Chapter 5 Flashcards
Selection of descriptive research
Based on:
1) the nature of the initial problem/opportunity (should describe characteristics of existing market situations or evaluate current marketing mix strategies)
2) the research questions (should include who/what/where/when/how – NO WHY)
3) the research objectives (should identify relationships between variables or determine whether difference exists)
Descriptive research
Collects quantitative data to answer research questions: who, what, where, when, how
Causal research
Collects data that enables decision-makers to determine cause-and-effect relationships between 2 or more variables
If X, then Y
Experiments MUST have manipulation and randomization
Advantages of quantitative research
- Can accommodate large sample sizes for generalized results
- Produces precise enough estimates
- Easy to administer and record
- Facilitates advanced statistical analysis
- Concepts/relationships not directly measurable can be studied
Disadvantages of quantitative research
- Questions that accurately measure respondent attitudes and behavior are challenging to develop
- In-depth data is difficult to obtain
- Low response rates
Constructs
An unobservable, abstract concept that is measured indirectly by a group of related variables
How are constructs measured?
With multiple indicator variables
Advantages of telephone interviews
Interviewers are supervised at a central work location
Less expensive than face-to-face
Allows respondents from a wide geographic area
Call backs are possible
Random dialing selects random sample
Disadvantages of telephone interviews
Only audio is used
Complexity of questions
Respondents can hang up
Limited to national borders
Landline access - less than 50%
High refusal rates
May annoy people
Advantages of face-to-face interviews
Adaptability
Rapport (comfort zone)
Feedback
Quality of responses
Disadvantages of face-to-face interviews
Possible recording error
Interviewer-respondent interaction error
High expense
Advantages of mail-panel interviews
Inexpensive to implement
Reaches hard to interview respondents
Disadvantages of mail-panel interviews
Lower response rates which creates nonresponse bias
Misunderstood/skipped questions
Slow acquisition of data
Advantages of self-administered surveys
Low cost per survey
Respondent control
No interviewer-respondent bias
Anonymity in responses
Disadvantages of self-administered surveys
Limited flexibility
High nonresponse rates
Potential response errors
Slow data acquisition
Lack of monitoring capability
Advantages of online surveys
Less expensive per respondent than any other method
Collects data from hard-too-reach samples
Can randomize order
Missing data can be eliminated
Improved graphic capabilities
Companies can survey customers using email
Disadvantages of online surveys
Internet samples are rarely representative
Nonresponse bias can be high
Limited ability to generalize to the general population – (propensity scoring can be used to adjust results to be more like a representative sample)
Underrepresented samples are weighed more heavily
Data generalizability
Data that accurately represents the population being studied and can be accurately projected to the target population
Data precision
The degree of accuracy of a response in relation to some other possible answer
Incidence rate
The percentage of the general population that is the focus of the research
(when incidence rates are low, researchers spend time and money locating respondents and it is better to talk one-on-one)
Advantages of mail panel surveys
Can be tested prior to the survey
High response rate
Can be used for longitudinal research
Disadvantages of mail panel surveys
Members are often not representative of the target population at large
