What is descriptive research?
Understand the reality of a population
Large study groups
often no causality
Typical samples of descriptive research
- Students
- Employees
- Consumers
- Organizations
- Market areas
Descriptive research…
is used to describe the attitude or behavior of people
Data sources
Primary data sources: 1st hand collection of the researcher, not dependent
- interviews
- online surveys
- focus groups
- field observations
Secondary data sources: No time must be spent looking for data, much more cost-effective
- public libraries
- websites
- by already filled out surveys
Cohort Analysis
Series of surveys conducted at appropriate time intervals
Cohort: group of people that experience the same situation
Examples:
- New customers
- Customers with a specific age
- Customers with the same cultural background
Advantages and disadvantages of a cohort analysis
Advantages:
- Understand the needs and beliefs of certain groups
Study designs
Cross sectional design
Single Cross sectional Design
- Only a slice of the study group is analyzed
- much easier data acquisition
Multiple Cross-sectional Design
- Two or more samples also possible
- Different samples are often analyzed at different times
- Allows observing relative changes between different points in time
Longitudinal Design
- Indicate changes in the characteristics of the target group
- Follows the same sample of individuals through time
- Both individual and aggregate level can be studied
- Takes longer to conduct and is much harder to conduct
Designing a questionnaire
- What should be asked?
- How much can be asked?
- How should each question be phrased?
- How should the questions be arranged?
Steps in a questionnaire
- Introduce the study
- Introductory and screening questions
- Sensitive & related questions
- End of study
Content of Questions
- Useful?
- Necessary?
- Readability and literacy?
- No biases and truthful answers?
Collecting data
- Sample
- Medium
- Frequency
Probability sampling
- Everyone has a chance to be in the sample
- The probability distribution is known
- Selection involves randomness
Non probability sampling
When the probability can not be determined
unreachable elements
- No inference possible
- Suits exploratory research
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