MKT/441 Week 3 Team Assignment

Research Tools
MKT/441
May 23, 2016
Dr. Timothy Kelly


Southwest is in a competitive where fares increase and decrease on a regular basis. To stay on top of what consumers are willing to pay for their flights takes time and work. The research team is tasked with coming up with a few specific research tools that will aid Southwest in setting the best prices possible while still generating a profit for the airline.
Research Tools
Southwest will begin researching the feasibility of a fare increase, and the impact it will have on the customer base. The team has decided to start with secondary research with the assist of the Internet. Web sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp will yield information that is easy to find and free for the team to use. The research team will then move on to primary research tools for collecting data. One thought is to conduct frequent flier focus groups. These consumers will shed insight into what fare tiers will best handle an increase in fares, and how an increase will change their flying patterns, if at all (Aaker, Kumar, & Day, 2007).
Since there are always people in the boarding gate areas waiting to depart, a form of mall intercept face-to-face surveys will also be conducted. The airport locations will be randomly selected from the Southwest service areas, giving the team feedback from different demographic and geographic sites. Another tool that will utilize a broad area of respondents is the questionnaire. The research team will put together a structured, undisguised questionnaire that will be available both online (linked to the home page), and onboard the aircraft. This medium will give customers the chance to give feedback while booking their flights and while in route to their destination (Aaker, Kumar, & Day, 2007).


Compare and Contrast Research Tools
Before increasing flight fares, Southwest will conduct research to make sure that the change will be an accepted one. Southwest will utilize secondary research, focus groups, face-to-face surveys, and questionnaires. Beginning research by collecting secondary data, the research team takes advantage of the quick, cost-effective, readily available information via TripAdvisor and Yelp. The qualitative information gathered will be categorized by fare tier purchased and later converted to quantitative data by classifying the responses as "favorable" or "unfavorable." While all four research tools will give insight into customer opinion on a fare increase, primary data such as focus groups, face-to-face surveys, and questionnaires are more tailored to the team's specific research objective.
Contrary to secondary data, primary data is "information gathered specifically for the research project at hand," (Burns & Bush, 2006). "Focus groups are small groups of people brought together and guided by a mediator through an unstructured, spontaneous discussion," (Burns & Bush, 2006). Using frequent fliers as subjects, Southwest will determine how well the increased fares will be received by consumers. Similar to focus groups, face-to-face surveys will also uncover customer opinions. Studies will be conducted in the gate waiting area at randomly selected airports to ensure a representative sample. Frequent flier focus groups differ in that they may have a bias towards the airline, and they represent less of the general population. The last research tool provided by Southwest is questionnaires. Like face-to-face surveys, questionnaires represent the public as a whole, but they can also be customized depending on fare tier. Unlike the other primary research tools, questionnaires are indirect and structured.


Analysis
All of the research tools will apply to Southwest because each tool has its advantages and its flaws. Primary data will yield the most helpful results to Southwest as it gives them a chance to get accurate answers from consumers, either in a face-to-face interaction or via surveys. For example, in face-to-face interactions, the research team would be able to find out exactly how their consumers will react to a rise in prices, and if they would stand to lose loyal customers. The research team's secondary data will also provide insight to Southwest because using a website such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, or another online site that offer the chance for review will show consumer's voluntary reviews, be it positive or negative. Although, with this one type of data, we need to be aware that there could be an excessive ratio of negative to positive reviews because consumers are more likely to make their opinions known when they are negative. A questionnaire built by the research team will help in gaining a large quantity of data. Surveys are the cheapest, easiest way to get data from consumers, but it is not the highest quality of data. In contrast to this, having face-to-face conversations with current customers can help gain a fuller perspective of their feelings. Without being too formal, a face-to-face interview could be the way for the consumer to open up and be honest about a raise in prices or the service they are receiving. Frequent flier focus groups would be our strongest data collection. The consumers who prefer to fly with Southwest will be treated like VIP's and asked their honest opinions on all aspects of their experience. The consumer will see that the company cares about their views and is trying to make each flight their best. Because of this, the frequent flier focus groups will be our most applicable research tool based on the quality and quantity of data they receive, and it does not hurt that it shows pride in their brand. And while the research team still values and desires data from online review sites, it will provide them with them least amount of usable data, and probably be the least applicable research tool because any person can post anything they want uninhibited.

Reference
Aaker, D. A., Kumar, V., & Day, G. S. (2007). Marketing Research (9th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, MKT/441 - Marketing Research course website.
Burns, A. C., & Bush, R. F. (2006). Marketing Research (5th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.







RESEARCH TOOLS
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Running head: RESEARCH TOOLS
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