Meaning of Research Design:After deciding the basic aspects of research project (i.e. formulating research problem, objectives of research, data requirement, sample design, etc) and before the commencement of work of research project, the researcher has to prepare research design. It is a major step in the research process /procedure.

The research work will be conducted (i.e. data collection, etc) as per the research design prepared.Research design means to prepare detailed plan and procedures for the conduct of the research project. It is like preparing a master plan/blue print for the conduct of formal investigation. It is the basic plan that guides researcher in the execution of the research project undertaken. It is like road map which enables the researcher to conduct various activities for the completion of research project.

In short, research design is a systematic planning, organising and executing a research project within specified time limit and resource allocation. Research design tells the type of data to be collected, the sources of data and the procedures to be followed in data collection. Research design provides suitable framework that guides the collection and analysis of data.

Definitions of Research Design:1. According to David J Luck and Ronald S Rubin, “A research design is the determination and statement of the general research approach or strategy adopted for the particular project. It is the heart of planning. If the design adheres to the research objective, it will ensure that the client’s needs will be served.2. According to Kerlinger, “Research in the plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and to control variance.3. According to Green and Tull, “ A research design is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring the information needed. It is the over-all operational pattern or framework of the project that stipulates what information is to be collected from which source by what procedures.

Step in planning the Research design1. Determining work involved in the project.2. Estimating costs involved3. Preparing time schedule4. Verifying results

Importance/utility of research designResearch design is important as it prepares proper framework within which the research work/activity will be actually carried out. Research design acts as a blue print for the conduct of the whole.

Types of Research design:On the basis of information to be collected, research designs can be classified into the following three categories:a) Exploratory researchb) Descriptive researchc) Casual research

a. Exploratory research:Exploratory research is conducted when the researcher does not know how and why certain phenomenon occurs. Here, the hypothetical solutions or actions are explored and evaluated by the decision-maker.The purpose of the exploratory research is to know the unknown.

Exploratory research is undertaken to get the answer to the following question.What alternative courses of action might solve the problem and thereby reach the final objective?Exploratory research is conducted in order to find out causes/reasons behind a specific marketing, media, and advertising problem. It is the starting point in all types of research projects.

The purpose of Exploratory research is to define the Media/marketing/advertising problem precisely,collect required information/data relating to the problem and identify alternative courses of action in order to deal with the Media/marketing/ advertising problem.The objective of exploratory research is to generate/discover new ideas.

Types of Exploratory research

1) LITERARY SEARCH:

a) Keep database of competitors as ‘competitor’s profile’ with the help of trade literature.

b) Conceptual Literature:It is the works of psychological, sociological, personnel and marketing journals to

understand employee satisfaction / dissatisfaction.

2) EXPERIENCE SURVEYa) It focuses on architects and designers in a situation where a builder tries to comprehend competitors.

b) It could also include sales managers, product managers or sales representatives.

3) FOCUS GROUPS a) It is used to generate a hypothesis that can be further tested

b) It helps generate information in structuring consumer questionnaires

c) It helps provide over all information on a product category.

4) ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CASES It is an intensive study of selected cases, where various attributes may be

analyzed. For instance, the attitude of the investigator may be under scrutiny. The investigator’s integrative powers i.e. the capacity to put together different bits

of information is analysed. An in-depth, intensive study of the background is imperative and important.

b. Descriptive research:Descriptive research is undertaken when the researcher desires to know the characteristics of certain groups such as age, sex, occupation, income or education. The objective of descriptive research is to answer the “who, what, when, where and how” of the subject understudy/investigation.

Descriptive researches are normally factual and simple. However, such studies can be complex, demanding scientific skill on the part of researcher. Descriptive studies are well structured. It tends to be rigid and its approach cannot be changed often and again.

In Descriptive research, the researcher has to give adequate thought to framing research questions and deciding the data to be collected and the procedures to be used for this purpose. Data collected may prove to be inadequate if the researcher is not careful in the initial stages of data collection. Descriptive research is designed to describe the present situation or the features of a group or users of a product. In marketing, such research is undertaken to know the characteristics of certain groups or users of a product such as age, sex education, income etc. Such research studies are based on secondary data or survey research.

Uses of Descriptive research:1. Useful to collect demographic information of consumers/users of a product or issue2. Used/applied directly for marketing decision making.3. Useful for finding out views and attitudes of customers or target group.4. Can be used to make predictions about future marketing or social trends.5. Discovers the relationship between certain variables.

Descriptive research can be divided into the following two categories:a) Cross-sectionalb) Longitudinal

Cross-sectional research:It is a study involving a sample of elements from the population of interest at a single point of time. It is a study concerned with a sample of elements from a given population. Such sample may deal with households, dealers, retail stores and other entities. Information/data on a number of characteristics are collected from the sample elements. Such data are analyzed for drawing conclusions. Cross-sectional research studies include field studies and surveys.

Longitudinal studies:Longitudinal studies are based on panel methods and panel data. A panel is a sample is a sample of respondents who are interviewed not only once but thereafter from time to time. Here data to be collected relate to same variable but the measurements are taken repeatedly. e.g. TRP

TYPES

a) TRUE PANEL -It checks how many people buy/react to a stimulus. It repeatedly measures the

same entities. For instance AC Nielson has 40,000 households as a basis of its ‘house scan’ service. The samples are asked, each time a purchase is made, questions regarding where they purchased and the price paid.

Each sample is measured each time on the same characteristic, for instance, purchases.

b) OMNIBUS PANEL:The same sample is still selected and maintained but information collected is

various, for instance, once a product may be tested and the next time the ad copy. An omnibus study suggests, therefore, the inclusion of many variables or many subcategories of variables. For instance, parker pens maintain a panel of 1100 individuals to evaluate writing instruments.

A sub sample from the total sample is chosen, for instance, those who use fountain pens are regarded as a sub sample and only they are called upon to evaluate a new fountain pen. Similarly, Nickelodian maintains children of different age groups to evaluate programmes and concepts.

2) CROSS SECTIONAL ANALYSISThis studies how different categories react to stimulus a no. of times. It involves

simultaneous occurrence of the variables of interest.

a) SIMPLE SAMPLE SURVEYS.Here, for instance 1000 consumers of a product may be chosen then different

brands manufacturing the same product conduct a sample survey.

BRAND PURCHASED POPULATION OF USERS DURING THE 1ST

TIME PERIOD

POPULATION OF USERS DURING 2ND TIME PERIOD

A 200 250

B 300 270

C 350 330

D 150 1501000 1000

Another example would be a per-capita consumption of soft drinks in a month.

AGE PER-CAPITA CONSUMPTION20- 29 48

30- 39 42

c. Casual Research/DesignCasual Research design is the third type of research design. As the name indicates, casual design investigates the cause and effect relationship between two or more variables. This design measures the extent of relationship between the variables. Casual Research designs attempt to specify the nature of functional relationship between two or more variables.

Casual Research is useful to show the impact of one variable on the other. for example price and market demand relationship or relationship between market competition and sales performance.Date for Casual Research can be collected through field survey with the help of a questionnaire or by conducting laboratory experiments/controlled experiments. Casual Research design is based on reasoning.