Posted by Sherman Whipple on August 20, 2001 at 08:44:38:
In Reply to: Re: Theories relating to market research posted by Bob O. on August 18, 2001 at 05:08:35:
In a sense, market research is the place where many of the theories from other disciplins are tested and proven or disproven. This is because what we do is more of an applied science than a theoretical one. Most of the theory we work with is descriptive. We apply theory to explain what it is we are observing, and in some cases to project what this will mean either in terms of a population or over time.
My conversion/exchange theory is really little more than a combination and adaptation of other theories and work, based upon Tintner's econometrics, neo-Keynesian economic theory, combined with Jay W. Forresters system dyanmics. The only innovation was going from a linear to a non-linear (volumetric) approach. Even this last part, has proven to be less than innovative since it turns out to have comparables in both physical and biological science.
Basically, the approaches used in market research are pragmatic. You try to make sense of what you observe, but it starts with the observation or measurement. You are asking yourself why and what does it mean, and to do this you try and apply the relevant theory. In most cases you have your findings and then back into the relevant theory. It is only when you can't find one that you need to innovate.
This is, for example, what happened to me with conversion/exchange. I came up with the D*A*R formula in 1981 as nothing more than a mechanism to reconcile survey research data with empirical results, but it took ten years to come up with the applicable theories, but, now that we have them to work with, the results have been pretty much bullet proof as both a predictor and as a diagnostic tool tool for marketing activities. If you are interested, there is a paper on the subject in the "free papers and downloads" section of the WS&A site called "An Introduction to Dynamic Modeling". You can also get a sense of the theory behind it if you follow the "Basic Concepts" link.