Assignment 2

Submitted by group-2
Somya Samaiya
Sushant Kumar Jena
Nikhila Pinninti
Sarbani Sahu
Sibasish Patanaik
Chapter 3

Research Design

In the chapter Research Design, we come across research design which is a framework or
structure in which marketing research is carried out by suggesting the procedures required to
gather information needed to solve the research problem. Research design is segregated into
exploratory research design and conclusive research design. The objective of exploratory
research is to provide insights and information provided is defined loosely, research process
is flexible and unstructured, the sample size is small and qualitative analysis of primary data
is carried out. The nature of the result is tentative and is followed by further explanatory or
conclusive research. On the other hand, the conclusive research design involves testing
specific hypothesis and examine relationships. The information is clearly defined and the
research process is formal and structured. As the sample size taken for conclusive research is
large and representative, a quantitative data analysis is conducted. Therefore, the final
conclusive results serve as inputs into decision making.

Exploratory research objective is to explore or search through for a solution for purposes like
precise formulation of a problem, identifying alternative, developing hypothesis ,gaining
insights and developing priorities for future research. As this research is flexible and versality
,it sometimes involves implementation of new insights. This kind of research can be greatly
benefit with the use of methods like expert survey, pilot survey, case studies, qualitative
analysis of secondary data and qualitative research.

Descriptive research, as the name suggests, describes the market characteristics or functions.
Specific hypothesis are formulated earlier i.e they are pre-planned and structured designs.The
descriptive analysis can benefit from methods like quantitative analysis of secondary
data,surveys,panels ,observation and other data. This kind of analysis specifies who, what
,when,why,where and way (the six Ws)of the research. Some examples of descriptive
research are-study of market described by market size, market share, consumer buying power
and presence of distributers and consumers. However this research is not limited to the
method mentioned above as they can involve the use of explanatory questions and causal
experiments.

Descriptive research is further subdivided into cross-sectional and longitudinal research.

Cross-sectional research involves collecting information from any given sample population
only once. It is of two types-single cross-functional or multiple-cross-functional. Single
cross-functional or sample survey research designs involve using only one sample of
respondents from the targeted population. Multiple cross-sectional designs involve the use of
2 or more sample of respondents but the information from each sample is gathered once.As
the information from different samples is obtained at different times,this involves
comparisons at an aggregate level not at an individual respondent level. This type of design
has relative advantage in terms of evaluation criteria like representative sampling and
response bias over other designs

Cohort Analysis is a type of multiple cross-sectional design involving surveys conducted at

appropriate time intervals. Cohort, the basic unit of analysis, consists of a group of
respondents who experience the same event within the same time frame. Cohort analysis
involves studies in which we get measures of characteristics of more than one group at two or
more points of time.

Longitudinal Designs measures fixed sample or samples of population elements repeatedly

on the same variable. The sample always remains the same and they are measured over time.
The difference between cross-functional and longitudinal designs is that the former involves
looking into variables of interest at a single point of time but the latter involves in-depth view
of the situation over the time. This type of design has relative advantage on evaluation
criterias like detecting change,large amount of data collection and accuracy than other
designs.

The term, panel which is used interchangeably with longitudinal design involves taking those
sample of respondents who have agreed to give insights at specified intervals over a long
period of time The classification of panel include mail,telephone, internet, mobile or
multimedia dependent on the type of collection of data. The main disadvantage of panel is the
non-representiveness which may have arose due to refusal to co-operate,morality and
payment.

Causal Research is a type of conclusive research used to obtain cause-effect relationship

evidence and decisions are based on this relationship.These relationship may not be justified
and validated and therefore they are examined by formal research. This requires manipulation
of one or more independent variables and measuring the effect on dependent variables.
Causal research uses experiment method the purpose of determine the nature of the
relationship between the causal and the effect to be predicted.

Several errors have the potential to affect a research design. Total error which is the variation
between true mean and observed mean values ,is divided into 2 parts random sampling error
(error that can be attributed to sources other than sampling) and non-sampling error (a type of
sampling where the responses were not received by the respondents).Non-sampling error is
divided into 2 types -response error (error due to inaccurate responses)and non-response
error(error due to no response from respondents).Response error are divided into research
errors , interviewer errors and respondent errors. Research errors include surrogate
information error which is the variation between the information needed for the marketing
research problem and the sought information. Measurement error is the variation between
information sought and the information generated by the measurement process employed by
the researcher. Population definition error may be defined as the variation between the actual
population relevant to the problem and defined by the researcher.Other errors that are present
are sampling frame error,data analysis error,respondent selection error,questioning
error,recording error,cheating error, inability error and unwillingness error.

Budgeting and scheduling a project involves using tools that ensure that the available
resources are utilized by marketing research project.This is managed by critical path method
dividing the research into components ,determining the sequence of components and
estimating the time required for completion. Program evaluation and review technique is an
advanced version of CPM which recognizes the uncertainity of completion of
project.Graphical evaluation and review techniques is another advanced techniques in which
both the completion probabilities and activity cost can be built into a network representation.

Marketing Research Proposal addresses all steps of the marketing research process that
includes executive summary, background, problem definition/objectives of the research,
approaches to the problem, research design, fieldwork and data collection, data analysis,
reporting, cost and time and appendices.This ensures that researchers and management agree
about the nature of the project and helps to sell the project.

Chapter 4

Exploratory research design: Secondary and Syndicated data

Primary data is data originated by the researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the
research problem. Secondary data is the data collected for some other purpose other than the
problem at hand. Usually, secondary data collection is relatively low expensive and takes a
short time to collect compared to primary data collection. But secondary data may be limited
in terms of usage because of the relevancy or accuracy. It is important to evaluate the
secondary data before using for research purpose. Some of the criteria are:

● The methodology used to collect data

● Accuracy of the data
● The time lag between data collection and data usage
● The purpose for which the data is originally collected
● Nature and content of the data
● How dependable are the data

Classification of the Secondary data:

Secondary data is broadly classified into internal or external. Internal data is available within
the organization for which the research is being conducted. External data is the data that
originates from outside the organization.

Internal data:

The internal data usually comes from a customer database, data warehouse, and CRM. The
internal data is subjected to data mining to draw meaningful insights.

External data:

Usually, originate from-

 ● Business or nongovernment data
● Government sources
● Census data
Syndicated services: Information services offered by marketing research organizations that
provide information from a common database to different firms that subscribe.

Syndicated sources of secondary data are:

1.Surveys

● Psychographics and Lifestyle

● Advertising evaluation
● General surveys
Surveys can be used for market segmentation and for the establishment of consumer profiles.
They are used for Product image, Positioning and Measurement, and price perception
analysis.

Surveys are a flexible means of obtaining data from respondents. But there is a gap in what
people say and what people do. The error may occur because of this as some respondents
give a socially desirable response.

2.Panels

● Purchase panels
Data gathering technique in which respondents record their purchase online.

● Media panels
A data-gathering technique that is compromised off samples of respondents whose
television viewing behavior is automatically recorded by electronic devices.

These are used for forecasting sales, market shares, assessing brand loyalty and brand
switching behavior, measuring promotional effectiveness, and conducting a control
store test. Panels can provide longitudinal data and in purchase panels information is
recorded at the time of purchase eliminating recall errors. Disadvantages of purchase
and media panels include lack of representativeness maturation and response bias.

3. Electronic scanner services

Scanner data is data obtained by passing merchandise ovary laser scanner that leads the UPC
code from the packages. Volume tracking data, scanner panels, and scanner panel with cable
TV are the types of Scanner data available.

Syndicated data is also available from retailer and wholesaler audits and there are a lot of
existing industry services that provide syndicated data. Mobile Marketing research can be
employed for accessing secondary data and providing survey-based syndicated services.