Exam 3: Exploratory, Descriptive, and Causal Research Designs

Best Foods Corporation hired an outside marketing research firm to conduct test marketing for its new spaghetti sauce. The research firm guaranteed distribution of the sauce through several retail formats (e.g., supermarkets, warehouse clubs, convenient stores, etc.) throughout the US. This type of test market is called a(n):

Using different ads in different geographic areas and investigating which ad generated the highest sales is an example of _____ research design.

The two types of experiments that can be distinguished are:

An automobile dealer in Houston, after a very cold winter, found himself with a very large inventory. He experimented with offering a free trip to New York with every car sold. He recorded sales after the promotion. This is an example of:

Simulated test markets:

Which of the following is FALSE?

The local Pizza Hut franchisee is interested in knowing its customers better. The franchisee would like to know how often customers order pizza, whether they pick the pizza or have it delivered, their favorite toppings, the number of children per household, the number of times they eat pizza in the restaurants, etc. The research firm which carries out this study would undoubtedly refer to it as a(n) _____ marketing research study.

Dummy tables:

Compare and contrast depth interviews with focus groups.

Focus groups are a great tool for research because the group results are representative of what would be true for the general population.

The manager of the Golden Orange Drink Company states that he is very concerned with the continuing decline in sales of the company's major product, a concentrated orange drink. The manager has asked for your assistance in identifying the reasons for the sales decline. The most appropriate way to begin would be with:

Benefits of focus groups include:

Which of the following statements about cross-sectional analysis is FALSE?

A dummy table is used to:

Burger King recently experienced a decline in burger sales after E-coli bacteria were discovered in one of their restaurants. The marketing managers reviewed published information about a similar situation that had occurred at a Jack-in-the Box restaurant a few years ago. Which of the following type of exploratory research is this?

You would like to determine the demographic characteristics of owners of recreational vehicles. The appropriate research strategy would be:

A difficulty inherent in the focus group research technique is:

Dell Corporation sent five different versions of an email to customers to determine which message was most effective at getting customers to make online purchases. While online sales rose by nearly 20%, two of the versions demonstrated higher than normal click-through rates. Experimentation conducted in a realistic environment is called a:

A causal research design is typically concerned with:

A causal research design is typically concerned with: