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a 


 To Obtain Cause-and-Effect Relationships

 To understand which variable is the cause(

Independent) and which is the effect( Dependent)

 The nature of the relationship between the Cause

and the Effect.

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ñefore making causal inferences, three conditions

are to be satisfied

 Concomitant Variations (association)

 Time Order of Causality

 Elimination of other possible causal Factors

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 Experiments provide the most convincing

evidence of all the three conditions.

 Variable(s) are controlled/ manipulated

 Effect is measured on Dependent

Variable(s)
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Ô. Treatment: Different levels of the

variable hypothesized to affect outcomes
of interest
 Examples: Price levels, different ads,
different packages

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V. Dependent Variable: outcome variable (s)

thought to be caused by the treatment
 Examples: sales, intentions to purchase,
awareness

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 „) Independent Variables: variables to be

manipulated/treated which would cause
the outcome
 Example: In Store Service, Price, Ads

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 „) Test Units (consumers, households)

 4) Extraneous Variables: Variables other

than the Hypothesized, that might impact
outcome of experiment

 For e.g. Store Size, Competitors Price,

Competitors Ads.
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 Set of Procedures Specifying:

 Test units
 Independent variables
 Dependent variables
 How to control extraneous variables

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 represents exposure of a test group to an

experimental treatment/independent variable

O represents the process of observation or

measurement of the dependent variable

R indicates that test units (subjects) have been

randomly assigned to treatments

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2011
 Œovement from Left to Right indicates movement
through time

 Horizontal Alignment of symbols implies that all those

symbols refers to specific treatment

 For e.g. the symbolic arrangement

 OÔ OV

This means: A given Group of Test Units was exposed to a

treatment Variable () and the response was measured at two
different points in Time; OÔ and OV

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 Vertical Alignment of symbols implies that those
Symbols refer to activities or events that occur
simultaneously

 For e.g. the symbolic arrangement

R Ô OÔ
R V OV
This means that two groups of Test Units were
randomly assigned for two different Treatments at the
same time;
the dependent variable was measured in the two
different groups
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x 


 Internal Validity

 External Validity

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×  x 


Œanipulation

Independent Caused effect?

Dependent
Variables
Variables

Or, Did Extraneous Variables Come into Picture???

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 x 

 Can we generalize our results to the whole
population of interest?

 Threats to external Validity arise when the

specific set of experimental conditions doesnƞt
reflect the Hypothesized condition

 Example: Test market for a particular product

for a particular region may not hold true for
other regions.
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6  ×  x 

 
x  

 History: Events external to the experiment

that affect responses of the people
involved in the experiment (weather,
news reports, time of day)

 For eg: Promotional Campaign, Sales------Recession

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 Œaturation: Changes in respondents over

the time period of the experiment
(maturing, getting hungry, getting tired,
getting bored)

 For e.g. test units are department stores.

ƥ These stores change over time in terms of physical
layout, Décor, Traffic etc.

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6  ×  x 


 Instrumentation Effects: The measuring

instrument may change,
 different interviewers may be used, or
 an interviewer gets tired
 A common case: order of presentation
produces an effect
 Example: In an advertising experiment, initially one questionnaire
was used to measure the awareness, then another questionnaire
was used to measure the same.

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6  ×  x 


 Œortality: Some subjects drop out of the

experiment between measurements.
 The Loss of Test Units while the
experiment is in progress

 Example: testing a weight-loss program,

people feel shy, voluntarily drop out

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6  ×  x 

 Selection ñias: The improper assignment
of test units to treatment conditions.
 self-selected subjects by the researcher or
the test units themselves
 Random assignment to treatments will
solve this.
 Example: students selected according to
preference.

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º  m 
 
 Laboratory Experiments: some variable(s)
are manipulated and others are carefully
controlled

 Œay result in artificial situation

 Question: Will the response be the same

outside the laboratory?
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 Retain some realism of content though

context is not real
 Examples: simulated grocery aisles;
ad testing facilities

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
 

 Take place in real settings

 Control is traded off for realism
 Example: Test marketing

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 Test Œarketing
 Introducing the Product to the Limited but carefully selected
parts of the market places.

 Two objectives

ƛ To determine the market acceptance

ƛ To test alternative level of marketing mix

 Often used to fine-tune marketing strategies

and to determine sales volume
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m   
   
Symbols
 represents exposure of a test group to an
experimental treatment
O represents the observation or
measurement of the dependent variable
R indicates that test units (subjects) have
been randomly assigned to treatments

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 Experimental Design

Pre True Quasi

Experimental Experimental Design Experimental

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0   
Three examples:
Ô. After-only design
 OÔ
Problems?
 No comparison
 No control of Extraneous Variables

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V. One-group pretest-posttest design:
OÔ  OV
 Comparison of same individuals before
and after
Problems?
 Œaturation, mortality, no control group,
history effects
 Frequently used in marketing research
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0   
„. Static Group Design
Experimental Group:  OÔ
Control Group: OV
 Design relies on similarity of two control
groups
 Possible solution: matching
characteristics of the two groups (not the
same as random assignment)
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 6
   

 All experimental designs involve random

assignment of test units to treatment and
control/comparison groups in the design
 Random assignment eliminates selection
bias

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 Pretest-posttest control group design
Experimental Group R OÔ  OV
Control Group R O„ O4
 Treatment Effect= (OV-OÔ)-(O4-O„)
 Assumption: Extraneous variables,
history, maturation, testing effects,
instrumentation, will affect both groups
equally
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 Posttest Only Control Group Design
Experimental Group: R  OÔ
Control Group: R OV

 Treatment effect = OV-OÔ

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 Solomon Four Group Design
Experimental Group Ô: R OÔ  OV
Control Group Ô: R O„ O4
Experimental Group V: R  O5
Control Group V: R O6
Treatment effect, extraneous factors effect
can all be measured with this design

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2011
Œm 

   
 Times Series designs: Several
measurements are made of dependent
variables over time
 Often do not to have control/comparison
groups
 Are especially vulnerable to history/
maturation effects

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Time Series can be symbolised as:

OÔ OV O„ O4 O5  O6 O7 O8 O9 OÔ

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 Œultiple Time Series

EG: OÔ OV O„ O4 O5  O6 O7 O8 O9 OÔ

CG: OÔÔ OÔV OԄ OÔ4 OÔ5 OÔ6 OÔ7 OÔ8

Similar to Time Series, one more group is added to

serve as control group.
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£   

 Time

 Cost

 Administration

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 ?
 you
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