This document discusses different types of research designs: exploratory research, descriptive research, and causal research. Exploratory research aims to gain insights and ideas, descriptive research determines frequencies or relationships between variables, and causal research establishes cause-and-effect relationships. Some common exploratory techniques include literature reviews, interviews, focus groups, and case studies. Descriptive research describes characteristics or predicts relationships, while causal research uses experiments to test hypotheses about causal links between variables by establishing temporal sequence, concomitant variation, and ruling out spurious associations.

1. Types of Research Design
Dr. Dhobale J V
Assistant Professor
IBS, IFHE, Hyderabad.
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Business Research Methods (SHRM-431)
Chapter No.-03

2. Objectives
 Understanding Types of Research designs -
 Exploratory
 Descriptive
 Causal
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3. Introduction
 A research design is the framework or plan for
a study used as guide in collecting and
analyzing data.
 Three basic types –
1. Exploratory Research
2. Descriptive Research
3. Causal Research
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4. Types of Research Design
1. Exploratory Research – Research design in
which the major emphasis is on gaining ideas
and insights
2. Descriptive Research – Research design in
which the major emphasis is on determining
the frequency with which something occurs or
the extent to which two variables covary.
3. Causal Research – Research design in which
the major emphasis is on determining cause-
and-effect relationship.
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5. Relationships amongst Research Designs
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6. Types of Research Design
1. Exploratory Research –
 Is conducted to provide a better
understanding of a situation.
 It isn’t designed to come up with final
answers or decisions.
 Through exploratory research, researchers
hope to produce hypotheses about what is
going on in a situation.
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7. Types of Research Design
1. Exploratory Research –
 Hypothesis – A statement that describes how
two or more variables are related.
 Exploratory research sometimes referred to
as qualitative research.
 It can provide very rich, meaningful
information or definitive explanations but
doesn’t provide definitive answers for the
overall population.
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8. Types of Research Design
1. Exploratory Research –
 Exploratory research is also used to increase
a researcher's familiarity with a problem.
 There are following number of common types
of exploratory research -
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9. Types of Exploratory research
1. Exploratory Research –
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10. Types of Exploratory research
1. Projective Techniques– are indirect and
unstructured methods of investigation which have
been developed by the psychologists and use
projection of respondents for inferring about
underline motives, urges or intentions which
cannot be secure through direct questioning as
the respondent either resists to reveal them or is
unable to figure out himself.
 Thus Projective Techniques play a important role in
motivational researches or in attitude surveys.
 Ex. - Word Association Test, Completion Test,
Construction Test, Expression Techniques.
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11. Types of Exploratory research
2. Literature Search - One of the quickest and least
costly ways to discover hypotheses is to conduct
a literature search.
 The literature referred are – trade journals,
professional journals, market research finding
publications, statistical publications etc.
 Ex. “Why are sales down?”
 This can quickly be analyzed with the help of
published data which should indicate “whether the
problem is an “industry problem” or a “firm
problem”.
 Ex. A TV manufacturing company feels that its
market share is declining whereas the overall
television industry is doing very well. 11IBS Hyderabad

12. Types of Exploratory research
3. Depth Interviews - It’s important to start with a
good literature search, but at some point it is
desirable to talk to persons who are well informed
in the area being investigated.
 These people could be professionals or persons
outside the organization.
 The approach adopted should be highly
unstructured, so that the participant can give
divergent views.
 Depth interviews are widely used to tap the
knowledge and experience of individuals.
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13. Types of Exploratory research
4. Focus Group - In a focus group, only a few
people are brought together to study and talk over
some theme of interest.
 The discussion is directed by a moderator who is in
the room with the focus group participants.
 The group usually is of 8-12 persons.
 Group members should have a common
background and have comparable experiences in
buying.
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14. Types of Exploratory research
5. Case Analysis - Researchers can understand a lot
in regards to a problem by studying carefully
selected examples or cases of the phenomenon.
 Case histories of businesses that have gone
through an identical problem may be available.
 These case studies are suitable to undertake
exploratory research.
 A researcher must examine carefully the previously
published case studies with regard to variables like
price, advertisement, changes in the trend, etc.
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15. Types of Exploratory research
6. Ethnography - Ethnography is the systematic
study of people and cultures.
 It is designed to explore cultural phenomena where
the researcher observes society from the point of
view of the subject of the study.
 As a method of data collection ethnography entails
examining the behaviour of the participants in a
certain specific social situation and also
understanding their interpretation of such
behaviour.
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16. Examples of Descriptive research
 What are the most effective intangible
employee motivation tools in hospitality
industry in the 21stcentury?
 Do corporate leaders of multinational
companies in the 21stcentury possess
moral rights to receive multi-million
bonuses?
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17. Descriptive research
 Descriptive research is conducted after the
researcher gains a good understanding of the
case.
 To identifying key elements of various market
segments.
 an important prerequisite in descriptive
research, especially in cases where it used to
predict sales revenue, consumer attitudes,
satisfaction, and commitment.
 we use descriptive research for the following
purposes:
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18. Descriptive research
 Descriptive research can be used to
accomplish a wide variety of research
objectives.
 Exploratory studies are flexible in nature while
descriptive studies are not; They require a
clear specification of the who, what, when,
where, why, and how of the research.
 we use descriptive research for the following
purposes:
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19. Descriptive research
1. To describe the characteristics of certain
groups.
2. To determine the proportion of people
who behave in a certain way.
3. To make specific predictions.
4. To determine relationships between
variables
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20. Descriptive research
 Importance of Dummy Tables in Descriptive
research-
 A dummy table is simply a table (or figure)
used to show how the results of an analysis
will be presented. It is a “dummy” table
because there are no actual data in the table
(they haven't been collected yet).
 Dummy tables are particularly valuable in
providing clues on how to phrase the individual
questions and code the responses.
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21. Types of Descriptive research
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22. Types of Descriptive research
 A cross-sectional study involves drawing a
sample of elements from the population of
interest.
 A great deal of emphasis is placed on
selecting sample members, preferably with a
probability sampling plan, the technique is
often called a sample survey.
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23. Types of Descriptive research
 A longitudinal study involves a panel (that is,
a fixed sample of elements), from which
measures are taken over time.
 The elements may be stores, dealers,
individuals, or other entities.
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24. Types of Descriptive research
 The panel, or sample, remains relatively
constant over time, although members may be
added to replace dropouts or to keep it as
representative as possible.
 There are two types of panels: continuous
panels (sometimes called true panels) and
discontinuous panels (sometimes called
omnibus panels).
 Continuous panels rely on repeated
measurements of the same
variables. continuous panels allow true
longitudinal studies and time-series analysis. 24IBS Hyderabad

25. Types of Descriptive research
 If you use a shopping card at your favorite
grocery store or other retailer, you're likely part
of a continuous panel (and probably didn't
know it).
 The behavioral information obtained allows the
company to better understand its customers
and their needs.
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26. Types of Descriptive research
 Discontinuous panel – A fixed sample of
respondents who are measured repeatedly
over time, but on variable that change from
measurement to measurement.
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27. Causal research
 Descriptive research is fine for testing
hypotheses about relationships between
variables, but we need causal designs for
testing cause-and-effect relationships.
 Causal research designs work toward
establishing possible causal relationships
through the use of experiments.
 Managers may like to know how a change in
one activity may lead to change in another
event of interest.
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28. Causal research
 how change in the price of product will change
in sales volume?
 Hence, a causal research tries to find out the
effect of a marketing activity on a decision
variable.
 A causal inference can only be supported
when very specific evidence exists. These
evidences are of three types as discussed
here.
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29. Causal research
1. Temporal Sequence.
2. Concomitant Variation.
3. Nonspurious Association.
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30. Causal research
1. Temporal Sequence:
 Temporal sequence deals with the time order
of events.
 The events should have appropriate order to
establish causal inference, the cause should
happen either before or during the effect.
 Ex. The training program must be given either
before or during salespeople are in job to
establish a relationship that training has
caused improvement in job performance.
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31. Causal research
2. Concomitant Variation:
 Concomitant variation occurs when two events
change simultaneously, that is, “covary” or
“correlate”.
 When a change in the cause occurs, a change
in the outcome also is observed. A
correlation coefficient is often used to
represent concomitant variation.
 Ex. If a retail store never changes its
employees’ vacation policy, then the vacation
policy cannot possibly be responsible for a
change in employee satisfaction. 31IBS Hyderabad

32. Causal research
3. Nonspurious Association:
 Nonspurious association means any
covariation between a cause and an effect is
true.
 A spurious association is one that is not true.
 A causal inference cannot be made even
though the other two conditions exist because
both the cause and effect have some common
cause; that is, both may be influenced by a
third variable.
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33. Causal research
3. Nonspurious Association:
 Ex. When diamond jewelry sale increases, the
sale of Mercedes car also increases. Do
people who buy diamond jewelry also buy
Mercedes car? Need not be! .
 The concomitant variation observed between
diamond jewelry sales and Mercedes car sales
is spurious. A third variable is actually
important here.
 The sales of these two products are increasing
because the disposable income of people has
increased, The economic condition. 33IBS Hyderabad

34. Experiments as Causal Research
 Experiment - Scientific investigation in which
an investigator manipulates and controls one
or more independent variables and observes
the degree to which the dependent variables
changes.
 Laboratory experiments – Research
investigation in which investigators create a
situation with exact conditions in order to
control some variables and manipulate others.
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35. Experiments as Causal Research
 Field experiments – Research study in a
realistic situation in which one or more
independent variables are manipulated by the
experiment under as carefully controlled
conditions as the situation will permit.
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36. Market testing
 A controlled experiment done in a limited but
carefully selected sector of the marketplace.
 Key causes in market testing:
1. Cost
2. Time
3. Control
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37. Types of Test Markets
 There are three general categories of test
markets:
1. Standard – Company sells the product through its
normal distribution channels.
2. Controlled/forced distribution test market – An
entire test program conducted by an outside
service in a market which it can guarantee
distribution.
3. Simulated – A study in which consumer ratings
and other information are fed into a computer
model that then makes projections about the likely
level of sales for the product in the market.
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38. Comparing the 3 Types of Test Markets
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39. Review
 Understand Types of Research designs -
 Exploratory
 Descriptive
 Causal
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40. References
 MARKETING RESEARCH – A SOUTH ASIAN
PERSPECTIVE by Brown, Sutter , Adhikari,
Cengage Learning, India.
 Business Research Methods - Donald R
Cooper, Pamela S Schindler, J K Sharma,
MCGraw Hill Education
 Business Research Methods - Naval Bajpai,
Pearson Education, India.
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41. Thank You!
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