1. RESEARCH DESIGN (PART 1)
DR SITI ROHAIDA BINTI MOHAMED ZAINAL
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

2. Overview of Research Process
Preliminary
Data
Gathering
Identifying
Research Problem
Research Questions
&
Research Objectives
Literature
Review
What are the symptoms or
indicators
Develop
Theoretical/Research
Framework
Analysis
And
findings
Research
Design
Hypothesis
development
Method
Sampling
Unit of analysis
Data collection method
Development of hypothesis

3. What is research methodology?
The way or approach you want to conduct the study in order :
To solve the problem.
To answer your research questions.
To meet your research objectives.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

4. Unit of Analysis
Individual
Group
Organization
Unit
Country
Dyad

5. Types of Research Design
Three traditional categories of research design:
Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal
The choice of the most appropriate design depends largely on the objectives of the research and how much is known about the problem and these objectives.

6. Basic Research Objectives and Research Design
Research Objective Appropriate Design
To gain background information, to define terms, to clarify Exploratory
problems and develop hypotheses, to establish
research priorities, to develop questions to be
answered
To describe and measure marketing phenomena at a point Descriptive
in time
To determine causality, test hypotheses, to make “if-then” Causal
statements, to answer questions

7. How Valid Are Experiments?
An experiment is valid if:
the observed change in the dependent variable is, in fact, due to the independent variable (internal validity)
if the results of the experiment apply to the “real world” outside the experimental setting (external validity)

8. The Time Dimension Cross-sectional Longitudinal
Cross-sectional studies are studies conducted only once. They seek to reveal a snapshot at one point in time. Longitudinal studies include repeated measures over an extended period of time. Therefore, longitudinal studies can track changes over time. Despite this advantage, longitudinal studies are expensive and time-intensive.

9. The Research Environment
Field conditions
Lab conditions
Designs also differ as to whether they occur under actual environmental conditions. Field conditions mean that the research occurs in the actual environmental conditions where the dependent variable occurs. Under laboratory conditions, the studies occur under conditions that do not simulate actual environmental conditions. In a simulation, the study environment seeks to replicate the natural environment in a controlled situation. For instance, a lab set up as a kitchen would serve as a simulation of a consumer’s own kitchen.
Simulations

10. Common Exploratory Techniques
Secondary Data Analysis
Experience Surveys
While there are several types of exploratory techniques possible (as indicated in Slide 8-14), these are the three techniques with the widest applications for marketing researchers.
Secondary data analysis is also called a literature search. Within secondary data exploration, researchers should start first with an organization’s own data archives. The second source of secondary data is published documents prepared by authors outside the sponsor organization.
Experience surveys are semistructured or unstructured interviews with experts on a topic or a dimension of a topic.
Focus groups are discussions on a topic involving a small group of participants led by a trained moderator.
Focus Groups

11. Descriptive Studies Descriptions of population characteristics
Estimates of frequency of characteristics
In contrast to exploratory studies, more formalized studies are typically structured with clearly stated hypotheses or investigative questions. Formal studies serve a variety of research objectives such as those listed in the slide.
The third objective, discovery of variable associations, is sometimes labeled a correlational study, which is a subset of descriptive studies. Correlation is the relationship by which two or more variables change together, such that systematic changes in one accompany systematic changes in the other.
Discovery of associations among variables

12. Causal Studies Symmetrical Reciprocal Asymmetrical
People without scientific training may think that a correlation is causation. However, just because two things change together does not imply a cause-and-effect relationship. The essential element of causation is that some external factor produces a change in the dependent variable: A produces B. Empirically, we never demonstrate causality with certainty because we do not prove causal linkages deductively. Empirical research conclusions are based on inferences or inductive conclusions. These conclusions are probability statements, based on what we observe and measure and what we conclude is likely to happen.
There are three possible relationships that can occur between two variables. These are named in the slide. A symmetrical relationship is one in which two variables vary together but we assume the changes in neither variables are due to changes in the other.
A reciprocal relationship exists when two variables mutually influence or reinforce each other.
With asymmetrical relationships, we postulate that changes in one variable (independent variable) are responsible for changes in another (dependent variable). Exhibit 8-3 describes the four types of asymmetrical relationships and is provided on the next slide.
Asymmetrical

13. Qualitative Research Data Collection Techniques Group Interviews
Focus Groups
Observation
Data
Collection
Techniques
Case Studies
Ethnography
This slide highlights many of the qualitative techniques that are useful for data collection.
Action Research
Grounded Theory

14. Artifacts/ media products
Data Sources
People
Organizations
Texts
Environments
Events and happenings
Qualitative research draws data from people and organizations. Whether the source is people or organization, we can use their behavior, texts, events and so on as data. Chapter 10 focuses on observation methods.
Artifacts/ media products

15. RESEARCH ISSUE –
QUALITATIVE OR QUANTITATIVE?

16. Distinction between Qualitative & Quantitative
Theory
Building
Theory
Testing
Quantitative research is the precise count of some behavior, knowledge, opinion or attitude. While the survey is not the only quantitative method, it is the dominant one. Quantitative research is often used for theory testing. For example, it might answer the question “Will a $1-off instant coupon or a $1.50 mail-in rebate generate more sales for Kellogg’s Special K?” It requires that the researcher maintain a distance from the research so as not to bias the results.
Qualitative research is sometimes called interpretive research because it seeks to develop understanding through detailed description. It builds theory but rarely tests it. Several key distinctions exist between qualitative and quantitative research and these are elaborated on in Exhibit 9-2. The next several slides highlight these distinctions.

17. Focus of Research Qualitative Understanding Interpretation
Quantitative
Description
Explanation
As mentioned in the last slide, quantitative research is used to describe and explain. It can also be used to predict. However, qualitative research is focused on understanding and interpretation.

18. Researcher Involvement
Qualitative
High
Participation-based
Quantitative
Limited
Controlled
Researcher involvement in quantitative research should be minimal lest bias be introduced. However, in qualitative research, the researcher must have a high level of involvement to probe for understanding. In quantitative research, for instance, participants may never see or speak to a member of the research team. They may simply answer a self-administered survey. In qualitative research, participants may be interviewed by the researcher or spend several hours with the researcher.

19. Sample Design and Size Qualitative Non-probability Purposive
Small sample
Quantitative
Probability
Large sample
Quantitative studies prefer samples greater than 200 and samples that are representative of the target population. Not all quantitative studies meet these criteria but these are desirable. Qualitative studies rely on small sample sizes – less than 25 people is common. The emphasis on selecting the sample is to include people with heterogeneous opinions, attitudes, and experiences.

20. Research Design Qualitative Longitudinal Multi-method Quantitative
Cross-sectional or longitudinal
Single method
Quantitative studies are usually single mode. In other words, they will usually rely on one data collection technique whether it be a telephone survey, survey, or experiment. However, qualitative studies may use several methods in one study to increase the researcher’s ability to interpret and justify the results.

21. Choosing a Qualitative Method
Project’s purpose
Schedule
Researcher characteristics
Factors
Types of participants
Budget
The researcher chooses a qualitative methodology based on the project’s purpose, its schedule including the speed with which insights are needed; its budget, the issue(s) or topic(s) being studied; the types of participants needed; and the researcher’s skill, personality, and preferences.
Topics

22. Qualitative Interview
General sampling rule:
You should keep conducting interviews until no new insights are gained.
The general sampling guideline for qualitative research is to keep sampling as long as your breadth and depth of knowledge of the issue under study is expanding, and stop when you gain no new knowledge or insights. In other words, a qualitative researcher will stop sampling when he or she has reached data redundancy.

23. Interview Formats Unstructured Semi-structured Structured
In an unstructured interview, there are no specific questions or order of topics to be discussed. Each interview is customized to each participant.
In a semistructured interview, there are a few standard questions but the individual is allowed to deviate based on his or her answers and thought processes. The interviewer’s role is to probe.
In a structured interview, the interview guide is detailed and specifies question order, and the way questions are to be asked. These interviews permit more direct comparability of responses and maintain interviewer neutrality.
Most qualitative research relies on the unstructured or semistructured interview format. The next slide highlights the differences between unstructured or semistructured and structured interviews.
Structured

24. Requirements for Unstructured Interviews
Developed dialog
Distinctions
Probe for
answers
Interviewer
creativity
Unstructured or semi-structured interviews rely on developing a dialog between interviewer and participant. Without this dialog and comfort between the two people, the interview will not result in valuable data. Because the researcher is seeking information that the participant may not be willing to share or may not even recognize consciously, the researcher must be creative. Further, interviewer skill is necessary to extract more and a greater variety of data. Finally, interviewer experience and skill generally result in greater clarity and more elaborate answers.
Interviewer skill

25. The Interview Mode Individual Group
The interview is the primary data collection technique for gathering data in qualitative methodologies. Interviews may vary based on the number of people involved during the interview, the level of structure, the proximity of the interviewer to the participant, and the number of interviews conducted during the research. An interview can be conducted in groups or individually.
Exhibit 9-5 compares the individual and the group interview as a research methodology. Both are important in qualitative research. This exhibit is provided on the next slide.

26. Group Interview Modes Face-to-Face Telephone Online Videoconference
The focus group is a panel of people (usually 6-10 people), led by a trained moderator, who meet for 90 minutes to 2 hours. The facilitator uses group dynamics principles to focus or guide the group in an exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences.
The term focus group was first coined by R.K. Merton in his 1956 book, The Focused Interview.
Focus groups can be conducted using various modes.
Telephone focus groups are effective when it is difficult to recruit the desired participants, when target group members are rare, when issues are sensitive, and when one needs national representation with a few groups. Telephone focus groups are usually shorter than traditional groups and less expensive. They should not be used when participants need to handle a product that cannot be sent ahead to them, when the session must be long, or when the participants are children.
Online focus groups are very effective with teens and young adults. Access and speed are strengths of this mode, but it is more difficult to gain insight from group dynamics.
Videoconferencing is likely to grow as a focus group mode because it saves time and money while creating less barrier between moderator and participants than the telephone.
All methods provide for transcriptions of the full interview. These are analyzed using content analysis.
Videoconference

27. Combining Qualitative Methodologies
Case Study
Action Research
Qualitative methods can be combined to glean more and better information.
The case study, also called a case history, combines individual or group interviews with record analysis and observation. Researchers extract information from company brochures, annual reports, sales receipts, and newspaper and magazine articles along with direct observation, and combine it with interview data from participants. The objective is to obtain multiple perspectives of a single organization, situation, event, or process at a point in time or over a period of time. Case study methodology, or the case analysis or case write-up, can be used to understand marketing processes. The research problem is usually a how and why problem. In the case study, interview participants are invited to tell the story of their experience, with those chosen representing different levels within the same organization or different perspectives of the same situation.
Action research is designed to address complex, practical problems about which little is known. It involves brainstorming, followed by sequential trial-and-error attempts until desired results are achieved.

28. Communication Approaches
Self-
Administered
Survey
Telephone
Interview
Personal
Interview
Once the sponsor or researcher has determined that surveying is the appropriate data collection approach, various means may be used to secure information from individuals. These are discussed on the next several slides.

29. Designing Questionnaires using the TDM
Easy to read
Offer clear directions
Include personalization
Notify in advance
Encourage response
The TDM method refers to Don Dillman’s Total Design Method. He proposes that surveys be based upon social exchange theory. One suggestion that flows from social exchange theory is that the burden to participants should be minimized. Questionnaire design can minimize respondent burden by designing questionnaires that have the characteristics named in the slide.

30. Improving Response Rates
Advance notification
Reminders
Return directions and devices
Monetary incentives
Deadlines
Promise of anonymity
Appeal for participation
More than 200 articles have been published on methods for improving response rates to surveys. This slide lists several practical suggestions. Deadlines do not increase response rates overall but do encourage respondents to respond sooner. The promise of anonymity also does not increase response rates but is important to those who do respond. All the other suggestions do result in increases in response rates.

31. Conducting an Experiment
Specify the Experimental Treatment
Specify treatment levels
Control environment
Choose experimental design
Select and assign participants
These are the seven activities the researcher must accomplish to make an experiment a success.
In the first step, the researcher is challenged to 1) select variables that are the best operational definitions of the original concepts, 2) determine how many variables to test, and 3) select or design appropriate measures for the chosen variables. The selection of measures for testing requires a thorough review of the available literature and instruments.
In an experiment, participants experience a manipulation of the independent variable, called the experimental treatment. The treatment levels are the arbitrary or natural groups the researcher makes within the independent variable. A control group can provide a base level for comparison. A control group is a group of participants that is measured but not exposed the independent variable being studied.
Environmental control means holding the physical environment of the experiment constant. When participants do not know if they are receiving the experimental treatment, they are said to be blind. When neither the participant nor the researcher knows, the experiment is said to be double-blind.
The design is then selected. Several designs are discussed on the next several slides.
The participants selected for the experiment should be representative of the population to which the researcher wishes to generalize the study’s results. Random assignment is required to make the groups as comparable as possible.
Pilot-test, revise, and test
Collect data
Analyze data

32. Selecting and Assigning Participants
Random
assignment
Matching
Random assignment uses a randomized sample frame for assigning participants to experimental and control groups.
Matching is an equalizing process for assigning participants to experimental and control groups. Matching employs a nonprobability quota sampling approach. The object of matching is to have each experimental and control participant matched on every characteristic used in the research.
Quota matrix is a means of visualizing the matching process. If matching does not alleviate assignment problems, a combination of matching, randomization, and increasing the sample size may be useful.
Examples of each are provided on the following slides.

33. Random Assignment
The sampling frame is often small for experiments and the participants may be self-selected. However, if randomization is used, those assigned to the experimental group are likely to be similar to those assigned to the control group. Random assignment allows one to make the groups as comparable as possible. The random assignment means that participants have an equal and known chance of being assigned to any of the groups in the experiment.

34. Measurement Options Options Observation Physiological measures
Paper-and-pencil tests
Options
Researchers have several measurement and instrument options with experiments.
Scaling techniques
Self-administered instruments

35. THE END