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G.Riecken, Georgia Southern University
This publication is a great addition to the "guerrilla marketing" books designed to give practical advice to smaller and medium-sized
businesses. Kaden, a long-time marketing research practitioner, devotes the first few chapters to explaining the importance of research as a guide to action
offering insights into various research considerations. A central theme is the critical need to ask the right questions to learn what customers really think.
One chapter covers using and evaluating professional researchers, but Kaden argues that any business can conduct research.
The second part of the book focuses on the basics of conducting research projects, including both focus groups (qualitative research) and surveys. Guidance is offered on determining
what to ask, formulating correct questions, sampling, and data interpretation and analysis. A final chapter reminds readers that the purpose of research is to
guide action and suggests that management must take the initiative to encourage action. The book can serve as a primer on conducting marketing research,
although in only 220 pages, much detail is left out. No one will develop expertise in marketing research from reading this book, but it offers a good
starting point. Summing up: Recommended. General and practitioner business
collections.
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