Appendix B: Research Methods Flashcards
Primary data
Information that is collected by the researcher for a specific purpose
Example: Professor assinging you to interview your friends and family on their thoughts about snack food brands
Secondary data
Information about a topic that already exists and can be consulted by a researcher
Example: Professor assigns you to analyze information from Stats Canada
Qualitative Methods
Interview Focus Group Stories, Photos, and Diaries Ethnography Netnography Shop-along
Interview
One-on-one interaction between an interviewer and respondent, allowing for the collection of in-depth data
Example: Going to a skate park and asking people opinions and questions about skate boards, usually offering an incentive like a discount
Focus Group
Discussion of a topic that a moderator leads with approximately 6-12 participants
Stories, Photos, and Diaries
Write stories about their won experiences with products or those of others
Take pictures of people using the product, or react to pictures they provide
Pay people to keep a diary about their product usage
Ethnography
The observation of people in their natural habitat
Brittany could spend a good amount of time among skateboarders, and over time, document their likes and dislikes. After time they will open up to her and give high quality feedback
Netnography
Analyzes posts on social media platforms to determine consumers’ thoughts and feelings about a product
Example: Recipe suggestions brand users post that incorporate a food product, or examming blogs, forums, and online content to get a sense of the issues people grapple with in real life and how they view brands as a solution to their problems
Shop-along
Interviewer accompanies people while they shop in a store
Example: Brittany walks around in her skate shop and identify pain points in the shopping experince (such as difficulty finding an item) or letting them try out boards to see what shopper truly look for
Pantry Check
Cataloguing of the products in respondents kitchens
Garbology
Sifting through trash to determine what residents actually consume
Example: Examming how much liquor one drinks by how many bottles and cans they have
Quantitative Methods
Survey
Experiment
Big Data and Data Mining
Neuromarketing
Survey
Respondents self-report answers to a set of questions posed by a researcher
Example: Phone or email surveys on gun control, body piercings, Census
Example 2: Brittany may survey boarders attitudes towards various brands and if they prioritize boarding in their leisure time over other activities
Closed ended questions
Closed-ended questions
Respondents choose an answer on a numerical scale
Open ended questions
Open-ended questions
Asked respondents to write their own response to questions rather than choosing numbers on a scale
GIGO
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Saying that reminds us that any research results will be meaningless if the data that we collect are not valid
Experiment
Independent variable is manipulated, holding constant everything else, to determine its impact on a dependent variable; used when the goal is establishing cause-and -effect relationships
Independent variable
Variable manipulated in an experiment in order to see its effect on the dependent variable
Example: Showing a commercial with a celebrity vs not a celebrity
Dependent Variable
A measurement of changes in an outcome variable to determine if the manipulation of one or more other factors influences it
Example: The number of calls the company receives after showing the commercial
Control group
A neutral version of the manipulation to use as a baseline
A/B Test
Two versions of a message to respondents to determine if one option is more effective
Field experiment
Is conducted in the real world opposed to a laboratory
Conjoint Analysis
Statistical technique that exposes respondents in a laboratory setting to many different permutations of an object in order to identify the optimal mixture or ingredients, colours, and other variable
Example: Brittany might name four attributes of skateboarding hates (number of panels, price, colours, etc) and then researchers will show respondents a series of pictures of slides that vary the levels of each variable in each configuration. They will see if participants prefer one level of attribute over another
Big Data
The collection and analysis of extremely large datasets to identify patterns of behaviour in a group of consumers
Data mining
The search for patterns in a very large dataset
Example: A book recommendation from Amazon would use this sort of pattern recognition
Web scraping
A research technique that involves the use of software to collect and summarize online social media posts
A type of web scraping
Sentiment analysis / opinion mining
The process of determining emotional tone behind a series of words, used to gain an understanding of the attitudes, opinions, and emotions expressed within an online mention
Neuromarketing
The use of brain-scanning instruments to identify changes in the brain when subjects are exposed to market stimuli
-The measures include involuntary changes in our bodies when we become emotionally aroused or stressed such as Galvanic Skin Response, pupil dilation, heart rate, and facial muscle movements
