RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5.1 INTRODUCTION

1 162 Chapter 5 RESEARCH main objective of the study was to establish the brand equity of theprovincial, regional and national rugby teams of South Africa. Primaryresearch played a significant role in achieving this objective as very littlesecondary information regarding brand equity of these teams is secondary objectives of the study, which constituted the secondaryresearch dimension, included the following:o To investigate South African rugby supporters brand awareness of thevarious South African rugby teamso To examine South African rugby supporters brand associations withSouth African rugby teamso To analyse South African rugby supporters brand loyalty to SouthAfrican rugby teamso To examine South African rugby supporters perceived quality of theSouth African rugby teamso To identify future areas of research163 The previous chapters dealt with the South African rugby industry.

2 Sportsmarketing and the aspect of branding and brand equity. The focus of thischapter is on the RESEARCH METHODOLOGY of the study. Marketing RESEARCH willbe discussed followed by an examination of the marketing RESEARCH process,and how each of the steps in the process applies to this RESEARCHM arketing RESEARCH can be defined as the systematic and objective process ofplanning, gathering, analysing and reporting data which can be used to solvea specific problem or opportunity facing an organisation (Wegner, 2000:6).The information obtained by conducting marketing RESEARCH can be used toidentify and define marketing opportunities and problems, generate, refine andevaluate marketing actions and monitor marketing performance (McDaniel &Gates, 2001: 5).

3 When conducting marketing RESEARCH , researchers gatherdata which are then analysed and interpreted. Data are raw, unanalysedfacts. They are first-hand responses obtained to the subject of investigation,which may include statistical figures and sales records. It is only when thedata have been processed that they become information (Hair, Bush &Ortinau, 2000:32).Data can be classified as either secondary or primary, and may also be eitherquantitative or qualitative. Secondary data comprise information that hasalready been collected, assembled and interpreted at least once for some orother specific situation as seen in chapters 2, 3 and 4 of this thesis.

4 Primary164data, on the other hand, refer to first-hand information, facts or estimates thatare derived through a formalised RESEARCH process for a specific currentproblem or opportunity situation (Hair et al., 2000:663 & 661). According toSteyn et al. (1999:7) there are two types of secondary and primary data,namely quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data refer to studiesthat use mathematical analysis which can reveal statistically significantdifferences, whereas qualitative data are RESEARCH data that are not subject toquantification or quantitative analysis (McDaniel & Gates, 2001:98).

5 Theclassification of marketing RESEARCH data is illustrated in figure of RESEARCH dataSource: Adapted from Malhotra (2004:137)Marketing RESEARCH provides marketing managers with accurate and relevantinformation for marketing decision making. Marketing RESEARCH plays thefollowing three functional roles in marketing decision making (Cant, 2003:9):Primary researchMarketing RESEARCH dataSecondary researchQuantitativedataQualitativedataQ ualitativedataQuantitativedata165(1)Its descriptive function entails gathering and presenting statementsand facts.

6 (2)Its diagnostic function refers to the explanation of data or actions.(3)Its predictive function refers to the specification of how to usedescriptive and diagnostic RESEARCH to predict the results of plannedmarketing decisions. In other words, through marketing RESEARCH ,researchers can describe a target market and make projectionsabout how it will react to certain product RESEARCH is conducted by following a series of carefully devisedsteps designed to attain a specific objective (Wegner, 2000:5).

7 This isreferred to as the marketing RESEARCH process and will be discussed in thenext MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESSAs stated earlier, marketing RESEARCH is a systematic and objective process ofdesigning, collecting, analysing and reporting data relevant to a specificmarketing situation. There are certain steps followed in the marketingresearch process, and this provides a systematic and planned approach to theresearch study, which ensures that all aspects of the process are consistent,and should be dealt with as an integrated whole (Martins, Loubser & VanWyk, 1996:80).

8 The marketing RESEARCH process is therefore formally definedas a sequence of steps in the systematic collection and analysis of marketingdata (Malhotra, 2004:9) and is depicted in figure marketing RESEARCH processSource: Adapted from Cant (2003:36)Each of these steps will now be discussed in 1: IDENTIFYING AND FORMULATING THE PROBLEM OROPPORTUNITYThe marketing RESEARCH process begins when a marketing problem oropportunity is identified (Malhotra, 2004:9). A marketing problem refers toStep 1: Identify and formulate the problemStep 2: Determine RESEARCH objectivesStep 3: Develop a RESEARCH designStep 4: Conduct secondary researchStep 5: Select a primary RESEARCH methodStep 6: Determine the RESEARCH frameStep 7: Gather dataStep 8: Process dataStep 9.

9 Report the RESEARCH findings167situations that might present real problems to marketing decisions makers,and a marketing opportunity refers to any favourable or unexploited situation,in one or more of the marketing environments, that decision makers can utiliseproactively to the organisation s a marketing problem or opportunity is probably the most importantstage in the RESEARCH process (Wegner, 2000:16). If the problem oropportunity is not properly defined, the data gathered may result in findingsthat do not answer the RESEARCH question(s), and therefore lead to theresearch problem not being solved or the marketing opportunity not beingexploited.

10 The marketing problem or opportunity should therefore be clearlydefined and formulated to ensure that the results obtained through researchare relevant. RESEARCH should not only generate the kinds of answersneeded, but should also do so chapter 1, exploratory RESEARCH was conducted to fully identify andformulate the RESEARCH opportunity, which is to determine the brand equity ofthe national, regional and national rugby teams of South 2: FORMULATING THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVESA marketing RESEARCH objective refers to the specific information needed tosolve a marketing RESEARCH problem (Cant, 2003:35).