Exploratory Research

 Exploratory research aims to develop initial

hunches or insights and provide direction for
any further research needed.
 The primary purpose of exploratory
research is to shed light on the nature of a
situation and identify any specific objectives or
data needs to be addressed through additional
research.
 Exploratory research is most useful when a
decision maker wishes to better understand a
situation and or identify decision alternatives.
Conclusive Research
 Conclusive research is intended to verify
insights and aid decision makers in selecting a
specific course of action.
 The primary purpose of conclusive
research, also known as confirmatory research,
is to help decision makers choose the best
course of action in a situation.
 It is especially useful when a decision maker
already has in mind one or more alternatives
and is specifically looking for information
pertinent to evaluating them.
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXPLORATORY
AND CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Research project Exploratory Research Conclusive Research
components
Research purpose General : to generate Specific: to verify insights
insights about a situation and aid in selecting a
course of action.
Data needs Vague Clear
Data sources Ill defined Well defined
Data collection form Open-ended, rough Usually structured
Sample Relatively small subjectively Relatively large objectively
selected to maximize selected to permit
generalization of insights generalization of findings.
Data collection Flexible; no set procedure Rigid; well –laid out
procedure.
Data analysis Informal; typically non Formal; typically
quantitative quantitative
Inferences More tentative than final More final than tentative.
recommendations
Conducting Exploratory Research
 Key-Informant Technique
Conducting exploratory research by
interviewing knowledgeable individuals is
sometimes called the key-Informant
Technique. It is also known as an expert
opinion survey or a lead-user survey.
Focus Group Interviews
 In a Focus Group Interview (sometimes simply
called a focus group), an objective discussion leader
introduces a topic to a group of respondents and
directs their discussion of that topic in a
nonstructured and natural fashion.
 Respondents (typically 8 to 12) discuss a given topic
in a fairly informal fashion. A well-trained researcher,
called a moderator, leads the discussion;
 The moderator’s primary tasks are to ensure that
key aspects of the topic are discussed and to
observe or record the participants reactions.
Analysis of Secondary Data
 Examining appropriate secondary data and
inexpensive way of conducting exploratory
research than can generate valuable insights.
Such insights, in turn, will provide a proper
focus for conclusive research.
 Sometimes the insights revealed by
secondary data analysis may even eliminate
the for conclusive research.
 Case Study Method
The case study method is an in-
depth examination of unit of interest. The unit
can be a customer, store, salesperson, firm,
market area, website, and so on . By virtue of
its insight-generating potential, the case
study method is a useful form of exploratory
research.
Observation Method
 The observation method involves human or
mechanical observation of what people
actually do or what events take place during
a buying or consumption situation.
 Observational research is useful to assess
behavior such as use of products, frequency
of store visits, teens shopping with and
without supervision, use of media, and time
spent on specific websites.
Descriptive Research
 There are two basic forms of conclusive
research ; descriptive research and
experimental research. The distinction
between the two is based on the primary
purpose of a conclusive research project and
the nature of the inferences one can draw
from it.
 Descriptive Research
The goal of descriptive research, as
the name implies, is essentially to describe
something. Specifically, it is intended to
generate data describing the composition and
characteristics of relevant groups of units such
as customers, salespeople, organizations, and
market areas.
 Data collected through descriptive research
can provide valuable information about the
study units along relevant characteristics and
also about association among those
characteristics.
Experimental Research
 A drawback of descriptive research is that it
generally cannot provide the type of evidence
necessary to make causal inferences about
relationships among variables.
 In contrast, experimental research (also
known s causal research) allows one to make
such causal inferences (e.g., how variable x
affects variable y)
Conducting Descriptive Research
 Cross-sectional studies are one-time studies
involving data collection at a single period in
time.
 Longitudinal studies are repeated-
measurement studies that collect data over
several periods in time.
Cross-sectional Studies
 A cross-sectional study involves data
collection at only one period in time.
However, we can use cross-sectional studies
to obtain data pertaining to different periods
in time.
Longitudinal Studies
 The primary purpose of longitudinal studies is
to monitor changed over time.
 Coco-Cola is interested in keeping track of
consumers use of types and brands of
beverages.
 The American Medical Association wants to
ascertain whether and how people’s eating
and drinking habits vary from season to
season.
 True Panel Studies
Conducting Experimental Research
 Experimental research is intended to
generate the type of evidence necessary for
confidently making causal inferences about
relationships among variables.
 The illustrate, consider a consumer goods
firm that wants to determine the impact of
advertising on sales. To accomplish this
objective, the firm can proceed as follows:
1. Select a group of distinct market areas that
have similar demographic, socioeconomic,
and competitor characteristics.
2. Vary the level of advertising expenditure from
market to market, keeping all other marketing
variables, such as price and promotion,
constant.
3. Monitor sales over a sufficient length of time.
4. Analyze the data to see whether or not the
pattern of variation in sales across markets is
consistent with the pattern of variation in
advertising expenditures.
Advantages of Secondary Data
 Cost and Time :-
A research study will invariably be
less expensive and less time intensive to
complete if it utilizes secondary rather than
primary data.
 Availability :-
Syndicated data are secondary data
sold by research firms.
Limitations of Secondary Data
1. Relevance :-
Available secondary data may not
match the data needs of a given project on
one or more of the following factors:
1) the units in which the data are measured,
2) the category breakdowns or definitions of
variables for which the data are reported, or
3) the time period during which the data are
measured.
2. Accuracy :- Accuracy describes its
trustworthiness.
The following set of interrelated
questions plays a central role in evaluating
secondary-data accuracy:
 Who collected the data ?
 Why were the data collected ?
 How were the data collected ?
 Sources and Types of
Secondary Data
 Internal Secondary Data
A firm’s historical record of sales, a public
service association’s list of donors, a hospital’s past
records of services rendered to patients, and public
opinion polls conducted in the past by a political
candidate’s campaign office are all sources of
internal secondary data for those respective
organizations.
 Internal sources: are sources within the
organization.
 External sources: are sources outside the
organization.
External sources
 Government Sources : Government agencies at the
federal state, and local levels collect more data about
people, firms, markets and foreign countries than any
other secondary-data source.
 Syndicated Sources : Syndicated sources consist of
marketing research firms offering syndicated services.
 Trade associations : Thousands of trade
associations exist, each representing a group of
organizations that share a common trade or line of
business. Most trade associations collect background
data about their members and markets as well as
other topics.
 Miscellaneous Sources : Miscellaneous
sources include those that do not neatly fit not
the three previous categories.
Ex:- journals, magazines, research
monographs, textbooks, and similar published
materials.
 Abstracts, Directories, and Indexes :
Abstracts, directories, and indexes, in
contrast to the sources discussed earlier, are
guides preferences for identifying suitable
external secondary data sources.
They are listings of available data sources,
classified according to subject matter, topic,
area, and the like.
 Primary-Data Collection
 Primary data are collected specially for a research project.
It is an original information.
Variety of Data Collection Methods
Primary data can be collected through a number
of different methods, and sometimes more than one can
apply to a single research problem.
Ex:- Gap, Inc., a national chain of clothing stores, which wants
to evaluate the effectiveness of a special point-of-purchase
promotion for its Gap brand men’s shirts.
The promotion consists decorative display in
which Gap brand shirts are prominently and attractively
featured. The following methods illustrate the ways Gap,
Inc., can generate data for evaluating the effectiveness of
the special display.
 Method A :- Conduct a brief personal interview of a
sample of store customers during the promotional
period.
 Method B :- At the conclusion of the special
promotion, conduct a telephone survey of residents
in the store’s trading area.
 Method C :- Same as method B, mail
questionnaires to a sample of residents, along with
stamped envelops for returning completed
questionnaires.
 Method D :- Email a sample of store customers
during the promotional period and request them to
respond to the questionnaire posted on the
company’s website.
 What motivated them to make the
purchase. Also, ask them specific questions about
their reactions to the special display.s
 Method E :- Hire someone to observe
customer and record their reactions as they
pass by the special display.
 Method F :- Videotape the area where Gap
brand shirts are featured to generate a
continuous record of customer reactions and
behavior as they approach and pass by the
special display.
 Method G :- Program the store’s electronic
cash registers to automatically keep track of
the total number of Gap brand men’s shirts
sold during the promotional period.
 Methods A,B,C, and D involve
questioning customers, whereas method E,F
and G involve observing customers or their
purchases.
 A questionnaire is a tool used in many
research projects employing questioning.