketing research to offer strategic information in planning, organizing (decision-making), evaluation, and control phases. In another words, marketing research will play a key role in helping the marketers understand the strengths and weakness of their own organizations, the needs and wants of their consumers, and the challenges and threats imposed by their competitors.

Within the sports industry, popular marketing research topics may include: (1) examination of fan/consumer behavior, (2) preferable sports/product consumption (items), (3) motivation for game attendance (at various levels of sporting events), (4) economic impact studies, (5) effectiveness and practices of sponsorship, (6) financial analysis of the events, (7) endorsement deals, (8) studies on brand image, brand building, and brand loyalty, (9) effective promotional strategies, and many more. In general, marketing experts conclude that there are four main types of research to guide the marketers enhancing their decisions (Andrew, Pendersen, & McEvoy, 2011; Parkhouse, Turner, & Miloch, 2011). Descriptive research focuses on what is happening and is helpful in predicting future trends, behaviors and preferences associated with sports consumption. Predictive research often relies heavily on quantitative data to forecast the probability of occurrence of a phenomenon. Explanatory research moves beyond descriptive research by explaining why something happens. With its focus on causation, it helps predict future trends and identify causal relationship between variables and measurements. Exploratory research is a flexible and dynamic type of research that intends to gain deeper understanding about a particularly unclear identified problem or issue.

When marketing administrators are considering the appropriate research process to enhance their marketing plan, there are three important questions that must be fully addressed:

(a) What kinds of studies would need to be done while developing the organization’s marketing plan?

(b) When and how should the studies be used in the context of the marketing plan?

(c) How would the marketing research studies be conducted?

Question 1. Marketing research is useful in which phase of the strategic sport marketing process?

• (a) planning
• (b) organizing
• (c) evaluation and control
• (d) all of the above

Question 2. Which of the following is considered as a popular sport marketing research topic?

• (a) An examination of fan/consumer behavior
• (b) Economic impact studies
• (c) Motivation for game attendance
• (d) All of the above
• (e) Only A and C

Question 3. Descriptive research explains why something happens. True or False

Marketing Research Process

Various organizations and individuals, such as government agencies, private commercial organizations, advertising agencies, health clubs, sports franchises, consultants, venue managers, and non-profit organizations, conduct marketing research to obtain relevant external sources and information. Regardless the nature and types of the research, marketing research follows a systematic process approach to collect, organize, analyze, and present the information. Seven basic steps for establishing a fundamentally sounded marketing research are discussed in the following section. Each of the steps in the research process is independent, so the choice and change made in each step will affect or influence the obtained information, thus impact the final decisions made for the marketing plan. The following few paragraphs address basic steps suggested by most sports marketing scholars (Dees et al., 2022; Parkhouse et al, 2012; Shank & Lyberger, 2015).

(a) Problem/Opportunity Definition

Problem/opportunity identification and definition is the first and most critical stage in the marketing research process. A written problem statement is often done to guide the researchers on how to understand the phenomenon (or problem) and specify the needed information, so the researchers will focus on the proper objectives and avoid irrelevant activities that may affect the outcome. Researchers are encouraged to use all types of data reports, sales and purchasing records, consumer feedback, and past research to define the scope of the study.

(b) Choosing a Research Design/Type

Choosing a research design is vital because it dictates selection of the appropriate methods to collect data and identification of necessary information to complete the project. In the aforementioned section, the authors have introduced four different types of research: exploratory, descriptive, explanatory (causal), and predictive. These are all popular types of approaches that marketers have chosen to conduct their research. The researchers would need to examine the unique requirement and research goals and objectives to determine the best design for the marketing research. According to Parkhouse et al. (2012), exploratory designs, historical methods, and causal designs are the most common types of research design. The authors will address the main points of each design and provide examples related to collegiate athletics marketing in the following table.

Table 1. Different types of Research Designs

Video Clip: Sport marketing research survey by Cleveland Cavaliers NBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUiAsgKfBGA

(c) Choosing a Data Collection Method

In general, activities involving collection of information and resources can be classified into two major categories, primary data search and secondary data search. Primary data or sources emerge directly from individuals who are directly involved with events or activities associated with the research topic. This type of data/information may also be found in documents such as the organization’s meeting minutes, reports, white papers, personal diaries, letter, presentations, and speeches. In-depth interviews, focus groups, surveys, projective technique, and experiments are also common ways that are utilized to obtain primary source information. Secondary data is relevant information that were collected at previous points in time. Outlets for finding this type of information include government reports, books, past research studies, reports from trade and industry associations, and journals.

Surveys are a popular technique that is given to consumers or attendees to offer their thoughts and views about a specific event, product, or service during a moment in time. They are useful to examine and analyze sports marketing topics such as satisfaction, awareness, loyalty, lifestyle choices, and general behavioral tendencies. Surveys can come in various forms, and each of the forms has its advantages and shortcomings. In Table 2, the authors address the characteristics of a few popular survey formats and explain how they can be administered for collegiate athletic related marketing studies.

Table 2. Features and Characteristics of Various Survey Formats

Experimental research is considered to be the most appropriate method to employ for casual-comparative studies, because researchers can use multiple different variables to control the conditions (Parkhouse et al., 2012). This method can be seen as organizations try to test their new products or services by collecting feedback from a geographically limited focus group. Experimental research often requires a greater time commitment and are more expensive to conduct. University athletics programs can adopt this method to test community supporters’ views about the newly introduced logo, mascot, or fight songs.

Video Clip: How focus groups work??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TwgVQIZPsw

(d) Designing a Data Collection Form

Administration of data collection process is concerned with how information is obtained through the design and research tools that the researchers have planned and used. Important key concepts such as reliability and validity must be addressed to ensure the data collection procedure is a replicable scientific process. Reliability is concerned with whether the data collection instrument can yield the same results on repeated trials. Validity deals with the instrument’s ability to accurately measure the intended targets or variables (Andrew, Pendersen, & McEvoy, 2011). In Step (c), the authors introduce different popular forms of surveys that can be used to conduct a sports marketing study. Each different type of survey addresses a unique form of response. Some are equipped to obtain lengthy qualitative types of information. They can be more time consuming or costly in nature. Others can be simple and concise to obtain important quantitative information in a timely manner. Regardless of how surveys are conducted, all surveys need to have properly designed questions to solicit responses. In many cases, onsite surveys that are administered prior to or during the events/games attempt to capture an individual’s perceptions during a moment in time, so they are usually not lengthy (less than one page) and can be completed within 5-10 minutes.

(e) Choosing a Sampling Technique and Collecting Data

Based on the authors’ research experience, most of the collegiate athletics marketing studies are done through direct onsite surveys. This method is most effective and efficient because it captures a large number of respondents in a relatively short period of time. The biggest shortcoming of the onsite survey is that respondents are likely to be selected in a convenient sampling format (non-probability sampling), instead of from a truly randomized sample (probability sampling). This means the convenient survey sample will likely provide biased results, since the respondents who attend the event onsite and are gathered together at the same time may share more homogeneous characteristics and common interests. Practically speaking, the sample size of a research study is mainly dictated by the availability of money and time (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). The ideal size of a randomized sample should be around 250 to 350. This size of sample is large enough to avoid gross statistical error and provide a strong level of confidence (95% or better) in estimation for the total testing population ranging from 1000 to 10.000 (Andrew et al., 2011). However, any survey with a randomized sample size greater than 150 should yield fairly accurate quantitative results (a confidence level of 90% for a total population great than 10,000) (Andrew et al., 2011). On the other hand, the sample sizes of the qualitative oriented research or focus groups are usually smaller. Common qualitative studies may have an interviewed group around 10-30 in size.

Photo 1. A scene of the onsite survey

 (f) Data Analysis:

After the data collection process is completed, the relevant data are systematically organized and analyzed through activities such as clustering, data mining, and statistical analysis. Before analysis is performed, the coding of data will take place to properly present the specific responses. The results of the data are most likely be presented by central tendency (i.e., mean, median, and mode) and dispersion (i.e., range, variance, and standard deviation). Likert scales is a popular method that offers a numerically ranked set of responses that is used for quantitative research studies. For example, the respondent can rate a given statement on a scale of 1 to 5 (7, or 01), as 1 equals strongly disagree and 5 equals strongly agree. The presentations of central tendency or Likert-scale responses are viewed as the descriptive results. Results are often displayed in percentages or numeric values of means (averages). Statistical programs such as SPSS, SAS, AMOS, and NVivo are popular emerging software programs for conducting clustering, data mining, and other analyses of variances and establishing causal relationship among variables.

 (g) Final Report Preparation

Executive summary is described as the abbreviated research proposal. This summary is often the first document that is read by the primary decision makers of the marketing plan. For this reason, the authors of any marketing report must prepare the information by following three basic guidelines: (1) know your audience’ interest and ability to comprehend the results, (2) be sure the report is thorough but not overwhelming, (3) interpret the findings carefully (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). When composing the final report of findings, the researchers should keep in mind to present the data in an interesting and clear manner without excessive use of jargons and statistical terminologies. Findings are usually presented in descriptive statistics (with aids of figures and diagrams), conceptual models, and causal-comparative analysis. These reporting techniques are often found in academic based theoretical research to create conclusions. The identified conclusions will validate and test the theoretical models that are used for guiding the marketing campaigns. It is vital to highlight the practical implications of findings, strategies and solutions for the identified issues or problems in marketing research reports. The work of Roemer and Vaske, (2014) showed great examples of national park visitors’ satisfactory rating on park services, destination, and location.

Conclusions

It would be a waste of time, if the identified results are not properly secured or stored to enhance the marketing productivity of the sport organizations. In today’s competitive sports information and business environment, it is extremely crucial that the sports organizations properly store and process the research findings in their data management system. A well-established data management system will help develop predictive models to respond to consumers’ preferences and needs and foster long-term relationship with customers in a timely manner. The term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is derived from this conceptual process by using software and computer access networks to perform data entry, receiving, and retrieving marketing information provided by the consumers. This management process further illustrates the importance of gathering strategic information and research data for business purposes in the realm of sport analytics.

Table 3 contains the table of contents of a marketing report and key guidelines for conducting a marketing research. Readers can utilize this simple example to develop and format the intended research project.

Table 3. Contents and Guidelines for a Marketing Research

Question 4. The most critical stage in the marketing research process is _______.

• (a) Problem definition
• (b) Determination of research design
• (c) Determination of data collection methods
• (d) None of the above

Question 5. Prior to beginning a formal research project, Bill is interviewing a few knowledgeable people to gain a better understanding of the nature of the problem his team faces and the characteristics of the environment in which it exists. Bill is conducting _____.

(a) A casual study

(b) Descriptive research

(c) A marketing test

(d) Exploratory research

Question 6. Which of the following is incorrect?

• (a) Surveys are a popular technique that is given to consumers or attendees to offer their thoughts and views about a specific event during a brief moment in time.
• (b) Survey are useful to examine and analyze onsite attendees’ satisfaction.
• (c) Surveys can come in various forms such as mail, telephone, and internet survey.
• (d) The great advantage of the online survey is that it only reaches those who attend the events or involve in activities.

Question 7, According to the reading, data collection techniques can be broadly categorized as secondary or primary. True or False

Question 8.  Regardless, how surveys are conducted, all survey need to have properly designed questions to solicit responses. True or False

Question 9. Which of the following is correct?

• (a) While preparing final research report, it is not necessary for the marketers to know their audience’ interest and ability to comprehend the results.
• (b) In general, the sample sizes of the qualitative oriented research or focus groups are usually bigger than the quantitative survey studies.
• (c) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a conceptual process by using software and computer access networks to perform data entry, receiving, and retrieving marketing information provided by the consumers.
• (d) Research findings are rarely presented in descriptive statistics (with aids of figures and diagrams), conceptual modals, and causal-comparative analysis.

Qeustion 10. _______ is a popular method that offers a numerically ranked set of response that is used for quantitative research studies.

• (a) Focus group
• (b) Likert scales
• (c) Central tendencies
• (d) None of the above

______________________________________________________________________________

FYI: Here are some examples of survey questionnaire utilized by sport organizations covering various types of sport marketing topics.

• Game Experience Questionnaire (by Houston Rockets)
• 
• Orlando Magic Onsite Research

• Sport fans’ motivation and reasons for attending the events
• 

Brainstorming Activities

The Athletics Department of Morehead State University sponsors 14 different sports programs for more than 300 male and female student-athletes. It also provides numerous internship opportunities for its Sport Management students on campus to gain hands-on learning experience. Recently, several marketing interns were charged with a new task by their supervisor. An onsite entertainment activity during the basketball games, the Chicken Dance, has been played for more than 20 years. This activity has a naming sponsor, the local Buffalo Wild Wings Restaurant. The cheerleaders and dancers will invite children under the age of 12 to perform the Chicken Dance during the first media timeout of the second half of the game. Because the entertainment activity has been practiced for a long time and only involves the participation of children, the marketing director wishes to create a new event to replace the existing Chicken Dance. In this case, what type of research method and information you would suggest to the interns, so they can come up with a new innovative activity to replace the Chicken Dance?

References

Andrew, D. P. S., Pendersen, P. M. & McEvoy, C. D. (2011). Research methods and design in sport management. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.

Collignon, H., Sultan, N., & Santander, C. (2011). The sports market: Major trends and challenges in an industry full of passion. http://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/6f46b880f8d1-4909-9960-cc605bb1ff34

Dees, W., Walsh, P., McEvoy, C., McKelvey, S., Mullin, B.J., Hardy, S., & Sutton, W.A. (2022). Sport Marketing (5th ed.). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.

Parkhouse, B. L., Turner, B. A., & Miloch, K. S. (2012). Marketing for sport business success. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Pitts, B., & Stotlar, D. K. (2013). Fundamentals of sport marketing (4th ed.). Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.

Roemer, J. M., & Vaske, J. J. (2014). National park service visitor satisfaction: A comparative analysis. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 32(4), 35-51.

Sawyer, T. H., & Hypes, J. A. (2012). Marketing principles. In T. Sawyer & L. Judge (Eds.). The management of fitness, physical activity, recreation, and sport (pp. 397-409). Campaign, IL: Sagamore Publishing.

Schwarz, E. C., & Hunter, J. D. (2008). Advanced theory and practice in sport marketing. Burlington, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Shank, M. D., & Lyberger, M. R. (2015).  Sports marketing: A strategic perspective (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.