Question:
d) Outline with examples the advantages and disadvantages of conducting market research on the internet compared with more traditional methods:
Introduction
Market research is critical in tourism industry. It helps understand the complexity of tourist behavior and motivation. Market managers seek to understand customer behaviors and the characteristic market dynamics (Pereira, 2015). Market research is an important facet of business strategy. For one to succeed in a highly competitive market environment, market research is imperative. It provides answers to business needs and helps an organization make decisions that will make companies move forward. According to Romaniuk and Huang (2019), through market research an organization can base its decisions on solid data instead of assumptions. There are a broad category of market research and these categories include, brand research, marketing campaign evaluation, competitor research, customer segmentation research and usability testing research. Market research can adopt either internet or traditional method depending on the nature of the research. A decision to adopt either of the methods is dependent on cost benefit analysis anchored on the assessment of advantages and disadvantages of the method adopted.
Internet Research
The Digital revolution has promoted a massive growth in internet use at the household and commercial levels. The internet has become an important source of information, and social media platforms have provided more direct consumer research opportunities and helped understand consumer behavior. Digital functionality such as email, video streaming, messaging and others have given researchers a new way to capture information. The same helps customers and researchers work together to explore new ideas. For example, researchers can conduct online surveys through digital technology platforms, explore new ideas from relevant marketing databases, and access customers. Digital communication technologies such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Zoom and Facetime allow a moderator to see and hear interviews in remote locations or across borders.
Research indicates that internet marketing provides quantitative research tools such as online surveys, focus groups, online communities, bulletin boards and insight platforms. Furthermore, a ballooning range of multi-functional research platforms can prove vital for online market research (Sanjuan, 2021). Also, social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook provide an ideal environment for market research.
Advantages
Digital research has abroad range of benefits, especially in the tourism and hospitality sector, and some of these advantages are as follows:
- Ease of communication
The internet is at the core of Information Technology (IT) and the internet facilitates communication within the research framework. For example, through the internet, researchers can administer online surveys. Zoom and other video and audio streaming technologies such as Facetime can be used to reach the target audience. For market research, a researcher can use IT to conduct virtual interviews and reach thousands of customers (Sanjuan, 2021). The ease of communication saves time and money, and the strategy is ideal when targeting a broad demographic. It is also convenient and cheap because one can conduct an interview in the comfort of their home or office. Through these technologies, a researcher can work from home with much ease due to improved communication.
- Cost-effective
Research indicates that internet research is cheap or cost-effective. The internet creates a comparatively economic avenue for information dissemination of articles and information. For example, when conducting internet market research, credible information can be accessed from credible and authentic marketing databases. Examples of market research databases include BCC Research, Business Source Ultimate and eMarketer (Zhang et al., 2017). Research databases are organized pools of data used to store, manage and retrieve data. Market research database information includes market insight, consumer, and industry information. For instance, one can tailor search words to match a specific industry. For example, database search can be tailored to retrieve hospitality and tourism data. Market research databases have peer-reviewed articles, statistical accounts, books, or a combination of all relevant materials on a particular marketing subject. The databases are cheap since some are free while others charge a nominal fee, making them relatively cheap compared to traditional research methods.
- Wealth of information
The internet is considered a wealth of information, which means that there is a broad range of information on different subject matters (Zhang et al., 2017). One can access a wealth of information online depending on the nature of the market research, whether on consumer behavior or brand loyalty. The internet opens up a broad range of information sources and is suitable for all types of research. For example, when conducting brand awareness research, it is easy to get relevant data online, and the same data can be valuable in the research process.
- Fast and efficient
Research indicates that internet research is fast and efficient because some digital media provide almost an “instant” sample (Zhang et al., 2017). For example, a Twitter poll would provide immediate results. For example, when conducting targeted market research on brand recognition, it is cheaper and faster to use online platforms, especially social media sites such as Facebook.
Disadvantages
- Information overload
The internet provides an excessively large amount of data and information published by experts and amateurs in different disciplines. Therefore, sometimes it is hard to distinguish between what is not genuine and what is not, which can compromise the quality of a research outcome. Anyone can publish information online, so there is theft of information, plagiarism, and non-authentic publication. Due to a large amount of online information, a researcher must sieve and determine the desired quality. For example, it is advisable to use peer-reviewed journals and books when conducting market research or any other form of research. Mathrani et al. (2020) argue that internet research quality depends on the data used. Establishing the authenticity and credibility of online data is a serious challenge to internet research.
- Threats of virus
The internet is awash with threats of malware and computer viruses. Criminal activities such as phishing can pose a serious threat to a research process. Vayansky and Kumar (2018) argue that computer phishing is a serious threat to Internet users and can hinder access to quality data for marketing research.
Traditional Research
Traditional research methods involve either verbal or face-to-face conversations in real-time. For example, interviews, qualitative focus groups, and ethnography (Zhang et al., 2017). A qualitative focus group involves exploring ideas, while ethnography involves observing people in particular settings to examine their unconscious influences (Truman, 2022). For example, a researcher can study consumer behavior within a locality, a city or a community. Unlike internet research, traditional research involves practical research activities such as administering questionnaires and conducting an experiment: However, just like internet research, traditional research has characteristic pros and cons.
Advantages
- Probe, intervene and challenge
Traditional research methods such as face-to-face interviews allow the researcher to probe and seek, unlike internet research, where a researcher cannot seek clarity from the primary source of the data. Apart from probing, one can challenge ideas and facts presented in traditional research methods(Mathrani et al., 2020). For example, when conducting an interview and you discover that the interviewee is giving incorrect responses or exaggerating their responses, the best thing to do is challenge their claims and assertions.
- Observation of non-verbal cues
Traditional research methods allow one to gauge the accuracy and quality of responses through non-verbal cues such as tonal variation and body movement. It is possible to tell if someone is deceitful by facial expression (Mathrani et al., 2020). Voice intonation and general behavior can help gauge the quality of responses. Non-verbal communication during primary data collection in traditional research methods provides an extra texture and richness to information and gives it deeper insight. These features are not present in internet research which adopts secondary data such as journals, articles and books.
Disadvantages
- Expensive
Traditional research methods are more expensive compared to Internet research. The cost of collecting data through experimentation and ethnography demands serious investments. Some organizations have developed Research and Development(R&D) departments to conduct primary research on issues such as organizational performance. These departments are well-funded, which clearly indicates that traditional research methods are expensive and resource-intensive.
- Time-consuming
Unlike internet research, where information is readily available online, and one has to choose from a wealth of information, traditional research methods engage traditional data collection methods such as observation and experimentation (Short et al., 2009). These methods are rigorous and time-consuming. For example, one might spend months or years observing the target population when conducting an ethnography. Administering questionnaires and conducting interviews are also time-consuming.
- Ethical implications
Traditional research methods such as experimentation have ethical requirements that must be met. While internet research has minimal ethical implications since most of the information is available online, traditional methods require the research to seek consent from the target sample population (Short et al., 2009). Institutional and stakeholders’ approval must also be considered when collecting primary data. Issues such as informed consent and permission from relevant authorities must be addressed.
Conclusion
Conclusively, while traditional research methods are authentic, dependable and in most cases verifiable, companies are shifting towards digital research. Automated research also known as internet research, is relatively cheap compared to traditional research methods. Organizations are adopting digital research to keep pace with tech-savvy consumers. These organizations are utilizing research software to gauge brand performance, consumer behavior and other brand perspectives such as brand loyalty. For example, most marketing research is conducted using cloud-based data technology, which is cheap and convenient compared to traditional methods such as observation and experimentation. Technological advancements are pushing marketers to adopt digital market research, especially in the hotel and tourism sector.
Bibliography
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