Critical Thinking Questions 1. Marcello and Litzenberger felt it was important to conduct this study because___________. (State the relevant background information used to justify their work. ) They felt that it was important to conduct this study because as researchers, they wanted to prove to skeptics that marketing research is important and useful. They feel that research studies that are the most successful in moving the needle are the studies where the research firm uses scientific and credible methods, poses the right questions and provides the client company with the insights needed to sufficiently reduce risk in decision making.

There have been skeptics that say that they already know about the customers and some saying that the sampling methods of studies dismiss the results. Others also feel that marketing research is too expensive to obtain and is just too impractical. Since it was inappropriate for them to share results of previous studies, they have to focus on one project to demonstrate the usefulness of market research. Attempting to overcome a challenge in client development. 2. The main purpose of Marcello and Litzenberger’s study was_______________. State as accurately as possible the purpose for doing the study. ) The main purpose of the study was to answer the question: what still needs to be known about the viewers and voters for contestants of the popular TV show American Idol? main purpose of the study was to do a case study for skeptic clients who didn’t believe marketing research was necessary, to how effective market research and public relations efforts can be if it was conducted in the correct way.

No third party had conducted had conducted a research study to gain more insight into who the viewers actually were and their motivations for voting for American idol contestants, so they set out to fill this hole in research-based coverage of the show. 3. The key questions Marcello and Litzenberger are addressing are______________. (Identify the key questions in the minds of the case’s protagonists. ) What are the basic demographics of the viewers and voters of American Idol?

What were the motivations behind them voting for the American Idol contestants? How confident the viewers/voters were in the judge’s opinions? [I think the research question should go here? Rather than the previous question – the RQ “what still needs to be known about the viewers and Voters for contestants of the popular TV show American Idol? ” Then talk about the specific things they want to find out – demographics, motivation, confidence in judge etc.