Why Did You Buy That?

Although we might think that the sole purpose of research is to help us gain knowledge about a topic (basic research), we can also use our research skills to solve practical, real-world problems (applied research) that may not seem immediately relevant to the field of psychology. Program evaluation is one example of how you can apply your research skills in a real-world setting. Another example is market research, which involves the gathering and analysis of data about issues related to marketing products and services. People that work in this field combine aspects of psychology with business to study the best way to attract customers to a new product. There are many ways to use your research skills to make a difference in peoples’ lives!

• Basic Research
• Applied Research
• Program Evaluation

With these research methodologies in mind, it is time to determine your research question. For this project, you want to be sure that your marketing team has a clear goal.

Now that you have a research question (“Which fruit-flavored chocolate would be the best to develop?”), you must decide which type of research design will best answer your research question.

• Survey
• Experimental Design
• Naturalistic Observation

Having decided to use a survey to gather your data, your next step is to decide what type of questions to ask.

• Open-ended Questions
• Closed-ended Questions

Your team has decided to use a survey with closed-ended questions to collect information about potential flavors. You plan to list 6 fruit flavors that the candy maker can create and ask participants to rate each flavor on a rating scale. These flavors are banana, cherry, orange, passion fruit, raspberry, and strawberry.

Using your scale, participants will consider the 6 fruit flavors that can be combined with chocolate and rate their liking of each flavor based on 5 response alternatives. Each response alternative will be assigned a numerical value, which you will use to summarize the likeability of each flavor. Higher values indicate a more positive response to the fruit flavor.

Now that you and your team have created a scale to assess preferred fruit flavors to combine with chocolate, you begin thinking about what information would help the candy company market its new product.

With your scale and survey ready, it is time for your team to find the appropriate sample.

You work with the computer programmers at your company to set up your online survey and send invitation emails to a list of 2,000 people who previously said they would participate in research for your company. You review this list to ensure that the participants represent a wide range of ages, socioeconomic statuses, and geographic locations.

After providing informed consent and confirming that they are 18 years of age or older, the participants rate their liking of each of the 6 flavor combinations, report their age category (based on age groups your company generally uses for market research), and report their preferred form of chocolate. You close the survey after 2 weeks and find that 900 of the 2,000 people contacted completed the survey.

Now that you have collected your data, you must determine the best way to summarize your findings. The decisions you made about how to collect your data dictate the statistics you can use with your data now. First, you need to consider if your study is descriptive or inferential.

• Descriptive
• Inferential

Scenario: The work you completed with your team leads your client to develop 2 new fruit-coated chocolate flavors (raspberry and cherry). Once the candy is manufactured, the candy maker returns to your marketing team and asks for further help. While they believe both products could be successful, they are only interested in launching 1 of them next year. Per your advice, they ask your team to determine which flavor customers prefer more. Now it is time for you to delve into programmatic research!

• Programmatic Research

A new research project means your team needs a new research question.

Now that you have a research question (“How does flavor influence likeability of a fruit-coated chocolate?”), you must decide which type of research design will best answer your research question.

• Survey
• Two-group Design
• Factorial Design

Now that you know a two-group design is best for this project, you can identify your independent and dependent variables.

• Independent Variable (IV)
• Dependent Variable (DV)

You already know that the groups in your two-group design will be based on your previous recommendation to the client: One group will taste-test raspberry-flavored chocolate candy pieces and the other will taste-test cherry-flavored chocolate candy pieces. Before proceeding, however, you need to specify the exact nature of your dependent variable: candy likeability.

To gauge what people think, your team decides to create a self-report measure with closed-ended questions to assess various aspects of the candy. To accomplish this task, you develop a Likert scale with 5-point response options (1 = Highly Disagree to 5 = Highly Agree).

• Likert Scale

For your measure, you will ask participants to indicate how much they agree or disagree with 5 statements about the fruit flavor they tasted. Your next step is to develop these statements. The key is to have 5 high-quality items that address the likeability of the candy. To avoid an acquiescent response set, we will add at least 1 reversed item.

• Acquiescent Response Set

Based on a quick literature review of taste sampling, you decide to have participants indicate how much they agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. I like the taste of the candy.

2. I enjoy the texture of the candy.

3. I like the appearance of the candy.

4. I dislike the taste of the candy.

5. Overall, I like the candy.

Now that you have determined what you will manipulate and measure, you must formulate an experimental hypothesis.

• Experimental Hypothesis

With your hypothesis prepared, it is time for your team to find an appropriate sample.

Now that you have finished running the study, you must determine the best way to analyze your data. The decisions you made about how to collect your data dictate the statistics you can use with your data now.

Each participant’s overall likeability score was calculated by first reverse-coding the “dislike taste” statement and then taking the mean of the ratings for all 5 scale items. This score is the dependent variable you are testing.

Below is the output from your study.

To ensure the team stays on track, it is time to determine a new research question.

Now that you have a new research question (“How does the color and price of the candy influence its likeability?”), you must decide which type of research design will best answer your research question.

• Survey
• Focus Group
• Experimental Design

Now that you have established that an experiment is best given your research question and goals, consider the following experimental designs:

• Multigroup Design
• Two-group Design
• Factorial Design

After talking to your client, you discover that they are considering 2 colors for this product: a solid rose color and a swirled pattern of light brown and rose. The cost of the coloring process for each is equivalent.

In addition, you learn that the candy maker sells their current flavors of candy pieces for 99 cents, but is hoping consumers will be willing to purchase the new product for $1.25 in order to make up for the more expensive fruit-flavored ingredients.

Now that you have determined what you will manipulate and measure, you must formulate an experimental hypothesis. Because we have multiple independent variables, we will also need multiple hypotheses.

Before you can conduct your experiment, you need to determine exactly whom you want to study and where you can obtain this target sample. You are again interested in the average consumer, so you head back to the mall to collect your data. Like before, you will conduct the study at various locations, on various days, at various times to be sure you have a diverse sample to represent your population of interest (chocolate candy consumers).

Now that you have finished running the study, you must decide the best way to analyze your data. The decisions you made about how to collect your data dictate the statistics you can use with your data now.

Each participant’s overall likeability score was calculated by first reverse-coding the “dislike taste” statement and then taking the mean of the ratings for all 5 scale items. This score is the dependent variable you are testing.

Below is the output from your study.

Scenario: Your client is so pleased with your work that they ask you to take on 1 final project. With the flavor, color, and price of the candy established, the candy maker wants to know more about how to market the product. The client plans to invest a substantial amount in advertising the new flavor, and they want to make sure they have sound research to back up their marketing campaign.

Your team needs to switch focus from helping to develop the best candy to selling this candy the right way to consumers. Good thing your research skills can be applied to so many areas! And even better—your boss told your team that if this final research phase goes well, the whole team will receive a bonus.

Your team has a new focus and, therefore, needs a new research question.

Now that you have a research question (“What is the best way to sell cherry-flavored chocolate pieces?”), you must decide which research approach to use to answer this question. There are 2 research methods you can choose from:

• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research

The next step is to determine which qualitative data collection technique is best suited for your research question. Below are a few of the techniques you can choose from:

• Focus Group
• Interview
• Narrative Analysis

While you want people to talk freely in a focus group, you still need to establish a planned list of questions for them to answer. These questions will help the discussion stay on track, while allowing you to get the information you need through the flexibility of unplanned follow-up questions. Before you figure out what to ask, you need to determine the best number of questions to ask.

Your team determines that they want to learn about participants’ typical chocolate consumption. They also want to know what participants think about your client’s new product and how they might use it. You draft the following 5 questions for your focus group:

1. What role does chocolate play in your weekly eating habits?

2. What are your first thoughts after trying this new candy?

3. What aspects of the candy do you like and dislike?

4. Who would you buy this product for (e.g., for yourself, for a friend, for your children)?

5. When do you think you would likely eat this candy (e.g., at night as a treat, after lunch, for a snack)?

As you plan your study, you need to identify your sample. In this case, you want to target the people who are most likely to buy the new product. These are the people the candy company will want to focus on for their advertising campaign, so they are your target population.

You are ready to start the data collection (focus group) process. After the participants provide informed consent, you will allow them to eat as many of the cherry-flavored chocolate pieces as they like. You will then moderate the focus group, asking the planned questions in a predetermined order, and following up with other questions to clarify meaning and elicit additional information. In this role, you must be as unbiased as possible. You may also need to keep some people from dominating the discussion by encouraging others to contribute more. You will video-record the session for later transcription.

You recruit 9 people to contribute to your focus group. After your 90-minute session, the video recording is transcribed.

With your data in hand, it is time to consider strategies for analyzing the focus group results. Below are a few of the techniques you can choose from:

• Content Analysis
• Conversation Analysis
• Repeated-measures ANOVA

You have conducted 4 studies to help your client develop and market a new product. Great work! You and your team are now eligible for a bonus.