MKT Research Overview

Which of the following is the term used to refer to a treatment combination within an experiment?

cell

Which of the following is a special case of the history effect and refers to a change in the dependent variable that occurs because members of one experimental group experienced different historical situations than members of other experimental groups?

cohort effect

Which of the following means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variables?

confound

When subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments, this is called _____.

constancy of conditions

A group of subjects to whom no experimental treatment is administered is called a _____ group.

control

When a food company tests a new product by having one group of experimental subjects taste this product first and then taste a competitor's product second, while a second group of experimental subjects tastes these two products in the reverse order, the experimental design has been _____.

counterbalanced

Age is an example of which type of variable?

covariate

Which type of variable is a continuous variable included in a statistical analysis as a way of statistically controlling for variance due to that variable?

covariate

Which of the following is critical when conducting experimental research because it allows researchers to return subjects to normal?

debriefing

Demand characteristics, such as subjects' knowledge of the experimental hypotheses, create which type of effect?

demand

A(n) _____ refers to one of the possible values for each independent variable in an experiment.

experimental condition

"Does package size affect consumption rates in snack products?" is a typical question in what type of research design?

experimental research

When a researcher tries to say that the results of a test market in Indianapolis, Indiana will hold in a national rollout of the new product, this researcher is concerned with _____.

external validity

Which of the following is concerned with the accuracy with which experimental results can be generalized beyond the experimental subjects?

external validity

Which type of experimental design allows for an investigation of the interaction of two or more independent variables?

factorial experimental designs

When different interviewers are used in a pretest from those used in the posttest and this produces different results in the study, this is an example of a(n) _____.

instrumentation effect

Which of the following is a threat to the internal validity of an experiment using a repeated measures design?

instrumentation effect

Differences in dependent variable means due to a specific combination of independent variables are called _____ effects.

interaction

Experimental results that show that consumers purchased more when a store had a blue color with bright lights than they did when a store was orange with bright lights but no difference when the lighting was low is an example of which type of effect?

interaction

The question as to whether the independent variable was the sole cause of the change in the dependent variable is the basic issue in _____.

internal validity

What is the key advantage of test-marketing?

it is performed in a real-world setting

In which type of experiment does the research have more complete control over the research setting and extraneous variables?

laboratory

When an experiment is conducted on the premises of a marketing research organization, this is an example of a _____.

laboratory experiment

The experimental difference in means between the different levels of any single experimental variable is referred to as a(n) _____.

main effect

When subjects in an experiment in which the they were exposed to varying price levels for a product are asked how low they believe the price of the product to be so that the researcher can determine whether or not the subjects perceived "high" and "low" conditions, this is an example of a _____.

manipulation check

All of the following are experimental design issues EXCEPT _____.

manipulation of the dependent variable

Which of the following is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience?

maturation effect

The sampling units in experiments are referred to as ____.

subjects

A psychology professor is conducting an experiment in which subjects perform memory tasks. There are four groups, each participating in different buildings on campus. During the time of the experiment one group was in a building near a dumpster that was being emptied by a big, noisy trash truck. The other groups weren't close enough to hear the noise. Which type of error does this introduce into the research?

systematic error

When high school students who take the ACT in their junior year perform better on that exam during their senior year because they know better how to take the exam because of what they experienced on the first exam, this is an example of a _____.

testing effect

Which experimental research design involves repeated measures?

within-subjects design

What is the difference between a blocking variable and a covariate?

Blocking variables are categorical variables and covariates are continuous variables.

Experiments are widely used in which type of research designs?

causal

A marketing researcher is manipulating exposing subjects to one of two price levels--$1.99 or $2.49--for a tube of chapstick and measures behavioral intentions. The two price levels are known as experimental_____ in the study.

conditions

When a competitor introduces a 15 percent price cut in order to blunt the effect of a test marketing study, this is an example of a _____.

history effect

When salespeople are tested one year after a sales training program and perform better on the exam, not because of the training program, but because they have gained one year's experience in sales, this is an example of a _____.

maturation effect

When some subjects exit the experiment before it is completed and this effects the results of the study, this is an example of a _____.

mortality effect

A device that controls the amount of time a subject is exposed to a visual image is called a _____.

tachistoscope

The way an experimental variable is manipulated is referred to as an experimental _____.

treatment

If the level of advertising expenditures is compared to the number of units sold at the end of a four-month period, the independent variable is ______ while the dependent variable is ______.

advertising expenditure level; units sold

Which term refers to an experimental design element that unintentionally provides subjects with hints about the research hypothesis.

demand characteristic

Which type of effect occurs when a change other than the experimental treatment occurs during the course of an experiment that affects the dependent variable?

history effect

Which type of effect occurs when there is a change in the wording of questions, a change in interviewers, or a change in other procedures that causes a change in the dependent variable?

instrumentation effect

Which of the following occurs if the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable?

systematic or nonsampling error

_____ are the subjects or entities whose responses to the experimental treatment are measured.

Test units

An experiment is conducted in which music played in a store is manipulated to examine the impact on sales. What type of experimental design is this?

basic experimental design

Which experimental design involves manipulating a single independent variable to observe its effect on a single dependent variable?

basic experimental design

In which experimental research design does each subject receive only one treatment combination?

between-subjects design

Categorical variables included in the statistical analysis of experimental data as a way of statistically controlling or accounting for variance due to that variable are called _____ variables.

blocking

Variables like a subject's gender or ethnicity that are included in an experimental analysis are known as which type of variable?

blocking variables