Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

This question has been explored recently and the answers are here:

https://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=12192#75755

I hope this helps.

Wayde

The tendency to misinterpret data is usually done for the purpose of advancing an agenda, or to substantiate claims. I think this is fairly uncommon in market research, since organizations want to really understand their customers so that they can better meet their needs. It is probably more common in politics. My guess is, that a researcher may violate ethics of data interpretation, by claiming to understand a methodology and how it is to be reported, when in fact they don't understand the implications of the approach being used. Here are a few references that may get you started...hopefully this is what you are looking for:


https://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/experts/2000/isaacs_polls_qa.htm

https://www.bytesizedproductions.com/papers/GraphicalManipulation.pdf

Good luck,
Joy

If you read my answer again, it covers interpretation of data.

With respect to your need for additional resources, not all things can be found on the internet and in fact most things you find are not very good to "reference" for university projects because they are not "peer reviewed." You should stick to peer-reviewed jounals. Go to your university library and ask the research librarian for some help. Most likely, they will have access to databases of journals like ProQuest, EBSCOhost, or InfoTrac. You can search these by topic with search strings like "Ethics of data collection in marketing research."

Here are some organizations with Marketing Research groups:

American Marketing Association

www.marketingpower.com

Marketing Research Association

https://www.mra-net.org/

Qualitative Research Consultant's Association

https://www.qrca.org/

Roper Center for Public Opinion

https://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/

Wayde

One other good one that may be particularly appropriate in this situation is CASRO:

https://www.casro.org/

Wayde brings up a good point, about not being able to find everything on the internet. Also, keep in mind that many of the journals which may contain the information for which you are searching may not be freely accessed (i.e., will come at a cost).

It could be that your professor is expecting you to read some of the case studies and make deductions based on critical thinking. That's kinda how you learn versus finding just the right journal with the right article and making a book report out of it. Ethics is the ideals as defined by the present customs and culture. It changes over time. It's not necessarily fixed in stone forever and ever. It is also situational. These are probably aspects that your professor would like you to explore. So, three elements:

1. What is the present school of thought on ethics of data interpretation? Looking at several case studies would help you derive this.

2. What are the boundaries inside of which these ethics are relavant? Again, given a survey of case studies, you can deduce this.

3. What are the consequences of unethical behavior in data interpretation? a) For the firm? b) For the marketing research profession?

Maybe someone on here can give you just the right set of journals to allow you to make a report on why managers need to enforce ethics in data interpretation for their their marketing research staff, but since you are under a deadline, you may want to start the "hard work" in the meantime.

Wayde

The part that involves data interpretation is in bold:

"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?

Interpretation is analyzing the data and making recommendations. This involves understanding of the market, the firm, the firm's goals, and the gaps and then recommending the actions to close the gaps. Ethical lapses include:
1) Maliciously misrepresenting recommendations to meet personal or functional goals at the expense of the firm's goals and best interests
2) Misrepresenting the expertise and understanding by the marketing research group
3) Being less than knowledgeable in the marketing research craft, improperly conducting the research and then analyzing and making recommendations based on this incompetency
4) Discovering a mistake in the analysis and interpretation and not coming forward to correct this mistake

Consequences of the unethical behavior at the least means, if discovered, a loss of trust by management in the market research group, rendering them ineffective. Or, worse, the manager could be dismissed. And in the worst case, the firm's stakeholders could be bilked out of benefits they would realize (for instance, monetary damage) if the research was completed ethically.

I hope this helps.

Wayde