Applied Assignment #$6($Chapter $9)$

$1717$ unread replies$\mathrm{.}1717$ replies.

Your responses should be between $300$ and $400$ words, of good quality related to grammar, format, content, etc. If I cannot figure out what you are trying to communicate, due to poor writing, points may be subtracted. If you know you have difficulties with your written communication, please use the assistance provided by the CWU Writing Center. This is an individual work. The responses should reflect your own ideas. Any instance of cheating$/$plagiarism will result in failing the course.

As mentioned in Week $5$ Announcement, researchers can use two different types of marketing research techniques: qualitative and quantitative marketing research.

Qualitative marketing research is the research that addresses marketing objectives through various techniques that give the researchers the chance to interpret market phenomena without depending on numerical values $($Babin and Zikmund, $2016).$ People and groups are studied in their natural settings. As you learned from the textbook and lecture, some examples of such research methods are observation and ethnographic research.

Quantitative marketing research addresses marketing objectives through empirical assessments; this involves numerical measurement and analytical approaches $($Babin and Zikmund, $2016).$ This research technique gathers data in a numerical form. As presented in your textbook and lecture, some examples are survey and experimental research, where researchers can measure things.

The following questions relate to observation and survey research.

You learned about mystery shoppers and their role in the marketing research process. Why do companies hire mystery shoppers? Please be as detailed as you can.

Imagine the following scenario. John Michael Smythe owns a small marketing research firm in Cleveland, Ohio, which employs $75$ people. Most employees are the sole breadwinners in their families. John$$s firm has not fared well for the past two years and is on the verge of bankruptcy. The company recently surveyed over $2,500$ people in Ohio about new$-$car purchase plans for the Ohio Department of Economic Development. Because the study identified many hot prospects for new cars, a car dealer has offered John $$8,000$ for the names and phone numbers of people saying they are $$likely$$ or $$very likely$$ to buy a new car within the next $12$ months. John needs the money to avoid laying off a number of employees.

Should John Smythe sell the names from the survey research? Why or why not?