Marketing Research Problem

How to Define a Marketing Research Problem Easily and Effectively For Your Research Report?

Preparing a perfect marketing research report depends on the research problem statement. The more clear and comprehensible your problem statement is, the more focused and directed your study will be.

So how can you write the perfect marketing study statement of problem?

Before telling you that, let’s see what a Marketing Research Problemis?

In simple words, it is to determine the preferences and buying behavior of the customers and to study whether a particular product or service will profitably be sold or not. The problem statement defines specific and distinct objectives behind conducting the study. Your research hypothesis, methodology, conclusion and recommendations all depends on the problem statement.

There are three main components to a good Marketing Research Problem

• Background of the problem:

It is important to give a little background of the problem in the problem statement to make the reader aware of the depth and history of the issue. This will provide a basis for clear and better understanding of the issue.

• The Specific Problem: 

This is the main part of your problem statement. This is where you introduce your Problemto the viewers.

• Problem definition

In this part, you give a brief and concise overview of the problem and define specifically what the problem is and why and when is it occurring?

Tip:

If you are having trouble writing this part of the problem statement, simply go about answering the questions in the mentioned sequence in one sentence answers.

• What:
  What is the exact problem that needs to be solved?
• Where:
  Where does the problem occur?
• When:
  When does the problem occur or what factors contribute to the occurrence of the problem?

• Justification for the study:

This is the most important part after the problem definition. This is where you will be informing your readers why you have chosen this topic for research and givevalid rationalizations for it.

Tip:

To formulate good justifications, just answer the following questions:

• Why is this study necessary?
• What will happen if this study is ignored?
• Specific methodology that will be used for the study
  Here, you can define specifically the method you will be using to solve the problem.

There are basically two types of data that can beused for research, primary and secondary data. Primary data is obtained by first hand observations or communication. It usually involves questionnaires filed by the target audience, personal interviews or focus groups arranged for a specific purpose.

• Secondary data involves summary of already existing data which includes newspapers, company journals and government statistics.

Tip:

Based on the explanation above, try to understand which type of data will you need for your marketing study? This usually depends on the kind of variables involved in your study. If your variables involve study of customers’ perceptions and views, then you will be conducting primary research whereas, if it involves a study of governmental or company policies, then you will be conducting secondary research.

• Scope of the problem:

This includes the desired outcome that you wish to see through your study.

Tip:

For writing this part of your problem statement, answer the following question:

• What changes would you like to see through your research?

So by clearly understanding and following the above mentioned components and tips, formulating market research problem statements for your thesis or dissertation can be done in no time.