A business conducting any sort of research will produce vast amounts of market research results. This will include both information in a descriptive form as well as data in a numerical form. Presenting marketing research results is the last step in the process of conducting primary market research.
These unprocessed information and data are called ‘raw’. Now, it has to be analyzed by the researchers and presented in a way that will assist business managers in making better business decisions.
Once the stages of collating and analyzing data have been undertaken, it is time to make the final presentation.
Why businesses collect data and information?
Data and information assist in business decision-making processes.
Additionally, data and information are both required to monitor business’ progress such as production performance, growth or decline of sales revenue, costs and profits, productivity improvements or lack of thereof, etc.
They are also used to aid control in a business, for example track cash inflows, payments of receipts, etc.
All business records, both qualitative (about nature or characteristics of something) and quantitative (involving measurements) must be constantly updated, checked for correctness and saved as back-up data to be used to forecast future.
Why businesses present market research results?
Methods of presentation depend on type of data and information, who and what it is required for and how it will be used. The presentations can be done internally within the firm and externally for outside stakeholders.
The Marketing Department in a business organization usually provides research data and information on consumer needs and wants. Sales personnel presents breakdown of regional sales figures to support product popularity.
Production Manager presents time sheets, breakdowns of wages for production workers and manufacturing costs. Research & Development specialists analyze monthly expenditures for research budgets.
Finance Managers prepare annual reports to show financial progress over the year.
What data and information businesses present?
Once the market research has been carried out, the results need to be presented and analyzed for both qualitative research and quantitative research.
- Qualitative research, such as information obtained from in-depth interviews and focus groups, a focus panel or test market, is usually presented in the form of written reports, tables, infographics and pictograms. Qualitative research provides non-numerical answers such as opinions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes, perceptions, motivations, choices, views, etc. Managers can use this information to evaluate their current products and decide whether changes need to be made to how products are being marketed.
- Quantitative research consists of data, usually lots of numbers, from surveys / questionnaires and secondary market research that is presented in the form of charts, histograms, spreadsheets and databases. Quantitative research provides numerical answers such as data about company products, customers, markets and competitors. Raw numbers have no meaning on their own, hence managers need to put them in context; present in a way that will be understandable for the audience.
How to present market research results?
Descriptive information from market research and numerical results from data collection can be presented in several different ways, depending on the purpose including:
1. TABLES
2. CHARTS:
a. Line charts
b. Bar charts
c. Pie charts
d. Area charts
3. HISTOGRAMS
4. PICTOGRAMS
5. INFOGRAMS or INFOGRAPHICS
6. SPREADSHEETS
7. DATABASES
Let’s take a look now in details at those seven different ways of presenting research findings.
1. TABLES
Tables are a way of showing a mass of qualitative information in columns in a precise way. They allow presenting a wide range of variables at the same time. Also, tables are useful where the numbers themselves are at the center of attention and managers need to perform calculations using lots of data.
✔ Advantages of tables: It is easy to extract numerical data used in various calculations. In addition, large amounts of non-numerical data can be grouped and presented clearly.
✖ Disadvantages of tables: Raw data presented in tables is difficult for users to understand without appropriate context. Additionally, tables lack visual impact and things might get confusing when too much data is in one table.
2. CHARTS
Charts are a way of presenting statistics using graphs. The most common charts include line charts, area charts, bar charts and pie charts.
a. Line charts
Line charts are used for showing trends over time of one item.
A line chart consists of one or more lines where each line represents a single item. It shows relationship between two variables. One variable is place on vertical axis and values of the other variable on horizontal axis. In case time is a variable, it must always be shown on the horizontal axis.
Line charts are most commonly used by businesses to show changes in the same variable such as sales volumes, sales values, profit, costs, etc. over time. They can clearly indicate trends in the data, fluctuations and variables to show whether an item has been rising, remaining stable or declining over a specific period of time.
A line graph usually shows time-series data such as economic data such as interest rates, unemployment rates or inflation rates is often presented on line graphs.
There are multiple types of line charts and the most common ones include:
- Single line charts. They show the basic relationship between two variables to show how specific data has changed over time.
- Cumulative frequency curves. They are using a running total to represents the cumulative frequency distribution of grouped data on a graph.
- Lorentz curves. They show difference between actual distribution and an equal distribution. Lorentz curves are used to show distribution of wealth in a particular country.
✔ Advantages of line charts: Managers can take exact measurements of values from a line chart which also shows trends very clearly. Line charts also show users the relationship of the two variables which can be read off from both axes. Data can also be used for future periods for trend extrapolations.
✖ Disadvantages of line charts: They only display values and trend for one item. Also, when scales for both axes are not properly chosen, it might be very difficult to draw and read the exact numbers.
b. Bar charts
Bar charts are used for comparing one item over time or comparing many items over time or amounts.
A bar chart is a one-dimensional figure composed of rectangles. It consists of bars, or columns, or blocks, that a separated from each other with equal spaces. The bars are separated to show that the data are not directly related or continuous. The bars can be placed either vertically, horizontally or 3-dimensionally. The height of each bar shows the size of each value of the quantities measured.
Bar charts are used to compare different data between items (inter-product comparisons), for example sales of tea vs. sales of coffee in the same time period. They can also be used to make comparison of the same product over time (historical product comparisons), for example sales of tea over a five-year period. Bar charts can also be used to give visual impact to data (causation effect), for example how the reduction in price of both tea and coffee impacted sales of each product.
A bar chart may consist of 10 different bars where each column represents a different product. Each of the bars represents sales revenue made from each product. The widths of all bands will be the same, but of varying height, or length, to represent relative sales revenue values in USD$. A business might also choose to use a bar chart to show its profit over time or to show its relative sales revenue in the industry against the market leader and other firms in the market.
There are multiple types of bar charts and the most common ones include:
- Single bar charts. They display bars of different lengths from left to right or top to bottom where each bar represents different data.
- Component bar charts. They allow for more information to be presented as each bar contains a number of components. Each component can be presented either as a value or percentage.
- Parallel bar charts. They compare multiple data series by bar in the same time period. Not very suitable for comparing totals.
- Gain and loss bar charts. They are used to distinguish very clearly between positive and negative values.
✔ Advantages of bar charts: They clearly show columns which represent different items to indicate how the items are doing over a period of time and also in relation to other items. Managers can easily recognize the importance of each piece of data and read numerical values from the axis.
✖ Disadvantages of bar charts: They are not suitable for presenting large amounts of data when there are a very large number of different categories (>10). Additionally, it is difficult to compare different items when the data values of the parts are very similar to one another.
c. Pie charts
Pie charts are used for showing different segments as proportions of the total.
A pie chart, looks like a cake, where total data is represented by circle and data sets are divided into ‘slices’ to illustrate proportions. Each part of the data is shown as a ‘slice’ of the cake showing its relative importance. Hence, each segment of the circle clearly shows how relatively significant that part of the data is of the whole.
Pie charts are used for showing percentage figures such as data on market share, proportions of different products in the total product portfolio or how much profit and costs each sales region contributes to a company’s total profits and costs each year. They are excellent to compare how separate parts make up a whole. Also, they allow for comparing two sets of results to see how the proportions changed.
In a pie chart, there are 360° in the complete circle. The size of each segment, or a ‘slice’, is determined by the angle at the center of the circle. The arc length of each slice is proportional to the quantity it represents. How to calculate the angle of each pie then?
Pie angle = (Value of one section / Total value of all sections ) x 360°
Let’s say that a coffee shop asked a sample of 1,000 customers to identify their favorite product. The results of the interview are shown below:
Black coffee: 200 people
Coffee with milk: 500 people
Tea: 140 people
Cookies: 160 people
—
TOTAL: 1,000 people
(200/1,000*360°=72°)
(500/1,000*360°=180°)
(140/1,000*360°=50.4°)
(160/1,000*360°=57.6°)
So, the angle is 72°
The angle is 180°
So, the angle is 50°
The angle is 58°
—
TOTAL = 360°
✔ Advantages of pie charts: They show how important each part of the data is compared to the other parts. Pie charts showing proportions are easier to understand for people who dislike or are not good with numbers.
✖ Disadvantages of pie charts: Too many small ‘slices’ are difficult to see the relative importance of different parts of the data. Also, it is hard to show increase in size of the pie. Pie charts do not always allow precise comparisons between various segments.
d. Area charts
Area charts are used for showing trends over time of many items.
An area chart is very similar to a line chart. The shadowed area underneath each of the lines emphasizes its value. An area chart is combination of the line chart and the bar chart to show how one or more groups’ numeric values change over the progression of a second group of numeric values.
Area charts are mainly used with multiple lines to make a comparison between different groups over a period of time.
✔ Advantages of area charts: They are great for comparing two or more items and for showing trends overtime as data is simple and straightforward to follow.
✖ Disadvantages of area charts: They will become difficult to read when many items are plotted on the chart (>4).
3. HISTOGRAMS
Histograms are a way of graphical representation of showing the frequency distribution of the data. A histogram is a graph that presents a list of values showing the frequency that each value occurs. A histogram is a two-dimensional figure. It shows a set of rectangles to show frequencies. The frequencies of similar classes are shown by the area of each rectangle. The rectangles in a histogram will be touching each other.
Histograms tends to be used for grouped data.
✔ Advantages of histograms: Histograms are useful for showing trends over time to check whether the process changes from one period to another. It works better for whole numbers. It can also be used to judge whether the output is different when it involves two or more processes.
✖ Disadvantages of histograms: Histograms are frequently confused with bar charts because they look very similar. In histograms the area of each bar represents frequency, while in bar charts, it is the height of each bar that represents numerical values and the width has no significance.
The most common histograms include uniform histograms, symmetric histograms, bimodal histograms and probability histograms.
4. PICTOGRAMS
Pictograms present data in a similar way to bar charts, but this method uses small pictures, graphics or symbols to represent data and information instead of bars. Every picture, graphic or symbol has a numerical value attached to it.
✔ Advantages of pictograms: Pictograms help people who are less numerate or not good with numbers to process the results of market research data represented by pictures tend to be more eye-catching for readers who do not wish to look at plain charts. Instead, they might stop for a while to look at reports with pictograms.
✖ Disadvantages of pictograms: It might be difficult to show exact quantities using pictograms, especially when the numbers are very large or precise. It might also be difficult to find the exact symbols to represent many different quantities.
5. INFOGRAMS or INFOGRAPHICS
Infographics are visual tools used to show data and information using a combination of text, charts, graphics and images to present a specific business situation.
They are used by business managers as visual representations of data collected from both primary market research and secondary market research. Infographics can often help to display data and information in an engaging way for the audience.
✔ Advantages of infographics: Infographics can be a powerful tool to help digest a vast amount of boring information, data and statistics in a creative way to inform business decision making.
✖ Disadvantages of infographics: Infographics require huge amount of time needed to create them. Therefore, making visually appealing infographics can be very costly for the firm as hiring skillful graphic designer might be necessary.
6. SPREADSHEETS
A spreadsheet is a computer program that uses files made of rows and columns. A grid of cells arranged in rows and columns helps to sort, arrange and calculate data and information easily. Data can be saved as either numerical, text or formula.
A spreadsheet software program has the ability to calculate values using complex mathematical and financial formulas to clearly present results in cells.
✔ Advantages of spreadsheets: Spreadsheets can easily calculate changes in data, filter and sort collections of organized information. It is a good solution for managers who do not need to do a lot of incredibly complicated data manipulation
✖ Disadvantages of spreadsheets: Computer software might be expensive to purchase. In addition, large spreadsheets are sometimes difficult to print.
7. DATABASES
A database is a collection of data and structured information stored electronically in a computer system. Databases are electronic filing systems used for storing data and information in an organized way typically modeled in rows and columns in a series of tables to make data processing and querying efficient.
Main companies specializing in database language and database software include IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.
✔ Advantages of databases: Databases are a very good solution for accessing, managing, modifying, updating and controlling massive amounts of data. Lots of information from different business functions across the business can be saved providing easy access for anyone. It is because databases allow multiple users at the same time to quickly and securely access the database.
✖ Disadvantages of databases: Databases may need to be purchased for use from other software companies, hence expensive. The software may also need to be updated or upgraded which will further increase the costs.
In summary, business managers are in charge of turning information and numbers from market research results into tables, charts and graphs that can visually show quantities, trends, changes or patterns.
However, there might be bias in presentations. Bias can affect both collection and presentation causing figures to be distorted in the way they are presented.
