A thorough presentation of the use, types, and applications of experiments in marketing research. The presentation shows that experiment research can benefit marketing research immensely. As a consequent, the information collected throught an experiment can be invaluable to assist marketing decision makers. This book will therefore be of value to marketing researchers and students of marketing research, and will also be of value to marketing practitioners and general managers in business and non-business organizations.

This book explains that the primary reason that experiments are valuable to assist decision making involves the concept of causality--a relationship in which a change in one variable causes a change in another variable (i.e., cause-and-effect relationship). Three criteria required to properly conduct an experiment that allows inferences about cause-and-effect relationships with reasonable certainty are: (1) evidence of association, (2) appropriate timing, and (3) elimination of alternative explanations.

Using Secondary Data in Marketing Research discusses thoroughly the use of secondary data in marketing research. It explains the underlying reasons why secondary data are less expensive than primary data, the technology associated with secondary data, how to evaluate the quality of secondary data, and how to locate secondary data. It also provides an encyclopedic listing of specific sources of secondary data, including a listing of sources of global/worldwide information to assist marketing decision making. An important resource for marketing professionals, academics, and graduate students of marketing.

The book begins with an overview that includes an international case in marketing. The following six chapters comprise the first part of the book, which delineates the advantages and disadvantages of secondary data, and reveals precisely how to evaluate their quality. These chapters identify differences between internal and external secondary data, including specific types of each. The second part begins with an overview that also includes an actual case in marketing. The following five chapters contain comprehensive listings of specific secondary data information sources, categorized according to the following: sources of information specific to marketing; global/worldwide information sources; sources of information regarding American Census Data; information sources about industries, corporations, and finances; and general business information sources.