Ans. American Marketing Association (AMA) which is considered to be the leading body of marketing professionals and academicians in the world. Earlier, AMA had defined marketing research as "the systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about problems related to the marketing of goods and services".
"Marketing research is the [unction which links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems: generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.
Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues: designs the method for collecting information; manages and implements the data collection process; analyses the results; and communicates the findings and their implications."
These definitions clearly point to the following three key characteristics of marketing research which enable us to differentiate it from other components of marketing information system
a) Marketing research is a systematic process of data collection. By the term 'systematic' we mean that marketing research is a formal and planned process. It is decided beforehand as to what the marketing problem is and what information is required to be collected to solve the given marketing problem. It is also decided in advance as to which methods will be used to collect the desired information and from which sources.
b) Objectivity in data collection and analysis is the second important characteristic feature of marketing research. The marketing researcher does his or her best lo ensure that the information being collected is free from personal biases and prejudices. Those data collection methods and sources are used which appeal- to be relatively more objective and reliable.
c) The other major characteristic of marketing research is its clear cut focus on a given marketing problem. This is quite in contrast to internal reporting and marketing intelligence systems where information of general nature is collected without any specific problem in mind. For instance, while going through the monthly sales report or talking to a salesman, one might come to know that some products are not doing well in the market. This insight though useful is not a part of marketing research as it has not been collected purposively in a formal manner. The management has come to know of this development just by chance while casually glancing over the monthly sales report or talking to salesman in a routine manner.
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