Marketing Research - Research Design

Vocabulary flashcards defining core terms, research design classifications, components, and potential sources of error in marketing research design.

Research Design

The blueprint for collecting, measuring, and analyzing the information needed to answer a research problem.

Developing an Approach

The process of determining what the researcher needs to study, including the framework, research questions, hypotheses, and information needed.

Exploratory Research

Flexible, unstructured research used to clarify an unclear problem and generate ideas or hypotheses.

Conclusive Research

Structured, usually quantitative research used to test hypotheses and support decisions; includes descriptive and causal research.

Descriptive Research

Research that describes market characteristics, estimates percentages of a population displaying a behavior, measures associations, or makes specific predictions.

Six Ws of Descriptive Research

The directional framework of descriptive research consisting of Who, What, When, Where, Why, and Way (how information is collected).

Cross-Sectional Design

A research design providing a snapshot in which information is collected from a sample at one point in time.

Single Cross-Sectional Design

A cross-sectional design that uses one sample from the target population to obtain information once.

Multiple Cross-Sectional Design

A cross-sectional design that uses two or more different samples of respondents, often at different times.

Longitudinal Design

A research design that repeatedly measures the same participants over time to track individual change.

Cohort Analysis

A multiple cross-sectional study of groups that share a common experience during the same time period.

Panel

A sample of respondents who provide information repeatedly over specified time intervals.

Causal Research

Research, usually experimental, that tests cause-and-effect relationships and examines whether a change in one variable causes a change in another.

Components of a Research Design

The eight major elements: definition of information needed, secondary-data analysis, qualitative research, quantitative data-collection methods, measurement and scaling procedures, questionnaire design, sampling process and sample size, and plan of data analysis.

Total Error

The combined effect of random sampling error and nonsampling error in a research design.

Random Sampling Error

The chance difference between sample results and the true population value.

Nonsampling Error

Error caused by factors other than sampling variation, including nonresponse and response errors.

Nonresponse Error

Error that occurs when nonrespondents differ meaningfully from respondents in a sample.

Response Error

Error caused when responses are inaccurate or are recorded, processed, or analyzed incorrectly.