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Session 3. Research Designs
MKTG 3010 MARKETING RESEARCH

Harley Goes Whole Hog (p 67-68)
 What was the management decision problem?
 What was the marketing research problem?
 How did they arrive at the problems?
 What are the components of the broad statement?
 What theory was used in developing the approach?
 Give an example of the research question and the hypotheses related to it.
 What information is identified to be needed?
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Grade Descriptors
Grade Overall Course
A
A-
Outstanding performance on all learning outcomes.
Generally outstanding performance on all (or almost all) learning outcomes.
B
Substantial performance on all learning outcomes, OR high performance on some learning outcomes which compensates for less satisfactory performance on others, resulting in overall substantial performance.
C
D
F
Satisfactory performance on the majority of learning outcomes, possibly with a few weaknesses.
Barely satisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes
Unsatisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, OR failure to meet specified assessment requirements.
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Marketing Research Process
Step 1: Defining the Problem
Step 2: Developing an Approach to the Problem
Step 3: Formulating a Research Design
Step 4: Doing Field Work or Collecting Data
Step 5: Preparing and Analyzing Data
Step 6: Preparing and Presenting the Report
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The Process of Defining the Problem and
Developing an Approach
Tasks Involved
Discussion with
Decision Maker(s)
Interviews with
Experts
Secondary
Data
Analysis
Qualitative
Research
Environmental Context of the Problem
Step I: Problem Definition
Management Decision Problem
Marketing Research Problem
Objective/
Foundations
Step II: Approach to the Problem
Analytical
Model: Verbal,
Graphical,
Mathematical
Hypotheses
Specification of
Information
Needed
Step III: Research Design
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Step 3: Research Design
– Determine the ways to collect data

Definition
 A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project.
 It details the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure or solve marketing research problems .
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Basic Research Designs
• Flexible
• Versatile
• Often the front end of total research design
• Preplanned and structured design
• Marked by the prior formulation of specific hypotheses
• Manipulation of one or more independent variables
• Control of other mediating variables
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A Comparison of Basic Research Designs
Objective:
Characteristics:
Methods:
Exploratory
Discovery of ideas and insights
Descriptive
Describe market characteristics or functions
Causal
Determine cause and effect relationships
Flexible, versatile
Often the front end of total research design
Expert surveys
Pilot surveys
Focus group
Secondary data: qualitative analysis qualitative research
Marked by the prior formulation of specific hypotheses
Manipulation of independent variables, effect on dependent variables Preplanned and structured design
Secondary data: quantitative analysis
Surveys
Panels
Observation and other data
Control mediating variables
Experiments
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Uses of exploratory research
 In the 1 st and 2 nd stages of the marketing research process:
 Used when the research question is still fluid or undetermined.
 Formulate a problem or define a problem more precisely
 Gain insights for developing an approach to the problem
 Help delineate the dependent and independent variables
 Develop hypotheses
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Methods of Exploratory Research
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Literature search;
Secondary data analysis
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Qualitative Research
Experience survey, Expert survey
Focus group.
Depth interviews
Projective techniques
Ethnographic methods (last week) the detailed observation of consumers during their ordinary daily lives using direct observations, interviews, and video and audio recording.
Case studies
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Exploratory Research:
1. Secondary Data

Primary Data vs. Secondary data
 Primary data are originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand. The collection of primary data involves all six steps of the marketing research process.
 Secondary data are data which have already been collected for purposes other than the problem at hand.
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How to use data to make a hit TV show?
https://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_wernicke_how_to_use
_data_to_make_a_hit_tv_show#t-251588
 Questions –
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What type of data did Roy Price use to make the decision?
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What type of data did Ted Sarandos use to make the decision?
What can we learn from the cases? (good or bad of using data?)
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Reminder -
 Secondary data must be considered first before any decision to undertake primary data
 Be critical with secondary data
 Why, what, when, how, dependable?
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Homework -- An Unusually Crowded
Summer Box Office, in Charts
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Read the article in attachment and answer the following question:
Provide a description of Figure 1?
What’s the difference between Figure 1 and Figure 2?
Why we create Figure 2?
What is “endogeneity”? What is the “endogeneity” problem in this context?
What are the explanations for the crowded summer box office?
Which one is more plausible? Why?
Shall we release the new movie in summer?
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Exploratory Research:
2. Qualitative Research

 Qualitative research is one type of exploratory research
 It results in primary data
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Primary Data: Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Research
Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
Objective To gain a qualitative understanding of the underlying reasons and motivations
To quantify the data and generalize the results from the sample to the population of interest
Just like the difference between exploratory and descriptive research!
Sample Small number of nonrepresentative cases
Large number of representative cases
Data Collection Unstructured Structured
Data Analysis Nonstatistical Statistical
Outcome
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Develop an initial understanding
Recommend a final course of action

Classification of Qualitative Research
Procedure
Qualitative Research
Procedures
Focus
Groups
Direct
(Nondisguised
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Depth
Interviews
Indirect
(Disguised)
Projective
Techniques
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Association
Techniques
Completion
Techniques
Construction
Techniques
Expressive
Techniques

I. Focus Group
 Watch the video and answer the following questions:
 What is Focus Group?
 What is the advantage of using Focus Group?
 What is the disadvantage of using Focus
Group?
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Focus Group
 An interview conducted by a trained moderator among a small group of respondents in an unstructured and natural manner.
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A Group Discussion
Generate insights into thoughts and feelings
 Best for preliminary research
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Focus Group
 Advantages:
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Richness of data
Versatility
 Impact on managers
 Disadvantages:
 Lack of generalizability
 High cost per respondent ($3,000-$5,000 per focus group)
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Difficult to moderate
Potentially misleading data
 Conformity and Cultural Influence
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II. Depth Interviews
 Like focus groups, depth interviews are an unstructured and direct way of obtaining information.
 Unlike focus groups, however, depth interviews are conducted on a one-on-one basis.
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Major Difference between Focus Group and
Depth Interview
 Group Interaction
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On one side: One answer could trigger unexpected reaction from others
The other side: Conformity
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III. Projective Techniques: Word Association
What is the first word that comes to your mind when you hear the following…
 Apple _____________
 Samsung _____________
 Nokia _____________
 Motorola _____________
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Projective Techniques: Sentence Completion
 People who use Master Card are
_________.
 A man who has an American Express is
_________.
 A Platinum Card is most liked by
_________.
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Projective Techniques: Construction
Techniques
 Ask subjects to draw cartoons and write about the subject of interest
 (or in a more sub
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TV Characters
 Find out what types of characters the audience like or dislike.
 How?
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The Girl With the Gun (WSJ, Sep 2, 2012)
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Back ground: Network executives regularly commission market research to find out what types of characters viewers like or dislike.
Client: The CW network, known for such soapy female-targeted shows as "Gossip Girl" and "90210 “. More than 60% of the network's viewers are women, mostly between the ages 18 to 34.
Researcher: Trendera, a market research and trend forecasting firm
Research Question: what women in their 20s and 30s want.
Research Method: Market researchers asked groups of 10 to 12 women gathered at local coffee shops or a friend's house as well as in traditional focus groups in New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Denver to make collages of magazine images they liked .
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Findings:
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They chose Jennifer Aniston paddle boarding over actresses lying on the beach in bikinis. They preferred beer to wine or fruity pink cocktails and gravitated to toned athletes in fitness magazines over models in evening gowns.
They also thought men had gotten wimpier and associated the opposite sex with the bumbling losers played by Jonah
Hill and Seth Rogen in recent romantic comedies.
Implications:
 "It was obvious that these women feel like they have to take charge and be the hero," says Jane Buckingham, president of Trendera.
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So, what did they create?

Projective Techniques: Expressive
Techniques
 Role Playing : Subject is asked to act out someone else’s behavior in a specified setting.
 Examples:
A customer is trying to return an item and does not have a receipt. The customer insists on a cash refund but store policy clearly states that all returns must be accompanied by a receipt. The store manager is only permitted to allow store credit in these circumstances. The customer is irate. What would you do if you were the store manager in this situation?
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Projective Techniques: Expressive
Techniques
 Third-Person Technique : Subject is asked to verbalize how a third person (such as a neighbor or friend) would react to a specific question.
 For example: sensitive questions
 Drug use
What Will the Neighbors Say?
A study was performed for a commercial airline to understand why some people do not fly. When the respondents were asked, "Are you afraid to fly?" very few people said yes. The major reasons given for not flying were cost, inconvenience, and delays caused by bad weather. However, it was suspected that the answers were heavily influenced by the need to give socially desirable responses. Therefore, a follow-up study was done. In the second study, the respondents were asked, "Do you think your neighbor is afraid to fly?" The answers indicated that most of the neighbors who traveled by some other means of transportation were afraid to fly.
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Projective Techniques
 Advantages
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 may elicit responses that subjects would be unwilling or unable to give if they knew the purpose of the study helpful when underlying motivations, beliefs and attitudes are operating at a subconscious level
 Disadvantages
 interpretation
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Descriptive Research
1.Survey

Classification of survey methods
Survey Methods
Telephone Personal Mail Electronic
Traditional
Telephone
Computer-
Assisted
Telephone
Interviewing
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In-Home
Mall Intercept
Computer-
Assisted
Personal
Interviewing
Mail Panel
Mail/Fax
Interview
E-Mail
Internet

South Korean Soap Operas: Just Lowbrow
Fun?
(WSJ, Jul 23, 2013)
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Researcher: Seoul National University
Research Method: Survey
Sample: 400 people aged between 20 – 60 in China in January
Approach: divided viewers’ tastes into categories according to the levels of income and education.
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Findings:
1. the main audience for South Korean series tends to be less educated and have less income than viewers that prefer programs from other countries.
2. The high-education-and-high-income group showed a preference for the subject matter’s novelty, fast pace and suspense — often found in U.S. TV shows, the report said.
3. “The Big Bang Theory” was the most popular feature for fans of American TV.
Implication: What is it about South Korean TV soap operas that appeals to foreign audiences? it’s because it’s lowbrow entertainment.
 The report also offers a caveat: highly-educated and high-income viewers may conceal their fondness of lowbrow entertainment.
lowbrow-fun-2/)

Advantage of survey research
 Ease: Questionnaires are relatively easy to administer.
 Reliability: Using fixed-response (multiple-choice) questions reduces variability in the results that may be caused by differences in interviewers and enhances reliability of the responses.
 Simplicity: It also simplifies coding, analysis, and interpretation of data.
 reliability: the measure produces similar results under consistent conditions
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Disadvantage of survey research
 Respondents may be unable or unwilling to provide the desired information.
 Structured data collection involving a questionnaire with fixed-response choices may result in loss of validity for certain types of data, such as beliefs and feelings.
 Properly wording questions is not easy.
 validity: the degree to which the tool measures what it claims to measure.
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Methods of improving response rate
Methods of Improving Response Rates
Prior
Notification
Incentives Follow-up
Monetary
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Prepaid Promised
Nonmonetary
Other
Facilitators (e.g. personalization)

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Descriptive Research
2.Observation

Observational Research
 Observation involves recording the behavioral patterns of people as well as data on objects and events in a systematic manner to obtain information about phenomenon of interest.
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A Classification of Observation Methods
Observation Methods
Personal
Observation
Mechanical
Observation
Audit
Content
Analysis
Trace
Analysis
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Relative Advantages of Observation
 Actual behavior vs. intended or preferred behavior
 No reporting bias, and potential bias caused by the interviewer
 Certain types of data can be collected only by observation (example?)
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The hand-washing habits of Americans.
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The study, conducted every few years, was released by the American
Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute at a microbiology conference in Boston.
Some subjects were asked about their washing habits in telephone interviews; others were watched by undercover observers in public restrooms.
The researchers, from Harris Interactive, stood in restrooms while pretending to fix their hair or put on makeup, said Brian Sansoni, a spokesman for the American Cleaning Institute, a trade group for producers of cleaning products. “After they took care of business, the observer checked whether or not they actually washed their hands,” Mr. Sansoni said.
Only about two-thirds of the men observed washed their hands after using the restroom at Turner Field — the lowest rate for any of the locations cited in the study.
20 percent of people using the restrooms at Pennsylvania Station and Grand
Central Terminal in New York did not wash their hands.
Women tended to be more responsible hand-washers than men
— and female Braves fans were no exception: 98 percent of women observed at Turner Field exercised proper hygiene before exiting the restroom.
(For Many, ‘Washroom’ Seems to Be Just a Name – NYT (2010))

Relative Disadvantages of Observation
 Little is known about the underlying motives, beliefs, attitudes, and preferences.
 Time-consuming and expensive
 May be unethical
 It is best to view observation as a complement to survey methods, rather than as being in competition with them.
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Science of Shopping
 Cameras and Software that Track our
Shopping Behavior
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG4lFmSO7VQ )
( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm6kPvJQTPI )
 Questions –
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What research design is used in the video?
What questions can be answered based on the collected data?
Any comment?
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