Treatment of Information Material
Category: Marketing
In connection with all sorts of information treatment, different kinds of problems can be identified:
— can we be sure that we have measured the relevant elements?
— can we be certain that we have processed the measurements correctly?
— can we trust the information to be up-to-date?
(a) Relevant. Normally, the information material is gathered in order to decide on different problems. The information serves a specific purpose. This purpose tells us whether the information can be qualified as relevant, i.e. deciding factor. This means that information required for decision-making needs to be relevant to the decision.
For instance, a calculation of the yearly average consumption of beer would be invalid if the analysis involved the entire population, including children.
(b) Current Interest. Information as basis for decision-making should be of current interest, i.e. it should not be outdated in relation to the actual decision-making.
If for instance the sale of battery driven watches in Russia in 1999 was 4000, in 2000 4100 and in 2001 1500 it would be wrong to base the sale in 2002 on the sales figures of 1999-2001, if the sale in 1999 is due to the fact that the price of solar watches has increased more than the price of battery watches.
The current interest increases at the same rate as the development in society.
(c) Valid. The analysis should be valid, i.e. be sure to analyse what you really want to analyse. Coherence between what you want to analyse and what you actually do analyse gives you greater assurance of the validity of the analysis.
How many children have read the book Alice in Wonderland? For instance, the number of printed copies of the book does not tell you anything about how many children actually read the book. Children often borrow books at the library. The same problem is relevant when examining how many children have bought the book.
(d) Reliable. A question of method accuracy. This means that others should obtain the sameresult by using the same method. It is quite obvious that the sale of ice cream in February islower than in July. Based on the numbers of February it is therefore impossible to calculate theannual sale of ice cream by multiplication by 12.