Bethlehem University

Faculty of Business Administration

“Marketing Research”

Lecturer: Usama Khalilieh

Chapter 3

“Research Design”

What is a Research Design ?

It is a Roadmap – Blueprint for the Marketing Research to:

o Provide details of each step of the research

o Ensure that the research will result in providing the right info needed to:

o Structure (build) and/or

o Solve the marketing research problem

The Design Process…

The Design begins by :

o Defining the Problem (Chapter 1)

o Setting the Approach (Chapter 2)

Although any design might be good for a research, the best design will:

o Provide all relevant info for the management

o Ensure that the research is conducted efficiently & effectively

Basic Research Designs… General

Exploratory & Conclusive

o Exploratory Research: a research used to provide info and details about the research problem

(Management knows they have a problem but doesn’t understand why)

(Could be done initially on small scale & comprehensively - large scale )

o Conclusive Research: a research used to determine, evaluate and select the best course of action to be taken.

(Used to verify information collected by the exploratory research )

(Based on the assumption: researcher has totally understood the problem )

Research Designs…

Research Design

Exploratory

Descriptive Causal

Cross- Sectional Longitudinal

Conclusive

Exploratory vs. Conclusive

Exploratory Conclusive

Objective Provide insights & Understanding

Test Specific hypothesis & Examine Relationships

Characteristics

Info needed is defined loosely

Process is flexible & unstructured

Sample is small & non-representative

Analysis is qualitative

Info needed is clearly defined

Process is formal a& well structured

Sample is large & representative

Analysis is quantitative

Findings Tentative Conclusive

Outcome Followed by an intensive Exploratory or Conclusive researches

Finding are used in final decision making

Exploratory Research … more

This type of research is often used to:

o Formulate a problem or define it more precisely

o Identify alternative course (s) of action

o Develop relevant hypothesis

o Isolate key variables & relationships for further detailed examination

o Gain insights for developing an approach to the problem

o Establish priorities for additional research

Conclusive (Descriptive & Causal )

Descriptive Research:

o The most commonly used research design

o Used to identify the cause of why something is happening

Causal Research:

o Explores the effect of one thing on another and more specifically, the effect of one variable on another

o A way of seeing how actions NOW will affect a business in the FUTURE.

Comparative Analysis …

Exploratory Descriptive Causal

Objectives

Discover ideas & insights Describe market characteristics & function

Determine cause & effect relationships

Characteristics

Flexible

Research Initial step

Based on specific

hypothesis formulation

Pre-planned & structured design

Manipulates one or more independent variables

While

Controlling others

Methods

Expert surveys

Pilot surveys

Case studies

Secondary (Qualitative) analysis

Secondary (Quantitative) analysis

Surveys

Observational data

Experiments

Secondary (Quantitative) analysis

Surveys

Observational data

Descriptive Research…

WHY ??

To simply describe Market Phenomena…

Goals include:

o Developing a profile for the target market

o Estimating product use frequency for sales forecasts

o The relationship between product use & characteristics

o Marketing variables relationships

Descriptive Study Fields…

Sales Studies

Market Potential – Market Share – Sales Analysis

Consumer Perceptions & Behaviors Studies

Image – Product Usage – Advertising – Pricing

Market Characteristics studies

Distribution – Competitive analysis

Data Collection Techniques…

o Full Analysis of Secondary Data

o Surveys (well-structured)

o Interviews

o Panels (regular long-term sample)

o Observational Data

Cross-Sectional & Longitudinal

Cross-Sectional Design (sample survey):

o A snap shot of the market taken at a specific time

o One selected group (sample) is measured once

o Most commonly used

Longitudinal Design:

o Study is conducted over a period of time

o Same sample (Panel)

o Provides more than one picture to show changes

Cross-Sectional vs. Longitudinal

Evaluation Criteria Cross-Sectional Longitudinal

Detecting Change (-) (+)

Large Amount of Data (-) (+)

Accuracy (-) (+)

Representative Sampling (+) (-)

Response to Bias (+) (-)

Causal Research…

WHAT ??

o A type of Conclusive Research

o The objective is to obtain info about Cause & Effect

HOW??

o The main method is through Experiments

WHY??

o Understand which variables are causes and which are effects

o Determine the extent of the relationship between effect & causal variables

Tasks Involved in Research Designing

In designing a research, you must maintain the following steps:

o Specifying info needed

o Set the phases of the Research (E, D or C)

o Specify the measurement tools to be used

o Construct & Pre-test measurement tools

o Specify the sampling Process & Size

o Develop a plan of data analysis

Design vs. MR. Value

A Marketing Research is conducted to:

Reduce error in Decision Making

o Provide assessment of risks associated with making decision based on assumptions

o The more the risk involved in the decision making process the more the value and costs associated with the MR.

Errors in the Research….

No Research is ever free of errors !!

Random-Sampling Error:

An error resulting from the selected sample

Non-sampling Error:

everything else…

The Researcher must try to control both types of errors at the same time

Budgeting & Scheduling…

After specifying the design the Researcher must set the financial details and schedule of work to control:

o Money

o Time

o Personnel and other related inputs

This will allow for:

o Cost verification

o Control process

MR Proposal…

1. Executive Summary

2. Background

3. Problem Definition & Research Objectives

4. Approach to the Problem

5. Research Design

6. Field Work & Data Collection

7. Data Analysis

8. Reporting

9. Information Investment & Time

10. Project Personnel

11. Appendixes

…

THANK YOU !