Deck 9: Conducting Marketing Experiments

Question 1

When subjects guess the purpose of an experiment, this creates a confound known as a bias effect.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The people administering an experiment must be aware of the experimental hypotheses.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The term linkage refers to a specific treatment combination associated with an experimental group.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Covariates are categorical variables such as a subject's gender or ethnicity.

Question 5

An experimental construct refers to one of the possible levels of an experimental variable manipulation.

Question 6

A confound is an experimental deception involving a false treatment.

Question 7

A confound in an experiment means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variable.

Question 8

In an experiment, the researcher manipulates the dependent variable and measures its effect on the independent variable.

Question 9

In an experiment, effects are the characteristics of experiments that allow hypotheses to be tested.

Question 10

Factorial experimental designs are the least sophisticated type of experimental design.

Question 11

One way to reduce demand characteristics is to tell subjects the true purpose of the experiment so that they will be more willing to participate honestly.

Question 12

Participants in experimental research are typically referred to as respondents.

Question 13

Experimental treatment refers to the way an experimental variable is manipulated.

Question 14

Experimental research attempts to find causal relationships among variables.

Question 15

An experiment can have only one independent variable.

Question 16

Experimental treatments are administered to the control group.

Question 17

Random assignment of subjects to treatment and control groups helps ensure that experimental and control groups do not differ from each other in important ways at the beginning of a research study.

Question 18

Experiments in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental treatment are referred to as repeated measures designs.

Question 19

In experimental research, the independent variable is manipulated rather than simply measured.

Question 20

People are the most common test units in most marketing experiments.

Question 21

Which term refers to an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variables?

A) confound
B) interaction
C) randomization
D) repeated measures

Question 22

A researcher can equally distribute the effects of extraneous variables to all conditions in an experiment by using ____.

A) confounding
B) split sampling
C) repeated measures
D) randomization

Question 23

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 the herb of interest. However, Caroline feels as though she has more energy than before, and she attributes it to the herbal supplement. This effect is called a(n) ____.

A) maturation effect
B) false positive
C) counterbalancing effect
D) placebo effect

Question 24

Test-market sabotage involves intentional attempts to disrupt the results of a test-market being conducted by another firm.

Question 25

In experimental research, categorical variables like a subject's gender or ethnicity are known as ____.

A) blocking variables
B) covariates
C) main variables
D) confounds

Question 26

Monica is conducting an experiment in which 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 ____ design.

A) between-subjects
B) repeated measures
C) redundant manipulation
D) randomization

Question 27

Demand characteristics can be reduced in a number of ways. Which strategy below is NOT one of these?

A) Use an experimental disguise,
B) Administer multiple experimental treatment levels to each subject.
C) Use a "blind" experimental administrator.
D) Isolate experimental subjects.

Question 28

A researcher is conducting an experiment in which one group of people is exposed to one advertisement and another group is exposed to another advertisement. Specifically, 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

Question 29

A maturation effect is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience.

Question 30

Experimental results that show that consumers purchased more when a store had bright blue lights than they did when the store had bright orange lights. However, when the lighting was low, there was no difference between blue and orange lights. This illustrates a(n) ____.

A) filter
B) interaction
C) confound
D) synergy

Question 31

Between-subjects designs involve repeated measures because with each treatment the same subject is measured again.

Question 32

When a test market is conducted in five retail stores in Erie, Pennsylvania, a laboratory experiment has been performed.

Question 33

If the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than the units in another cell, and this difference affects the dependent variable, ____ may occur.

A) systematic error
B) sampling error
C) experimenter bias
D) subject bias

Question 34

The question as to whether the experimental treatment was the "sole cause" of the changes in the dependent variable is the basic issue in external validity.

Question 35

When the person administering experimental procedures influences the subjects' behavior or sways them to slant their answers to cooperate with him or her, ____ has occurred.

A) experimenter bias
B) response bias
C) Type I error
D) Type II error

Question 36

A food company tests a new product by having one group of subjects taste their own product first and then taste a competitor's product second, while a second group of experimental subjects tastes the competitor's product first followed by the company's own product. Which type of experimental design is being used?

A) counterbalanced
B) reversed
C) confounded
D) validated

Question 37

The group receiving the treatment being studied is called the ____.

A) primary group
B) experimental group
C) control group
D) unit of analysis

Question 38

All of the following are experimental design elements EXCEPT for the ____.

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

Question 39

Which term means that subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments?

A) the Hawthorne effect
B) confounding
C) constancy of conditions
D) compounding

Question 40

Which term refers to a treatment combination within an experiment?

A) level
B) link
C) cell
D) unit

Question 41

Salespeople are tested one year after a sales training program and perform better on the exam, not because of the training program, but because they have gained one year's experience in sales. Which type of effect has occurred?

A) selection effect
B) maturation effect
C) history effect
D) cohort effect

Question 42

Which type of effect is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience?

A) history effect
B) testing effect
C) selection effect
D) maturation effect

Question 43

In an experiment, the ____________________ variable is manipulated and its effect is measured on the ____________________ variable.

Question 44

A difference in means between the different levels of any single experimental variable is referred to as a(n) ____________________.

Question 45

In an experiment, the ____________________ group does not receive the experimental treatment.

Question 46

A continuous variable that is expected to show a statistical relationship with the dependent variables is called a(n) ____________________.

Question 47

A set of high school students who take the ACT in their junior year perform better on that exam during their senior year because they know better how to take the exam due to what they experienced on the first exam. This is an example of a(n) ____.

A) mortality effect
B) testing effect
C) history effect
D) instrumentation effect

Question 48

When a change in the wording of questions, a change in interviewers, or a change in other procedures causes a change in the dependent variable, a(n) ____ effect has occurred.

A) instrumentation
B) redundancy
C) cohort
D) attrition

Question 49

When a competitor introduces a 15 percent price cut in order to blunt the effect of a test marketing study, a ____ effect has occurred.

A) maturation
B) testing
C) history
D) cohort

Question 50

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

Question 51

Which experimental research design involves repeated measures?

A) within-subjects design
B) between-subjects design
C) squared-subjects design
D) interdependent-subjects design

Question 52

In which experimental research design does each subject receive only one treatment combination?

A) within-subjects design
B) between-subjects design
C) squared-subjects design
D) independent-subjects design

Question 53

In a certain study, different interviewers are used in a pretest from those used in the posttest and this produces different results in the study. This is an example of a(n) ____.

A) history effect
B) mortality effect
C) instrumentation effect
D) cohort effect

Question 54

The change in the dependent variable that occurs because members of one experimental group experienced different historical situations than members of other experimental groups is called a(n) ____.

A) cohort effect
B) Hawthorne effect
C) testing effect
D) instrumentation effect

Question 55

In an experiment, change in the ____________________ variable is presumed to be the cause of the results.

Question 56

When a researcher claims that the results of a test market in Indianapolis, Indiana will hold in a national rollout of the new product, this researcher is claiming ____.

A) internal validity
B) the repeated measures effect
C) constant error
D) external validity

Question 57

When some subjects stop participating in an experiment before it is completed, affecting the results of the study, a(n) ____ effect has occurred.

A) mortality
B) history
C) instrumentation
D) confounding

Question 58

The question as to whether the independent variable was the sole cause of the change in the dependent variable is the basic issue in ____.

A) a repeated measures study
B) internal validity
C) a matching study
D) external validity

Question 59

The test of an experimental manipulation to intended make sure that the manipulation does produce desired differences in the independent variable is called a ____.

A) manipulation check
B) reliability assessment
C) factor analysis
D) surrogate manipulation

Question 60

Research projects involving experimental manipulations that are implemented in a natural environment are called ____.

A) laboratory experiments
B) field experiments
C) primary experiments
D) secondary experiments

Question 61

Explain how systematic or nonsampling error occurs in experiments and discuss ways to minimize it.

Question 62

List the four important elements in experimental design.

Question 63

Compare and contrast internal validity and external validity and discuss which one is most important in experimental research.

Question 64

When subjects in the experimental group are administered the treatment in the afternoon while the subjects in the control group participate in the experiment in the morning, it is likely to result in ____________________ error.

Question 65

When subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments, we say that ____________________ has been achieved.

Question 66

When the experimenter's comments influence the subjects' behavior so that they give answers that they think the experimenter wants to hear rather than their true feelings, we say that ____________________ has occurred.

Question 67

When Procter & Gamble test markets a new shampoo to consumers in Kansas City and St. Louis, the consumers are participating in a(n) ____________________ experiment.

Question 68

A(n) ____________________ is an experimental deception that involves a false treatment.

Question 69

A(n) ____________________ effect is a nuisance effect occurring when the initial measurement or test alerts or primes subjects in a way that affects their response to the experimental treatments.

Question 70

A research organization conducts a taste test in its offices located in a shopping mall. These taste tests are best termed a(n) ____________________ experiment.

Question 71

____________________ is intended to equally distribute the effects of extraneous variables to all conditions.

Question 72

An experimental design element of procedure that unintentionally provides subjects with hints about the research hypothesis a called a(n) ____________________.

Question 73

What are demand characteristics and why are they a concern for researchers? Discuss four ways of reducing demand characteristics.

Question 74

When the psychological impact that goes along with belier that a treatment has been administered affects the dependent variable but, in reality, no treatment has been administered, the ____________________ effect has occurred.

Question 75

Explain the advantages of a between-subjects experimental design over a within-subjects design.