Exam 2 Study Guide Secondary data o Internal Refers to data gathered for some other purpose other than the immediate study Secondary research approaches are increasingly used to examine marketing problems because of the relative speed and cost effectiveness of obtaining the data Two types Collected by a company for accounting purposes marketing programs inventory management and so forth Consists of sales accounting or cost information Can be used to analyze product performance customer satisfaction distribution effectiveness and segmentation strategies Highly effective in helping decision makers plan new products or create new distribution outlets o External Is collected by outside organizations such as federal and state governments trade associations nonprofit organizations marketing research services or academic researchers Only PRIMARY data can provide answers to marketing problems Is information that you collect specifically for the purpose of your research project o An advantage of primary data is that it is specifically tailored to your research needs o A disadvantage is that it is expensive to obtain Primary data Literature review Is a comprehensive examination of available secondary information related to your research topic Purpose o Provides background and contextual information for the current study clarifies thinking about the research problem and questions that are the focus of the study reveals whether information already exists that addresses the issue of interest helps to define important constructs of interest to the study and suggests sampling and other methodological approaches that have been successful in researching similar topics A literature review will help you identify define and measure constructs o Ex a literature review may show that frequent Internet shoppers are more likely to be engaged with online advertising that engagement increases positive attitudes toward the brand Conceptual model A model that summarizes the relationships you hope to predict If you are performing purely exploratory research you will not need to develop a model before conducting your research Variable o An observable item that is used as a measure on a questionnaire Variables have concrete properties and are measured directly Examples of variables include gender marital status company name number of employees how frequently a particular brand is purchased and so on Constructs related variables o Is an un observable abstract concept that is measured indirectly by a group of Relationships o Some examples of commonly measured constructs in marketing include service quality value customer satisfaction and brand attitude Constructs that represent characteristics of respondents may also be measured for example innovativeness opinion leadership and deal proneness o Are associations between two or more variables o When modeling causal relationships variables or constructs in relationships can be either independent or dependent variables o Positive Relationship Relationship between two variables is when the two variables increase or decrease together o Negative Relationship Suggest that as one variable increases the other one decreases Ex individuals exhibiting higher technology discomfort are less likely to adopt a new technological innovation Hypotheses Causal Hypotheses o Are theoretical statements about relationships between variables The theoretical statements are based on research findings confirmed previously in another situation and thought to be applicable in the new situation o Causal hypotheses help businesses understand how they can make changes that for example improve awareness of new products service quality customer satisfaction loyalty and repurchase Ex A business might be interested in predicting the factors that lead to increased sales Independent variables that may lead to sales include advertising spending and price These two hypotheses can formally be stated as follows Hypothesis 1 Higher spending leads to higher sales Hypothesis 2 Higher prices lead to lower sales Descriptive Hypotheses o Are merely answers to this specific applied research problem Thus possible hypotheses might be younger customers believe our prices are too high or we have not effectively advertised to the younger segment o Three steps 1 Reviewing the research problem or opportunity for example our research opportunity might be that we are interested in marketing our product to a new segment 2 Writing down the questions that flow from the research problem or opportunity e g would a new segment be interested in our product and if so how could we approach this segment 3 Brainstorming possible answers to the research questions the potential target segment would be interested in this product if we made some modifications to the product and sold the product in outlets where the segment shops Null Hypotheses o States that there is NO relationship between variables o In marketing research the null hypothesis is developed so that its rejection leads to an acceptance of the alternative hypothesis Alternative Hypotheses o States that there IS a relationship between two variables o If the null hypothesis is accepted we conclude that the variables are not related If the null hypothesis is rejected we find support for the alternative hypothesis that the two variables are related Research types Qualitative vs Quantitative CH4 Data collection types Focus group Involves bringing a small group of people together for an interactive and spontaneous discussion of a particular topic or concept Focus groups typically consist of 8 to 12 participants who are guided by a professional moderator through a semi structured discussion that most often lasts about two hours There are five major advantages to using focus group interviews o 1 They stimulate new ideas thoughts and feelings about a topic o 2 Foster understanding of why consumers act or behave in certain market situations o 3 Allow client participation o 4 Elicit wide ranging participant responses o 5 And bring together hard to reach informants o Findings lack generalizability to target population o Reliability od data is limited and trustworthiness of the interpretation based on insightfulness of researchers Disadvantage Selection and recruitment o Purposive Sampling Involves selecting sample members because they possess particular characteristics Ex sample members may be chosen because they are typical members of their category or because they are extreme
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