| Marketing research | The development, interpretation, and communication of decision-oriented information to be used in the strategic marketing process.
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| Marketing information system (MkIS) | An ongoing, organized procedure to generate, analyze, disseminate, store, and retrieve information for use in making marketing decisions.
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| Decision support system (DSS) | A procedure that allows a manager to interact with data using various methods of analysis to integrate, analyze, and interpret information.
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| Database | A set of related data that are organized, stored, and updated in a computer.
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| Data warehouse | A collection of data from a variety of internal and external sources, compiled by a firm for use in conducting transactions.
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| Data mining | Method used to identify patterns and meaningful relationships in masses of data that would be overlooked or unrecognizable to researchers.
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| Retail scanners | The electronic devices at retail checkouts that read the bar code on each item.
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| Single-source data | A data-gathering method in which exposure to television advertising and product purchases can be traced to individual households.
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| Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) | An alternative to barcoding that involves placing a tag in or on an object that emits a signal that can be read and interpreted by a receiver.
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| Situation analysis | The act of gathering and studying information pertaining to one or more specified aspects of an organization. Alternatively, a background investigation that helps in refining a research problem.
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| Hypothesis | A tentative supposition that, if proven, would suggest a possible solution to a problem.
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| Informal investigation | The stage in a marketing research study at which preliminary, readily available data are gathered from relevant people inside and outside the company-middlemen, competitors, advertising agencies, and consumers.
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| Primary data | New data gathered specifically for the project at hand.
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| Secondary data | Available data, already gathered for some other purpose.
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| Observation method | A method of gathering primary data by observing the actions of a person without direct interaction.
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| Cookie | An inactive data file placed on a computer's hard drive after the user connects to a particular website; used to record the visitor's activities while connected to the site.
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| Survey | A method of gathering primary data by interviewing people in person, by telephone, by mail, or via the Internet.
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| Face-to-face interview | A face-to-face method of gathering data in a survey.
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| Focus group | A preliminary data gathering method involving an interactive interview of 6 to 12 people.
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| Telephone survey | A method of gathering data by interviewing people over the telephone.
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| Mail survey | A method of gathering data by mailing a questionnaire to potential respondents and asking them to complete it and return it by mail.
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| Internet survey | A method of gathering data by posting questionnaires on a firm's website or by e-mailing them to a sample of individuals.
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| Experiment | A method of gathering primary data in which the researcher measures the results of changing one variable in a situation while holding all others constant.
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| Test marketing | A method of demand forecasting in which a firm markets its new product in a limited geographic area, measures the sales, and then- from this sample-projects the company's sales over a larger area. Alternatively, a marketing research technique that uses this same approach to judge consumers' responses to a strategy before committing to a major marketing effort.
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| Competitive intelligence | The process of gathering and analyzing publicly available information about the activities and plans of competitors.
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