Evaluating the Limitations of Market Research
Explain Limitations of Market Research
Part of planning market research is outlining the flaws and limitations of the research itself. Any weaknesses in the research must be identified so they can be improved on. There are a number of limitations that may affect the results found by market research.
Reliability is vital when trying to find out information about large target populations. To avoid poor reliability, the sample chosen to participate in the research should be representative of the whole target population. The correct target sample must be established so that reliability is not a limitation of the research.
To improve poor reliability due to target sample, a list of the target population could be created and then have a number of people selected from that list. It is important to include people who may hold different views for example, if 20% of the target population is male, and then 20% of the target sample should be male also. Having a large sample size also improves the reliability of the information.
If Thorpe Park were to conduct research into how many people preferred Swarm compared to those that prefer Colossus, they would need to carefully select those from the public that represent the entire population. This could involve using public information bodies for lists of UK residents such as the electoral roll and then selecting people randomly (also eliminating bias) rather than just conducting research on one specific location. Conducting research on the street in few locations by using surveys depends one, on those that actually want to participate and two, only represent the views of people in a specific location. This would not be good practice for the business as people travel from many locations throughout the country to visit the amusement park.
Thorpe Park is very much based around the thrills, excitement and other reasons why people visit the attractions. Gaining rich information is important for the business to progress
Part of planning market research is outlining the flaws and limitations of the research itself. Any weaknesses in the research must be identified so they can be improved on. There are a number of limitations that may affect the results found by market research.
Reliability is vital when trying to find out information about large target populations. To avoid poor reliability, the sample chosen to participate in the research should be representative of the whole target population. The correct target sample must be established so that reliability is not a limitation of the research.
To improve poor reliability due to target sample, a list of the target population could be created and then have a number of people selected from that list. It is important to include people who may hold different views for example, if 20% of the target population is male, and then 20% of the target sample should be male also. Having a large sample size also improves the reliability of the information.
If Thorpe Park were to conduct research into how many people preferred Swarm compared to those that prefer Colossus, they would need to carefully select those from the public that represent the entire population. This could involve using public information bodies for lists of UK residents such as the electoral roll and then selecting people randomly (also eliminating bias) rather than just conducting research on one specific location. Conducting research on the street in few locations by using surveys depends one, on those that actually want to participate and two, only represent the views of people in a specific location. This would not be good practice for the business as people travel from many locations throughout the country to visit the amusement park.
Thorpe Park is very much based around the thrills, excitement and other reasons why people visit the attractions. Gaining rich information is important for the business to progress