What is the goal of the market researcher?
The ultimate goal facing market researchers is to deliver information that addresses the following three needs: • Understandings of which variables are important to consumers, that is, what aspects of a product or service are driving buying decisions; • Insights into the relative importance of each of those variables; and, taking these two needs together, • Insights into how the product, and/or communications about the product, can be shaped to enhance its attraction for consumers, i.e., increase buying behavior. The last of these goals defines predictive validity, the “holy grail” of market research. In summary: Predictive validity is the degree to which a research method identifies variables that, when manipulated appropriately, predictably cause changes in consumer behavior. In lay terms, predictive validity is the ability of a research method to tell you what you need to know to make people buy more of your product. The Brain Surgery survey of emotions and cognitions has been in us
