Transcript The Proposal

The Proposal
The Final Product
• Introduction
– Including your Management Question
• Literature Review
• Your Model
– Research Questions
– Hypotheses you plan to test
• Your Proposed Research Master Plan
– Methodology
– Sample
– Questionnaire
• Limitations
• Decisions that may be supported by the results
What It is NOT
• You will not collect data.
• You will not draw conclusions
• You will not make recommendations
Problem Discovery
and Definition
Problem
discovery
Sampling
Selection of
exploratory research
technique
Secondary
(historical)
data
Experience
survey
Probability
Pilot
study
Case
study
Problem definition
(statement of
research objectives)
Experiment
Laboratory
Interview
Data
Gathering
Collection of
data
(fieldwork)
Data
Processing
and Analysis
Editing and
coding
data
Conclusions
and Report
Survey
Field
Nonprobability
Data
processing
Selection of
basic research
method
Research Design
Selection of
exploratory research
technique
Questionnaire
Observation
Secondary
Data Study
Interpretation
of
findings
Report
Symptoms vs. Problems
• Manufacturer of palm-size computers with Internet
access
• Symptom
– Distributors complain prices are too high
• PD based on the Symptom
– Investigate business users to learn how much
prices need to be reduced
• True Problem
– Distributors do not have adequate product
knowledge to communicate product’s value
Management Decision Problems vs.
Marketing Research Problems
• Management Decision
Problems
– Ask what the
decision maker
needs to do
– Action oriented
– Focus on symptoms
• Marketing Research Problems
– Ask what information
is needed and how it
should be obtained
– Information oriented
– Focus on the
underlying causes
Translating Management Problems into Research
Problems (Questions)
• Management Problem
– Determine the best ways the firm can communicate
with potential purchasers of laptop computers
• Research Questions
– How familiar are consumers with the various brands
of computers?
– What attitudes do consumers have toward these
brands?
– How important are the various factors for evaluating
the purchase of a laptop computer?
– How effective are the communications efforts of the
various competitive marketers in terms of message
recognition?
Hypotheses
• An unproven proposition or possible solution to the
problem.
• Assert probable answers to research questions.
• Hypotheses & research questions both state
relationships
– Research questions are interrogative
(ask)
– Hypotheses are declarative (state)
Planning the Research Design
Research Design
• A master plan that specifies the
methods and procedures for
collecting and analyzing needed
information.
Tasks Involved In a Research Design
Define the Information Needed
Design the Exploratory, Descriptive,
and/or Causal Phases of the Research
Specify the Measurement and Scaling
Procedures
Construct a Questionnaire
Specify the Sampling Process and the
Sample Size
Develop a Plan of Data Analysis
A Classification of Market Research Designs
Research
Design
Exploratory
Research
Secondary
Data
Experience
Surveys
Conclusive
Research
Pilot
Studies
Case
Studies
See next slide
A Classification of Market Research Designs
Research
Design
Exploratory
Research
Conclusive
Research
See previous slide
Cross-sectional
Study
Longitudinal
Study
Descriptive
Design
Causal
Design
Experiment
Secondary
Data Study
Survey
Observation
Exploratory Research
• Usually conducted during the initial stage of
the research process
• Purposes
– To narrow the scope of the research topic, and
– To transform ambiguous problems into welldefined ones
Exploratory Research Techniques
• Secondary Data Analysis
– Secondary data are data previously collected &
assembled for some project other than the one at hand
• Pilot Studies
– A collective term for any small-scale exploratory
research technique that uses sampling but does not
apply rigorous standards
– Includes
• Focus Group Interviews
– Unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group of people
• Projective Techniques
– Indirect means of questioning that enables a respondent to project
beliefs and feelings onto a third party or an inanimate object
– Word association tests, sentence completion tests, role playing
Exploratory Research Techniques
• Case Studies
– Intensively investigate one or a few situations
similar to the problem situation
• Experience Surveys
– Individuals who are knowledge about a
particular research problem are questioned
Types of Conclusive Research
• Descriptive Research
– Describes attitudes, perceptions, characteristics,
activities and situations.
– Examines who, what, when, where, why, & how
questions
• Causal Research
– Provides evidence that a cause-and-effect relationship
exists or does not exist.
– Premise is that something (and independent variable)
directly influences the behavior of something else (the
dependent variable).
Cross Sectional vs. Longitudinal Designs
Cross
Sectional
Design
Longitudinal
Design
Time
Sample
Surveyed
at T1
Sample
Surveyed
at T1
T1
Same
Sample
also
Surveyed
at T2
T2
Cross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal Designs
Cross-Sectional
Longitudinal
Detecting change
Worse
Better
Amount of data collected
Worse
Better
Accuracy
Worse
Better
Representativeness
Better
Worse
Response bias
Better
Worse
Some Alternative Research Designs
(a)
Exploratory
Research
•Secondary Data
Analysis
• Focus Groups
(b)
Conclusive Research
•Descriptive/Causal
(c)
Conclusive Research
•Descriptive/Causal
Conclusive Research
•Descriptive/Causal
Exploratory
Research
•Secondary Data
Analysis
•Focus Groups
Basic Research Methods
• Secondary Data Analysis
– Historical analysis
• Surveys
– Asking; self-reported
• Experiments
– Testing in controlled environments
• Observation
– Watching & recording
Which is the “Best” Research Design &
Method?
• “You cannot put the same shoe on every foot.”
– Publilius Syrus
• It depends on the
– problem of interest,
– level of information needed,
– resources,
– researcher’s experience, etc.