DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH

 As the name implies, the major purpose of descriptive research is to describe characteristics of objects, people, groups, organizations, or environments. In other words, descriptive research tries to “paint a picture” of a given situation by addressing who, what, when, where, and how questions.

This research describes the who, what, when, where, and how regarding the current situation (e.g. economic, cultural, political etc.). Unlike exploratory research, descriptive studies are conducted after the researcher has gained a firm grasp of the situation being studied. This understanding, which may have been developed in part from exploratory research, directs the study toward specific issues. 

These statements ( who, what, when, where and how) help greatly in designing and implementing a descriptive study. Without these, the researcher would have little or no idea of what questions to ask.

Descriptive research often helps describe market segments. For example, researchers used descriptive surveys to describe consumers who are heavy consumers (buy a lot) of organic food products. The resulting report showed that these consumers tend to live in coastal cities with populations over 500,000, with the majority residing on the West Coast. The most frequent buyers of organic foods are affluent men and women ages 45–54 (36 percent) and 18–34 (35 percent).

Interestingly, consumers who buy organic foods are not very brand-oriented—81 percent of them cannot name a single organic brand. Research such as this helps high-quality supermarkets such as Whole Foods make location decisions. Over half of Whole Foods’ food products are organic.

 

Methods for Conducting Descriptive Research

Descriptive research is by far the more frequently used form of conclusive research. Descriptive research studies are classified into two basic types: cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies.

i. Cross-Sectional Studies: Cross-sectional studies are one-time studies involving data collection at a single period in time. They provide a “snapshot” of a situation being researched. Cross-sectional studies can also be used to obtain data pertaining to different periods in time. A cross-sectional study makes use of a cross-sectional sample or a group of units (e.g., consumers, stores, organizations) selected specifically and solely for the onetime data collection. The sample is disbanded after the data are collected. Several firms maintain omnibus panels as a source of samples for cross-sectional studies. Such samples are composed of panel members who are returned to the panel after participating in a cross-sectional study. Within the domain of descriptive research the cross-sectional study is the most popular method. Cross-sectional studies account for the majority of formal research projects involving primary-data collection.

 

ii. Longitudinal Studies: Longitudinal studies are repeated-measurement studies that collect data over several periods in time. The primary purpose of longitudinal studies is to monitor changes over time. A longitudinal study produces a “motion picture” (or a series of snapshots) of a situation over time. In general, longitudinal studies are more informative than cross-sectional studies, just as motion pictures are more revealing than still pictures. Longitudinal studies are also more expensive than cross-sectional studies. A longitudinal study typically employs a panel, or a group of units recruited to provide measurements over a period of time. At the conclusion of each measurement phase, a panel is maintained intact for future use. Successive measurements in longitudinal studies can be obtained from a physically different but representative sample of units or from the same sample of units each time. Although both sample options will yield longitudinal data, the nature of the findings and the implications can differ.

 

Types of Longitudinal studies:

 

a. True Panel Studies: A longitudinal study using the same sample of respondents will provide richer information than one using a series of different samples. The dynamics of changes between measurements can be captured only by using the same panel of respondents. Such a panel has been labeled a true panel to distinguish it from omnibus panels used to generate different cross-sectional samples at various periods in time. A true-panel study, compared with a longitudinal study using different samples for the various measurements, is also capable of generating more data directly pertaining to the research purpose, for the following reasons: A true panel is a captive sample of willing respondents who are likely to tolerate extended interviews or fill out lengthy questionnaires. Background data such as demographic and lifestyle data need not be collected from panel respondents during each measurement. Therefore, for a given interview or questionnaire length, more data of primary research interest can be collected.

b. Omnibus survey: An omnibus survey is a method of quantitative marketing research where data on a wide variety of subjects is collected during the same interview. Usually, multiple research clients will provide proprietary content for the survey (paying to 'get on the omnibus'), while sharing the common demographic data collected from each respondent. The advantages to the research client include cost savings (because the sampling and screening costs are shared across multiple clients) and timeliness (because omnibus samples are large and interviewing is ongoing). An omnibus survey generally uses a stratified sample and can be conducted either by mail, telephone, or Internet.

c. A cohort study is a particular form of longitudinal study (panel study) that sample a cohort (a group of people who share a defining characteristic, typically who experienced a common event in a selected period, such as birth or graduation), performing a cross section at intervals through time. A cohort study is a panel study, but a panel study is not always a cohort study as individuals in a panel study do not always share a common characteristic.