Exam 2 - Checklist Review

Monday, June 20, 2011 8:30 AM

Section I: Quantitative research methods Quantitative research: Survey (Chapters 8, 9 & part of Chapter15) - Advantages and disadvantages of survey research: Advantages: Quick Inexpensive Efficient Accurate Disadvantages: Survey Instrument problems Sampling problems Each type has disadvantages of their own - Survey errors (what each error means and how to reduce these errors) o Random sampling error: Statistical errors that occur because of chance variation in the elements selected for the sample (the selection of the sam ple is too narrow). o Systematic error/Nonsampling error: Errors resulted from some imperfect aspect of the research design or from a mistake in the execution of the research. Respondent error: A category of sample bias resulting from some respondent action or inaction. Divided in: Nonresponse error: The statistical differences between a survey that includes only those who responded and a perfect survey that would also include those who failed to respond. Mail and internet surveys, usually). Self selection bias: person who don't respond due to indifference. Response bias: when respondents consciously or subconsciously lie on their answers. - Deliberate falsification: when they give false answers to conform their perception of average person. - Unconscious misrepresentation: when the way you ask the question, conditions the answer. - Types of response bias: Acquiescence bias: the one resulting from respondents who only answer favorably. Extremity bias: bias from respondents who answer with extremes. Interviewer bias: bias from presences of interviewers. Social desirability bias: results from respondents' desires to gain social prestige. Administrative error: Data-processing error: Incorrect data entry, programming, or other errors during data analysis. Sample selection error: Improper sampling design or procedure execution. Interviewer error: mistakes to record responses correctly. Interviewing cheating: interviewers fill fake answers or falsifying questionnaires - Measurement issues (to ask the right questions in a right way): Questionnaire design o Avoiding mistakes: Don't ask long and confusing questions. Complexity Leading and loaded questions - Leading: when question suggest certain answer. - Loaded: question suggests socially desirable answer or emotion. Ambiguity: be as specific as possible. Double barreled questions: a question that may induce bias because covers two issues at once. Assumptions ("Should Macy's continue its excellent gift wrapping program?") Avoid questions that makes respondents to recall information. - Unaided recall: "do you recall any commercials on that program?" - Aided recall: when you give a list of items and ask a question that relates. Allow I don't know or I don't recall. o Question sequence Order Bias: bias caused by the influence of earlier questions. Funnel technique: asking general questions before specific ones to get unbiased responses. Filter Question: question that screens out respondents if they're not qualified for second question. Pivot question: a filter question used to determine which version of second question will be asked. - Types of survey o Interactive vs. noninteractive survey approaches: All kinds of surveys discussed in slides and textbook! (Advantages, disadvantages, procedures, special issues) Interactive survey approaches: e.g., survey conducted with: Personal interviews: Interviewer vs respondent face to face. - Advantages: High participation Visual aids Feedback Probing complex answers Length Completeness - Disadvantages: Lack of anonymity Cost Interviewer influence - Types of Personal Interviews: Door to door and callbacks Mall interception
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 Mall interception Telephone interviews - Landline interviews Disadvantages: More families are cutting the land lines No call legislation limits calling to certain hours. - Mobile interviews Disadvantages: Opt in: no telemarketing to cellphones Distraction of respondents Area codes not matching geography Hardware of phones is different - Advantages: Speed of data collection Geographical flexibility Respondent cooperation Versatility of questioning Length Medium item non response Average misunderstanding Moderate interviewer influence Supervision of interviewers Moderate anonymity Ease of callback and follow up Low cost Noninteractive survey approaches: e.g., Mail questionnaires: - Advantages: Geographical flexibility Cost Respondent convenience Anonymity of respondent Absence of interviewer Standardized questions Time is money (six to eight weeks) Length of mail questionnaire - Disadvantages: Persons who complete questionaire vs people who doesn't. Person filling survey is not the intended subject. Response rate: the number of quizzes returned or completed divided the number of eligible people asked to participate. Internet survey: a self administered quiz on a website. - Advantages: Speed and Cost effectiveness Visual appeal and interactivity Participation and cooperation Accurate real time data capture - Disadvantages Callbacks Personalized and flexible questioning Anonymity Response rates Security Response quality

- Temporal classification Longitudinal: survey of respondents at different times. Analysis of response continuity allowed and it charges over time. Tracking study: uses successive samples to compare trends and identify changes in variables. Consumer panels: survey of the same sample to record their attitudes, behavior or purchasing habits over time. Expensive. Two staged process. Cross-sectional a study of various segments of population and data is collected at a single moment in time.
Quantitative research: Experiment (Chapter 11 & part of Chapter 12) - Experiment: method that tries to establish causal inference. - Experimental subjects: sampling units for experiment. - Experimental variables: Independent variable (manipulated) and dependent variable. - Experimental conditions: one of the possible levels of an experimental variable manipulation. - Experimental treatment: It explains how the experimental variable is manipulated. - Effects: Main effect: The difference of the dependent variable on each experimental variable. interaction effect: is due to a specific combination of independent variables. - Experimental design Experimental group: a group of subjects to whom an experimental treatment is applied. Control group: do not receive experimental treatment. Used for comparison with experimental group. Several experimental treatment levels: different treatment levels. (more than 2). Basic Experimental Design: One independent variable. Factorial experimental design: more than one independent variable.
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 Factorial experimental design: more than one independent variable. Selection of dependent variables Define your concept correctly Define questions Avoid mistakes o Selection and assignment of test units: Random assignment What does that mean? The assignment of a subject and treatments to groups randomly. Why random assignment is favored? Generates equivalent groups Facilitates comparison by creating similar groups Randomization vs. matching Randomization: pick subjects freely. Matching is when you cluster subjects based on characteristics. o Within-subjects design vs. between subjects design Advantages and disadvantages of each design Within subjects: - Disadvantages: involves repeated measures because with each treatment the same subject is measured. Between subjects design: - Advantages: Can reduce demand characteristics (element that might give away the research hypothesis) - Disadvantages: Costly Laboratory experiment: The researcher has more complete control over the research setting and extraneous variables Field experiment: Research projects involving experimental manipulations that are implemented in a natural environment. Rule out extraneous variables: extraneous variables (aka: experimental confounds) show that there's an alternative explanation beyond the variables for any observed differences on dependent variables.

- Internal experimental validity: exists to the extent that an experimental variable is responsible for any variance in the dependent variable. o Manipulation check: a validity test to make sure that manipulation does produce differences in the independent variable. o Other factors that would reduce internal validity (read textbook) History: occurs when some change other than experimental treatment occurs during experiment and changes the dependent variable. Maturation: time and natural events that coincide with growth and experience. Testing: when initial measurements alerts subjects in a way that affects their response. Instrumentation: a change in a wording of questions, change of interviewers or procedures causes a change in dependent variables. Selection: sample selection error. Mortality: when subjects withdraw the experiment without concluding it. - External experimental validity: the accuracy with which results can be generalized outside the subjects. - Test-market (read textbook) o What does it mean? o Why should we conduct test-market?
Section II. Measurement (Chapters 13 & 14) Measurement is the process of describing some property of a phenomenon - What to measure Concept: A generalized idea that represents something of meaning. Some are concrete (number of children) and some abstracts (love). Abstracts are hard to define. Construct: Concepts measured with multiple variables. Conceptual definition (meaning of concept) Operational definition (translate conceptual definitions into measurement scales Measures - How to measure Levels of measurement Nominal: values are assigned to an object for id or classification purposes. Ordinal: ranking scales arranging them based on how much of some concept they have. Interval: has nominal and ordinal properties and captures differences in quantities from one observation to the next. Ratio: has all the properties of intervals and can represent absolute quantities. Discrete measures: measure that takes on only one of a finite number of values. Continuous measures: Measures that reflect the intensity of a concept by assigning values. Index measures: assigns a value based on how much of the concept being measured is associated with an observation. Composite measures: Assign a value to an observation based on a mathematical derivation of multiple variables - Three criteria for good measurement o Reliability: An indicator of a measure's internal consistency (which represents a measure's homogeneity) o Validity: The accuracy of a measure or the extent to which a score truthfully represents a concept Face validity: A scales content logically appears to reflect what was intended to be measured Criterion validity: The ability of a measure to correlate with other standard measures of similar constructs of established criteria. Convergent validity: Another way of expressing internal consistency, highly reliable scales contain convergent validity. Discriminant validity: Represents how unique or distinct is a measure. Construct validity: Exists when a measure reliably measures and truthfully represents a unique concept o Sensitivity: A measurement instruments ability to accurately measure variability in stimuli or responses. - Attitude measurement o Frequently used scales Rating scales: a measurement task that requires respondents to estimate the magnitude of characteristics of an object. Category scales: a rating scale of several categories. The Likert scale: allow respondents to rate how they agree. Semantic differential scale: scale on which respondents describe their attitude using a series of bipolar rating scales (good, bad) Stapel scale: a scale where there's one adjective in the center and even numbers on its side. Constant-sum scale: Divides points between characteristics to indicate their relative importance. Graphic rating scale: allows to rate an object by choosing any point along a graphic continuum. Ranking scales: measurement task that requires to rank order objects.

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Section III. Sampling (Chapter 16) - Sampling: take a sample of the population to study and then generalize the results to the whole population. - population, any complete group of entities. - census, Investigation of all individual elements that make a population. - sample, a subset of a larger population. - sampling frame: a list of elements that defines the sample that'll be picked. - sample units: each unit of the sample. - Defining your target population Selecting the appropriate sampling frame (avoid sampling frame error) Probability vs. non-probability sample (Selecting the most appropriate sampling method) Determining sample size Selecting actual sampling units - Probability vs. non-probability sampling o Probability sampling: every member of population has nonzero chance of selection. Simple random sampling: random selection. Systematic sampling: a starting point is randomly selected, and from there, every n number on the list is selected. Stratified sampling: Divides sample in strata of individuals who share similar characteristics. Cluster sampling: the sampling unit is a large cluster of elements. Multistage sampling: sampling that involves the use of two or more sampling techniques.

o Non-probability sampling: units are selected on basis of personal judgment or convenience. Convenience sampling: obtaining those people or units that are most conveniently available. Judgment sampling: an experienced individual selects the sample based on personal judgment Quota sampling: ensures that various subgroups of a population will be represented on pertinent characteristics to the exact extent that the investigator desires. Snowball sampling: initial respondents are selected by probability methods and additional respondents are obtained from information provided by the initial respondents. - Sampling error o Random sampling error: the difference between the sample result and the result of a census conducted with identical procedures. o Systematic sampling error: occurs if the sampling units in an experimental cell are different than the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable. Section IV. Data input and cleaning (Chapter 19) 1. Data integrity The notion that the data file actually contains the information that the researcher promised the decision maker he or she wo uld obtain, meaning in part that the data have been edited and properly coded so that they are useful to the decision maker. 2. Creating data files a. What are data files? The way a data set is stored electronically in spreadsheet-like form in which the rows represent sampling units and the columns represent variables b. Raw data: The unedited responses from a respondent exactly as indicated by that respondent c. Values, labels: unique labels assigned to each possible numeric code for a response. d. String vs. numeric variables String characters: represent formatting a variable using a series of alphabetic characters. Numeric Variables: needs only one character to form a field. e. Missing data i. Plug value: An answer that an editor plugs in to replace blanks or missing values to permit data analysis. ii. List-wise deletion vs. pair-wise deletion List-wise deletion: A method of handling missing data in which the entire record for a respondent that has left a response missing is excluded from use in statistical analyses" Pair-wise deletion: "A method of handling missing data in which only the actual variables for a respondent that do not contain information are eliminated from use in statistical analyses f. Reverse coding Means that the value assigned for a response is treated oppositely from the other items Section V. Descriptive Statistics (Note: *indicates the measure that you need to know how to calculate) (Chapters 17 & 20) 1. Descriptive vs. inferential statistics - Descriptive: To describe characteristics of the population or sample, such as central tendency, distribution, and variability. - Inferential: To make inferences about a whole population from a sample. 2. Sample statistics (measures computed from sample) vs. population parameters (measures from a whole population) 3. Frequency distribution: A set of data organized by summarizing the number of times a particular value of a variable occurs 4. Measures of central tendency: mean (Average)*, median (the value below which half the values in a distribution fall)*, mode (the value that occurs more oft en)* 5. Measures of dispersion: a. What does dispersion mean? It describes how far away individual responses are from the center. Skinny vs. fat dispersion: the more skinny the dispersion, the more accurate. b. Measures: Range: the distance between the smallest and the largest values of a frequency distribution. Deviation: calculates how far any observation is from the mean. Variance: Its square root is the standard deviation. Standard deviation: The average of the amount of variance for a distribution. 6. Normal distribution: characteristics 7. Cross-tabulation: Many of your research questions or hypotheses refer to comparing frequencies among different group. 8. Comparing mean differences: When the variables that you look at between groups are at interval/ratio level. 9. Being able to read SPSS output, such as descriptive statistics tables, frequency tables and histogram and choose the most appropriate statistics to report (see example 1)
Section VI. Communicating research results (Chapter 25) 1. Structure of basic marketing research report 2. What content should be covered in each section: a. Introduction section b. Research methodology section c. Results section i. Use charts effectively (i.e., pie charts, bar charts, histogram) ii. Report appropriate statistics 1. When should we report means and standard deviations?

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1. When should we report means and standard deviations? 2. When should we report frequencies and percentages? 3. Comparison a. When should we use cross-tabulation? b. When should we report mean differences? d. Conclusions and recommendation section

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