Updated for week 7 and 8
Running head: EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN STUDY 1
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN STUDY 3
Hi,
I appreciate the timely submission of the assignment and all the work that went into it. I understand that experimentation is a difficult topic for many, and this is a complex experiment.
Your overall organization is good but you are short of the minimum expected pages which indicates an absence of details. This is particularly true when you devote 2 pages to the objective of the study which should be able to be explained in a paragraph or two. Experimentation is used to test a causal hypothesis so this would be a good place to start. What is the objective of the study? In this particular one, the authors designed the study to go beyond previous research that was correlational in nature. Given that, they designed two separate studies. One was a field experiment to determine if the likes posted on Facebook have an impact of the behavior of customers offline. The second experiment was a quasi-experimental design to determine if the promotion mechanism had an impact on customer behavior.
There are a number of margin comments for you to examine. Overall, you have not demonstrated your understanding of experimentation nor have you provided the details of how each of the experiments were conducted. This needs to be explained in the design of the study.
There is also a lack of knowledge regarding what internal validity is all about and how it is demonstrated. An experiment is internally valid when the researcher can show that the independent variable (X) is the sole cause of any change in the dependent variable (Y). In order to do so, three pieces of evidence are needed. For X to be a cause of Y, X must precede Y in time. In addition, X and Y must vary together. And finally, for X to be a cause of Y, other possible causes of Y, alternative explanations, must be eliminated. These alternative explanations are referred to an extraneous variable or potentially confounding variable
https://ncu.libguides.com/c.php?g=901477&p=6486925
The next assignment is the signature assignment which requires that you write a proposal for your intended research using a minimum of 10 scholarly sources and incorporating all of the feedback in the course, including that in the first assignment. While the School of Business Prospectus Template is a valuable resource for the development of the problem, purpose, research questions and hypotheses, remember that you are not writing a Prospectus, so you want your paper to be following APA formatting as instructed. Your proposal is to involve the use of a quantitative methodology and be 12-15 pages in length. Be sure to include all of the information listed in the assignment, and make sure all requirements are met. Let me know if you have any questions as you work on this.
Dr. P
Dr. Susan M. Petroshius 73 6/30/2020
Experimental Design Study
Dr. Susan Petroshius
Introduction Comment by Susan Petroshius: APA does not have an introduction.
The research paper "What are likes worth?" is used in these studies to analyze the experimentation. The document further discusses the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The paper considers the research on South African company Discovery Vitality on the impact of its product to Facebook likes. This paper seeks to evaluate the worthiness of likes and its effect on offline customer behaviour.
Explanation of the Objectives
The paper seeks to measure the impact of Facebook likes on customer behaviour. As the research paper's objective, the researchers wanted to know how Facebook likes impacted the customers' offline behaviour. For instance, the research paper explains the collaboration with discovery vitality in South Africa. Discovery Vitality is concerned with well health conditions for the people of South Africa. The customers received rewards and points whenever they did something that was considered healthy. For example, they were given accumulation points as they engaged in more healthy activities. Accumulation of points by customers was the dependent variable to test the impact of Facebook likes to the offline customer behaviour. With the promotion of the Discovery Vitality page: more customers liked the Facebook page, and it resulted in more people engaging in healthy activities, and customer loyalty was enhanced. Comment by Susan Petroshius: You want to eliminate the redundancy. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This belongs in the design of the study, not the objective.
Secondly, the paper expounds on how acquired Facebook likes impact offline customer behaviour. The acquired Facebook page likes influence customer behaviour offline since most people tend to agree with an assumption if they feel others agree with it. When information on the Facebook page has many likes, people will act on that information. For instance, the Discovery Vitality research paper implores people to purchase health groceries and health activities. Most people who liked the Discovery Vitality page practiced on the information they got from the page. The acquired page likes, which are a dependent variable that affects offline behaviour, an independent variable, as they are manipulated to do something else. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is exactly what you state in the prior paragraph. Comment by Susan Petroshius: How do you know this? what is the source? Comment by Susan Petroshius: Source? Where is the evidence of this? Comment by Susan Petroshius: The paper doesn’t implore people. The researchers may. Comment by Susan Petroshius: It is not clear what you mean by “practiced on the page” or why this is being discussed under objectives. It appears to be a result.
Moreover, isolation of promotional mechanism which translates to customer behaviour changes. There were two ways in which promotional arrangement was conducted; the firm initiated promotional communication and social interaction platform. The latter yielded high offline behaviour compared to the former, according to the research paper. The Discovery Vitality recorded more offline changes in the conduct of the people who liked their Facebook page as a firm initiated promotional communication. The researchers tested social interaction, and the firm started communication as the dependent variable and how it would affect customer behaviour. The firm sponsored Facebook page communication got to influence more on customer behaviour to mere social interactions on Facebook by the firm. The information on the firm's Facebook page was taken more seriously by people. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is not a sentence nor is it clear what you are trying to communicate. Comment by Susan Petroshius: Are you presenting results here?
Nonetheless, the definition of boundaries by exploring the customers' intervention response heterogeneity was vital. The researches defined the limits for the variables so that they can effectively control the field experiment. The three boundaries were the type of points earned from participating in the program, self-report measures on the Facebook activities, and self-rating of customers who visited the Vitality Facebook page. Facebook likes were instrumental when customers were engaged about the posts, and the likes were significantly high compared to when they were not involved. The Facebook posts may have attracted fewer likes since such information caters to a broader audience; therefore, people may already be aware of general information. The likes also affected health activities compared to lifestyle activities. Lifestyle activities are more of public knowledge; therefore, people seemed to ignore such information. Comment by Susan Petroshius: It is not clear what you are referring to or how this conclusion was reached. Comment by Susan Petroshius: Researchers. What do you mean by “limits?” How were these controlled?
Design of the Experiment
The research paper used a simple design to explain the relationship between dependent and independent variables. According to Montgomery (2017), the research paper's model determines the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. This design seeks to establish whether the independent variable is the sole cause-effect of the dependent variable. For instance, in the research paper, the dependent variable Facebook page likes and the independent variable of rewards by the Vitality program. The independent variable solely influenced the dependent variable. For example, the Discovery Vitality would give incentives after garnering points in which they categorized to practicing a healthy lifestyle. The rewarding system by Discovery Vitality seemed to influence customers to like the page. The discovery vitality method to reward customers through it monitoring customers if they are engaging in health practices such as buying healthy groceries, going to the gym, among others, facilitated customers to like the Facebook page of Vitality. Other extraneous variables such as people liking the Facebook page at their own will were controlled as the experiment picked the participants. Therefore, the independent variable of rewards by Discovery Vitality affected the dependent variable Facebook page likes. Comment by Susan Petroshius: The paper didn’t use a design, the researchers did. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is the objective of any experiment. If this is demonstrated, the experiment is internally valid. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is not an independent variable. Comment by Susan Petroshius: You are confusing the independent and dependent variable. For instance, in the first experiment, the researchers used a 2 x 2 factorial design. The two independent variables were message factor, focusing on either health or rewards.The second independent variable was how the liking of a Facebook page was framed, either in terms of gains or avoiding losses.
Moreover, in the same study, an independent variable was the sole chance for the dependent variable. The independent variable of health message was framed to see the impact it would have on the dependent variable Facebook page likes. The health message was framed to know the extent to which it would entice customers to like the Discovery Vitality page. Customers were concerned about health issues, and they liked the Facebook page so that they would health message updates. The research notes that a significant number of customers liked to get updates whenever they have been posted. The independent variable; health message impacted on the dependent variable; Facebook page likes. The independent variable health message influenced the dependent variable solely; Facebook page likes since the health message influenced customers to like vitality Facebook pages. Potentially confounding variables such as customers willingly accepting to like the Facebook page were controlled as only the selected few participated in the experimentation. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is repetitious. You also Comment by Susan Petroshius: You seem to be confusing the two experiments. The likes was the dependent variable in the quasi-experiment in which health message was not the independent variable.
Generalization of Internal and External Validity
The internal validity of the experiment can be validated from the research paper that was conducted. The experiment was conducted over six to one year month. Over such a period, the results would be interpreted on average, and any variables that would affect the results would not last that long. For instance, in times of seasons, which the experiment may have been conducted for the Vitality page to get more likes, it was eliminated by elongating the process for a specified period. The difference-in-differences model ensured that most extraneous variables were eliminated (Wilson, 2016). Boosting intervention was also ruled out to have influenced the liking of the Facebook page of Vitality since it was controlled for. The already likers of the Vitality Facebook page were also excluded from the experimentation. Therefore, sampling was done correctly to establish the relationship between the selected independent and dependent variables. Comment by Susan Petroshius: Again, it is important to recognize that what you are evaluating and explaining is a research study, in this case an experiment. The paper is nothing more than the description of what was done. Comment by Susan Petroshius: This is not about internal validity.
The external validity cannot be ascertained as there are several limiting factors. For instance, the research was conducted on a single firm. Other firms may have their unique features which would not allow for the generalization of this research to be applied to them. Secondly, the firm-initiated communication worked better for Vitality, which might not be the case for other firms. Social interaction may work better with other firms, depending on how they use Facebook and other social media networks. Comment by Susan Petroshius: What does this suggest about external validity, the ability to generalize the results?
Moreover, the firm's screening criterion disadvantaged some other customers who were less engaged. Only those customers that completed the research were observed in their offline behaviour. Therefore, these would not be used for generalization as maybe those who never completed the study would have reacted differently, or people would react separately given a different firm. The research also only looked at the impact of the firm solicited likes, unlike unsolicited likes. The unsolicited likes would also impact the firm in terms of customer participation, something the research did not look into.
Nonetheless, the research did not have information on social interaction, which would translate into underpinning the effect this would have on offline customer behaviour. However, it should be noted that the paper did well in terms of time stretch in which the experimentation was conducted and randomization in picking the participants. Therefore, in the strides, the research made it had failures that subsequent research papers in the topic would seek to redress.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper examined the research paper on Facebook likes and the impact of an independent variable on a dependent variable. The article ascertains that the dependent variable, Facebook page likes were directly influenced independent variable(s). The paper also validates the internal and external generalization of the results in the research paper.
References
Mochon, D., Johnson, K., Schwartz, J., &Ariely, D. (2017). What Are Likes Worth? A Facebook Page Field Experiment. Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), 54(2), 306–317.
Montgomery, D. C. (2017). Design and analysis of experiments. John Wiley & sons.
Wilson, J. (2016, July). VII—Internal and external validity in thought experiments. In Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Vol. 116, No. 2, pp. 127-152). Oxford University Press.