CHAPTER 3 - Types Of Marketing Research

1. To develop initial hunches or insights
2. To provide direction for any further research needed.
3. To shed light on the nature of a situation
4. To identify any specific objectives or data needs for additional research.
5. Most useful when a decision maker needs
   • to better understand a situation
   • to identify decision alternatives.

1. To verify insights
2. To aid decision makers in selecting a specific course of action.
3. To help decision makers choose the best course of action in a situation.
4. Useful when a decision maker
   • Has in mind one or more alternatives
   • Specifically looking for information pertinent to evaluating them.
5. typically more formal and rigorous than exploratory research.
   • Data requirements are clearly specified
   • Intended as an aid in the final stages of the decision-making process

1. Interview knowledgeable individuals
   • Careful attention must be given to the selection.
   • Very few individuals have all of the relevant information.
2. Expertise in areas related to the situation being investigated.
   1. very subjective
   2. flexible
   3. no standard approach.
3. Useful when decision maker
   • senses the need for research
   • lacks well-defined research objectives.
4. Silicone Graphics
5. Proctor & Gamble

1. Objective discussion leader
   • introduces a topic to a group (typically about 8 to 12)
   • Directs their discussion
   • Nonstructured and natural setting.
2. Respondents discuss the topic in a fairly informal fashion.
3. Moderator
   • Leads the discussion.
   • Ensures that key aspects of the topic are discussed
   • Observes or records the participants' reactions.
4. Focus groups are used in a variety of situations.
5. Example Pharmacia
6. Example 3M

• Fast and inexpensive
• Can generate valuable insights.
• Can provide a proper focus for conclusive research.
• May even eliminate the need for conclusive research.
• Example Sears
• Example Alpha Graphics

1. An in-depth examination of a unit of interest.
   • Customer
   • Store
   • Salesperson
   • Firm
   • Market area
   • Website
   • Etc.
2. High insight-generating potential
3. Suitable when
   • Firm has general research objective
   • Unsure of exactly what it is looking for.
4. Collect in-depth data on a variety of dimensions or factors
   • Only time & imagination limit the factors to be examined.
5. Nonquantitative
6. Numerous comparisons and contrasts of the data.
7. Requires recognizing
   • Subtle differences across cases
   • Possible relationships among factors within a case.
8. Example Allied Associates

• Human or mechanical observation of
  • what people actually do 
  • what events take place during a buying situation.
• Researchers or mechanical/electronic devices
  • witness and record information as events occur
  • or compile evidence from past events.
• Useful to assess behavior
  • use of products
  • frequency of store visits
  • teens shopping with and without supervision
  • use of media
  • time spent on specific websites.
• Particularly useful in researching young children

• Exploratory research is not limited to the five methods just described
• Variations or combinations of these methods can also be employed.
• Insights from exploratory research pave the way for conclusive research.
• Many research projects involve
  • an exploratory phase
  • followed by a conclusive phase.
• Example 3M Medical

1. Goal is to describe something.
2. Describes groups composition & characteristics
   • customers
   • salespeople
   • organizations
   • market areas.
3. Can provide information
   • along relevant characteristics
   • about associations among those characteristics.
4. Usually doers not lead to causal inferences about relationships among variables.
5. Example: All You Want To Know About China
6. Example: Saver's Bank

1. Allows causal inferences (e.g., how variable X affects variable Y).
   • Manipulation of the presumed causal variable
   • Control of other relevant variables.
2. To be able to say that X has a causal influence on Y
   1. Gather data under controlled conditions
   2. Hold constant all variables other than X
   3. Neutralizing the effect of other variables
   4. Systematically manipulate the levels of X to study its impact on Y.

1. The distinction is based on
   • Primary purpose of a conclusive research project
   • Nature of the inferences one can draw from it.
2. Experimental research can provide stronger evidence of cause and effect
3. Analysis of descriptive research data can suggest possible causal linkages among variables

1. Descriptive research is by far the more frequently used form of conclusive research.
2. Descriptive research studies are classified into two basic types: cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies.

1. One-time studies - "snapshot" of a situation 
   • data collection
   • single period in time.
   • Uses a cross-sectional sample
     • specifically and solely for the one-time data collection.
     • sample is disbanded after the data are collected.
2. Can also be used to obtain data pertaining to different periods in time.
3. Omnibus panels
   • Maintained by several firms
   • Used as a source of samples for cross-sectional studies.
   • Panel members are returned to the panel after participating in a study.
4. Cross-sectional study
   • Most popular descriptive method.
   • account for the majority of formal research projects involving primary-data collection.

1. Produces a "motion picture" (or a series of snapshots) of a situation over time.
   • Repeated-measurement studies
   • Collect data over several periods In time.
   • Monitor changes over time.
   • Usually more informative than cross-sectional studies
   • Usually more expensive than cross-sectional studies.
2. Panel, or a group of units
   • recruited to provide measurements over a period of time.
   • At the end of each phase, panel is maintained for future use.
3. Successive measurements can use
   • a physically different but representative sample of units
   • or the same sample of units each time.
4. Both sample options
   • will yield longitudinal data
   • nature of the findings can differ
   • nature of the implications can differ.

1. Omnibus panels
   • used to generate different cross-sectional samples at various periods in time
2. True Panel
   • A longitudinal study using the same sample of respondents
   • Captures the dynamics of changes between measurements
   • Usually provides richer information than one using a series of different samples.
   • Capable of generating more data directly pertaining to the research purpose:
     • Captive sample of willing respondents
     • Likely to tolerate extended interviews
     • Likely to fill out lengthy questionnaires.
     • Background data such as demographic and lifestyle data collected only once
     • More data of primary research interest can be collected.

1. Identifying a representative sample of respondents who are willing to cooperate over a long period of time.
2. Certain types of consumer groups are hard to recruit for panels.
   • nonwhites
   • homemakers under 25
   • illiterate persons
   • etc.
3. Panel conditioning - Participation may, over time, induce them to alter their natural or usual behavior.

1. Intended to generate the evidence necessary
   • for making causal inferences
   • about relationships among variables.
2. To make causal inferences with confidence
   • Manipulate the causal variable
   • Effectively control the other variables.
   • Causal variable and effect variable must occur in the proper time sequence.
3. Before/After Design
4. Experimental Design

1. Choosing is somewhat subjective.
2. Exploratory research is most appropriate
   • Where the research objectives are general
   • Data requirements are unclear.
   • Results can
     • Form the foundation for conclusive research.
     • Suggest that conclusive research is unnecessary or unproductive.
3. Conclusive research
   • Experimental research when testing causal relationships among variables.
   • Descriptive research otherwise.
4. Descriptive-versus-experimental distinction
   • exists more along a research continuum than as a clear-cut dichotomy.
   • Tentative causal statements can be made after some descriptive research studies.
5. Pure experimental research studies is rare.