Lecture 3 400

MKT 400 Marketing Research Lecture 3 Dr. Anjala Krishen Dept. of Marketing

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Research Design: Delineating What Data to Collect and How to Collect It A research design is the basic plan that guides data collection and analysis. It must specify: 

the type of information to be collected (consistent with the project objectives)

possible data sources  the data collection procedure (accurate, economical and timely) 

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A Classification of Marketing Research Designs Research Design

Conclusive Research Design

Exploratory Research Design

Descriptive Research CrossSectional Design Single CrossSectional Design

Causal Research

Longitudinal Design

Multiple CrossSectional Design

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Exploratory & Conclusive Research Differences Exploratory

Conclusive

Objective: To provide insights and understanding.

To test specific hypotheses and examine relationships.

Character- Information needed is istics: defined only loosely. Research process is flexible and unstructured. Sample is small and nonrepresentative. Analysis of primary data is qualitative. Findings/ Results: Tentative.

Information needed is clearly defined. Research process is formal and structured. Sample is large and representative. Data analysis is quantitative.

Conclusive.

Outcome: Generally followed by further exploratory or

Findings used as input into 4 decision making.

3-1c Conclusive Research: Narrowing Down Strategic Alternatives Conclusive research aims to narrow the field of strategic alternatives down to one. Two types:  Descriptive research characterizes marketing phenomena without testing for cause-and-effect relationships. It is used for: determining the frequency of certain marketing phenomena  determining the degree of association between marketing variables  making predictions regarding marketing phenomena 

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Causal research gathers evidence on cause5

Designs Objective:

Exploratory Discovery of  ideas and insights

Characteristics : Flexible, versatile

Often the front end of total research design Methods: Expert surveys Pilot surveys Secondary data:

Descriptive Causal Describe market Determine cause characteristics or and effect relationships functions Marked by the prior formulation of specific hypotheses

Manipulation of  one or more independent variables

Preplanned and Control of other structured design mediating variables Secondary data: quantitative analysis Surveys Panels

Experiments

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Uses of Exploratory Research 

Formulate a problem or define a problem more precisely

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Identify alternative courses of action

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Develop hypotheses

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Isolate key variables and relationships for further examination

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Gain insights for developing an approach to the problem

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Establish priorities for further research 7

Use of Descriptive Research 

 To describe the characteristics of relevant groups, such as consumers, salespeople, organizations, or market areas.

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 To estimate the percentage of units in a specified population exhibiting a certain behavior.

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 To determine the perceptions of product characteristics.

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 To determine the degree to which marketing variables are associated.

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 To make specific predictions. 8

Research 1. Market studie studies s that describe describe the the size of of the market, market, buying power of the consumers, availability of  distributors, and consumer profiles. 2. Market share share studies studies that determi determine ne the proportio proportion n of total sales received by a company and its competitors. 3. Sales analysi analysis s studies studies that descri describe be sales by by geographic region, product line, type, and size of  the account. 4. Image studies studies that determin determine e consumer consumer perception perceptions s of the firm and its products. 5. Produ Product ct usage studie studies s that describe describe consump consumption tion patterns. 6. Distr Distributi ibution on studies studies that determi determine ne traffic traffic flow patterns, and the number and location of  distributors. 7. Pricin Pricing g studies studies that that describe describe the the range range and frequency of price changes and probable consumer 9

When is Causal Research Appropriate? 

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Causal research is appropriate to use when the purposes are to understand which variables are the cause and which variables are the effect, and to determine the nature of the functional relationship between the causal variables and the effect to be predicted. What is a good example of causal research? 10

Cross-sectional Designs 

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Involve the collection of information from any given sample of population elements only once. In single cross-sectional designs, there is only one sample of respondents and information is obtained from this sample only once. In multiple cross-sectional designs , there are two or more samples of respondents, and information from each sample is obtained only once. Often, information from different samples is obtained at different times. Cohort analysis consists of a series of surveys conducted at appropriate time intervals, where the cohort cohort serves serves as the basic unit unit of analysis. A cohort is a group of respondents who experience the same event within the same time interval.

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Longitudinal Designs 

A fixed sample (or samples) of  population elements is measured repeatedly on the same variables

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A longitudinal design differs from a cross-sectional design in that the sample or samples remain the same over time

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Longitudinal CrossSectiona l Design

Longitudina l Design

 Time

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Sample Surveye d at T1

Sample Surveyed at T1

 T1

Same Sample also Surveyed at T2  T2 13

Uses of Casual Research 

 To understand which variables are the cause (independent variables) and which variables are the effect (dependent variables) of a phenomenon

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 To determine the nature of the relationship between the causal variables and the effect to be predicted

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METHOD: Experiments 14

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

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Secondary Data 

internal secondary data generated within the organization lower cost  accurate  more available 

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external secondary data – generated by government or syndicated sources government publications  trade association data  books  bulletins  reports  periodicals 

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Role of Secondary Data first step in data collection: determine whether the data have already been collected  advantages of secondary data 

less expensive and time-consuming to collect  aid formulation of decision problem  suggest methods for meeting information needs  source of comparative data for primary data 

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disadvantages of secondary data don't exactly fit the information needs of the project  aggregated without the breakdown or crosstabulations required by the project 

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Research 1. Who: Who: who shou should ld be con consid sidere ered? d? 2. Whe Where: re: whe where re sho should uld the res respond pondent ents s be contacted to obtain the required information? 3. Whe When: n: whe when n shou should ld the inf inform ormati ation on be obtained from the respondents? 4. Wha What: t: wha whatt inf inform ormati ation on shou should ld be obtained from the respondents? 5. Why Why:: why are we obt obtain aining ing inf inform ormat ation ion from the respondents? 6. Wa Way: y: the way in whi which ch we are goin going g to obtain information from the respondents.

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