Research Design

Research
design
A research design is a set of
advance decisions that makes up
the master plan specifying the
methods and procedures for
collecting and analyzing the
needed information.
There are some basic marketing
research designs that can be
successfully matched to given
problems and research
objectives. In this way, they
serve the researcher much like
the blue-print serves the builder.

Research design
There are some basic
marketing research
designs that can be
successfully matched
to given problems and
research objectives. In
this way, they serve
the researcher much
like the blue-print
serves the builder.

Types of Research design

Exploratory

Descriptive

Causal

Choice of Research Design

Objective of the
Research

Level of familiarity with

problem and research
objective

Exploratory Research
Exploratory research is
unstructured
informal
research that is taken to
gain
background
information about the
general
nature
of
research problem
Can be accomplished by
simply
reading
a
magazine or observing a
situation

Characteristics of
Exploratory Research
Informal (no established set of
objective, sample plan and
questionnaire)
Simple ( can be achieved through
reading or observing)
Flexible (allows researcher to
investigate whatever sources they
identify and to the extent they feel
necessary to further investigate)

Uses of Exploratory Research

Gain Background Information
Define terms and concepts
Clarify Problems and Hypothesis
Establish Research Priorities

Conducting Exploratory Research

Secondary Data Analysis
Experience Surveys
Case Analysis
Focus Groups

Descriptive Research
Descriptive research is undertaken
to describe answers to questions
of who, what, where, when and
how.
Who are our customers?
What brands they buy?
Where they buy the brands?
When they shop?
How did they found about our
products?

Classification of Descriptive
Research
Cross- Sectional studies

Longitudinal Studies

Time to time measurement

One time measurement

Sample surveys

Continuous panels
Discontinuous panels

Big sample size

Panels

Causal Research Design

Causal research design
attempts to explore the
effect of one marketing
condition over other(eg.
Level of advertising and
brand loyalty)

Conducting Causal Research

An experiment is defined as
manipulating
an
independent variable (e.g.
price of the product) to see
how it affects dependent
variable
(sales,
market
share)
while
also
controlling the effects of
additional
extraneous
variables
(offer
on
competitors products).

Experimental Design
An experimental design is a
procedure
for
devising
an
experimental setting so that a
change in dependent variable
may be attributed solely to the
change in independent variable.
The
impact
of
variable is avoided.

extraneous

Experimental Design
Pretest
(When
measurement
of
dependent variable is
taken prior to changing
the
independent
variable)

Post
test
measurement

(When
of

Experimental Design
True Experimental Design (This
isolates
the
effect
of
independent variable on the
dependent
variable
while
controlling for effects of any
extraneous variables

Quasi
Experimental
Design
(Designs that do not properly

Experimental Design
Control Group (A group whose subjects have not been
exposed to changes in independent variable)

Experimental Group (A group whose subjects have

been exposed to changes in independent variable)

Experimental Design
Before- After with Control Group
Achieved by randomly dividing
subjects of the experiment into two
groups: control group and
experimental group
E= (O2-O1) (O4-O3)
Experimental group (R) O1 X O2
Control Group (R)

O3

O4

Experimental Design
Internal Validity
(The extent to which the change in the
dependent variable was actually due to
independent variable)
External Validity
(The extent that the relationship
observed between the independent and
dependent
variables
during
the
experiment is generalizable to the real
world)

Types of Experiments
Laboratory Experiments

Field Experiments

Test Marketing
It is a phrase commonly used to
indicate an experiment, study, or
test that is conducted in a field
setting.
Classes for using test marketing
To test the sales potential for a
new product or service
To test variations in the marketing
mix for a product or service

Types of Test Markets

Standard test market
Controlled test markets
Electronic test markets
Simulated test markets (STMs)

Selecting test market cities

Representativeness
Degree of isolation
Ability to control distribution and promotion

Pros and Cons of test marketing

It allows for the most accurate
method of forecasting future
sales
It allows firms the opportunity to
pretest marketing mix variables.
It does not yield infallible results
It is expensive
It exposes the new product or
service to competitors
It takes time to conduct.