| A | B |
|---|
| internal databases | Electronic collections of information obtained from data sources within the company |
| MIS | People, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers |
| marketing intelligence | The systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment |
| marketing research | The systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization |
| exploratory research | Gathering preliminary information that will help define problems and suggest hypotheses |
| descriptive research | Describing marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers |
| casual research | Testing hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships |
| secondary data | Information that already exists |
| primary data | Information collected for the specific purpose at hand |
| observational research | Gathering data by watching people, actions, and situations |
| ethnographics | Research that reveals the unspoken cultural and social patterns that shape consumer preferences |
| survey research | Gathering data by asking people questions |
| experinmental research | Gathering data by selecting groups, giving them different treatments, and checking for differences in responses |
| sample | A piece of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole |
| online marketing research | Collecting data through Internet surveys and online focus groups |
