Research Design

What is Business Research?

• Business Research may be defined as the

“systematic and objective process of gathering,
recording and analyzing data for aid in making
business decisions” (Zikmund, Business Research Methods,
2002, p. 6)

• Systematicness and Objectivity are its

distinguishing features of Business Research, which
is important tool for managers and decision-makers
in corporate and non-corporate organizations
 When is Business Research Used?

Typically, business research methods are

used in situations of uncertainty, that is,
when decision-makers face two or more
courses of action and seek to select the best
possible alternative under the circumstances.
Business Research is hence aimed at
improving the quality of decision-making
which, in turn, benefits the organization and
helps ensure its continuity and efficiency
 Fields Where Business Research is Often Used

General Business Conditions and Financial and Accounting Research

Corporate Research
• Forecasts of financial interest rate trends,
• Short- & Long-Range Forecasting, • Stock,bond and commodity value
• predictions
Business and Industry Trends
• capital formation alternatives
• Global Environments
• mergers and acquisitions
• Inflation and Pricing
• risk-return trade-offs
• Plant and Warehouse Location
• portfolio analysis
• Acquisitions
• impact of taxes
Management and Organizational • research on financial institutions
Behaviour Research • expected rate of return
• capital asset pricing models
• Total Quality Management • credit risk
• Morale and Job Satisfaction • cost analysis
• Leadership Style
• Employee Productivity
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Structural ssues
• Absenteeism and turnover
• Organizational Climate
 Fields Where Business Research is Often Used
Sales and Marketing Research
• Market Potentials
• Market Share
• Market segmentation
• Market characteristics
• Sales Analysis
• Establishment of sales quotas
• Distribution channels
• New product concepts
• Test markets
• Advertising research
• Buyer behaviour
• Customer satisfaction
• Website visitation rates
Information Systems Research
• Knowledge and information needs
assessment
• Computer information system use and
evaluation
• Technical suppot satisfaction
• Database analysis
• Data mining
• Enterprise resource planning systems
• Customer relationship management
systems
Corporate Responsibility Research
• Ecological Impact
• Legal Constraints on advertising and
promotion
• Sex, age and racial discrimination / worker
equity
• Social values and ethics
 Research Design: 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.
 Research Design

Blueprint
Blueprint

Plan
Plan

Guide
Guide

Framework
Framework

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 Quantitative vs. Qualitative
• Quantitative: data that can be expressed
numerically
• Qualitative: data typically in the form of
words or pictures
• Most research topics can be studied both
quantitatively or qualitatively
• However, most research questions are best
suited to one or the other
 Research Design

Exploratory Research
Design Conclusive Research
Design

Descriptive
Causal Research
Research

Cross-Sectional Longitudinal
Design Design
Relationship among Research Designs

Descriptive Research

Exploratory Research

Causal Research
 Uses of Exploratory Research

• Formulate a problem or define a problem more

precisely
• Identify alternative courses of action
• Develop hypotheses
• Isolate key variables and relationships for further
examination
• Gain insights for developing an approach to the
problem
• Establish priorities for further research
 Exploratory Research

• For new or undiscovered topics

• Uncovers basic facts about the topic
• Formulates and focuses questions for later
studies
• Suggests directions and feasibility of future
research
• Usually focused on the “what,” not the “why”
 Exploratory Research
• May not have a specific research question
• Can be challenging because there are few
guidelines to follow and the goals may
change
• Frequently uses qualitative techniques to
develop initial data and ideas
• Makes use of creativity.
Methods of Exploratory Research

• Survey of experts

• Pilot surveys

• Secondary data analyzed in a qualitative way

• Qualitative research
 Approaches for
Exploratory
Investigations
• Interviewing • Case studies
• Participant • Street ethnography
observation • Elite or expert
• Film, photographs interviewing
• Projective • Document analysis
techniques • Proxemics and
• Psychological Kinesics
testing
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 Desired outcomes of Exploratory Studies_1

Established
Established range
range and
and scope
scope of
of possible
possible
management
management decisions
decisions

Established
Established major
major dimensions
dimensions of
of research
research
task
task

Defined
Defined aa set
set of
of subsidiary
subsidiary questions
questions that
that can
can
guide
guide research
research design
design

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 Desired outcomes of Exploratory Studies_2

Developed
Developed hypotheses
hypotheses about
about possible
possible causes
causes of
of
management
management dilemma
dilemma

Learned
Learned which
which hypotheses
hypotheses can
can be
be safely
safely
ignored
ignored

Concluded
Concluded additional
additional research
research is
is not
not needed
needed or
or
not
not feasible
feasible

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 Common Exploratory Techniques for
Research

Secondary
Secondary Data
Data
Analysis Experience
Experience
Analysis
Surveys
Surveys

Focus
Focus Groups
Groups

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 Experience Survey
When we interview persons in
experience survey, we should seek
their ideas about important issues or
aspects of the subject and discover
what is important across the subject’s
range of knowledge.

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 Experience Surveys
• What is being done?
• What has been tried in the past with or without
success?
• How have things changed?
• Who is involved in the decisions?
• What problem areas can be seen?
• Whom can we count on to assist or participate
in the research?
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 Focus Groups
• A focus group is a group of people
(typically 6 to 10 participants), led by a
trained moderator, who meet for 90 minutes
to 2 hours. The facilitator or moderator uses
group dynamics principles to focus or guide
the group in an exchange of ideas, feelings,
and experiences on a specific topic.

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 Focus Groups
• Group discussion
• 6-10 participants
• Moderator-led
• 90 minutes-2 hours

6-25
 Use of Descriptive Research
• To describe the characteristics of relevant groups, such
as consumers, salespeople, organizations, or market
areas.
• To estimate the percentage of units in a specified
population exhibiting a certain behavior
• To determine the perceptions of product
characteristics
• To determine the degree to which marketing variables
are associated
• To make specific predictions
 Descriptive Research
• Presents a picture with specific details of
the situation or behavior
• Requires a focused research question/topic
• Focuses on “how” and “who” questions
• Is necessary for good explanatory research
 Descriptive Studies

Who?

How
How much?
much? What?
What?

When?
When? Where?

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 Descriptive Studies
Descriptions
Descriptions of
of population
population
characteristics
characteristics

Estimates
Estimates of
of frequency
frequency of
of
characteristics
characteristics

Discovery
Discovery of
of associations
associations
among
among variables
variables
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 Example: Descriptive

Decision Problem Research Question

• How should a new • Where do people

product be now buy similar
distributed? product?

• What should be the • What kinds of people

target segment? buy the product, and
who buys our brand?

• How should our • What is our current

product be changed? image?
 Descriptive Research

• Provide an accurate snapshot

– Consumer evaluation of the attributes of our product
versus competing products
– Socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the
readership of a magazine
– Proportion of all possible outlets that are carrying,
displaying, or merchandising our products

• Relationship in descriptive studies will not be causal in

nature. (may still have utility in prediction)
 USE OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

•Describe the characteristics of certain groups

- profile of the “average user” of our brand with respect to
income, sex, age, educational level, …

• Estimate the proportion of people in a specified

population who behave in a certain way
- proportion of people within a specified radius of a proposed
shopping complex who would shop at the center

• Make specific predictions

- predicting the level of sales for the next five years

• And so on…
Methods of Descriptive Research

• Surveys
• Panels
• Observational and other data
 Major Types of Descriptive Studies

Descriptive
Studies

Consumer Market
Sales Studies
Perception Characteristic
And Behavior Studies
Studies

• Market Potential • Image • Distribution

• Market Share • Product Usage • Competitive

Analysis
• Sales Analysis • Advertising

• Pricing
 Cross-sectional and Longitudinal
Designs
• A cross-sectional design involves the collection of
information from any given sample of population
elements only once.

• In a longitudinal design, a fixed sample (or samples)

of population elements is measured repeatedly on the
same variables

• A longitudinal design differs from a cross-sectional

design in that the sample or samples remain the same
over time
 Time Dimensions
• Some research neglects the element of time,
other research focuses heavily on time
• Cross-Sectional
– Observations at a limited point in time
– Frequently used by social scientists
 Longitudinal Research
• Much more expensive and time-consuming
than cross-sectional
• Time-series: multiple observations over
time of the several units
• Panel Study: multiple observations over
time of the same units
 Cross Sectional vs. Longitudinal Designs

Cross Sample
Sectional Surveyed
Design at T1

Same
Sample Sample
Longitudinal Surveyed also
Design at T1 Surveyed
at T2

Time T1 T2
 Uses of Casual Research
• To understand which variables are the cause
(independent variables) and which variables are the
effect (dependent variables) of a phenomenon

• To determine the nature of the relationship between the

causal variables and the effect to be predicted

• METHOD: Experiments
 Causal Studies
Experiment Ex Post Facto study
• Study involving the • After-the-fact report
manipulation or on what happened to
control of one or more the measured variable
variables to determine – No control over the
the effect on another variables
variable

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 Causal Studies

Reciprocal ––
Reciprocal
influence each
influence each
Symmetrical ––
Symmetrical other
other
fluctuate together
fluctuate together

Asymmetrical ––
Asymmetrical
IV and
IV and DV
DV

6-42
 Questions Addressed by Causal
Research
* Marketing director of local beer company,
“Will replacing TV commercial A with commercial B
lead to increase in consumer preference on our brand?”
* Chairman of a charity organization. “Will it be
worthwhile to mail to previous donors an attractive and
expensive brochure to solicit higher contributions this
year?”
* The sales manager of a local life insurance company.
“Will training in the use of computers for client
management increase agents’ sales?”
* Marketing VP of fashion chain, “Can we improve
profitability of our fashion clothing line by increasing its
price by 10%?”
 Causality: Cause-and-Effect
Change-in-X causes change-in-Y

Evidence of Causality
• Concomitant variation:
– If X changes, then Y also changes.
– If X does not change, then Y does not
change.
• Time order: cause (X) occurs before effect (Y).

• Could changes in Y be caused by

changes in Z?
 Types of Experiments
Laboratory experiment
Research investigation in which investigator
creates a situation with exact conditions so as
to control some, and manipulate other,
variables

Scientific investigation in which an

investigator manipulates and controls
one or more independent variables and
observes the dependent variable for
variation concomitant to the manipulation
of the independent variables Field experiment
Research study in a realistic situation in
which one or more independent variables are
manipulated by the experimenter under as
carefully controlled conditions as the
situation will permit
 Some Alternative Research Designs

Exploratory
Conclusive
Research
(a) • Secondary Data Research
•Descriptive/
Analysis
• Focus Groups Causal

Conclusive
(b) Research
•Descriptive/
Causal

Conclusive Exploratory
(c) Research Research
•Descriptive/ • Secondary Data
Causal Analysis
• Focus Groups
Exhibit 6-2 Descriptors of Research Design
Category Options
The degree to which the research question has • Exploratory study
been crystallized • Formal study
The method of data collection • Monitoring
• Communication Study
The power of the researcher to produce effects in • Experimental
the variables under study • Ex post facto
The purpose of the study • Descriptive
• Causal
The time dimension • Cross-sectional
• Longitudinal
The topical scope—breadth and depth—of the • Case
study • Statistical study
The research environment • Field setting
• Laboratory research
• Simulation
6-47 The participants’ perceptions of the research • Actual routine
activity • Modified routine
 The Topical Scope
Statistical Study Case Study
• Breadth • Depth
• Population inferences • Detail
• Quantitative • Qualitative
• Generalizable findings • Multiple sources of
information

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 Participants’
Perceptions

No deviation perceived

Deviations perceived
as unrelated

Deviations perceived as
researcher-induced
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