Transcript Ch 5

Research Design
Research Design
• Research design is a set of advanced
decisions that make up the master
plan specifying the methods and
procedures for collecting and
analyzing the needed information.
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The Significance of
Research Design
• Although every problem and research
objective may be unique there are
enough similarities that allow us to
make some decisions in advance
about the best plan to resolve the
problem.
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The Significance of
Research Design
• There are basic marketing research
designs that can be successfully
matched to given problems and
research objectives, and they serve
the researcher much like the blueprint
serves the builder.
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Types of Research Design
• Three traditional categories:
– Exploratory
– Descriptive
– Causal
• The choice of the most appropriate
design depends largely on the
objectives of the research and how
much is known about the problem
and research objectives.
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Basic Research Objectives and
Research Design
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Research Objective
Appropriate Design
To gain background information,
to define terms, to clarify
problems and hypotheses,
to establish research priorities
Exploratory
To describe and measure marketing
phenomena at a point in time
Descriptive
To determine causality,
to make “if-then” statements
Causal
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Types of Research Design:
A Caution
• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Causal
A Caution
– It should not be implied that research
design is a step-by-step process in
terms of the order in which design
should be carried out. Many research
projects use only one design.
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Exploratory Research
• Exploratory research is most
commonly unstructured, informal
research that is undertaken to gain
background information about the
general nature of the research
problem.
• By unstructured, we mean there is no
formal set of objectives, sample plan,
or questionnaire.
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Exploratory Research
• It is usually conducted when the
researcher does not know much
about the problems.
• Exploratory research is usually
conducted at the outset of research
projects.
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Exploratory Research
•Many questions; many sources
•Defining the problem; getting a “feel”
• Uses
– Gain Background Information
– Define Terms
– Clarify Problems and Hypothesis
(refine research objectives)
– Establish Research Priorities
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Exploratory Research
• A variety of methods are available to
conduct exploratory research.
– Secondary Data Analysis
– Experience Surveys
– Case Analysis
– Focus Groups
– Projective
Techniques
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Descriptive Research
• Descriptive research is undertaken to
describe answers to questions of
who, what, where, when, and how.
• Descriptive research is desirable
when we wish to project a study’s
findings to a larger population, if the
study’s sample is representative.
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Research Design:
Descriptive Research
• Two basic classifications:
– Cross-sectional
studies
– Longitudinal
studies
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Classification of Descriptive
Research Studies
• Cross-sectional studies measure
units from a sample of the population
at only one point in time.
– Sample surveys: are crosssectional studies whose samples
are drawn in such a way as to be
representative of a specific
population.
• These studies are usually
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Classification of Descriptive
Research Studies
• Cross-sectional studies take
“snapshots” of the population at a
point in time.
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Classification of Descriptive
Research Studies
• Longitudinal studies repeatedly
measure the same sample units of a
population over time.
• Longitudinal studies often make use
of a panel which represents sample
units who have agreed to answer
questions at periodic intervals.
• Many large research firms maintain
panels of consumers.
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Descriptive Research
Panel Results
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Market Share
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•Many questions; one or few sources
•Formal sample and questionnaire
Cory's
American
• Marketing Survey
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Illegal
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– Questionnaire
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– Sample method and size
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Summer
Fall
Winter
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– Data
collection
method
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– Data analysis (quantitative)
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• “Snapshot” versus Panel Design
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Marketing Research Panels
• Continuous panels ask panel
members the same questions on
each panel measurement.
• Discontinuous panels vary questions
from one panel measurement to the
next.
– They are sometimes referred to as
omnibus (“including or covering
many things or classes”).
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Marketing Research Panels –
Discontinuous Panels
• Discontinuous panels have the
advantage of being able to access
large groups of people who have
made themselves available for
research.
• Discontinuous panels represent
sources of information that may be
quickly accessed for a wide variety of
purposes.
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Marketing Research Panels –
Continuous Panels
• Continuous panels are used quite
differently from discontinuous panels in
that one may use data from continuous
panels to gain insights into changes in
consumers’ purchases, attitudes, etc.
• For example, brand switching studies
are used to illustrate how consumers
change brands, and market-tracking
studies track some variable of interest
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Changes From Two CrossSectional Studies
• Pooch Plus dropped from 100 to 75
families.
• Beggar’s Bits remained the same at
200.
• Milk Bone increased from 200 to 225.
• Conclusion: Pooch Plus is losing
market share to Milk Bone. Target
Milk Bones with a strategy to win
back market share.
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Longitudinal Data Analysis
• Pooch Plus kept 50 families and lost
50 families to Beggar’s Bits.
• Pooch Plus gained 25 former
Beggar’s Bits families.
• Milk Bones gained 25 former
Beggar’s Bits families.
• Conclusion: Beggar’s Bits is the
competition…Not Milk Bone!
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Causal Research
• Causality may be thought of as
understanding a phenomenon in
terms of conditional statements of the
form “If x, then y.”
• Causal studies are conducted
through the use of experiments.
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Experiments
• An experiment is defined as
manipulating an independent variable
to see how it affects a dependent
variable, while also controlling the
effects of additional extraneous
variables.
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Independent Variable
• Independent variables are those
variables which the researcher has
control over and wishes to
manipulate.
– For example: level of ad
expenditure; type of ad appeal;
price; product features, etc.
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Dependent Variables
• Dependent variables are those
variables that we have little or no
direct control over, yet we have a
strong interest in.
– Examples would be return on
investment, net profits, market
share, customer satisfaction.
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Extraneous Variables
• Extraneous variables are those
variables that may have some effect
on a dependent variable yet are not
independent variables.
• Extraneous variables must be
controlled through proper
experimental design.
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Experimental Design
• Experimental design is a procedure
for devising an experimental setting
such that a change in a dependent
variable may be attributed solely to
the change in an independent
variable.
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Symbols of Experimental
Design
• O=
• X=
• R=
• E=
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measurement of a dependent
variable
manipulation, or change, of
an independent variable
random assignment of
subjects to experimental and
control groups
experimental effect
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Pretest and Posttest
• Pretest refers to the measurement of
the dependent variable taken prior to
changing the independent variable.
• Posttest refers to measuring the
dependent variable after changing
the independent variable.
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A “True” Experimental Design
• A “true” experimental design is one
that truly isolates the effects of the
independent variable on the
dependent variable while controlling
for the effects of any extraneous
variables.
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Not “True” Experimental
Design
• After-Only Design:
• One-Group,
Before-After Design:
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X O1
O1 X O2
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Control of Extraneous Variables
• A control group is a group whose
subjects have not been exposed to
the change in the independent
variable.
• An experimental group is a group that
has been exposed to a change in the
experimental variable.
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A “True” Experimental Design
• Before-After with Control Group:
– Experimental group: O1 X O2
– Control group:
O3 O4
– Where E = (O2 – O1) – (O4 – O3)
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How Valid are Experiments?
• An experiment is valid if it has:
– Internal validity: which measures
the extent to which the change in
the dependent variable is actually
due to the change in the
independent variable.
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How Valid are Experiments?
• An experiment is valid if it has:
– External validity: which refers to the
extent that the relationship
observed between the independent
and dependent variables during the
experiment is generalizable to the
“real world.”
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Types of Experiments
• Laboratory experiments are those in
which the independent variable is
manipulated and measures of the
dependent variable are taken in a
contrived, artificial setting for the
purpose of controlling the many
possible extraneous variables that
may affect the dependent variable.
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Types of Experiments
• Field experiments are those in which
the independent variables are
manipulated and the measurements
of the dependent variable are made
on test units in their natural setting.
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Test Marketing
• Test marketing is the phrase
commonly used to indicate an
experiment, study, or test that is
conducted in a field setting.
• Uses of test markets
– To test sales potential for a new
product or service
– To test variations in the marketing
mix for a product or service
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Types of Test Markets
• Standard Test Market: one in which
the firm tests the product and/or
marketing mix variables through the
company’s normal distribution
channels.
• Controlled Test Markets: ones that
are conducted by outside research
firms that guarantee distribution of
the product through prespecified
types and numbers of distributors.
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Types of Test Markets
• Electronic Test Markets: those in which
a panel of customers have agreed to
carry identification cards that each
consumer presents when buying goods
and services.
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Types of Test Markets
• Simulated Test Markets: those in which
a limited amount of data on consumer
response to a new product is fed into a
model containing certain assumptions
regarding planned marketing
programs, which generate likely sales
volume.
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Test Markets
• Test marketing is used in both
consumer markets and industrial B2B
markets as well.
• Lead country test market: test
marketing conducted in specific
foreign countries that seem good
predictors for an entire continent.
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Criteria for Selecting Test
Markets
• Representativeness: Do demographics
match the total market?
• Degree of isolation: Phoenix and Tulsa
are isolated markets; Los Angeles is
not.
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Criteria for Selecting Test
Markets
• Ability to control distribution and
promotion: Are there preexisting
arrangements to distribute the new
product in selected channels of
distribution? Are local media designed
to test variations of promotional
messages?
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Test Marketing
• Pros:
– Allows most accurate method of
forecasting future sales
– Allows firms the opportunity to
pretest marketing mix variables
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Test Marketing
• Cons:
– Does not yield infallible results
– Are expensive
– Exposes the new product to
competitors
– Takes time to conduct
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