"Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing oppertunities and problems; generate, refine, and evalute marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address the issues, designs the methods for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes, and communicates the findings and their implications."