Deck 11: Basic Data Analysis for Quantitative Research

Question 1

The measures of central tendency discussed in this chapter are designed to reveal information about the center of a distribution of values. Measures of dispersion provide information about the spread of all the values in a distribution around the center values. Assume you were conducting an opinion poll on voters' approval ratings of the job performance of the mayor of the city where you live. Do you think the mayor would be more interested in the central tendency or the dispersion measures associated with the responses to your poll? Why?

Answer 1

Marketing research comes into play when a question needs to be answered and it encounters a gap in information. This is conducted by a number of professional researchers.
A survey instrument could be used for collection of data suggesting certain questions that could be used for starting the demographic research. The survey could include questions like Likert scale questions and questions to know about the thoughts of the respondents. Considering the measures of central tendency, median could be very important for Mayor and his associates. This is because the stated questions are of interval nature and when the responses are extreme, the true feelings of the respondents might get tweeked. Mayor would want to capitalize the feelings of respondents during ads and meetings, if a certai demographic group is included into his legislation along with high approval ratings.

Question 2

What are other areas of improvement for Remington's?

Answer 2

This case talks about restaurant R, whose owner wanted the restaurant to have a great image and excellent service. He wanted the customers to be highly satisfied with his restaurant services.
Other areas, that needed improvement for restaurant R were the speed of service, large portions and the competent employees.
Speed of service area being more important for customer satisfaction needs to be taken care of. Speed of service refers to the amount of time taken by the restaurant to serve the customer. It is the time duration between the moment when customer enters the restaurant, till the time food is served.
Large portions and competent employees, however are lesser important areas, but still need a lot of improvement within restaurant R to gain an upper hand over the counterpart competitors. Instead of offering large portions, portion control should be practiced at the restaurant so that customer expectations could be managed and a consistent product could be provided to the customer. Competant employees within a restaurant tend to maintain the quality standards of the business.

Question 3

Explain the difference between the mean, the median, and the mode.

Answer 3

Frequency distribution can be defined as a graph or a table which shows a number of observations in a particular duration of time.
Mean can be defined as the average taken from the set of numbers. Median can be defined as the middle value of a set of data. Mode can be defined as the number which occurs most in a data set. Mean can be obtained by adding all the numbers of a given data set and dividing it by total number of data. Thus, the result obtained is a mean or the average number. Median is obtained by placing all the numbers in a data set, in ascending order. A middle number is identified and called as median. Mode depicts the frequency of occurrence of a number. More than one or no mode could be obtained.

Question 4

If you were interested in finding out whether or not young adults (21-34 years old) are more likely to buy products online than older adults (35 or more years old), how would you phrase your null hypothesis? What is the implicit alternative hypothesis accompanying your null hypothesis?

Question 5

Run post-hoc ANOVA tests between the competitor groups. What additional problems or challenges does this reveal?

Question 6

Why and how would you use Chi-square and t -tests in hypothesis testing?

Question 7

The level of significance (alpha) associated with testing a null hypothesis is also referred to as the probability of a Type I error. Alpha is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis on the basis of your sample data when it is, in fact, true for the population of interest. Because alpha concerns the probability of making a mistake in your analysis, should you always try to set this value as small as possible? Why or why not?

Question 8

What new marketing strategies would you suggest?

Question 9

Why and when would you want to use ANOVA in marketing research?

Question 10

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) allows you to test for the statistical difference between two or more means. Typically, there are more than two means tested. If the ANOVA results for a set of data reveal that the four means that were compared are significantly different from each other, how would you find out which individual means were statistically different from each other? What statistical techniques would you apply to answer this question?

Question 11

What will ANOVA tests not tell you, and how can you overcome this problem?

Question 12

EXPERIENCE THE INTERNET: Nike, Reebok, and Converse are strong competitors in the athletic shoe market. The three use different advertising and marketing strategies to appeal to their target markets. Use one of the search engines on the Internet to identify information on this market. Go to the websites for these three companies (www.Nike.com; www.Reebok.com; www.Converse.com. Gather background information on each, including its target market and market share. Design a questionnaire based on this information and survey a sample of students. Prepare a report on the different perceptions of each of these three companies, their shoes, and related aspects. Present the report in class and defend your findings.

Question 13

SPSS EXERCISE: Form a team of three to four students in your class. Select one or two local franchises to conduct a survey on, such as Subway or McDonald's. Design a brief survey (10-12 questions) including questions like ratings on quality of food, speed of service, knowledge of employees, attitudes of employees, and price, as well as several demographic variables such as age, address, how often individuals eat there, and day of week and time of day. Obtain permission from the franchises to interview their customers at a convenient time, usually when they are leaving. Assure the franchiser you will not bother customers and that you will provide the franchise with a valuable report on your findings. Develop frequency charts, pie charts, and similar graphic displays of findings, where appropriate. Use statistics to test hypotheses, such as "Perceptions of speed of service differ by time of day or day of week." Prepare a report and present it to your class; particularly point out where statistically significant differences exist and why.

Question 14

SPSS EXERCISE: Using SPSS and the Santa Fe Grill employee database, provide frequencies, means, modes, and medians for the relevant variables on the questionnaire. The questionnaire is shown in Chapter 10. In addition, develop bar charts and pie charts where appropriate for the data you analyzed. Run an ANOVA using the work environment perceptions variables to identify any differences that may exist between male and female employees, and part-time versus full-time employees. Be prepared to present a report on your findings.

Question 15

SPSS EXERCISE: Review the Marketing Research in Action case for this chapter. There were three restaurant competitors-Remington's, Outback, and Longhorn. Results for a one-way ANOVA of the restaurant image variable were provided. Now run post-hoc ANOVA follow-up tests to see where the group differences are. Make recommendations for new marketing strategies for Remington's compared to the competition.