marketing research design MBA

1. Marketing Research Designs
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2. Introduction:
The research design is similar to broad plan or model that states how
the entire research project would be conducted. It is desirable that it
must be in written form and must be simple and clearly stated. The real
project is carried out as per the research design laid down in advance.
Definition:
A research design is a broad plan that states objectives of research
project and provides the guidelines what is to be done to realize those
objectives. It is, in other words, a master plan for executing a research
project.

3. Types of research designs
There are three types of research design:
I. Exploratory research design
II. Descriptive research design
III. Causal research design

4. Exploratory research design
 This design is followed to discover ideas and insights to generate
possible explanations.
 It helps in exploring the problem or situation.
 It is, particularly, emphasized to break a broad vague problem
statement into smaller pieces or sub-problem statements that help
forming specific hypothesis.
 The exploratory research design is used to increase familiarity of the
analyst with problem under investigation.
 This is particularly true when researcher is new in area, or when
problem is of different type.

5. Example
The owner of The Cupcake King has many, many ideas for improving the bakery's
sales, but isn't sure which will work. They think increasing the flavors of cupcakes
the bakery sells will bring in more customers, but know they need more
information. They intend to conduct ER to investigate whether expanding their
cupcake selection will lead to an increase in sale, of if there is a better idea.
The owner start by examining the prior research available on food business
improvement method. They hope that this will give them an idea on the type of
question and methods that were help to others. Next he develop a list of open
ended questions, question that let respondent answer however they want.
The cupcake king for instance, asks respondents how they could improve the
customer experience. The most common customer responses included comment
regarding the locatioSn,atmosphere,the length of time it took to be served and
wanting the ability to customize their cupcakes.

6. Descriptive research design
 Descriptive research design is typically concerned with describing
problem and its solution.
 it takes up the bulk of online surveying and is considered conclusive
in nature due to its quantitative nature.
 The main idea behind using this type of research is to better define
an opinion, attitude, or behaviour held by a group of people on a
given subject.
 Consider your everyday multiple choice question. Since there are
predefined categories a respondent must choose from, it is
considered descriptive research.

7. Example:
Consider your everyday multiple choice question. Since there are
predefined categories a respondent must choose from, it is considered
descriptive research. These questions will not give the unique insights
on the issues like exploratory research would. Instead, grouping the
responses into predetermined choices will provide statistically inferable
data. This allows you to measure the significance of your results on the
overall population you are studying, as well as the changes of your
respondent’s opinions, attitudes, and behaviours over time.

8. Causal research design
 Causal research is used by marketers to find cause and effect
relationship of variables. It is also sometimes referred as “If.. Then…”
method.
 In this type of research, the marketer tries to understand the effects
of manipulating independent variable on other dependent variable.
 This research is used by marketers mainly to predict and test
hypotheses.
 Let’s take some test cases where causal research can be used:
1. What will happen to sale of my product if I change the design of the
product?

9. Example:
For example, a cereal brand owner wants to learn if they will receive more sales
with their new cereal box design. Instead of conducting descriptive research by
asking people whether they would be more likely to buy their cereal in its new box,
they would set up an experiment in two separate stores. One will sell the cereal in
only its original box and the other with the new box. Taking care to avoid any
outside sources of bias, they would then measure the difference between sales
based on the cereal packaging. Did the new packaging have any effect on the cereal
sales? What was that effect?

10. Techniques and tools of data
collection – Scales and
measurement

11. Data collection
 The process by which the researcher collects the information needed
to answer the research problem.
 In collecting the data, the researcher must decide:
i. Which data to collect
ii. How to collect the data
iii. Who will collect the data
iv. When to collect the data

12. Scaling
 The ability to assign numbers to objects in such a way
that:
• Numbers reflect the relationship between the objects with
respect to the characteristics involved
• It allows investigators to make comparison of amount and
change in the property being measured
 There are four measurement scales (or types of data): nominal,
ordinal, interval and ratio.

13. NOMINAL SCALE
• Nominal scales are used for labeling variables, without any
quantitative value. For e.g.
• Notice that all of these scales are mutually exclusive (no overlap) and
none of them have any numerical significance.

14. ORDINAL SCALE
• With ordinal scales, it is the order of the values is what’s important
and significant, but the differences between each one is not really
known.e.g
• Take a look at the example below. In each case, we know that a #4 is
better than a #3 or #2, but we don’t know–and cannot quantify–how
much better it is.
• Ordinal scales are typically measures of non-numeric concepts like
satisfaction, happiness, discomfort, etc.

15. INTERVAL SCALE
• Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know not only the
order, but also the exact differences between the values.
• The classic example of an interval scale is Celsius temperature
because the difference between each value is the same. For
example, the difference between 60 and 50 degrees is a measurable
10 degrees, as is the difference between 80 and 70 degrees.

16. RATIO SCALE
• Ratio scales are the ultimate nirvana when it comes to measurement
scales because they tell us about the order, they tell us the exact
value between units, AND they also have an absolute zero–which
allows for a wide range of both descriptive and inferential statistics to
be applied.
• Good examples of ratio variables include height and weight.
• This Device Provides Two Examples of Ratio Scales (height and
weight).