understanding the connection between the cause and the effect. Casual research is often conducted through various controlled experiments to allow for the testing of cause and effect. It explores the effect of one variable on another. Casual Research Design
Marketers use this approach primarily for the
purposes of prediction and to test the hypotheses, though it can also be used to a lesser extent for discovery and explanatory purpose. In marketing ,casual research is used for many types of experiments such as : Testing marketing scenarios. What might happen to product sales if the product design or packaging is changed. What might happen to product sales with respect to changes in advertising . Casual Research Design
Experimental Research Design:
Experimental research method can be defined as a method of controlled observation of a succession of events. It can be also described as observing the effect on a dependent variable of the manipulation of an independent variable. Experimental design is a planned interference in the natural order of events by the researcher An experimental design is a test in which the researcher has a control over one or more variables an manipulates them. Experimental Research Design
There are three types of popular
experimental research studies: Laboratory Experiments Field Experiments Quasi Experiments Experiment refers to the research project constructed such that the researcher changes one element to observe the effect in another element. Experimental Research Design
Laboratory Experiment: In this method tests are
done in a sterile environment where researcher can control almost all possible casual factors. However, while the laboratory allows researcher to control the variables, laboratory may not accurately represent the market place. Therefore laboratory results are said to have good internal validity but they often lack in external validity. This suggests that laboratory results are likely to be more statistically correct but less likely to be generalizable to the population of interest. Experimental Research Design
Advantages of Experimental Studies:
Experimental method helps in establishing cause and effect relationship more clearly than any other method The experimental method makes more accurate prediction The experimental method is more precise and accurate since the variables under study are manipulated leaving others untouched. Experimental method is the best method considered to test the hypothesis. Experimental Research Design
Experimental Validity: Validity refers to research
actually measuring what it attempts to measure. Validity suggests that the measuring device is free from errors. There are two basic types of Validity concerning experimental research: a) Internal Validity b) External Validity Experimental Research Design
Internal Validity: This refers to the validity
of interferences in scientific studies. External Validity: This pertains to how well do the findings of an experiment apply to the situations that were not tested directly. Most often it means how well do the results of the experiments generalize beyond sample of subjects in the experiment and the particular experimental manipulations to the rest of the possible situations of the real world. Experimental Research Design
Following are the methods used to ensure
internal and external validity and for avoiding confusions in experiments. 1. Random selection of the subject. 2. Random assignments to treatment conditions. 3. Matching subjects on relevant variables. 4.Use of within subjects design (WSD) 5. Balancing for WSD order and carryover effect. Casual Research Design
Limitations of casual design :
Field variables can involve many variables outside the control of the researcher, resulting in an unanticipated differences in conditions. It may be difficult or expensive to gain cooperation from the retailers or wholesalers for setting up an experiment. Marketing personnel may lack the knowledge of experimental procedures reducing the chances of desired results. The researcher bias in the experiment consciously or unconsciously might affect the experiment.