Theme 4: Quantitative Research

My paper

The paper I’ve chosen for this topic is ”The Long-Term Effects of E-Advertising: The Influence of Internet Pop-ups Viewed at a Low Level of Attention in Implicit Memory”, published in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 7th October 2013.

Like the title suggests, the authors look at how pop-ups affect our attitude towards product brands. The starting point of the methods used in this paper is a set of theories covering the implicit-effects that different types of brand exposures have on the target audience over time. The different exposure-types were:

1: The brand logo by itself.

2: The brand logo with the product represented in words.

3: The brand logo with the product represented in images.

Quantitative methods were then used through three phases in order to determine which of these three exposure-types were the most effective in achieving the following effects on the test subjects: increasing the experienced quality of the brand, the likelihood of purchase, increasing the response time of a negative answer when associating the exposed product with a cheap brand. The test subjects were 398 university students between the ages 19 and 21, amongst which the gender ratio was 49/51% male/female. Students were chosen because the research group wanted the test group to be easily contactable.

The first phase of the quantitative research was conducted by having the subjects visiting a fictional health-related website of professional quality, where they were exposed to a pop-up of a made up brand. Since the goal of the survey was to measure the implicit effects of popups, the subjects were told that they were participating in a poll for the French Ministry of Health.

In the second and third phase, subjects were called in again, but this time with different persons holding the surveys in order to eliminate any connections with the first phase. These surveys were completely focused on brand research and contained the brand featured in the popup as well as three filler brands. The subjects answers as well as response times were recorded. The second and third phases were conducted a week and three months respectively after the first phase.

After the surveys were completed the data was analyzed. The conclusion in short was that popups containing images affected the attitude of persons towards the better

After mainly having been exposed to quantitative methods in the form of polls and such, I learned how quantitative research can be planned and followed through in more advanced ways than straight forward questions. 

The main methodological problem I saw in this research was the missing accountability for variables such as different types of images, products, users and so on, but the authors do note this in the concluding chapter of the paper. One way of improving the research while keeping the way it was conducted (i.e. focusing on a single brand) would be add questions which aim to explain certain feelings towards brands which would include the ”why” and not only the ”what”, which on the other hand could risk to reduce the number of participants due to the increased time needed from each participating person.

The Physical paper

The medical text, like the article chosen by me for this assignment, aims to support existing theories rather than establish new ones. It shows that qualitative and quantitative research aren’t better or worse than one or another, but each has it’s purposes. While qualitative research may aim to propose new theories, quantitative research takes over where the first type ends, proving or disproving said theories through data. While qualitative research says why physical activity may or may not improve ones resistance to the infections discussed in the paper, quantitative research puts the thesis to the test by saying whether it’s likely or not on a broader scale. Another point that the medical paper clearly illustrates is how variables have to be taken into account when analyzing the research material (in this case: possible pollen allergies, risk of infection from children or coworkers and other factors not related to the question at hand).

One of the limitations of quantitative research is that the time needed to collect a certain amount of data is less controllable than with qualitative research. While a good choice of methods of collection may speed up the process, there is no guarantee that it will yield the desired results within a given timeframe (with the obvious exception for when time isn’t an issue).

Further on, the sampling sources need to be chosen carefully in order to yield valid results in a given field. They also need to achieve a critical mass in order to give sufficient support to the research in question.