Research sample(What is your proposed sampling strategy? What is your proposed target population, sampling frame, sample size and sampling method probability or non probability sampling? Justify the decisions made

Research brief 3

Meat-free option

Although the Spey Castle Cookery School Executive Chef has mapped out the cooking course schedule, Felicity Gordon, McGregor Holdings' Marketing Manager, is concerned that the courses on offer are too narrow. A vegetarian herself, Felicity feels that the course schedule needs to reflect changing dietary behaviours and attitudes towards meat, fish and dairy. She has suggested to the Executive Chef that offering courses focused on vegetarian or vegan diets would cater for this growing market. The Executive Chef acknowledges that more people have changed their diet or are looking to reduce their consumption of some products but doesn't feel that there is enough demand to merit 'special courses' at the cooking school.

Marketing research problem:

Felicity is looking for consumer data to determine whether there is a market for such courses and is concerned that associating Scottish cuisine just with meat, fish and dairy may limit the appeal of the cookery school.

Guidance from your line manager:

The client is looking to make a common marketing decision: whether to revise an existing product or service offering to appeal to an existing and/or new customer. The research will need to provide information that will enable her to make a choice and reduce the risk of a bad decision. A key challenge for the research you propose is to establish both demand and how the potential scale of this demand will be gauged. This is particularly difficult when the target markets are not clearly defined or easily identifiable.

When budgets are modest, it is often necessary to be creative in the research design and to use multiple approaches and methods to gain the necessary insights. To respond to this brief, consider the role of secondary research, which is likely to help inform the study and provide insights that highlight the nature, direction and velocity of changing social trends. This data, however, is unlikely to address a critical question: whether the trends apparent in the broader society are likely to increase demand at this cookery school. An analysis of what competitor cookery schools are offering and their provision for vegans and vegetarians may offer a clearer sense of the potential demand (and supply).

It can be tempting to propose undertaking a study with existing customers of the cookery school. This would be a relatively cheap and effective way of gaining views on the concept. Be careful not to place too much emphasis on this group, however, because they may not be representative of a new potential market segment that the client may need to target.

Sometimes, when changes in customer tastes and behaviours are so dynamic and unpredictable, the best course of action is 'trial and error'. This might involve launching a short series of pilot events which you evaluate to assess the impact. This will require a robust evaluation study to ensure all elements of the pilot events are covered (i.e. from promotion and recruitment to experience of the event).