Presentation Information, properly treated and managed, is the pillar where all strategic planning processes rest. It must be managed effectively to produce the desired results. This is the objective of the Marketing Information System (SIM) that constitutes the nerve center of a company's marketing actions.

The SIM is nourished by market research, which is one of the most attractive facets of marketing, since it contributes to the processes of generation, analysis, storage and distribution of information to the commercial and marketing management; Thus facilitating decision-making by reducing risk margins in specific situations or problems. The information that market research provides us can be used to:

• Establish strategies and action plans in the commercial and promotional areas that lead to improving the company's position in the market.
• Monitor the impact on the market of the marketing actions undertaken, to check if they reach, and to what extent, the objectives set.
• Identify important facts and opportunities that the market can offer.

This course will allow you to obtain the ability to generate relevant business knowledge from data, applying the relevant marketing tools; as well as the ability to assess different specific business situations and set scenarios reducing risk in decision making.

On-line education

Entrepreneurship e-learning courses will allow you to:

The possibility of choosing the most suitable time and place. Interact with other students enriching the diversity of visions and opinions and their application in real situations.

Work with more and different resources offered by the online environment.

Increase your skills and competencies in the workplace based on the study of real cases raised in this course.

Teaching method

The course is carried out on-line through the Business Initiatives e-learning platform that allows, if you wish, the didactic modules to be downloaded together with the practical exercises so that they can later serve as an effective reference manual. Each student will be assigned a tutor who will support and follow up on the course, as well as a specialized consultant who will attend to and resolve all the queries they may have about the teaching material. The course includes:

Course Content and Duration

The course lasts 120 hours and the teaching material consists of:

Study Manual

Corresponds to all the subjects taught throughout the 10 practical training modules included in the Market Research Techniques and Customer Analysis course.

Complementary material

Includes examples, solved cases, etc. on the subject in order to exemplify and offer resources for the resolution of the specific problems of Market Research.

Follow-up exercises

Exercises where certain cases regarding the study of Market Research Techniques are raised and solved. Self-assessment tests For the practical verification of the knowledge that you are acquiring. This course will allow you to know and know:

• Why, for what and how market research is carried out.
• How to know the behavior of the consumer or their potential customer.
• What are the tastes and preferences of their clients, as well as their location, social class, education, occupation, etc.
• How you analyze the decision-making process of your potential customers before and after the purchase.
• How to acquire a methodology for analyzing markets, clients, offers, etc
• What are the possible research techniques and what are their main applications.
• How to carry out a research sample that gives the highest reliability index.
• How new technologies are used in market research.
• How to present the result of a market investigation.

Addressed to:

Managers and personnel from the marketing, commercial and other departments with responsibilities for market research in the company and all those who wish to improve their knowledge and techniques of market research.

Course content

MODULE 1. Concept and planning of market research

• 1.1. Research as a tool for obtaining information.
• 1.2. Marketing research concept:
• 1.2.1. What is marketing research?
• 1.2.2. What is marketing research for?
• 1.2.3. Marketing research limitations.
• 1.3. Phases of the marketing research process:
• 1.3.1. Phase 1: formulation of the problem.
• 1.3.2. Phase 2: research design.
• 1.3.3. Phase 3: obtaining information and quality control.
• 1.3.4. Phase 4: analysis of information and interpretation of results.
• 1.3.5. Phase 5: report of the main results and conclusions.
• 1.4. Sources of error in the marketing research process.
• 1.5. Types of marketing research providers.
• 1.6. Ethical considerations.
• 1.7. The problem to investigate:
• 1.7.1. Formulation of the problem to investigate.
• 1.7.2. Stages in the formulation of the problem to investigate.
• 1.7.3. Basic information in the formulation of the problem to be investigated.
• 1.8. Research designs:
• 1.8.1. Types of research according to the objective pursued.
• 1.8.2. Types of research according to the type of information you want to obtain.
• 1.8.3. Relationship between the two previous classifications.

MODULE 2. Information sources

• 2.1. Types of information sources.
• 2.2. Secondary sources and primary sources.
• 2.3. Selection of the information source
• MODULE 3. Qualitative research
• 3.1. What is qualitative research?
• 3.2. Qualitative research versus quantitative research.
• 3.3. Group meetings:
• 3.3.1. Group techniques.
• 3.3.2. The figure of the moderator.
• 3.3.3. The members of the group.
• 3.3.4. Phases of an investigation based on group meetings.
• 3.3.5. Advantages and disadvantages of group meetings.
• 3.3.6. Online group meetings.
• 3.4. Depth interview:
• 3.4.1. Phases of a research project based on in-depth interviews.
• 3.4.2. The figure of the interviewer.
• 3.4.3. Advantages and disadvantages of the in-depth interview.
• 3.5. Projective techniques:
• 3.5.1. Types of projective techniques.
• 3.5.2. Projective techniques administration procedure. Course content
• 3.5.3. Advantages and disadvantages of projective techniques.
• 3.6. Qualitative analysis:
• 3.6.1. Preliminary analysis.
• 3.6.2. Initial analysis of the transcripts.
• 3.6.3. Analysis of the content of the transcripts.
• 3.6.4. In-depth analysis "topic by topic".

MODULE 4. Quantitative research

• 4.1. The observation:
• 4.1.1. Observation types.
• 4.1.2. Phases of the research project based on the pseudo-purchase.
• 4.1.3. Advantages and limitations of observation.
• 4.2. The survey:
• 4.2.1. The ad hoc survey.
• 4.2.2. The omnibus survey.
• 4.2.3. The panel survey.

MODULE 5. Causal investigation 

• 5.1. Concept and conditions of causality.
• 5.2. Basic concepts.
• 5.3. Validity of experimentation.
• 5.4. Strange variables.
• 5.5. Control of strange variables. Course content
• 5.6. Design of experiments:
• 5.6.1. Laboratory experiments.
• 5.6.2. Pre-experimental design.
• 5.6.3. Experimental designs.

MODULE 6. Design of questionnaires

• 6.1. Aspects to take into account when preparing a questionnaire.
• 6.2. Kind of questions.
• 6.3. Aspects to take into account when preparing the questions.
• 6.4. Measurement scales.
• 6.5. Attitude scales:
• 6.5.1. Comparative attitude scales:
• 6.5.1.1. Pair comparison scales.
• 6.5.1.2. Rating scales.
• 6.5.1.3. Constant sum scales.
• 6.5.1.4. Q rating scales.
• 6.5.2. Non-comparative attitude scales:
• 6.5.2.1. Continuous rating scales.
• 6.5.2.2. Likert scales.
• 6.5.2.3. Guttman scales.
• 6.5.2.4. Osgood semantic differential scales.
• 6.6. Field work:
• 6.6.1. Concept and phases of obtaining information.
• 6.6.2. The interviewers.
• 6.6.3. Quality control of information.

Course content MODULE 7.

• 7.1. The scales and their properties.
• 7.2. Types of scales:
• 7.2.1. Primary scales.
• 7.2.2. Comparative scales.
• 7.2.3. Non-comparative scales.
• 7.2.4. Itemized scales.
• 7.3. Reliability of the scales:
• 7.3.1. Error classes and sources.
• 7.3.2. Measurement of the reliability of the scales.
• 7.3.3. Influence of scale design on reliability.
• 7.4. Validity of the scales.
• 7.5. Criteria for evaluating the scales.

MODULE 8. Sampling

• 8.1. Sample concept.
• 8.2. Determination of sample size.
• 8.3. Sampling methods:
• 8.3.1. Random or probabilistic sampling methods.
• 8.3.2. Empirical sampling methods.

MODULE 9. Analysis of information

• 9.1. Definition.
• 9.2. Stages
• 9.3. Coding: when and how to recode the data.
• 9.4. Individual analysis of each question or variable:
• 9.4.1. Calculation of absolute, relative frequencies and percentages.
• 9.4.2. Graphic representations.
• 9.4.3. Descriptive statistical measures.
• 9.4.4. Parameter estimates in the population.
• 9.5. Analysis of questions by subgroups:
• 9.5.1. Cross tables.
• 9.5.2. Contrasts to determine the significance of the differences found in the groups.
• 9.6. Analysis of the relationships between questions or variables:
• 9.6.1. Relationship between quantitative variables:
• 9.6.1.1. Measure of the relationship between variables: the linear or Pearson's correlation coefficient.
• 9.6.1.2. Correlation contrast.
• 9.6.2. Relationship between qualitative variables:
• 9.6.2.1. Is there a relationship between variables?
• 9.6.2.2. Measures of quantification of the association between qualitative variables.
• 9.6.3. Measure of the relationship between ordinal variables:
• 9.6.3.1. The rank or Spearman correlation coefficient.
• 9.6.3.2. Kendall's coefficient t.
• 9.6.3.3. Kendall's coefficient of concordance w.
• 9.7. Other non-parametric tests:
• 9.7.1. Analysis of variance by ranges with a controlled factor. Kruskal-Wallis test.
• 9.7.2. Analysis of variance by ranges with two controlled factors. Friedman's test.
• 9.7.3. Cochran test.
• 9.7.4. McNemar test.
• 9.7.5. 2x2 contingency tables.
• 9.7.6. Fisher's exact probability.

Course content MODULE 10. Creation of reports 

• 10.1. Structure of the report.
• 10.2. The step-by-step report:
• 10.2.1. Research objectives.
• 10.2.2. Investigation methodology.
• 10.2.3. Results.
• 10.2.4. Conclusions and recommendations.