This comprehensive exploration delves into the world of qualitative and quantitative research, shedding light on their roles in understanding and shaping market dynamics. Qualitative research, often used for exploratory purposes, uncovers the underlying motivations and opinions of people. It serves as the foundation for generating ideas and hypotheses for subsequent quantitative research. This method employs various techniques, including group discussions, individual interviews, and observations, with a focus on small sample sizes.
Conversely, quantitative research quantifies problems by generating numerical data, enabling the use of statistics to generalize results to a larger population. It measures attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables, with structured data collection methods such as surveys, interviews, and systematic observations.
For businesses, market research is a crucial step in tasks like marketing planning, SWOT analysis, branding, product development, and pricing. It simplifies internet marketing strategies, from website design to email newsletters, making it vital for start-up companies.
Market research facilitates the identification of potential customers, setting realistic targets, developing effective strategies, solving business problems, preparing expansion plans, and identifying new opportunities. It also plays a pivotal role in testing readiness for new products or services and examines market trends.
In the context of a media start-up, online marketing and email marketing emerge as effective ways to reach the target audience. The use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods aids in measuring marketing effectiveness, defining keywords, building brand identity, and predicting costs and revenue.
For media companies, identifying the best times to post on social media platforms is crucial. For example, on Facebook, Saturdays at 12 p.m. EST are ideal, while Twitter sees the best engagement from 5 p.m. EST onwards. Planning involves content creation, researching the target market, identifying the right writers, creating press kits, reaching out to journalists, understanding public interests, and capturing emails.
Quantitative research answers key questions related to market size, product awareness, consumer interest, customer profiles, buying habits, and evolving needs. On the other hand, qualitative research delves into customer thoughts and feelings, motivations, branding and design impacts, effective marketing messages, and the influence of price.
In summary, this exploration uncovers the diverse capabilities of qualitative and quantitative research in understanding and shaping the market landscape, providing a roadmap for market success.
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 1
The qualitative research methods are used for the purposes of conducting an exploratory
research. It is used for the purpose of gaining an understanding of the reasons that underlie
the various opinions, motivations etc. of the people. This method of conducting the research
helps in developing a number of ideas that could help in conducting hypothesis for the
potential quantitative research. This is the methods that is used for the purposes of
uncovering the ideas and inventing the new ideas and convert them into thoughts and then
bring them into implementation. This helps in various structured and unstructured techniques.
There are many of the methods that include the focussing on the groups such as the group
discussions, conducting the individual interviews and then making the observations. The
sample size that is used when this method is used is small and the respondents try to fulfil the
quota that has been given.
The qualitative research on the other hand is used for the purposes of quantifying the problem
by the way of generating the numerical data or the data that is used for the purposes of using
the useable statistics. This is used for quantifying the attitudes, opinions, behaviours and
other such defined variables and to generalise the results that belong to the larger sample of
the population. This method is used for measuring the data for the formulation of the facts
and for uncovering the patterns in the research. The methods of the collection of the
quantitative data are much more structured than the methods that are used in the qualitative
data. The quantitative data collection methods includes the various forms of conducting a
survey such as the online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-
face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls,
and systematic observations.
(Snap surveys, 2016).
Qualitative Data Quantitative Data
Overview:
• Deals with descriptions.
• Data can be observed but not measured.
• Colors, textures, smells, tastes, appearance,
beauty, etc.
• Qualitative → Quality
Overview:
• Deals with numbers.
• Data which can be measured.
• Length, height, area, volume, weight, speed,
time, temperature, humidity, sound levels,
cost, members, ages, etc.
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 2
• Quantitative → Quantity
Example 1:
Oil Painting
Qualitative data:
• blue/green color, gold frame
• smells old and musty
• texture shows brush strokes of oil paint
• peaceful scene of the country
• masterful brush strokes
Example 1:
Oil Painting
Quantitative data:
• picture is 10" by 14"
• with frame 14" by 18"
• weighs 8.5 pounds
• surface area of painting is 140 sq. in.
• cost $300
Example 2:
Latte
Qualitative data:
• robust aroma
• frothy appearance
• strong taste
• burgundy cup
Example 2:
Latte
Quantitative data:
• 12 ounces of latte
• serving temperature 150º F.
• serving cup 7 inches in height
• cost $4.95
Example 3:
Freshman Class
Example 3:
Freshman Class
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 3
Qualitative data:
• friendly demeanors
• civic minded
• environmentalists
• positive school spirit
Quantitative data:
• 672 students
• 394 girls, 278 boys
• 68% on honor roll
• 150 students accelerated in mathematics
(Regents preparation, 2016).
There are many of the reasons for conducting the market research. The fist and the foremost
step are to undertake the main tasks conducting marketing. This includes preparing the plan
of marketing, conducting the SWOT analysis, branding of the product, development of the
product and pricing of the product. The market research must also be able to simplify the
internet marketing strategy. This has to do everything from designing the websites to drafting
the email newsletters.
A start company for example, the media must conduct the market research for the following
reasons:
• Identification of the potential customers: conducting the market research can help in
using the product or the service. It could help in determining as to how old the
products are, the customers are males or females, whether they are married, single or
are unmarried, whether they have children, where do they live in and what their level
of education is.
• Setting the realistic targets: from the information that the market research has
collected, the targets that could be achieved can be set up.
• Development of the effective strategies: from the research that has been conducted, an
increased marketing decisions as to how the price of the product or the service could
be made with much ease. The information that would be effective for the development
of the new product or the service can also be made with mush of an ease. This would
help in making more informed decisions about starting, building, consolidating,
diversifying and reducing the various activities that pertain to the business.
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 4
• Examining and solving the problems of the business: from the conducted research, the
business problems can be identified and the research would help in the working out of
the things. In order to illustrate, when the sale have fallen, then it might have been
discovered that the brand awareness has also fallen or that the new competitor has
also entered into the market or any substitute of the product has become available. If
the information is gathered for the new social media, then the media that must be used
can be chosen with the utmost priority.
• Preparation of the business plan for expansion: these researches help in the
identification of the various areas of expansion and also tests the readiness of the
market for the new product or a service. In order to illustrate, if any new retail store
has been opened, then the right location has to be found and that would help in
changing the channels of distribution.
• Identification of the business opportunities: the market research conducted can help in
finding various new business opportunities. It can find the un serviced or the under
serviced market. This could help in changing the trends in the market and help in
ascertaining the shifts in the population, in increasing the various levels of the
education or the leisure time and would ultimately help in bringing in the new
opportunities (Small business, 2016).
Being a media start-up company, there are chances that the best way to reach the audience is
to target out the market through the way of online marketing? And also, the email marketing
could help in direct response marketing and this will help a start-up company to take a look at
the social media to serves as a viable platform for its marketing needs.
Using the various qualitative and the quantitative tools could help in achieving the following:
• It could help in measuring the various marketing offers and that would serve as a
unique aspect of the research and that would form one part of the marketing research.
There would an access to the wide range of the market feedback.
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 5
(Tech in asia, 2016)
• Choosing the market: the use of these methods can help the start-up company to know
what the market trend is and what exactly must be targeted so that revenue could be
generated. If the start-up market is for each and every one, then it would just be a
wastage of time and money.
• Defining the key words: if the customer market is built in, then the keyword list
would primarily be built in and that would be used for blogging, social media and the
main marketing site.
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 6
• These methods would help in gathering the data that would ultimately help in building
the name of the brand.
• These methods would help in laying out the amounts of the revenue and the amount
of the costs that would be earned and that would be spent so that the projected income
or the projected profit or loss can be ascertained so that the necessary changes can be
made in it.
• These methods would help in the generation of the data that would ultimately help in
predicting the actual costs that would be spent in the media etc.
• Defining the best time to post: the methods would help in defining the best days and
the time when the post can be made. For example, the following:
Facebook:
• Saturdays are best.
• 12 p.m. EST is the best time to share.
• 0.5 posts per day is the best frequency.
Twitter:
• 5 p.m. EST is the best time to get a retweet.
• 1 to 4 link tweets per hour is the best frequency.
• Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays are best.
• 6 a.m. EST, 12 p.m. EST and 6 p.m. EST are the best times to tweet in terms of clicks.
When it comes to planning a new media company, then it is better to make a programme,
magazine or the website or a game for the purposes of undertaking a great deal of the
research of the product. This is done in the following order:
• Providing the content and gathering the material for the purposes of allowing them to
write and develop the new product.
• Conducting the research to serve as a viable commercial through the way of thorough
research and plan for the production and the stages of the post production to ensure
that all of its runs very smoothly.
• Identification of the right writers for the media list
• Creation of a press kit
CONDUCTING RESEARCHES 7
• Reaching out to the new journalists
• L=knowing the topic the public is interested in
• Knowing the content that must be published
• Guest blogging
• Capturing emails etc.
(Kiss metrics, 2016)
In the nutshell, the following questions would be answered:
What can quantitative research tell you?
• Is there a market for your products and services? (pearsonschoolsandfecolleges,
2016)
• What awareness is there of your product or service?
• How many people are interested in buying your product or service?
• What type of people are your best customers?
• What are their buying habits?
• How are the needs of your target market changing?(Marketing do nut, 2016).
What can qualitative research tell you?
• What customers or prospects think and feel about your product or service
• How customers choose between different products or suppliers; what motivates them
• How branding, design and packaging influence customers and in what way
• What sort of marketing messages have the most impact and what turns customers off
completely
• How price affects their decision-making (Research access, 2016)
• Whether there is demand for a new product or service
(Social marketing, 2016)