MARKETING

Marketing

Table Of Content

Table Of Content2

Summary3

Literature Review4

Business Interviews and Geographical Research4

When to Interview5

Techniques and Research Design6

Research Questions or Hypothesis7

Research Questions7

Research objectives8

Research Methodology9

Validity and reliability10

Research design13

Method of data collection14

Secondary Research14

Primary data collection15

Target audience16

Techiniques17

1. Surveys.17

2. Focus groups.18

3. Personal interviews.18

4. Observation.18

5. Field trials.18

Ethical consideration19

Data Analysis20

References23

TIME SCALE26

Resources28

Financial28

Summary

Interviews with business owners and managers are a prime source of information for economic geographers, yet very little has been written about this technique. Although the issues involved in business surveys are not unique, several points about research methods are highlighted when undertaking business interviews, including the link between interview techniques and research design, identifying respondents and obtaining access, preparing for interviews and obtaining 'accurate' answers, and ways of conducting and recording interviews. This paper draws upon both published sources and a survey of the interview methods used by Anglo-American economic geographers in order to review the methods and techniques of interviewing. This paper concludes by arguing that there is no one 'best' way of interviewing business owners and managers. Methods vary for different situations, depending on a range of factors, including the research design, the kind and amount of information required, the resources available, and the size, organizational structure, sector and location of the businesses to be approached. There is an urgent need for a greater priority to be given to experimenting with different survey methods and reporting the results.

Literature Review

Business Interviews and Geographical Research

Business organizations have been an important focus for geographical research for a long time. In the late 1950s and 1960s a combination of dissatisfaction with the treatment of the firm as a 'black box' in neoclassical location theory and the increasing concentration of economic power in large businesses led to the emergence of the behavioural approach and an analysis of the geography of enterprise. To begin with most attention was given to large industrial enterprises . Although later interest continued in the role of multiplant and multinational organizations in influencing spatial patterns of human activity, attention also widened to include small enterprises and the relationships between small and large businesses.

Furthermore, interest spread from a concern with enterprises primarily involved in manufacturing to those engaged in other sectors, such as producer services , and agriculture. Interviews with owners and managers are a prime source of information on the activities of businesses, whether the purpose is to understand the spatial behaviour of the organizations themselves or as a means of analysing the economic geography of a particular sector or area. It needs to be recognized, however, that interviews with business owners and managers will provide the research worker with material from only one particular viewpoint and it will often be desirable to obtain other viewpoints, such as those of the unions and various government bodies. Where conflicting evidence emerges academic detachment will be required in assessing and interpreting the information collected

When to Interview

Obtaining information direct from business owners and managers is a time-consuming and labourintensive method of collecting information, and it is therefore usually sensible first to examine other ...