Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts:
Which type of research design— exploratory, descriptive, or causal—is appropriate for the following examples? Explain why.
• The goal of this research is to discover the real nature of the problem and to suggest new possible solutions or new ideas.
• A food manufacturer wants to know the demographics of people who purchase organic foods.
• A firm is considering hiring American celebrity Paris Hilton to endorse its products.
• British Airways would like to test in-flight Internet services on one of its regular flights from New York to Tokyo. The company charges $30 one week and $15 the next week.
• This type of study attempts to discover answers to the following questions: who, what, when, where, or how much.
• A manufacturer investigates whether consumers will buy a new pill that replaces eating a meal.
• Cosmopolitan magazine sends out a cover in selected markets featuring a female model to half of its readers and a cover with a female and male model to the other half of its readers to test differences in purchase response between the two groups.
• A hair-care manufacturer interviews wholesalers, retailers, and customers to determine the potential for a new shampoo package.
• This type of research attempts to capture a population’s characteristics by making inference from a sample’s characteristics and testing hypotheses.
• On the CBS television show Undercover Boss, top executives disguised as middle level or lower level employees investigate company departments to discover potential issues or problems.