Exploratory, Descriptive, and

Causal Research Designs

Chapter 3
 Research Designs
 Three types
 Exploratory

 Descriptive

 Causal

Source:
evolvedmarketingconcepts.com
 Exploratory Research
 Purposes
 Diagnosing a situation
 Screening alternatives
 Discovering new ideas
 Produce hypotheses

 What it does NOT do:

Source: www.triblocal.com
 Exploratory Research
 Types
 Literature search
 First step
 In-depth interview
 With whom?
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Focus groups
 What is it?
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
Source: www.money.cnn.com
 Exploratory Research
 Case Analyses
 Ethnography
 Projective Techniques
 Word association tests

 Sentence completion
method
 Role-playing technique

 Thematic apperception test

 Cartoon tests/ picture

frustration

Source: www.withfriendship.com
 Descriptive Research

 Purposes
 Describe characteristics of group
 Determine proportion of people who act a
certain way
 Make predictions
 Determine relationships between variables
 Descriptive Research

 Types
 Longitudinal
 Continuous panels
 AKA true panels
 Kroger’s card
 Discontinuous panels
 AKA omnibus panels
 Land’s End
 Cross-sectional
 Causal Research

 Purpose
 Does a change in X cause a change in Y?
 Experiments
 Laboratory experiments
 Field experiments
 Market Testing
 What is market testing?
 “Controlled experiment
done in a limited but
carefully selected sector of
the marketplace”
 Key Issues
 Cost
 Time
 Control

Source: resourceful27.wordpress.com
 Market Testing

 Three types of market testing

 Standard test market
 Pros/cons
 Controlled test market
 Pros/cons
 Simulated test market
 Pros/cons