mkt 360 chapter two

what is the goal of all marketing research projects?

to answer a research question or solve a marketing problem by providing information for informed decision-making.

what are the three types/categories of research?

1. exploratory research

2. descriptive research

3. causal research

exploratory research

research to help understand a problem or situation, often qualitative and not definitive.

descriptive research

research that answers questions of who, what, when, where, and how; describes relationships but cannot prove causality.

casual research

research used to determine whether one variable causes another, typically involving experiments.

what are the criteria to establish causality?

1. temporal sequence: cause happens before effect

2. concomitant variation - changes in cause are associated with changes in effect

3. elimination of other possible causes

what are the six stages in the research process?

1. research purpose

2. research design

3. sampling plan

4. data collection

5. data analysis

6. research report

research purpose

the overall objective of a study, such as understanding a situation, investigating an opportunity, or addressing a problem.

what is the difference between research questions and research objectives?

research questions ask what the study seeks to learn; research objectives state what the study aims to achieve.

research design

the plan used to address the research problem, question, or hypothesis.

name three types of research designs.

1. exploratory (qualitative)

2. survey research (quantitative)

3. observation or experimental research (causal)

what is a request for proposal (RFP)?

a written document containing an official request for a research proposal, including study background, research questions/objectives, sample expectations, and timeframe.

what is a research proposal?

a written response to an RFP that describes the research process, costs, timeline, and deliverables.

what is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?

qualitative: unstructured, exploratory, small sample, subjective, hard to generalize

quantitative: structured, descriptive or causal, large sample, objective, generalizable

what is a null hypothesis (H0)?

a statement of no effect, no relationship, or no difference between variables; includes equality.

what is an alternative hypothesis (Ha)?

a statement that challenges the null hypothesis; represents all situations not covered by H0.

what are best practices for bar charts?

include titles

labels for x and y axis

key/legend