Bethlehem University
Faculty of Business Administration
“Marketing Research”
Lecturer: Usama Khalilieh
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