Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Consumer Behavior
Research
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Outline
• Domains of research
• Substantive domain
• Conceptual domain
• Methodological domain
– Correlational research
– Experimental research
– Internal vs. external validity
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
The three domains of research
(Brinberg and McGrath)
Substantive Conceptual
domain domain
Methodo-
logical
domain
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
The substantive and conceptual domains
• Substantive domain:
– the real-world problem that is the focus of the
research;
• Conceptual domain:
– the theoretical representation of the real-world
problem;
– usually stated as propositions or hypotheses
expressing relationships between theoretical
constructs;
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Expertise, source attractiveness,
message quality and attitude change
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
The methodological domain
• the approach taken to investigate the real-world
problem;
• theoretical constructs are tied to manipulated or
measured observed variables via correspondence
rules;
• the validity of theoretical propositions is inferred
from associations between observed variables;
• two types of research:
– correlational research
– experimental research
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Expertise, source attractiveness,
message quality and attitude change
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Types of research
• correlational research: the variables of interest
are measured and the existence and possibly
strength of the relationship between them is
assessed by various methods (e.g., by computing a
correlation);
• experimental research: preferred research
strategy for testing causal hypotheses because of
two features:
– experimental control of extraneous variables
– experimental manipulation of the variable(s) of
interest
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Experimental effects
• main effect:
a main effect is the effect of an independent
variable on the dependent variable when the
effect of other independent variables is ignored
(i.e., averaged over);
• interaction effect:
an interaction effect is present if the effect of an
independent variable on the dependent variable
depends on the level of (an)other independent
variable(s);
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Interpreting the results of experiments
persuasion
expert
source 47.6 68.3
attractive
source 45.6 66.2
no arguments arguments no arguments arguments
presented presented presented presented
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Interpreting the results of experiments
persuasion
expert
source 58.4 81.3
attractive
source 45.6 66.2
no arguments arguments no arguments arguments
presented presented presented presented
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Interpreting the results of experiments
persuasion
expert
source 45.6 81.3
attractive
source 58.4 66.2
no arguments arguments no arguments arguments
presented presented presented presented
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior research
Internal vs. external validity
• internal validity: question of whether there is a
relationship between the observed and/or manipulated
variables and whether there is a causal relationship
between the variables in the form in which they were
manipulated and/or measured;
• external validity: question of whether generaliza-
tions can be drawn about higher-order constructs
from research operations and whether observed
relationships can be generalized to and across
populations of persons, settings, and times;