COMMERCE 3MA3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Electrodermal Activity, Nielsen Corporation, Sales Promotion

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Commerce
• Course: COMMERCE 3MA3
• Professor: Mohammad Hossein Tajvarpour

Document Summary

Observation research: a systematic process of recording patterns of occurrences or behaviours without normally communicating with the people involved. Conditions for using observation: the needed information must be either observable or inferable from behaviour that is observable. For example, if a researcher wants to know why an individual purchased a new jeep rather than an. Explorer, observation research will not provide the answer: the behaviour of interest must be repetitive, frequent, or in some manner predictable. Otherwise, the costs of observation may make the approach prohibitively expensive: the behaviour of interest must be of relatively short duration. Observation of the entire decision- making process for purchasing a new home, which might take several weeks or months, is not feasible. Approaches to observation research: natural versus contrived situations. Natural: the observer plays no role in the behaviour of interest. Those being observed should have no idea that they are under observation.