Data Analysis
and
Decision Making
Session 3/14 of DADM
Mumbai train accidents
We need Data
For decision-making i.e.
(to decide marketing actions)
(to evaluate marketing actions)
(to monitor marketing performance)
(to identify opportunities)
Research Process
1. Problem definition
2. Developing the approach to the problem
3. Research design formulation
4. Data Collection
5. Data Preparation and Analysis
6. Report preparation and presentation
Decision-making in Business!
VP (Sales), Pantaloon: I noticed, users search our products very much on
websites like Flipkart and Amazon.in, but I am unable to understand why buyers
in West India not buying them.
Director (Marketing): So, did you find out about buyer behaviour?
VP (Sales), Pantaloon : I need to figure out!
Director (Marketing): How are sales and profits figures in online channel in
West India?
VP (Sales), Pantaloon: I need to figure out even that too!!
Director (Marketing): I think, you should decide if you need to change something
for my online buyers.
1. Problem definition
•Management decision problem:
•Do I need to do something different for online buyers (e.g. different
marketing mix)?
•Research problem:
•What factors will affect purchase of online buyers for our products?
Decision-making in Business!
VP (R&D), A coffee chain: Recent industry reports say that consumer
behaviour will be changing in next 2-3 years. It seems, consumers now wish
to consume coffee as a food supplement between two meals in a day.
Director (International Business): So, what are your plans?
VP (R&D), A coffee chain: This information is broad and we need to know
more about consumers needs. Do they need coffee variations or a new
coffee-based product? This will help us to modify our product offerings.
Director (International Business): So, what do you suggest?
VP (R&D), A coffee chain: I need to make an intensive plan for research.
1. Problem definition
•Management decision problem:
•Should we modify our products or product offerings?
•Research problem:
•What factors will determine change in consumer needs in the future for
coffee consumption? (Problem identification)
•What nutritional composition and prices will be suitable for customers?
(Problem solving)
Research Process
1. Problem definition
2. Developing the approach to the problem
3. Research design formulation
4. Data Collection
5. Data Preparation and Analysis
6. Report preparation and presentation
2. Developing the Approach
Variable A
Variable B Variable D
Variable C
•Approach: (1) QUALitative OR QUANTitative OR Mixed
(2) Data: Secondary OR Primary OR Both
2. Developing the Approach
• Management decision problem:
• Do I need to do something different for online buyers (e.g. different
marketing mix)?
• Research problem:
• What factors will affect purchase of online buyers for our products?
• Approach: (1) QUALitative OR QUANTitative OR Mixed
(2) Data: Secondary OR Primary OR Both
2. Developing the Approach
• Sources of Qualitative–Secondary data
• Advertisements (compare ads for online buying against retailing
buying)
• Social media (collect user comments on brand pages/tweets)
• News articles (editorials, advisor articles)
• Related research reports in the past
• Approach: (1) QUALitative OR QUANTitative OR Mixed
(2) Data: Secondary OR Primary OR Both
2. Developing the Approach
• Sources of Qualitative–Primary data
• Focus group discussion / interview (exhaustive list of variables)
• In-depth interview (relationship among variables)
• Approach: (1) QUALitative OR QUANTitative OR Mixed
(2) Data: Secondary OR Primary OR Both
FOCUS GROUP
DISCUSSION
or
FOCUS GROUP
INTERVIEW
Focus Group
• About FGD
• How to write questions for FGD’s problem statement
• How to conduct FGD
• Conduct FGD
• Analyse FGD
Focus Group
• An interview conducted by a moderator among a group
of respondents in a semi-structured and natural
manner
• Characteristics:
o 4-12 respondents
o 30 minutes to 3 hours
o Audio/video recorded (with permission of each respondent)
Steps in FGDs
1. FGD questions to be answered by focus group
2. Screening questions to select participants
3. Identify, select and invite participants
4. Prepare moderator’s outline
5. Practice for FGD with dummy participants
6. Conduct the FGD
7. Prepare transcripts and analyse data
8. Summarise findings and plan for next phase of research
FGD questions – How to write them?
Demographics (لسكانيةEEلتركيبة اEE)ا
Age - <18, 19-30, 31-40, 41-50, >50
Gender: Male, Female, Transgender
Marital status: Single, married, Widow(er), Divorcee, Separated
Education: Uneducated, Below, Graduate, Post-graduate, Above
Income: Low, Lower medium, Medium, Upper medium, Rich, Super rich
Household expenditure:
Physical ability:
Employment: Unemployed, Employed (govt./private), Self-employed
FGD questions – How to write them?
Geographic
FGD questions – How to write them?
Behavioural
Example of FGD questions
• Do you think, consumers have an opinion about online shopping?
• How do you know?
• Do you have an opinion of online shopping?
• Do you shop apparel online? If yes, how often?
• Do you have a story or an incident related to online shopping?
• Do your friends/ siblings/ colleagues buy apparel online?
• If yes, what do they tell you of their experience of buying apparel
online?
• Do your parents buy apparel online? What do they share about this?
• Do you have friends/ relatives in USA or Europe or Singapore? If yes,
what do they tell you about buying apparel online?
• Did you notice if buying apparel online has change over time?
Screening questions
1. Do you know about online shopping?
2. What do you know about online shopping?
3. Do you know what brands are available online?
4. Names of brands in online shopping that you know of?
5. Any brand that you buy regularly OR know well?
6. What’s your opinion on online shopping?
Moderator’s Outline
• Introduction and rapport • Set of questions
forming
• Closing the discussion
Greetings
Any topics left out?
Purpose
Rules Summarise the discussion
Recording Thank the participants
No right/wrong decision Incentivise them
Language
Participant introduction
Variations in focus groups
• Two-way focus group • Client-participant groups
• Dual-moderator focus group • Mini-groups
• Dueling-moderator focus • Tele-session groups
• Electronic group interviewing
group
• Respondent-moderator focus
group
After FGD
• Prepare transcripts
• Speaker A: I think…
• Speaker B: In my understanding….
• Speaker C: But my opinion is….
• Speaker B: I somehow agree with Speaker A but ….
After FGD
• Analyse transcripts
• Read transcripts (initially, one at a time AND later, all
together)
• Identify same words / words with similar meaning
• Group words across topics
• Name each topic based upon words and descriptions it
contains
• Identify content from the transcript which explain a
particular theme
• Develop a report and revise it 3-4 times
After FGD
• Analysing transcripts is NOT one time task !!
• After analysing transcripts
• Prepare a summary of FGD (separate from the report)
• Show and verify the summary with speakers
• Seek comments from experts on summary
• Discuss with your colleagues/ friends
Establish your framework
Variable A
Variable B Variable D
Variable C
Advantages of focus groups
• More information
• Spontaneous
• Chain reaction of responses
• Scientific scrutiny
• Stimulating atmosphere
• Flexible structure
• Comfort
• Probability of getting good • Speed of data collection
idea
Disadvantages of focus groups
1. Misuse – use as a conclusive study
2. Misjudge – biased interpretation
3. Moderation – difficult to moderate
4. Messy – due to unstructured nature of data
5. Misrepresentation – not representative of population
Applications of focus groups
• What may be the segments? • Consumer perception, preference
• On what basis, should a market and behaviour for a product
be segmented? category
• Which group to target for a • Impressions of new product concept
product or brand? • Generation of new ideas, creative
• On what basis, a product be concepts
positioned in the market? • Securing price impressions
• What should be attributes in a • Obtaining preliminary consumer
product? reaction to specific marketing
• Will people recognize a logo? programs
Applications of focus groups
• Methodological applications:
o Defining the problem precisely
o Identifying variables (or, factors, constructs)
o Obtaining information for questionnaire designing
o Generating hypothesis
o Interpreting results
Online Focus Groups
• Participation by invitation, pre-recruited from an online list of
people
• Screening questionnaire followed by details of the focus
group
• Fewer people than traditional focus groups
• Advantages:
o No spatial or temporal barriers, lower cost
o Can reach difficult segments
o Side conversations with individual respondents
• Disadvantages:
o Verification of participants is difficult
o Lack of control over respondent’s environment
Low involvement
THANKS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_RPzosoNbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCFhZGeYO0w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_cUnlQl29Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrKqVF2qMA0
Qualitative vs quantitative methods
• QUALitative • QUANTitative
• Explore, describe or • Quantification and analysis
understand
• Small sample • Large sample
• Interactive and unstructured • Formatted and structured
• Textual and basic statistical • Advanced statistical
analysis analysis
