Types of Research Designs

 Exploratory Research (huh?)

 Designed to generate basic knowledge, clarify relevant issues
uncover variables associated with a problem, uncover information
needs, and/or define alternatives for addressing research
objectives.
 A very flexible, open-ended process.
 Descriptive Research (who, what, where, how)
 Designed to provide further insight into the research problem by
describing the variables of interest.
 Can be used for profiling, defining, segmentation, estimating,
predicting, and examining associative relationships.
 Causal Research (If-then)
 Designed to provide information on potential cause-and-effect
relationships.
 Most practical in marketing to talk about associations or impact of
one variable on another.
 Types and Characteristics of Exploratory Studies

 Literature Search
 Conceptual literature
 Trade literature
 Published statistics
 Library homepage (www.uah.edu/library)

 Analysis of Selected Cases

 Intensive study of related cases or past activities
 May be internal or external
 Can help provide clues as to how other units or
companies have dealt with similar issues
 Types and Characteristics of Exploratory Studies

 Experience Surveys (a.k.a., depth interviews)

 Knowledgeable people with varying points of view
 Unstructured and informal interviews
 Respondent free to choose issues to be discussed
 Focus Groups
 8 to 10 people at one time
 Relatively homogeneous groups
 Multiple, heterogeneous groups
 Group dynamics
 Moderator is key
 Relies on general topical guide with plenty of time for
interaction
 The Growing Role of Focus Groups
 Goal of focus group research: learn and
understand what people have to say and why.
Find out how participants feel about a product,
concept, idea, organization, etc.;
How it fit into their lives;
Their emotional involvement with it
 May be conducted alone or as part of a broader
project
 May be use to define issues or to confirm findings
from survey research.
 Requirements for Focus Groups
 Good group of information-rich participants
 How many people?
 How many groups?
 Characteristics of participants
 Discussion guide and outline
 Ground rules
 Agenda
 Guiding questions
 Qualified Moderator
 Controls flow
 Stimulates discussion
 Analysis and Report
 Good Moderator Characteristics
 Must be able to break down barriers; get subjects to open up within first 10 minutes
 Must be a quick learner
 Good listener
 Absorb content
 Gauge personalities
 Adapt quickly
 Must be in control, but not dominating (guide rather than lead)
 Must appear to be neither an expert nor naive
 Must be flexible to allow for free flow of discussion
 Don’t concentrate too rigidly on the moderator guide
 Keep the big picture in perspective
 Know what is important
 When to move on
 Facilitating Group Dynamics
 Use a introductions to set the tone
 Use only first names in introductions
 Avoid job titles and positions, unless necessary
 State your purpose and establish position as an
objective, unbiased party
 Encourage everyone to participate; no right or wrong
answers
 Use an ice breaker to get everyone comfortable
 State ground rules, procedural details
 Ask for permission to tape if possible
 Ensure confidentiality/anonymity
 Report to contain summary of group, not individuals
 Use “write-down” method to allow for both introverts and
extroverts to have input, and to “lock” people into their
own opinions (avoids too much group think)
 Handling Problems in the Focus Group
 Confusing Concept or Discussion Topic
 Break the concept into components that are easier to understand
 Use the confusion as a discussion point (ask for their interpretation,
then attempt to resolve)
 Dead Subject (no discussion initiative)
 Play one person off the other.
 Use projective techniques
What color do you most closely associate with …. ? Why?
What animal does ______ remind you of? Why?
What type of people might use…? Why?
 Lively Subject (everyone talking, often at once)
 Assert leadership role and take charge
 Promise more discussion time later
 Suggest that everyone wants to hear all opinions, which is easier
done one at a time
 Use “write-down” techniques to quiet the group down
 Handling Problems in the Focus Group (cont’d)

 The Talkative Member

 Leverage his/her energy to you benefit
 Ask the rest of the group to respond to (agree/disagree with) what
the talkative member said
 Call on someone else specifically when asking questions
 Say, “Don’t let “Ed” do all the talking, I’d like to hear from
someone else….”
 Silent Members
 Call on them by name (“John, how do you feel about…”)
 Reinforce the value of their responses
 Do this several times in a row and they will open up voluntarily
 Probe their short answers for more detailed ones
“Tell me more about…”
“That is interesting, why do you feel that way/”
 The Moderator/Discussion Guide

 Purpose is threefold:
 Outline flow of discussion
Defines issues
Sets ground rules
Provides time constraints
 Provides information for participants
 Serves as a guide for the final report
 May be very basic or extremely detailed depending on formality of the
research.
 Very exploratory research will require a simple guide
 More extensive analyses need more structure
 Contents of The Discussion Guide
 Introductory Statements (typically 10-15 minutes)
 Moderator introduction
 Respondent introductions
 Objectives/Statement of Purpose
 Ground rules
 Key Discussion Questions (45-50 minutes)
 Practice using multiple types of questions to elicit more detailed responses
 Think about the purpose of your questions:
Collect information?
Maintain flow?
Lead respondent?
 Wrap-up
 Clarify, Verify, Summarize
 Ask “All things considered” type questions to get them to summarize
 Thoughts on Discussion Questions
 Begin with simple, easy to answer questions
 Place more specific, sensitive questions toward the mid-point in the
discussion
 Don’t want to force them to work too hard early or scare them
 Ensure that questions are short and deal with a single issue
 Utilize vocabulary that is consistent with the respondents’
 Include questions that the respondents would reasonably have
knowledge of and ability to answer
 Remember to keep the tone of the questions conversational, not
accusational, confrontational, or critical of individuals
 Don’t ask questions that would potentially single one person out for
inspection
 Be cautious about giving examples (might lead too much)
 Use parallel or similar questions to test commitment to positions
 Activities to Engage Participants
 List generation
 Ranking or evaluating items
 May be abstract ideas or concrete objects
 Sentence completion
 Creating analogies
 Picture or word sort
 Create a collage of your feelings
 Drawing a picture or ideal image
 Role playing or enactment
 Personal experiences
 Hypotheticals
 Divide group for debate
 Monitor and follow-up on Nonverbals
 What is Included in Typical Reports
 Depends on type of report desired
 Most focus group reports are designed to answer the
following questions:
 What was the purpose of the study?

 What were the research objectives?

 What methodology was used, and why?

 What was the group composition?

 What were the key findings?

 As a result, what are the recommendations?

 Techniques for Summarizing Findings
 Identifying comments that are frequently mentioned
 Evaluating rankings or "votes" occurring over the course of the project
 Grouping similar responses by meaningful subgroups (for instance, mentions
by region, age group, or company size)
 Resolving differences between groups
 Discussing messages with opposing ideas indicated perhaps by body language

To ensure accurate evaluation of focus group reports, keep in mind several rules
of thumb:

 Avoid quantifying results; remember this is qualitative analysis.

 Look for patterns that show consistent themes
 It is important to provide quotations to support your evaluations.
 Identify which thoughts were generated through a free-flowing discussion and
which were actually aided responses.
 On-line Focus Groups

 Advantages
 No geographic barriers
 Lower costs
 Fast turnaround time
 Do not have to see a moderator face-to-face
 Can reach hard-to-reach managers
 Two way interaction between moderator and the client
is possible
 On-line Focus Groups
 Disadvantages
 Group dynamics are construed
 Nonverbal inputs are minimal
 Client involvement with participants is practically non-
existent
 Security - who is the person on-line?
 Attention to the topic - is the participant paying attention?
 Exposure to external stimuli - can not present product
prototypes.
Or can we?
 Role and skill of moderator are more difficult
 Depth Interviews
 One-on-one interviews that probe and elicit detailed answers
to questions, often using nondirective techniques to uncover
hidden motivations.
 Advantages
 No group pressure
 Respondent is focus of attention and feels important
 Respondent is highly aware and active
 Long time period encourages revealing new information
 Can probe to reveal feelings and motivations
 Discussion is flexible and can explore tangential issues
 Depth Interviews

 Disadvantages
 Much more expensive than focus groups
 Do not get the same degree of client involvement;
clients do not want to observe single interviews
 Are physically exhausting for the moderator…reduces
the number of people that can be interviewed in a given
time period.
 Moderators do not have other group members to help
obtain reactions and to stimulate discussion.
 Types and Characteristics of Descriptive Studies

 Cross-Sectional Study
 Easily the most common type of research project.
 Typically involves conducting a survey of a sample of population
elements at one point in time.
 Useful because it provides a quick snapshot of what’s going on
with the variables of interest for our research problem.
 Longitudinal Study
 An investigation that involves taking repeated measures over time.
 Useful for conducting trend analysis, tracking changes in behavior
over time (e.g., brand switching, levels of awareness, turnover)
and monitoring long-term effects of marketing activities (e.g.,
market share, pricing effects)
 True panel vs. omnibus panel
 Causal Research Designs

 Evidence to Support Causation

 Concomitant variation
If X is supposed to cause Y, then the two variables must move
together.
If one variable changes, we should observe a resulting change in the
other.
 Time order of occurrence
If X is supposed to cause Y, then changes in X must precede changes
in Y.
 Elimination of other possible causes
If X causes Y, no other factor could have reasonably caused the
change in Y at that moment.
Must hold all other variables constant.
 Causal Research Designs

 Experiments are the best way to satisfy elements of causation.

 May be Field Experiment or Laboratory Experiment
 Tradeoff between realism versus control
 Examples of experimentation in marketing
 Market test (test marketing)
 Advertising response (recall, affect, attitude toward ad elements)
 Promotional design (consumer response to promotional deals,
incentives, tie-ins
 Store layout and design
 Product positioning
 Color tracking and package design