What are the main types of descriptive studies, and what do their differences mean?
> What has happened to the aggregate labor force participation rate in the post–World War II period? To the participation rates of males and females?
> Indicate in each of the following instances whether the specified circumstances will cause a worker to want to work more or fewer hours: a. The wage rate increases and the substitution effect is greater than the income effect. b. The wage rate decreases
> “Empirical evidence for the United States suggests that labor force participation varies directly with unemployment.” Do you agree? Explain in terms of the discouraged-worker and added-worker effects.
> Use a work–leisure diagram to demonstrate that; (a) if African-Americans have labor market opportunities that are inferior to those of whites and (b) non-labor income is available in the form of, say, disability benefits, African-Americans will have lo
> Why are most labor unions—whose constituents receive wages substantially above the minimum wage—strong supporters of the minimum wage? Why might unions composed of skilled workers who are pure complements in production with raw materials produced by low-
> Suppose Lauren is given two options by her employer. First option: She may choose her own hours of work and will be paid the relatively low wage rate implied by budget line HW1 shown in the accompanying diagram. Second option: She can work exactly HR hou
> In 2014 the United States had a population of 319 million, of which 71 million were either under 16 years of age or institutionalized. Approximately 156 million people were either employed or unemployed but actively seeking work. What was the participati
> The accompanying diagram restates the basic work–leisure choice model presented in Chapter 2. Use this diagram to explain the declining workweek occurring in the pre–World War II period, making explicit the assumptions
> Briefly compare the “old” and “new” labor economics.
> The “supply-side” economics of the Reagan administration (1981–1988) presumed that income tax cuts would stimulate incentives to work and thereby increase economic growth. Demonstrate this outcome with a work–leisure diagram. What does this outcome assum
> Indicate whether each of the following statements pertains to microeconomics or macroeconomics: a. The unemployment rate in the United States was 6.2 percent in 2014. b. Workers at the Sleepy Eye grain elevator are paid $10 per hour. c. The productivity
> One way of aiding low-income families is to increase the minimum wage. An alternative is to provide a direct grant of non-labor income. Compare the impact of these two options on work incentives.
> If an income maintenance program entails a $3,000 basic benefit and a benefit reduction rate of .30, what will be the size of the subsidy received by a family that earns $2,000 per year? What will be the family’s total income? What breakeven level of inc
> Indicate the implications of each of the following for estimates of the rate of return on a college education: (a) The screening hypothesis, (b) The possibility that a portion of one’s expenditures on college should be considered as consumption rat
> In the accompanying diagram, WH is the budget line resulting from labor market work. Describe the characteristics of the income maintenance programs implicit in budget lines HBW′, HBYW, and HBW. Given an individual’s w
> Explain how each of the following would affect the probability that a job searcher will accept the next wage offer and thus affect the expected length of his or her unemployment: (a) A decline in the rate of inflation below the expected one and (b) A
> Suppose the quantity of capital is fixed at 10 units in Figure 5.8. Explain, by drawing a horizontal line rightward from 10K, the short-run law of diminishing marginal returns discussed in the body of this chapter. Hint: Observe the distance between th
> Use the following data to calculate (a) The size of the labor force, (b) The official unemployment rate, and (c) The labor force participation rate for a hypothetical economy: population = 500; population 16 years or older and noninstitutionalized =
> What is the basic problem in measuring consumers’ intentions about future behaviors?
> What are three ways to assess awareness? What is the basic difference between measures of recall and measures of recognition?
> How might a researcher combine different methods of communication in the same project? Give an example.
> How do personal interviews, telephone interviews, paper-based surveys, and online surveys differ with respect to the following: a. sampling control b. information control c. administrative control
> What is validity? What are two contributing factors to decreases in validity?
> What is reliability? What information does it contribute to determining if a measure is accurate?
> What are some factors that may produce systematic errors? What factors may produce random errors?
> What are the major ways that have been used to measure attitudes? How do they differ?
> Why are online surveys such a popular choice for collecting communication data?
> How do in-bound surveys work? When are they especially useful?
> What is the difference between regression analysis and correlation analysis?
> What are two situations in which the use of disguise would be advisable?
> What is a disguised questionnaire? What are the ethical considerations in using disguise?
> What are the general advantages and disadvantages of obtaining data by communication? By observation?
> What is an attitude? Why do marketers care about attitudes?
> What are some of the available types of mechanical observation?
> What are the primary advantages and disadvantages of working in a natural setting as contrasted with a contrived setting?
> What is the key ethical issue with the use of disguise in observation research? How this issue is typically remedied in disguised marketing research projects?
> What are mystery shoppers? What is their purpose?
> What does a high degree of structure look like in an observational study?
> What types of primary data interest marketing researchers most? What are the differences between the types of data?
> What is the proper procedure for testing the influences of two different independent variables on a single continuous dependent variable simultaneously?
> What is a sample survey? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
> What are the two basic forms of panels? How do they differ?
> What are the six specifications of a descriptive study?
> What are the basic uses of descriptive research?
> What is market testing? What are the three basic types of test markets?
> What is an A/B test? What is the general structure for performing such a test?
> What is the difference between internal validity and external validity? Which form of validity is more important?
> What is the difference between a lab study and a field study?
> What is an experiment?
> What is a pictogram?
> Is it possible to establish that one thing causes another? Why or why not?
> What is the general sequence in which the three basic types of research are employed?
> Why is exploratory research considered to be a basic type of primary data research?
> What are the three basic types of research used to collect primary data? What is the basic purpose of each?
> How might a company assess the success of its online advertising?
> How are portable people meters used to assess radio listenership?
> How are people meters used to assess television viewership?
> Why can the effect of scanners on standardized marketing information be described as “profound”?
> How does a diary panel work?
> Given that companies know their revenues, why do they also need standardized information about product sales and market share?
> What is a bar chart? For what kinds of problems is it effective?
> What is the purpose of geodemography?
> What does it mean to “profile” customers or prospects? Why would a company need this information?
> What is “standardized” about standardized marketing information?
> Why should researchers look for published sources of secondary data before searching for standardized marketing information?
> What is the basic point of projective methods? What are some popular approaches?
> What are two common approaches to the use of case analyses?
> In what types of situations would data mining be useful?
> How might focus groups be misused?
> What are the three main challenges marketing managers face when attempting to integrate “big data” into the firm?
> What are the main differences between descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analyses?
> What is a stratum chart? For what kinds of information is it particularly appropriate?
> In terms of marketplace sources of “big data,” what is social data? Mobile data? Omni-channel transactional data?
> Compare and contrast structured versus unstructured data. Using Facebook as an example, would data available from Facebook to a marketer be structured, unstructured, or both?
> How might a marketing manager obtain value from “big data” that is different from value obtained from traditional data sources?
> Which of the four Vs—volume, velocity, variety, or veracity—creates the biggest challenge to marketing managers intent on “finding a needle in a haystack”?
> What are the necessary skills for employment in a junior or entry-level marketing research position? Do the skills change as one changes job levels?
> In a large research department, who would be responsible for specifying the objective of a research project? For deciding on specific procedures to be followed? For designing the questionnaire? For analyzing the results? For reporting the results to top
> What characteristics should a good focus group moderator possess? Why is each important?
> How does knowledge management expand the concept of an information system? What additional kinds of marketing intelligence can it provide?
> In a decision support system, what is a data system? A model system? A dialog system? Which of these is most important? Why?
> What are the main differences between a marketing information system and a decision support system?
> What content appears in each of the following parts of the research report? a. Title page b. Table of contents c. Executive summary d. Introduction e. Method f. Results g. Conclusions and recommendations h. Appendices
> What are the main advantages and disadvantages of secondary data? Do these apply equally to internal and external secondary data?
> How does a project emphasis in marketing research differ from a systems emphasis?
> How does a focus group with 8 to 12 people differ from a series of depth interviews with 8 to 12 people? How does a focus group differ from a nominal group?
> What are the characteristics of a depth interview? Who should be interviewed?
> What is a literature search? What kinds of literature might be searched?
> What are the key characteristics of exploratory research?
> What are the basic uses for exploratory research?
> What are the benefits of using a request-for-proposal?
> What factors should be considered when choosing a research supplier?
> How does the research proposal differ from the research request agreement?
> On the one hand, we argued that the research report must be complete and, on the other hand, that it must be clear. Are these two objectives incompatible? If so, how do you reconcile them?
> What is involved in a research request agreement? What is included in the written statement?
> What is a research problem? Why is it important to develop the full range of possible research problems?
> What are the fundamental characteristics of the two types of decision problems?
> What is the basic nature of a decision problem?
> What is “normal thinking”? Why is it a problem when defining the marketing problem/opportunity?
> What are the sources of marketing problems or opportunities? Are different sources typically associated with different research objectives? Explain.
