Overview of Research Design

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Overview of Research Design Research Proposal

• Week 3

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Study Materials for module 3

• Cavana et al chapter 5
• or
• Jennings pp. 17-22
• Study Book module 3 (important)
• Selected Reading 1.1
• Coakes Steed chapter 2 (practical session)

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Lecture Overview

• Research designs
• exploratory
• descriptive
• causal
• For each research design the following topics
  will be covered
• what it is
• purpose
• common techniques
• strengths/weaknesses

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Lecture Overview cont

• Research design - summary points
• how designs differ
• research designs a caution
• when to use a checklist
• Research Proposals
• Ethics
• Summary
• Tutorial/Prac

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Research design

• is a blueprint or master plan of the methods and
  procedures that should be used to collect and
  analyse the data needed to solve the research
  problem (specifically it provides answers to the
  objectives)
• specifies techniques to be used
• who will be involved
• how data (information) is gathered
• how data will be analysed
• 3 basic designs exploratory, descriptive causal

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UNCERTAINTY INFLUENCES THE TYPE OF RESEARCH
DESIGN
CAUSAL OR DESCRIPTIVE
EXPLORATORY
COMPLETE CERTAINTY
ABSOLUTE AMBIGUITY
UNCERTAINTY
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Exploratory Research

• What is it?
• Type of research design that has as its primary
  objective the provision of insights into and
  comprehension of the problem situation
  confronting the researcher.
• flexible
• unstructured
• qualitative

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Purpose

• Diagnosing problems
• little prior knowledge
• insights needed into nature of the problem
• lack of previous research/information
• Screening alternatives
• Define terms and concepts/constructs
• Isolate key variables and relationships
• Discovering new ideas
• Establishing priorities for further research
• To develop hypotheses

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Common Techniques

• Secondary data analysis
• Literature review
• Depth interviews
• Focus groups
• Experience surveys
• Pilot survey
• Case studies
• Observations
• Projective techniques
• Word association tests
• Sentence completion
• Third person/role playing

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Strengths/Weaknesses

• Strengths
• generates insights and clarifies problems
• Weaknesses
• not a replacement for descriptive/causal
• qualitative
• interpretation typically judgemental

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Descriptive

• What is it
• Research that uses a set of scientific methods
  and procedures to collect raw data and create
  data structures that describe the existing
  characteristics of a defined target population or
  market structure.
• To describe the characteristics of relevant
  groups ie users of a shopping centre users of a
  theme park
• To estimate the of units in a population
  exhibiting a certain behaviour
• To determine perceptions of product/service
  characteristics by a specific group ie
  friendliness and is this variable an important
  choice criteria
• Estimates of the proportions of a population with
  a certain characteristic
• Discovery of associations among different
  variables
• To make specific predictions ie. to predict the
  level of sales for the next 5 years for hiring
  training purposes prediction of the number of
  inbound tourism for the next 5 years

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Purpose

• Major proportion of market research
• To address the how, who, what, when where type
  questions . Why more likely to be addressed by
  causal research design
• describes characteristics of a population or
  phenomenon eg
• demographics sociodemographic profile
• psychographics
• attitudes
• intentions
• preferences
• decision making purchase behaviour
• statistics on inbound outbound travel
• purpose of travel

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Common techniques

• Surveys
• Mail
• Telephone
• Personal
• Electronic
• Combination

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Strengths/Weaknesses

• Strengths
• accurate description
• Weaknesses
• cannot establish causal links ( but may provide
  sufficient information to imply this)

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Classification of Descriptive Studies

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Two types of Descriptive Research studies

• Cross sectional studies
• a sample of elements selected from the
  population of interest that are measured at a
  point in time sample survey (also called
  one-shot studies)
• Longitudinal studies
• a fixed sample of elements that is measured
  repeatedly through time
• Panel (true) - repeated measures of the same
  variables over time
• Panel (omnibus) variables that change from
  measurement to measurement

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Causal

• What is it
• Research in which the major objective is to
  obtain evidence regarding cause-and-effect
  relationships
• Testing very specific hypotheses
• How one variable affects, or is responsible for
  changes in another variable.

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Conditions for causal relationship

• strong evidence that an association exists
  between an action and an observed outcome
• action must precede result
• no other valid explanations

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Purpose/Techniques

• Used to establish causal relationships
• Common Techniques
• Experiments
• laboratory/field
• Quasi experiments

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Strengths/Weaknesses

• Strengths
• Causality (causal link can be established)
• Weaknesses
• cost
• time
• control
• secrecy

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DEGREE OF PROBLEM DEFINITION
Exploratory Research Descriptive
Research Causal Research (Unaware of
Problem) (Aware of Problem) (Problem Clearly
Defined) Our sales are declining and What
kind of people are buying Will buyers purchase
more of we dont know why. our product? Who
buys our our products in a new package? competi
tors product? Would people be interested
Which of two advertising in our new
product idea? What features do buyers
prefer campaigns is more effective? in our
product?
possible situation
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Research Objectives/ Research Design

• To gain background information, to define terms,
  to clarify problems hypotheses, to establish
  research priorities
• To describe and measure market phenomena at a
  point in time
• To determine causality, make predictions

• Exploratory
• Descriptive
• Causal

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How Designs Differ

• Problem definition
• Precision of hypotheses
• Data collection method
• Ability to measure causation

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• Relationships among Research Designs

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Research Designs A Caution

• Not necessarily follow an order of (1)
  exploratory (2) descriptive (3) causal
• Can begin with any design use only one design
• As research is an iterative process could use
  multiple designs (ie after conducting descriptive
  research we may need to go back and conduct
  exploratory research.
• If multiple designs could have the 1,2,3 order
  due to each subsequent design requiring greater
  knowledge about the research problem

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When to Use A Checklist

• Nature of research problem
• Nature of research objectives
• Nature of hypotheses
• Time constraints
• Cost
• Secrecy
• Degree of precision required

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Research Proposals

• The research proposal is a formalised offer or
  bid for research, usually written, specifying the
  problem to be studied and the plan of action to
  solve the stated problem. The proposal, if
  accepted, generally serves as the contract
  between the one requesting the investigation....
  and the proposer of the research project (Davis
  and Cosenza,1988,p.69)

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Purpose

• Forms a bid if successful - a contract
• clear concise plan (blueprint)
• forces researcher to critically think through
  each stage of the research process
• performs an important communication function
  between researcher client
• anticipate outcomes
• evaluation purposes

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Essential elements of a Research Proposal

• Letter of Transmittal should include an
  expression of thanks, focus of the study, a state
  of desire to be awarded the project, a conclusion
  of how well the research org. could achieve the
  required goals
• Title page title of project, submitted to,
  submitted by, date
• Executive Summary concise summary of project
  including purpose, res. objectives, other main
  points also cost and value, how project will
  contribute to man. decisions
• Table of Contents
• Introduction purpose of proposal,
  authorisation, scope sources of info, content
  how it provides a cost effective solution to the
  research problem
• Background to demonstrate a complete
  understanding of the problem/ opportunity
  factors that lead to the problem

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Essential elements of a Research Proposal cont

• Problem definition
• Management Problem (state in question form)
• Research Problem (state in question form)
• Objectives
• Research Design to specify the method of
  collecting the information should justify why
  the method will generate the information required
• Specify design(s)
• Methodology (ie focus group, survey) including
  sampling design
• Data Collection how data will be collected (ie
  by telephone), who will collect it
  subcontractors
• Data Analysis include details explanation of
  any standard or special data analysis procedures

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Essential elements of a Research Proposal cont

• Reporting how the project results will be
  reported written report, electronic report,
  presentation
• Materials required what client has to provide
• Cost Estimates detailed breakdown payment
  schedule
• Time plan - show key progress steps timing from
  start of project to presentation
• Accreditation research firm MRSA, quality
  assurance
• Project Management list those responsible for
  the project their skills, capabilities
  experience (CV to be included) list of past
  current clients of the research firm
• Appendices
• Dummy tables of the projected results
• Other technical issues
• NO conclusions or recommendations necessary

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Ethics

• MKT3001 read pp.165-6 text
• pp. 305- 06 text
• MKT2011 read Ch 4 text

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Next Week

• Secondary Data

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Summary

• Research Designs
• Exploratory gain insight into the research
  problem, flexible, unstructured, qualitative
  techniques
• Descriptive to describe and measure market
  phenomena, structured, quantitative techniques
  cross-sectional or longitudinal
• Causal to determine causality, highly
  structured, test well defined hypotheses,
  experimental techniques
• Research Proposal formal document detailing the
  intended research plan.
• Ethics - additional reading on new aspects

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Tutorial - Week 4

• Presentation
• Chestnut Ridge Country Club Case focus on Q 1
  2 if time consider Q3. (Collect Case from
  Janelle read prior to tutorial)
• External students work through Case at end of
  module Bookworms Pty Ltd
• Prac session - Continue from last week Prepare a
  data files in variable view and load the data
  collected from 10 questionnaires. Complete a
  manual data check for errors (select 10 of
  questionnaires for random check) and run
  frequencies on all variables