Types of Research Design

The three types of research designs are :

1. Exploratory design.
2. Descriptive design.
3. Experimental design.

Exploratory design : exploratory design is used when the researcher problem is not yet clear or well understood. The objective here is to try to, first of all, understand the nature of the problem, how it manifests, before it can be solved. Explanatory research is concerned with discovering the general nature of the problem and variables that relate to it. This type of research design is characterized by a high degree of flexibility. There is no rigid or fixed and pattern or plan being adopted. The researcher proceeds without a fixed plan, although tentative check-list or guideline may be used. The researchers strategy here is to follow each clue or idea as far as seems profitable. Although any approach to data collection and analysis can be utilised, explanation research tends to rely on secondary data, convenient or judgement samples, small scale surveys or simple experiments, case analysis, and subjective evaluation of the results. Enter the focus of explanatory research is on the discovery of ideas. For example, in a business where sales have been declining for past few months, the management may conduct a quick study to find out what could be the possible explanations comma the sales might have declined on the account of a number of factors, such as deterioration in the quality of the products, increased competition, inadequate or inefficient advertising, lack of efficient and trained sales men or use of the wrong channels of distribution. In such a case and explanatory study may be conducted to discover the most likely cause.
 Descriptive design.

 Marketing research which has a descriptive design is intended to produce accurate description of variables relevant to decision being faced, without demonstrating that some relationship exist between variables. Decision-makers very often choose or are willing to accept descriptive data, which would permit only influences to be drawn about causation. Descriptive studies are undertaken in many circumstances when the marketing researcher is interested in knowing the characteristics of certain group such as age, sex, educational level, occupation or income. Other cases when a descriptive study could be carried out or when the researcher is interested in knowing the proportion or people in a given population who have behaved in a particular manner or making projections for certain things.

Descriptive studies are well structured and tends to be rigid and the approach cannot be changed every now and then like in the case of explanatory studies. In descriptive studies, therefore it is necessary that the receiver give sufficient thought to framing research questions and deciding the type of data to be collected and the procedure to be used for this purpose. If the researcher is not careful in the initial stages, he may find that either the data collection are inadequate or the procedure used is cumbersome and expensive.


 Experimental design.

Experimentation involves the manipulation of one or more variables by the experimenter in such a way that the effect on one or more other variables can be measured. The variable being manipulated is called the independent variable or the treatment. The variable that reflects the impact of the independent variables is called the dependent variable. Its level is dependent on the level or magnitude of the independent variable.

Experimentation is utilised for establishing and measuring casual relationship among the variables under consideration. Well designed experiments are uniquely equipped to demonstrate casual relationships because they allow for or control other potential casual factors, which are called extraneous variables. However, an experiment must be carefully designed to avoid a number of types of potential error. We have two types of experimental design, namely field experiment and laboratory experiment. Field experiments are designed to take place in a natural environment, that is the place where the activity, phenomenon or event naturally takes place. Laboratory experiment on the other hand, is designed to take place in its life environment.

 for instance, if the marketing researcher wants to study the effect of marketing communication on consumer shopping behaviour, and carries out the experiment in the classroom wesham consumers are invited, this will be a laboratory experiments. But if there is such a place marketing communication message in the media used by the consumers, such as radio and television, and then evaluate the impact it will have on their shopping behaviour in the market, then this can be called a field experiment. Laboratory experiment and widely used in marketing research in the initial testing of new products, package designs, advertising things and copy, as well as in basic research studies.