Marketing researchers engage in a five-step decision-making process to collect information that will improve marketing decisions.

The first step is to define the problem, which requires setting the research objectives and identifying possible marketing actions.

The second step is to develop the research plan, which involves specifying the constraints, identifying data needed for marketing decisions, and determining how to collect the data. The third step is to collect the relevant information, which includes considering pertinent secondary data (both internal and external) and primary data (by observing and questioning consumers). The fourth step is to develop findings from the marketing research data collected.

This involves analyzing the data and presenting the findings of the research. The fifth and last step is to take marketing actions, which involves making and implementing the action recommendations and then evaluating the results.