MARKETING RESEARCH PART 5 doc

Research Design
Ch 5 2
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.
Ch 5 3
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.
Ch 5 4
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.
Ch 5 5
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.
Ch 5 6
Basic Research Objectives and
Research Design
Research Objective Appropriate Design
To gain background information, Exploratory
to define terms, to clarify
problems and hypotheses,
to establish research priorities
To describe and measure marketing Descriptive
phenomena at a point in time
To determine causality, Causal
to make “if-then” statements
Ch 5 7
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.

Ch 5 8
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.
Ch 5 9
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.
Ch 5 10
Exploratory Research
• Uses
– Gain Background Information
– Define Terms
– Clarify Problems and Hypothesis
(refine research objectives)
– Establish Research Priorities
•Many questions; many sources
•Defining the problem; getting a “feel”
Ch 5 11

Exploratory Research
• A variety of methods are available to
conduct exploratory research.
–Secondary Data Analysis
–Experience Surveys
–Case Analysis
–Focus Groups
–Projective
Techniques
Ch 5 12
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.
Ch 5 13
Research Design:
Descriptive Research
• Two basic classifications:
–Cross-sectional
studies
–Longitudinal
studies
Ch 5 14
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 cross-
sectional studies whose samples
are drawn in such a way as to be
representative of a specific
population.
• These studies are usually
presented with a margin of error.
Ch 5 15
Classification of Descriptive
Research Studies
• Cross-sectional studies take
“snapshots” of the population at a
point in time.
Ch 5 16
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.
Ch 5 17
Descriptive Research
• Marketing Survey

– Questionnaire
– Sample method and size
– Data collection method
– Data analysis (quantitative)
• “Snapshot” versus Panel Design
•Many questions; one or few sources
•Formal sample and questionnaire
Panel Results
40%
30%
20%
15%
40%
50%
60% 60%
20% 20% 20%
25%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Summer Fall Winter Spring
2005
Market Share
Cory's
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Ch 5 18
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”).
Ch 5 19
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.
Ch 5 20
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
over time.
Ch 5 21
Ch 5 22
Changes From Two Cross-
Sectional 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.
Ch 5 23
Ch 5 24
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!
Ch 5 25
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.