Marketing Research Exam 3

Cross tabulation

. The following is an example of descriptive analysis. What kind of analysis does it represent? a. Frequency distribution b. Contingency table c. Data transformation d. Cross-tabulation

u1-u2

23. In using a t-test to compare the means of two groups, the alternative hypothesis is typically stated as ____. a. μ1 - μ2 b. μ1 = μ2 c. μ1 - μ2 = 2 d. μ1 + μ2 = 1

Census

A company decides to send an Internet survey to all of its 127-member sales force to determine their morale. This is a ____. a. cluster sample b. multistage area sample c. census d. sample

snowball sample

A marketing researcher wants to put together four focus groups of 18-24 year-old males who are "heavy downloaders of music" (defined as downloading 50 songs per month). Instead of asking people at a shopping mall whether they download music from the Internet, he finds one person in the target market who qualifies, and then asks that person to suggest the names of two other males between the ages of 18-24 who download music. The researcher will invite those two to participate in the focus group, and then they are each asked to suggest two others similar to themselves to participate in the focus group study. This procedure describes a ____.

List the seven major elements of a formal research report.

A research report includes: (1) Title page (sometimes preceded by a title fly page) (2) Letter of transmittal (3) Letter of authorization (4) Table of contents (5) Executive summary (6) Body (7) Appendix

contingency table

A researcher interested in a data matrix that displays the frequency of some combination of possible responses to multiple variables should construct a ____. a. perceptual map b. contingency table c. regression equation d. marginal table

Summated Scale

A researcher is measuring consumers' attitudes toward product placement in movies using five attitude items. She created a scale by simply adding up the responses to each item making up the composite measure. This composite measure is called a(n) ____. a. derived scale b. additive scale c. summated scale d. primary scale

research report

A written statement of a research study and its results is known as a(n) ____. a. communicator b. medium c. field of experience d. research report

Attribute

A(n) ____ is a single characteristic or fundamental feature of an object, person, situation, or issue. a. concept b. variable c. attribute d. construct

Concepts

Age, gender, brand loyalty, and corporate culture are all examples of ____. a. concepts b. scales c. ratios d. codes

Define attitude and describe the three components that comprise it.

An attitude is a social-psychological concept that can be defined as a relatively enduring predisposition to respond consistently to various things including people, activities, events, and objects. Attitudes are thought to have three components: (1) Affective: expresses how much affinity someone has toward the relevant matter. This is the feeling of liking or not liking something. (2) Cognitive: represents a person's awareness and knowledge of the relevant matter. It's what a person believes about the subject matter. (3) Behavioral: represents the action that corresponds to a certain type of attitude.

increases;decreases

As sample size ____, random sampling error ____. a. increases; increases b. decreases; decreases c. increases; decreases d. increase; remains unchanged

Unaided recall

Asking respondents to remember something without providing any clues to help them remember is called ____.

List the stages in the selection of a sample.

Before taking a sample, researchers must make several decisions. While these decisions are presented as a series of sequential stages, the order of the decisions does not always follow this sequence. These stages are: (1) Define the target population (2) Select a sampling frame (3) Determine if a probability or nonprobability sampling method will be chosen (4) Plan procedure for selecting sampling units (5) Determine sample size (6) Select actual sampling units (7) Conduct fieldwork

Compare and contrast Type I errors and Type II errors and explain which one is of more concern to researchers.

Hypothesis testing using sample observations is based on probability theory. Because we cannot make any statement about a sample with complete certainty, there is always the chance that an error will be made. The researcher using sampling runs the risk of committing two types of errors. A Type I error occurs when a condition that is true in the population is rejected based on statistical observations. When a researcher sets an acceptable significance level a priori (α), he or she is determining how much tolerance he or she has for a Type I error. When testing for relationships, a Type I error occurs when the researcher concludes a relationship exists when in fact one does not exist. A Type II error is the probability of failing to reject a false null hypothesis. Alternatively, one can think of this as failing to identify a hypothesized difference using a sample result when one really does exist in the population. This incorrect decision is called beta (β), Type I errors generally are considered more serious than Type II errors. Thus, more emphasis is placed on determining the significance level, α, than in determining β

Moderating Variable

It is hypothesized that an individual's style of processing information (i.e., verbal or visual) will influence the impact of advertising on attitudes toward the brand being advertised. Style of processing, then, is considered which type of variable? a. dependent variable b. external variable c. internal variable d. moderating variable

Frequency

Macey Ramsay has created a table that summarizes the number of times a particular value of a variable occurs. Macey has created a ____ distribution. a. parameter b. normal c. frequency d. probability

Explain how indexes or composite measures are formed.

Multi-item instruments for measuring a construct are either called index measures or composite measures. An index measure assigns a value based on how characteristic an observation is of the thing being measured. Indexes often are formed by putting several variables together. For example, a social class index is based on three weighted variables: income, occupation, and education. With an index, the different attributes may not be strongly correlated with each other. Composite measures also assign a value based on a mathematical derivation of multiple variables. For most practical applications, composite measures and indexes are computed in the same way. However, composite measures are distinguished from index measures in that the composite's indicators should be both theoretically and statistically related to each other.

Name and describe the types of nonprobability sampling.

Nonprobability sampling is a sampling technique in which units of the sample are selected on the basis of personal judgments or convenience, and there are four types discussed in the chapter: (1) Convenience sampling: obtaining people or units that are conveniently available. (2) Judgment sampling: also called purposive sampling; an experienced individual selects the sample based on his or her judgment about some appropriate characteristics required of the sample member. (3) Quota sampling: ensures that the various subgroups in a population are represented on pertinent sample characteristics to the exact extent that the investigators desire. (4) Snowball sampling: involves using probability methods for an initial selection of respondents and then obtaining additional respondents through information provided by the initial respondents.

Discuss factors to consider when determining the order of questions on a questionnaire.

One factor to consider is order bias, which can result from a particular answer's position in a set of answers or from the sequencing of questions. Asking specific questions before asking about broader issues is a common cause of order bias. As a result, it is advisable to ask general questions before specific questions to obtain the freest of open-ended responses. This procedure, known as the funnel technique, allows the researcher to understand the respondent's frame of reference before asking more specific questions about the level of the respondent's information and the intensity of his or her opinions. With attitude scales, there also may be an anchoring effect, which means the first concept measured tends to become a comparison point from which subsequent evaluations are made. Randomization helps minimize this effect. Filter questions minimize the chance of asking questions that are inapplicable. A branching question is a filter question used to determine which version of a second question will be asked.

Name and describe the types of probability sampling.

Probability sampling techniques include the following: (1) Simple random sampling: assures each element in the population of an equal chance of being included in the sample. (3) Systematic sampling: a starting point is selected by a random process and then every nth number on the list is selected. (3) Stratified sampling: simple random subsamples that are more or less equal on some characteristic are drawn from within each stratum of the population. (4) Cluster sampling: the primary sampling unit is not the individual element in the population but a large cluster of elements and clusters are selected randomly. (5) Multistage area sampling: involves using a combination of two or more probability sampling techniques.

What is reliability and how is it assessed?

Reliability is an indicator of a measure's internal consistency. A measure is reliable when different attempts at measuring something converge on the same result. When a measuring process provides reproducible results, the measuring instrument is reliable. Internal consistency is a term used to represent a measure's homogeneity and can be measured by correlating scores on subsets of items making up a scale. The split-half method of checking reliability is performed by taking half the items from a scale (e.g., odd-numbered items) and checking them against the results from the other half (even-numbered items). The two scale halves should correlate highly. Coefficient alpha is the most commonly applied estimate of a composite scale's reliability by computing the average of all possible split-half reliabilities from a multiple-item scale. This coefficient demonstrates whether or not the different items converge and ranges from 0 to 1, with values between 0.80 and 0.96 considered to have very good reliability. The test-retest method of determining reliability involves administering the same scale or measure on the same respondents at two separate times to test for stability.

$120

Suppose the price of MP3 players in Denver range from $59 to $179. Then, the range of these prices is ____. a. $59 b. $120 c. $179 d. $238

Discuss what is included in the body of a research report.

The body constitutes the bulk of the report and begins with an introduction section setting out the background factors that made the project necessary as well as the objectives of the report. This section explains why the project was done and what it aimed to discover. The second part of the body is the research methodology section. This part should address four topics: research design, sample design, data collection and fieldwork, and analysis. The results section should make up the bulk of the report and should present, in some logical order, those findings of the project that bear on the objectives. The last part of the body is the conclusions and recommendations section, which includes opinions based on the results and suggested recommendations for action.

Relevant

The degree to which all information collected in a questionnaire addresses a research question that will help the decision maker address the current marketing problem is the extent to which the questionnaire is ____. a. relevant b. accuracy c. frequency d. counterbalanced

Random sampling error

The difference between the sample result and the result of an accurate census is called

Compare and contrast the four different levels of scale measurement.

The four levels or types of scale measurement are as follows: (1) Nominal scale: represents the most elementary level of measurement. It assigns a value to an object for identification or classification purposes. The value can be a number, but does not have to be, because no quantities are being represented. (2) Ordinal scale: ranking scales allowing things to be arranged based on how much of some concepts they possess. They have nominal properties, but they also allow things to be arranged based on how much of some concept they possess. (3) Interval scale: has both nominal and ordinal properties, but also captures information about differences in quantities of a concept. Unlike ordinal scales, it captures relative quantities in the form of distances between observations. (4) Ratio scale: represents the highest form of measurement in that is has all the properties of an interval scale with the additional attribute representing absolute quantities. Interval scales represent only relative meaning whereas ratio scales represent absolute meaning. Therefore, zero has meaning in that it represents an absence of some concept.

Descriptive analysis

The transformation of raw data into a form that makes the data easier to understand and to interpret is called ____. a. descriptive analysis b. outlier analysis c. computer mapping d. box and whisker plotting

Describe the measures of dispersion and explain why standard deviation is used most often.

There are several measures of dispersion: (1) Range: the simplest measure and is the distance between the smallest and the largest value of a frequency distribution. (2) Deviation scores: measures how far any observation is from the mean. Average deviation is derived by calculating the deviation score of each observation value, summing these scores, and then dividing by the sample size. However, positive deviation scores are canceled out by negative scores, leaving an average deviation value of zero no matter how wide the spread. (3) Variance: a means of eliminating the sign problem caused by the negative deviations canceling out the positive deviations is to square the deviation scores. It's a good index of dispersion and will grow larger as the observations tend to differ increasingly from one another and from the mean. However, it reflects a unit of measurement that has been squared. 4. )Standard deviation: the most valuable index of spread, or dispersion. It is the square root of the variance for a distribution, which eliminates the drawback of having the measure of dispersion in squared units rather than in the original measurement units.

Telescoping

What type of error occurs when respondents believe that past events happened more recently than they actually did?

Define the target population

When a researcher has made the decision to conduct a survey using a sample of the population, the FIRST step in the selection of the sample is to ____. a. define the target population b. determine the sample size c. select the actual sampling units d. select a sampling frame

Convenience sampling

When a researcher uses students to participate in a study because he has easy access to them, what type of sampling procedure is being used? a. judgment sampling b. systematic sampling c. snowball sampling d. convenience sampling

Absolute zero

Which characteristic is a key difference between ratio and interval scales? a. number of items b. absolute zero c. number of intervals d. nominal values

Construct

Which of the following refers to concepts measured with multiple variables? a. operation b. construct c. concept d. scale

ratio

Which type of scale is regarded as the highest form of measurement? a. nominal scale b. ordinal c. ratio d. interval

Measurement

___ is the process of describing some property of a phenomenon, usually by assigning numbers, in a reliable and valid way.