Summary Lecture Notes For Week Two

Lecture Notes Week 2

·         Research Design is the process of determining how you will collect information and analyzing data gather for your study. Having a good research design is important to have good data and findings.

·         Your research objective (what you plan to do) and research problem (what needs to be study) will help you determine how to design your research study and what methods and procedures to use.

·         There are three types of research designs:  exploratory, descriptive, and causal. Again your research design is determined by your research objective.

·         Research has three objectives: to gain background information and develop hypotheses, to measure the sates of a variable of interest, or to test hypotheses that specify the relationship between two or more variables.

·         Research design is also dependent on how much we know about our problem and research objective.

Exploratory research

·         Exploratory research is the most commonly unstructured, informal research that is used to gain background information about the general nature of a research problem. Unstructured literally mean that the research changes as we gain knowledge and information. It’s informal because there are no set research objectives, sample plan, or questionnaire (Burn&bush, 2009). Exploratory research can be conducted by observing a situation or even by reading a magazine or watching a show (content analysis).

·         This type of research is conducted when the research doesn’t know that much about a research problem and needs additional information or wants new or recent information about a problem.

·         What is exploratory research used for? To gain background information, to define terms, to clarify problems and hypotheses, and to establish research priorities ( Burns&Bush, 2009).

·         How is exploratory research conducted? What are the methods?

ü  Secondary analysis is the process of searching for and interpreting existing information on the problem in your research study.

ü  Experience survey is the gathering of information from those who have knowledge and experience with the problem.

ü  Case analysis is the review of available information about a former situation that has some similarity to your problem.

ü  Focus groups are small groups of people who are brought together and guided by a moderator through an unstructured, spontaneous discussion for the purpose of gaining information relevant to the research problem.

ü  Projective techniques explore hidden consumer motives for buying goods and service by asking participant to project themselves into a situation and then to respond to specific questions regarding  that situation. By talking about others respondents my give us information about themselves.

Descriptive Research

·         Descriptive research is used to obtain answers to questions of who, what, where, when, and how. In marketing terms this type of research is used when we want to know who customers are, what brand they buy and in what quantities, where they buy the brand, when they shop, and how they found out about our product.(Burn&Bush, 2009).

·         Descriptive research is used when we want to obtain information from a large population.

·         Usually if descriptive research is representative (of a particular population) we are able to measure and predict some variable of interest such as sales.

·         Marketing researchers use two types of descriptive research.

ü  Cross-sectional studies measure units from a sample of a population at one time. For example your attitudes towards a certain commercial.

ü  Longitudinal-repeatedly sample the same measure for a population at different over a time period. 50% of longitudinal studies are used in marketing research. They usually use the same people which are referred to as a panel over this period of time.

Causal Research

·         Causality focuses on the relationship that variable(x) has on another variable (y).

ü  Experiment studies manipulate an independent variable to see how it affect the independent variables(Burn&Bush, 2009)

ü  Independent variables are variables that a research can control and wish to manipulate.(price and prestige)

ü  Dependent variables are those in which we have no control over.( you can’t change human stratification with a product or level of sales)

ü  Extraneous variables are those that may have some effect on a dependent variable but yet are not independent variables (Burn&Bush, 2009). Great example of page 130.

·         Experimental design is a procedure of dividing and experimental setting such that a change in a dependent variable may be attributed solely to the change in an independent variable.

·         Usually before measures are changed to affect the dependent variable a pre-test is given and after the independent variable has been changed a posttest is given.

·         Experimental group are those who are exposed to a change in the independent variable.

·         Control Group is those who are not exposed to a change in the independent variable.

·         Field experiments are those in which the independent variables are manipulated and the measurement of the dependent variables is made on test units in their natural setting. Test marketing is commonly referred to experiments, studies, or test that is conducted in a field setting. (Burn&Bush 2009:137).