The Kindle 2: A Success After the 'Oprah Effect'

Businesses across the world may suffer from low sales turn over or a higher turnover depending on the consumer's reception and uptake in the market. However, the Kindle 2 was a success after the 'oprah effect' in her television show.However,to redesign the original kindle, various observational research methods were employed to determine what led to the experienced physical problems of the original kindle.

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The following observational research was used to determine the physical problems of the original kindle. They include;

Participant observation

Participant observation also is known as observation research, is a type of qualitative market research of observing participants in their natural environment (Quinian, Babin, Carr &Griffin, 2019). A researcher is able to collect and analyze data by immersing themselves in the participant's environment and observe either directly or indirectly the behaviors of the participants towards a product and in this case, the original kindle. Observation is good because it offers the researcher direct access to the primary data; it is time flexible and can be conducted using specific variables. However, the researcher may experience levels of hostility from the respondents if there is no consent. The research may also be exposed to a lot of bias. If it was a case of indirect observation, the behavior of the respondents might change if informed of the presence of a researcher on the ground.

Structured observation

According to Hair,Money,Samouel & Page(2007),structured observation is a quantitative method of data collection that uses predetermined variables that may be used to determine the behavior of a given market population. It is also known as systemic observation because the researchers observe from a far, are not directly involved with respondents in terms of conducting interviews but use a coding method. For the original kindle, the researchers might have used a systemic observation method to observe the reception, complaints and quality of their product. Coding, from the data collected through systemic observation, allows for the data to be quantitative and is used to generate a report on the general outcome.

Field experiments

Field experiments in market research is a type of observation that involves manipulation of various factors by the researcher to generate and outcome. The respondents may not be fully aware of the ongoing observation and that the product is under study. Example, for a product like the original Kindle, a typical field experiment would have been price cut promotions, constant changing prices for the product, putting different expiration dates for various promotional offers and testing the various responses to various advertisements for the product. All these experiments are used to measure the various behaviors and outcomes for this market population under study. Field experiments are conducted in real-life hence the outcomes can be used to apply a previously determined theory, field experiments can be used to determine both long term and short term effect and generate ways to correct these effects (Cooper, Schindler &Sun, 2006).

In conclusion, market research is important for all products in the market. This is generally so as to determine product market share, the completion and the behavior of a market population towards this product. In order to generate a second version of the product, from the research findings, the business owners need to use the findings from the research to implement and address the various changes, both physical and technical for the product to be successful and perform better in the market.

References

Cooper, D. R., Schindler, P. S., & Sun, J. (2006). Business research methods (Vol. 9). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16067972

Hair, J. F., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. (2007). Research methods for business. Education+ Training. https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/facpubs/2952/

Quinlan, C., Babin, B., Carr, J., & Griffin, M. (2019). Business research methods. South-Western Cengage. https://www.worldcat.org/title/business-research-methods/oclc/942846403