Marketing questions

1. Which one of the following statements is INCORRECT? (1 point)

A. The number of subjects in control and treatment group doesn’t have to be the same in the experiment.

B. Regarding the questions sequence in survey, the classification information should be obtained first.

C. “What is your gender” is a nominal type of question in the survey.

D. Intent-to-Treat analysis is to conduct the analysis based on the initial treatment assignment.

E. In the non-probability sampling, not every element of the target population has a known chance of being selected.

2. Write down the specific sampling method that is implemented in each scenario. (2 points)

a. Store-More is a large department store located in Lansing, Michigan. The manager is worried about the constant overstocking of a number of items in the various departments. Approximately 3,000 items ranging from small multipurpose wrenches to lawn mowers are overstocked every month. The manager is uncertain whether the surpluses are primarily due to poor purchasing policies or poor store layout and shelving practices. So the manager decided to get a sample to figure out the reason. Specifically, he gets a list of overstocked items from each and every department. Then he selects items randomly from each group. What type of sampling method was used?

b. Westin had noticed a decline in the number of tourists over the past three years. Management decided to conduct a survey to determine people’s attitudes toward the hotel. A request was deposited in each hotel room, indicating the nature of the survey and encouraging customers to participate. The customers were requested to report to a separate desk located in the lobby of the hotels. The survey was conducted at the desk. What type of sampling method was used?

3. Giant Eagle, a grocery store at Pittsburgh, PA is testing out the following “shopper marketing” strategy: When a customer enters the store, he/she will be given a coupon for a certain product category at the back of the store. The hope is to by providing a promotional coupon, the shopper will travel longer in the store, and pick up more unplanned purchases.

The following experimental design is used to test the effectiveness of this strategy on raising unplanned spending. 200 shoppers are intercepted at the entrance of a store. They are randomly divided into two groups: a “treatment” group of 100 shoppers and a “control” group of 100 shoppers. Before they begin their shopping trip, each shopper records all product categories that they plan to buy. The treatment group is given a coupon for a certain product category at the back of the store. The control group is not given a coupon. Both groups are given $5 cash as compensation at the end of their shopping trip.

After their trip ends, an RA gathers the receipt from each shopper and compares it with the shopper’s “planned” list to compute the amount that the shopper spent on unplanned purchases, the dependent variable of interest. After analyzing the data, it is revealed that 35 out of 100 shoppers in the “treatment” condition did not redeem the promotional coupon. We define the following groups:

Group C: 100 shoppers in the control group

Group T1: 65 shoppers in the treatment group who redeemed the coupon

Group T2: 35 shoppers in the treatment group who did not redeem the coupon

The retailer wants to compare Group C with Group T1. Is this valid? Why? How should this experimental data be analyzed? Explain. (2 points

4. Read the article published on Harvard Business Review “Research: When A/B Testing Doesn’t Tell You the Whole Story” (this article is posted on Brightspace along with this assignment). Briefly explain why A/B Testing sometimes doesn’t tell you the whole story. What is the key insight mentioned in this article (what does the author suggest marketers to do)? (3 points)