Research is an essential process for every business that needs to understand its performance, identify existing needs, and maximize profits. In turn, marketing research gathers information regarding the market, which is of significance for a business. That is why organizations typically invest much time and effort to cope with these tasks. There are multiple research techniques and strategies of market research, and the choice of a particular option affects the validity of research results.
The case of Care Sanitaryware Limited is an example of how a business can deal with market research while planning to enter a new market with Cerenity, a toilet seat sanitizer. Thus, the paper will provide an in-depth analysis of the case study, appraise the issues and problems present, and propose suitable recommendations to overcome them.
Case Analysis
In the beginning, it is reasonable to introduce the specific information that Cera Sanitaryware Limited wanted to obtain via research. Since Cerenity is a new product in the market, the business was required to investigate how consumers would perceive it. This information should be obtained prior to product launch since it can predict whether the sanitizer would be requested among the target audience.
For that purpose, Cera Sanitaryware Limited conducted complex research involving the work with primary data. It was complex because the organization hired students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA); it was cheaper than hiring a professional market research firm. Irrespective of this fact, the students followed a comprehensive approach to study the problem, and the following paragraphs will comment on the research process.
Firstly, the research team conducted two stages to deal with the tasks. The first stage comprised qualitative methods, including focus groups, in-depth interviews, and observation, to obtain consumer insights regarding the product under investigation. The qualitative methods are suitable because they imply that individuals represent group preferences and opinions (Rahi, 2017). Focus groups are requested since they represent a part of the market, and their answers reveal the bigger picture. Interviews are considered the most insightful technique since it helps researchers obtain valid and reliable data, while personal contact denotes that interviewers can spot some hidden meaning in interviewees’ answers (Saunders et al., 2019).
Finally, observation enriches data because it allows for identifying how customers interact with a product when no external forces affect them (Saunders et al., 2019). The second stage involved quantitative analyses to determine what specific factors could affect consumer purchasing behavior. Rahi (2017) admits that a quantitative method is appropriate since it objectively measures phenomena disregarding personal feelings, emotions, and attitudes to the issue. This description demonstrates that the research team chose suitable methodological principles to analyze the required information.
Secondly, it is worth admitting that the researchers separately focused on users and non-users. This decision seems appropriate because Cera Sanitaryware Limited decided to enter a new market, meaning that it was necessary to identify how people would perceive the product prior to using it. That is why the research team conducted a survey of a non-user group. Rahi (2017) stipulates that this approach collects primary data and results in certain assumptions regarding the concept under analysis.
The case study relied on multiple questionnaires to identify attitudes toward the use of toilet sanitizers and relationships between the product properties and consumer behavior. As for users, a pilot study was conducted to analyze their attitudes toward the product. For that purpose, the team distributed 40 samples within the IIMA campus and asked the individuals to complete the questionnaire to assess their post-purchase experience.
This information allows for concluding that the team of IIMA students used a comprehensive approach to research consumer behavior and attitude toward the toilet seat sanitizer. The rationale behind this statement is that researchers are not obliged to limit themselves to a single technique. Instead, a more suitable strategy is to combine multiple methods to ensure that the issue is investigated in-depth. That is why the use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies as well as a few research techniques has resulted in the fact that market research was performed relying on appropriate theoretical background and assumptions.
Identifying Data Analysis Issues
As has been mentioned above, the researchers comprehensively approached the task of analyzing the Indian market. They used a few suitable instruments to collect the data. Thus, the following step is to analyze the identified information to arrive at a reasonable conclusion. It is possible to admit that the case study under investigation has a few data analysis issues, and the following paragraphs will find and comment on them.
Firstly, the validity of the findings is doubted because the quantitative research process focused on limited sample size. On the one hand, the research team only distributed 40 sanitizers and obtained 35 answers. There was no rationale to explain why this specific number was chosen. However, Rahi (2017) stipulates that there exist particular formulas to calculate the optimal sample size based on the population size.
If this value is absent, it is possible to include at least 200 individuals since Rahi (2017) admits that this number is reasonable. Saunders et al. (2019) also state that pilot studies typically have 100-200 participants. On the other hand, the sample size only consisted of female students at IIMA. The problem refers to the fact that these individuals only represent a part of the target population that also consists of older women. Thus, the issue demonstrates that the sample size is small and insufficiently represented, meaning that it is not possible to generalize the findings.
Secondly, the market research for Cera Sanitaryware Limited did not comment on whether the quantitative data obtained for analysis was coded. The attached questionnaires reveal that the participants were asked to answer close-ended questions, meaning that it is necessary to use a specific coding system to prepare the answers for quantitative analysis. Saunders et al. (2019) admit that a coding system is required because it implies a few advantages, including time efficiency, simplicity to check the correctness of data, and others. Thus, the failure to comment on the codes explicitly results in existing doubts regarding the credibility and reliability of the performed analysis. It can demonstrate that subjectivity impacted the research process, which could adversely affect the findings.
Thirdly, another potential problem that could reduce the validity of the findings refers to the fact that the researchers did not check the completed questionnaires from their pilot study. Saunders et al. (2019) stipulate that appropriate follow-up procedures are necessary to identify if the respondents had any difficulties understanding or answering questions, felt that some topics were missing, and so on. That is why the absence of this step in data analysis can mean that a few participants answered some questions at random without clearly understanding the wording. If it is true, there is no doubt that the findings lack validity, which limits the opportunity to create a compelling and appropriate marketing strategy.
This information demonstrates that the three specific phenomena limit the validity of the research findings. It is worth admitting the problems do not relate to the data analysis process because it seems that the researchers selected and performed appropriate statistical tests to find the answers. Instead of it, the issues refer to the preparation and follow-up procedures of the research. However, it is not reasonable to ignore the identified problems or understate their significance. The rationale behind this statement is that insufficient sample size, the absence of coding, and incorrectly understood questions could modify the findings.
Suitable Recommendations
Since it has been identified that the research team used appropriate data analysis methods, the recommendations refer to the identified issues that affected the process indirectly. In other words, this section does not propose to perform different statistical tests because regression analysis, factor analysis, and others were used appropriately. Instead of it, the following paragraphs will comment on what specific steps preceding or following the data analysis could be taken to overcome the possible harmful effect.
The first recommendation is to use a more extensive sample size. Saunders et al. (2019) and Rahi (2017) admit that 40 individuals are not sufficient for a research or pilot study. Since the sanitizer was developed for Indian women, they represent the overall population. In this case, it is possible to access official statistics to identify how many females live in India. This number can be further used to calculate the optimal sample size.
It is reasonable to mention that Rahi (2017) admits that a sample size of 384 is required for the population of 1,000,000. Simultaneously, it is rational to use a probability sampling approach, implying that random selection is involved (Saunders et al., 2019). This step ensures that the sample size is sufficiently representative and includes members of multiple target population groups. If these conditions are met, it will be a significant step toward the research’s generalizability.
The second recommendation is to draw adequate attention to coding activities. According to Saunders et al. (2019), numerical codes are obligatory for all the data that are involved in quantitative analysis. The rationale behind this decision is that this step enables work with categorical data to answer the required question. One should add that the given marketing research dealt with ordinal or rank data. This term is suitable here because the respondents were asked to answer close-ended questions. That is why the given information demonstrates that the research team should have drawn more attention to explain explicitly whether they used any coding system to prepare the data for analysis.
The third possible recommendation implies that a pilot study should have had specific follow-up procedures to ensure that data analysis was accurate. Saunders et al. (2019) explain that pilot studies can suffer because of improperly developed questionnaires.
The most typical issues include unclear initial instructions, improperly worded questions, omitted topics, the absence of visual aids, and others (Saunders et al., 2019). If any of these problems are present, it is possible to expect that data analysis will not produce valid results because the issues provide the researchers with inadequate information. That is why a suitable piece of advice for the case under consideration would be to contact the respondents right after they completed the questionnaire. It would be rational to find whether they experienced any difficulties answering the question or had any suggestions regarding how to improve the instrument. Since this discussion is absent, the validity of the findings is limited.
These recommendations can be used to make the marketing research more reliable and valid. The selected techniques seem appropriate to find the required information, while a suitable additional option is to take specific actions to ensure that the concurrent processes do not result in any underlying issues. Even though these recommendations seem not so important compared to research techniques or statistical tests, it is not necessary to understate them. The implementation of these recommendations would demonstrate that the marketing research dealt with adequate results because participants correctly understood and answered the questions, the data was coded properly, and the results could be generalized.
Conclusion
The paper has systematically analyzed the marketing research for Cera Sanitaryware Limited. The hired students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad comprehensively approached the task of studying the Indian market to enter it with Cerenity, a new toilet sanitizer. The research team employed both qualitative and quantitative techniques to investigate consumer behavior regarding the given product. This versatile approach allowed for collecting and analyzing sufficient information to arrive at the required conclusions. However, the paper has also found that a few issues made the marketing research findings less valid.
They were the use of insufficient sampling, the absence of coding processes, and the failure to check how the participants appraised the pilot study questionnaire. That is why suitable recommendations were offered to overcome the problems and increase the validity of the findings.
References
Rahi, S. (2017). Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues, and instruments development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 6(2), 403. Web.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019). Research methods for business students (8th ed.). Pearson Publications.