What are the purposes of the survey/survey research?

A method of sociological investigation that uses question based or statistical surveys to collect information about how
people think and act. For example, a possible application of survey research to a business context might involve looking
at how effective mass media is in helping form and shift public opinion.
The purpose of a survey depends what the survey is used for. The common definition of a survey is that it is a method of
gathering information from a selection of individuals.
If a company were carrying out the survey then the purpose would most likely be marketing. Business surveys are
carried out to find out what customers like, need and also what they are not in need of. Some businesses will send you
surveys after you have purchased something from them. This makes the customer feel that their views are taken into
consideration and they will be more likely to purchase from the company in the future because of this. Business surveys
also help the company to discover who their customers are, their age, race, and their family size.
Another example of a survey is a behavioral survey. This survey may look at the behavior of a particular group of people
and will normally take the form of a questionnaire. Online surveys are becoming increasingly popular in this form of
survey. The questions could ask simple things such as does the person own their own home, do they smoke, and how
many cars does the family hold.

What is the importance of research design?
The importance of research design in research methodology is due to the following:
It may result in the preferred kind of study with helpful conclusion.
It cuts down on inaccuracy.
Allows you get optimum efficiency and reliability.
Reduce wastage of time.
Reduce uncertainty, confusion and practical haphazard related to any research problem.
Of great help for collection of research material and testing of hypothesis.
It is a guide for giving research the right path.
Gets rid of bias and marginal errors.
Provides an idea concerning the type of resources needed in terms of money, effort, time, and manpower.
Smooth & efficient sailing (sets boundaries & helps prevent blind search)
Maximizes reliability of results.
Provides firm foundation to the endeavor.
Averts misleading conclusions & thoughtless useless exercise.
Provides opportunity to anticipate flaws & inadequacies (anticipates problems).
Incorporates by learning from other peoples critical comments & evaluations.



What are the principles of writing a report?

Always keep the reader & his needs in mind
Choose simple words. Short sentences, short paragraphs
Avoid adverbs, adjectives, emphatic words unless necessary.
Be specific & precise
Never exaggerate
Write to inform not to impress
Observe the 3 (simplify, justify & quantify)

Difficulties in Applying Scientific Methods to Marketing Research
Investigator Involved in Use of Results: Organizations are the clients of researchers. Sometimes, they try to fit in results
which are readily acceptable to the clients. This is possible when the researchers manipulates the data or does not
conduct an exhaustive study. In either of these circumstances, the study becomes unscientific.
Imprecise Measuring Devices: Accuracy of measurement is one of the key components that differentiate scientific and
unscientific methods. As marketing research deals with people most of the information is obtained by interview a
partially subjective procedures that rarely leads to precise measurements. For example, the preference of an individual
for a brand of Soft Drink can be measured, but only in a relatively crude way means in qualitative form.
Influence of Measurement: In case of pure science same results can experience time and again by conduct an
experiment. Whilst, this is not the case with marketing research. Since it deals with agile behavior of human whose
behavior undergoes on changing. When humans recognize that they are being measured, they frequently change. Thus a
reliability and validity of research will suffer to a great extent.
Time Pressure: Marketing research must be carried out within a given time-span. Since market operates in a dynamic
environment, delays in research may results in outdated information to the clients and moreover rivals might enter and
capture the market shares. On the contrary, research conducted in a hasty manner suffers from lack of credibility
because it does not benefit from the continuing and comprehensive study that characterizes the scientific method.
Testing of Hypothesis: Testing of hypothesis is the core of any research, but unfortunately, the use of experimentation
in marketing research is often impractical to carry out due to the many factors which come in the way. For example
while measuring the impact of advertisement on sales, it may so happen that rivals have also advertise, resulting in
lesser volume of sales. Furthermore, it is impossible to reproduce the same experiment.
Complexity of the Subject: since marketing research deals with the human beings, the subject matters of marketing
research become very complex. Human behavior varies from time to time. Thus it became very difficult to identify most
frequent stimuli the spark an individual interest. Since different individuals react differently for a given stimuli. For
example advertisement may yield different results in different circumstances due to the changed perceptions and
reactions by individual.