Advancing Marketing Knowledge Kent B. Monroe AMA Winter Educators’ Conference February 12, 2005

Advancing Marketing Knowledge2 Thanks and Acknowledgements  American Marketing Association  McGraw-Hill/Irwin  Selection Committee  Madhu Viswanathan  Current and former colleagues at Illinois, Richmond, Virginia Tech, Massachusetts  Current and former students  My family

Advancing Marketing Knowledge3 Three Recommendations 1.Encourage multiple approaches for developing knowledge 2.Reduce use of traditional rules of thumb 3.Endorse ways of accumulating knowledge  Researchers, educators, reviewers and editors all play a significant role

Advancing Marketing Knowledge4 Questions of Empirical Research  Is there an effect? (Conclusion validity)  If so, can we detect it?  Have correct statistical analyses been used?  Are there rival, plausible hypotheses? (Internal validity)  Can we generalize back to theory? (Construct validity)  Can we generalize to and across … ? (External validity)

Advancing Marketing Knowledge5 Some Ways to Enhance Discovery  Allow for accidents and unexpected observations to occur  Determine reasons for variability or error  Ease the focus on precision  Get out in the field (observe, listen)  Tinker around: let the “data” speak to you

Advancing Marketing Knowledge6 Researchers’ Dilemma  Maximizing construct validity may reduce conclusion validity (finding an effect)  Maximizing internal validity may reduce construct validity of setting, sample, treatments  Generalizing effects to different constructs requires multiple, diverse research efforts

Advancing Marketing Knowledge7 Multiple Approaches 1.Theory + Method  Substantive 2.Substantive + Method  Theory 3.Substantive + Theory  Method –(McGrath and Brinberg, (Journal of Consumer Research, June 1983)  It is myopic to believe there is only one way to develop knowledge.

Advancing Marketing Knowledge8 Rules of Thumb  The fallacy of “statistical significance”  Are empirical effects only significant if the statistical test of the null hypothesis achieves a probability level of.05?  Is this an appropriate or even the only criterion for accepting new knowledge?

Advancing Marketing Knowledge9 Criteria for Selecting α  Select small α if: Greater research control Greater research control Unsure of direction of effect Unsure of direction of effect Large confidence interval needed Large confidence interval needed Large effect expected Large effect expected  Select larger α if: Small sample size (Hunter, Journal of Consumer Research, June 2001) Small sample size (Hunter, Journal of Consumer Research, June 2001) Early stages of research Early stages of research

Advancing Marketing Knowledge10 Other Considerations for Selecting α  Consequences of type I error vs. type II error  Prior evidence against the null hypothesis  The convention of p <.05 is popular but of dubious merit.

Advancing Marketing Knowledge11 Accumulating Knowledge  The problem of n = 1 –(Wells, Journal of Consumer Research, December 2001)  Searching for new knowledge vs. building a “store” of knowledge  The need for  Replication (Can results be reproduced?)  Robustness (Do results hold across concepts, methods, substantive areas?)  Boundary conditions (When are results not supported?)  Re-search

Advancing Marketing Knowledge12 Accumulating Knowledge  Knowledge accrual requires convergence of findings derived from divergent methods.  Construct validity requires diversity of methods.  Robustness or generalizability requires diversity of populations, occasions, settings, and methods.  Neither one study nor a few studies are sufficient to determine knowledge.

Advancing Marketing Knowledge13 Accumulating Knowledge  Replication is –complementary to diversity, generalizability, robustness. –necessary to reduce the small sample bias of our research  A replicated result represents information about the reliability of a finding.  The belief that replication research does not make a significant contribution is a misconception.

Advancing Marketing Knowledge14 Accumulating Knowledge  We should encourage a diversity of methods applied to any research domain, by someone.  It is not expected that any one researcher be an omnimethod expert.  However, we must demand it of the Marketing discipline as a collective.

Advancing Marketing Knowledge15 A Fantastic and Rewarding Journey  Discovering and developing new knowledge  Writing and communicating this knowledge  Teaching and mentoring –Doctoral students (36 dissertations) –Masters students (MBA and MS) –Undergraduate students –New faculty –Editing and reviewing manuscripts

Advancing Marketing Knowledge16 Thank You!  I truly appreciate this honor.  Best wishes for a enjoyable conference and a productive and happy  Enjoy the journey – it is a very rewarding experience to be an educator.