Chapter 9—Conducting Marketing Experiments
TRUE/FALSE
1. Experimental research attempts to find causal relationships among variables.
2. In an experiment, the researcher manipulates the dependent variable and measures its effect on the
independent variable.
3. Participants in experimental research are typically referred to as respondents.
4. In experimental research, independent variables are simply measured.
5. An experimental construct refers to one of the possible levels of an experimental variable
manipulation.
6. Covariates are categorical variables like a subject’s gender or ethnicity.
7. In an experiment, collinearity is the characteristic of experiments that allow hypotheses to be tested.
8. An experimental treatment is the term referring to the way an experimental variable is manipulated.
9. A control group is one in which an experimental treatment is administered.
10. An experiment can have only one experimental variable.
11. Often, the term cell is used to refer to a treatment combination within an experiment.
12. Products are the most common test units in most marketing experiments.
13. The most common procedure to try to ensure that experimental and control groups do not differ from
each other in important ways at the beginning of a research study is random assignment of subjects to
treatment and control groups.
14. Systematic error can occur in experiments.
15. Experiments in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental
treatment are referred to as multidimensional designs.
16. A confound in an experiment means that there is a spurious relationship between the independent and
dependent variables.
17. John correctly guessed that the purpose of an experiment he was participating in was to examine the
effect of including brands in television programming on his attitude and intention to purchase that
brand, which creates a confound known as a bias effect.
18. One way to reduce demand characteristics is to tell subjects the purpose of the experiment so they will
be more willing to participate honestly.
19. A confound is an experimental deception involving a false treatment.
20. The people administering an experiment must be aware of the experimental hypotheses.
21. Factorial experimental designs are the least sophisticated type of experimental design.
22. When a test market is conducted in five retail stores in Erie, Pennsylvania, this is an example of an
external experiment.
23. Between-subjects designs involve repeated measures because with each treatment the same subject is
measured.
24. The question as to whether the experimental treatment was the “sole cause” of the changes in the
dependent variable is the basic issue in internal validity.
25. A cohort effect in an experiment is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide
with growth and experience.
26. Field experiments tend to have less external validity than laboratory experiments.
27. A test market study is the most common type of field experiment.
28. Test marketing allows an organization to conduct a “trial run” of the product in the marketplace.
29. When a new product fails in a test market, this means that the test market for this product was a
failure.
30. Intentional attempts to disrupt the results of a test-market being conducted by another firm is called
test-market sabotage.
31. One disadvantage of test-marketing is that the results are usually difficult to communicate to
management.
32. Test-marketing is one of the least expensive tools used in marketing research.
33. As a rule of thumb, tests markets should run for at least six months.
34. Competitors can sometimes benefit from another company’s test market.
35. As long as the researcher debriefs subjects, any experimental deception is acceptable.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Experiments are widely used in which type of research designs?
a.
causal
b.
descriptive
c.
exploratory
d.
nonspurious
2. “Does package size affect consumption rates in snack products?” is a typical question in what type of
research design?
a.
descriptive research
b.
time-series research
c.
experimental research
d.
phone surveys
3. The sampling units in experiments are referred to as ____.
a.
conditions
b.
effects
c.
subjects
d.
parameters
4. A researcher is conducting an experiment in which one group of people is exposed to an advertisement
and another group is exposed to another advertisement. He is examining the effect of headline font
sizes on consumers’ attitude toward the brand advertised. The participants in this experimental
research are referred to as _____.
a.
respondents
b.
elements
c.
factorials
d.
subjects
5. A(n) _____ refers to one of the possible values for each independent variable in an experiment.
a.
experimental condition
b.
experimental variable
c.
experimental block
d.
experimental subject
6. A marketing researcher is manipulating exposing subjects to one of two price levels—$1.99 or
$2.49—for a tube of chapstick and measures behavioral intentions. The two price levels are known as
experimental_____ in the study.
a.
confounds
b.
conditions
c.
cells
d.
covariates
7. Categorical variables included in the statistical analysis of experimental data as a way of statistically
controlling or accounting for variance due to that variable are called _____ variables.
a.
independent
b.
dependent
c.
blocking
d.
covariate
8. Variables like a subject’s gender or ethnicity that are included in an experimental analysis are known
as which type of variable?
a.
blocking variables
b.
covariates
c.
main variables
d.
confounds
9. Which type of variable is a continuous variable included in a statistical analysis as a way of
statistically controlling for variance due to that variable?
a.
blocking
b.
independent
c.
main
d.
covariate
10. A researcher manipulating the types of message a subject is exposed to in a Internet banner
advertisement believes that a subject’s age might show a statistical relationship with the dependent
variable, so he includes ages in the statistical analysis. Age is an example of which type of variable?
a.
independent
b.
blocking
c.
covariate
d.
mediating
11. What is the difference between a blocking variable and a covariate?
a.
Blocking variables result in main effects whereas covariates do not.
b.
Blocking variables are manipulated variables, but covariates are simply measured.
c.
Blocking variables are categorical variables and covariates are continuous variables.
d.
Blocking variables are used to statistically control for variance due to that variable,
whereas covariates represent multiple independent variables and are the focus of the main
effects in an experiment.
12. The experimental difference in means between the different levels of any single experimental variable
is referred to as a(n) _____.
a.
interaction effect
b.
primary effect
c.
main effect
d.
confound
13. A company was interested in learning if training expenditures will enhance its salesforce productivity,
so they hired a researcher to conduct an experiment in which one group of salespeople received
training and the other didn’t. The average sales for salespeople who received training was
significantly higher than for those who did not. This difference in means between the two groups is
known as a(n) _____ effect.
a.
placebo
b.
main
c.
covariate
d.
interactive
14. Differences in dependent variable means due to a specific combination of independent variables are
called _____ effects.
a.
main
b.
conditional
c.
interaction
d.
valid
15. Experimental results that show that consumers purchased more when a store had a blue color with
bright lights than they did when a store was orange with bright lights but no difference when the
lighting was low is an example of which type of effect?
a.
main
b.
interaction
c.
confound
d.
synergistic
16. All of the following are experimental design issues EXCEPT _____.
a.
selection and assignment of subjects to treatments
b.
control over extraneous variables
c.
manipulation of the independent variable
d.
manipulation of the dependent variable
17. If the level of advertising expenditures is compared to the number of units sold at the end of a
four-month period, the independent variable is ______ while the dependent variable is ______.
a.
advertising expenditure level; units sold
b.
customer satisfaction; advertising expenditure level
c.
units sold; advertising expenditure level
d.
none of these choices
18. The way an experimental variable is manipulated is referred to as an experimental _____.
a.
treatment
b.
cell
c.
confound
d.
dose
19. The group receiving an experimental treatment is called the _____.
a.
primary group
b.
experimental group
c.
control group
d.
experimental unit
20. Kim and Mary are both participating in an experiment examining the effect of adding graphic warning
labels on cigarette packages to the written warning labels that are already required by law. Kim saw a
package in which half of the package had a picture of diseased lungs included with the written warning
label, whereas Mary only saw the written warning label without a picture on the package the
researcher showed her. Kim was part of which group in the experiment?
a.
primary group
b.
covariate group
c.
experimental group
d.
control group
21. A group of subjects to whom no experimental treatment is administered is called a _____ group.
a.
control
b.
secondary
c.
blocking
d.
statistical
22. Kamal is assigned to a group in an experiment examining the effectiveness of zinc on diminishing the
symptoms of a cold. He didn’t know it, but the capsule he received didn’t contain any zinc in it. In
fact, it was just a sugar pill. The other group of subjects received the true zinc supplements, and
researchers compared the number of days subjects felt cold symptoms. Kamal was assigned to which
group in the experiment?
a.
primary
b.
experimental
c.
control
d.
blocking
23. Which of the following is the term used to refer to a treatment combination within an experiment?
a.
level
b.
link
c.
cell
d.
unit
24. A researcher is examining the impact of pictures in advertisements and whether including instructions
to imagine impact subjects’ mental imagery. She manipulated three treatment levels of pictures:
concrete picture, abstract picture, or no picture. Instructions to imagine were either present or not
present. How many cells are there in this experiment?
a.
2
b.
3
c.
5
d.
6
25. _____ are the subjects or entities whose responses to the experimental treatment are measured.
a.
Test units
b.
Focal units
c.
Covariates
d.
Independent units
26. Which of the following are possible test units in a marketing research study?
a.
people
b.
sales territories
c.
retail stores
d.
all of these choices
27. Which of the following occurs if the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than
the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable?
a.
systematic or nonsampling error
b.
sampling error
c.
experimental bias
d.
subject bias
28. A psychology professor is conducting an experiment in which subjects perform memory tasks. There
are four groups, each participating in different buildings on campus. During the time of the
experiment one group was in a building near a dumpster that was being emptied by a big, noisy trash
truck. The other groups weren’t close enough to hear the noise. Which type of error does this
introduce into the research?
a.
systematic error
b.
sampling error
c.
testing error
d.
interference error
29. Which of the following is a way for a researcher to equally distribute the effects of extraneous
variables to all conditions in an experiment?
a.
confounding
b.
split sampling
c.
repeated measures
d.
randomization
30. Monica is conducting an experiment where all subjects see all of the ads she is testing. This type of
experiment in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental
treatment is called _____.
a.
between-subjects
b.
repeated measures
c.
redundant manipulation
d.
randomization
31. Which of the following means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental
variables for any observed differences in the dependent variables?
a.
confound
b.
interaction
c.
randomization
d.
repeated measures
32. Which term refers to an experimental design element that unintentionally provides subjects with hints
about the research hypothesis.
a.
demand characteristic
b.
Hawthorne effect
c.
testing effect
d.
confounding effect
33. Demand characteristics, such as subjects’ knowledge of the experimental hypotheses, create which
type of effect?
a.
covariate
b.
maturation
c.
history
d.
demand
34. Which of the following is present when the person administering experimental procedures influences
the subjects’ behavior or sways them to slant their answers to cooperate with him or her?
a.
experimenter bias
b.
response bias
c.
Type I error
d.
Type II error
35. All of the following are ways to reduce demand characteristics EXCEPT _____.
a.
use an experimental disguise
b.
administer multiple experimental treatment levels to each subject
c.
use a “blind” experimental administrator
d.
isolate experimental subjects
36. Caroline is participating in an experimental study in which she is taking an herbal supplement and the
researcher measures her perceived energy levels for several weeks. Although she doesn’t know it, the
supplement she is given in the study does not contain any of the herb of interest in the study.
However, Caroline feels as though she has more energy than before, and she attributes it to the herbal
supplement. This effect due to the psychological impact that goes along with knowledge that a
treatment has been administered is called a(n) _____.
a.
maturation effect
b.
false positive
c.
counterbalancing effect
d.
placebo effect
37. When subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing
experimental treatments, this is called _____.
a.
the Hawthorne effect
b.
confounding
c.
constancy of conditions
d.
compounding
38. If a soft-drink company performs an experiment with a new type of soft drink in which experimental
subjects always taste this new product first and then taste a competitor’s product second, the study has
an error in design termed a(n) _____.
a.
history effect
b.
maturation effect
c.
order of presentation effect
d.
guinea pig effect
39. When a food company tests a new product by having one group of experimental subjects taste this
product first and then taste a competitor’s product second, while a second group of experimental
subjects tastes these two products in the reverse order, the experimental design has been _____.
a.
counterbalanced
b.
reversed
c.
confounded
d.
validated
40. Which experimental design involves manipulating a single independent variable to observe its effect
on a single dependent variable?
a.
primary experimental design
b.
basic experimental design
c.
factorial experimental design
d.
counterbalanced experimental design
41. An experiment is conducted in which music played in a store is manipulated to examine the impact on
sales. What type of experimental design is this?
a.
factorial experimental design
b.
primary experimental design
c.
basic experimental design
d.
univariate experimental design