Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

Saad,

The reason for ethics in marketing research has to do with trust. Marketing research is a service function that gathers and analyzes data and makes recommendations for the future direction of the organization being served. Think of marketing research as being a doctor. Like a doctor, marketing research figures out what's wrong with the firm in the market place or how to achieve desired goals such as increasing its strength, and based on an understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the market and the firm's function in that market, deduce what actions to take to enable the firm better to get better or meet its goals. So, let me ask you....what are the consequences if a doctor ignores an ethical approach? Suppose he misrepresents his expertise and the patient dies? Suppose he prescribes a regiment which requires the patient to continually pay him for services that don't do anything but make him rich? What happens if the doctor betrays the patient's confidentiality and talks to others about the patient's condition? Suppose the doctor really doesn't know his craft and the diagnosis is fraudulent and the prescription is the wrong course of action in that it can actually harm the patient? Suppose the doctor is careless with his work and makes no effort to admit and correct his wrongs?

With respect to marketing research, the same unethical actions can cause dire consequences for the firm. Careless work can set the firm on a course that actually harms the firm. Marketing research firms that prescribe services that actually net little needed information except to make them rich saps the client firm at the marketing research firm's gain. And any discovered breach of ethics results in a loss of trust by the client or management team in the firm if the marketing research group is an internal department. Without trust, the marketing research group has nothing.

Another area of trust which can be lost and render the marketing research team ineffective is with respect to people who are being studied. If the marketing research group misrepresents itself to a focus group or survey targets, the people will not answer honestly. Without honest answers, the results are worthless.

I hope this helps.

Wayde

In addition to all the info my colleagues have shared with you, here are some more thoughts from my days working in market research (on scripts and speaking with interviewees).

Many people confuse market research with telemarketing (which is sales -- not marketing). This mistake can cause people to get annoyed when market researchers call people on the phone -- even when those people have agreed in advance to be interviewed. Comes the day of the appointed interivew, folks don't always participate.

People are sometimes concerned about their safety or just feel uncomfortable if their personal information is released or if opinions they express (about a particular product or issue, etc.) are attributed to them. In addition to personal safety, people's reputations could be marred or they could lose their jobs or their places in society could be affected if certain information isn't handled with care. Individuals concerned with market research must be cautious and trustworthy.

Good luck with your project.

MC