The Use of Experiments in Consumer Research
Experimental Research is typically used to answer certain questions that marketers
have. For example, an advertising agency may be interested in the question, “Do
humorous appeals work?” The attached ad is an example of a humorous appeal.
You might see similar ads on television. The question is, are such appeals effective?
Most people might say, “yes” to the above question because if the ad is funny and
they like the ad, this liking might transfer to the brand. However, it is possible to
argue that in some situations humor might not work. For example, consider three
situations:
1) The humorous appeal used by the agency is not seen as humorous. I might
look at the attached ad and say, “It is sad the person died but a stupid bag
survived!” and these negative feelings might influence my perception of the
bag.
2) Sometimes the joke might be funny the first time you hear it but becomes
somewhat boring and irritating if it is repeated 20 times. This is particularly
true of television ads.
3) Sometimes people see a funny ad, remember the ad - but not the brand! This
situation is quite likely when there is a lot of information in the ad but the
brand name is not emphasized.
Thus, the answer to the question “Do humorous appeals work?” is not as
straightforward as it might seem. In order to study this systematically, we conduct
experiments.
In a typical experiment, people might be shown information that is of different types
(e.g., an ad with a humorous appeal, an ad without a humorous appeal) and their
responses to the ad compared. Many market research agencies conduct such research
to help advertising agencies come up with the most effective strategy for advertising.
Thus, for example, before a television ad is created, several mock advertisements may
be tested out.
Experimental research is not merely concerned with advertising issues. It can be
applied in a vast number of areas such as: medical research, engineering, negotiations,
consumer decision-making, etc.
If you are interested in market research and answers to questions of this sort, you can
learn more by a) working with faculty members on independent study projects and b)
taking market research/statistics courses to learning the techniques needed for data
analysis. In Marketing, it is sometimes possible to get internships at advertising
agencies and market research firms. These internships can be quite helpful in
understanding the wide variety of questions that might be asked. However, if you
wish to pursue market research as a career, it is sometimes helpful to do an
independent study followed by an M.Phil (with a masters thesis) to demonstrate your
competence in the area. For more advice on this issue, feel free to contact a faculty
member.
The use of humor in magazine advertising
Laboratory Vs. Field Experiments
Experiments may be conducted in laboratory or field environment. A laboratory
environment is an artificial one, which the researcher constructs with the desired
conditions specific to the experiment. The term field environment is synonymous with
actual market conditions. An experiment to measure the effectiveness of a test
commercial could be conducted in a laboratory environment by showing the test
commercial embedded in a TV program to respondents in a test theater. The same
experiment could also be conducted in a field environment by running the test
commercial on actual TV stations.
Laboratory experiments have the following advantages over field experiments: the
laboratory environment offers a high degree of control because it isolates the
experiment in a carefully monitored environment. Therefore, the effects of history can
be minimized. A laboratory experiment also tends to produce the same results if
repeated with similar subjects, leading to high internal validity (Note: Internal validity
refers to whether the manipulation of the independent variables actually caused the
observed effects on the dependent variables, or the observed effects could have been
caused by variables other than those manipulated). Laboratory experiments tend to
use a small number of subjects, last for a shorter time, be more restricted
geographically, and are easier to conduct than field experiments. Hence, they are
generally less expensive as well.
As compared to field experiments, laboratory experiments suffer from the following
main disadvantages: the artificiality of the environment may cause reactive error, in
that the respondents react to the situation itself, rather than to the independent
variable. Also, the environment may cause demand artifacts, a phenomenon in which
the respondents attempt to guess the purpose of the experiment and respond
accordingly. Finally, laboratory experiments are likely to have lower external validity
than field experiments. Because a laboratory experiment is conducted in an artificial
environment, the ability to generalize the results to the real world may be diminished.