Discussion: Ohio Lottery
School of Business, Liberty University
Dr.SMith
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Discussion: Ohio Lottery
1. Detail the overall research design in the Ohio Lottery case (See Exhibit
OL-1). What are the advantages and disadvantages of this design?
The design is valid and includes quantitative data first. They did exploratory research first
by brainstorming needs and having multiple companies involved in order to strengthen the
research and cover multiple aspects. Discovering that the MET strategy was the best, was good
although they could have saved time if they would have already known about this. The training
took more time than necessary and the whole study and multi stage design is time consuming. It
took a year for any action to be implemented by developing new ads, and then another year to
see if it was working. An advantage is that it is thorough and time was taken to ensure its validity
through comparing with 2004 data and completing both qualitative and quantitative research
(Pelton & Van Manen, 1996). This was able to help them understand the why behind the actions,
which is helpful in strategic marketing. Built into this design was discussion, which was positive
and negative. It is positive because it allowed for constant brainstorming of solutions and
analysis, but also consented to changes occurring in the middle of the process which creates lack
of consistency (Schindler, 2021).
2. Evaluate the MET process (Exhibit OL-2). What are some of the strengths
and weaknesses of the MET technique?
The premise of the MET process is that it can elicit the true feelings and knowledge with
greater validity that is otherwise suppressed or biased (Mulvey & Kalavam, 2010). Getting to the
root of the problem is what research is designed to do, therefore this MET process is perfect. It
allows the interviewer to ask follow up questions, to study facial expressions, and has wide and
narrow scopes in order to capture attitudes, beliefs, and values. It is personal to each participant
and highly relevant, which means interest and engagement should be high. The most prominent
weakness about this is the time factor as that can cause participant error if they get hungry,
bored, frustrated, or tired answering the similar questions for multiple arrangements (Schindler,
2021). The questions are quite repetitive and a suggestion for the comparison would be to pick
the top three and connect them as opposed to doing all combinations of six pictures. This MET
process is geared more towards players than non-players so it should be adjusted to
accommodate both. As a whole though, this strategy is useful and provides insights into decision
making, which was crucial for this research.
3. What measurement scales are used in the sample questions provided (Exhibit
OL-3)? Why might the lottery attitude and lottery importance questions have
presented the most challenge to the professional researchers?
The questions use interval scales which are often used to measure attitude and important
because it gives a scale without giving a definite origin (Schindler, 2021). This is important to
note because one weakness is the different people’s definition of strongly agree or disagree, and
extremely important to not important at all. The reason that the attitude and lottery importance
questions took the most amount of time is because they are by nature subjective questions and
attitudes can easily be swayed based on wording and previous tasks (Bertrand & Mullainathan,
2001). Moreover, some people do not realize the cause of their attitudes and actions, so the
questions must be phrased in order to bring those ideas and concepts to the forefront of one’s
mind and then connect them to have full understanding. The importance questions are critical
because they are the crux of this survey as they try to figure out what is winning and what drives
people to buy lottery tickets.
4. Using text Exhibit 12-2, map out the likely quantitative instrument content.
By far the most common form of collecting quantitative data is the survey or the
questionnaire (Schindler, 2021). This is especially helpful when paired with qualitative
interviews to shape the measurement questions placed in the survey (Frels & Onwuegbuzie,
2013). In the survey, questions are asked about the importance, attitudes, advertising awareness,
game involvement, frequency of play, and other things. Focusing on these topics, helps confirm
and expose previous data and any inconsistencies with the qualitative in depth interviews
conducted. Various formats of questions were used with scales, multiple choice questions, and
checklists to cover all bases. Additionally, the data collected will clarify perceptions about
playing the lottery versus winning the lottery, or not playing at all. The numbers may be skewed
if bias data is included due to participant bias-which is inevitable on some level, but should be
monitored.
5. The survey contained several questions that would alert the researchers that
the participant was not taking the research process seriously (see case exhibit
OL-3). Is this a good or a poor idea? Why?
It is a good idea to monitor the data to see if participants are biased through proximity, or
social desirability, but the question becomes what to do with that data (Schindler, 2021). It is
difficult to tell why the participant is not taking it serious. Possible reasons could be lack of
knowledge, boredom, lack of comprehension of the question, or just ran out of time and because
of that it would be unethical to remove that data. Therefore, there must be a way to standardize
the data to account for discrepancies and skewed answers. Plus, there are people who are non-
players and may not know the answers to some of the lottery questions. The other option is to
take the data out and then use the model-based multiple imputation to compensate for the
underestimation, which works especially well with large and complicated sets of data (Vriens &
Melton, 2002)
6. Evaluate the MET discussion guide for the Ohio Lottery Research.
Introducing the researcher and laying the foundation down promotes ethos, logos, and pathos in
order to inform and persuade the participant to cooperate, to be honest, and to be patient
(Schindler, 2021). Also, it has a good flow overall, although a recommendation for change the
best photo to the second task after asking them about each one individually makes more sense.
Some questions are repetitive, but it is set up well to parse out the important psychological
information and the questions are deep and probing. Additionally, there are rebuttals and prompts
to guide the interviewer which is invaluable and shows a well thought out and scripted process.
Skip questions and branching help the interviewer be conducive to the type of person they are
interviewing.
The ethics is strong which is good because the bible says in Ephesians 4:18, “Their corrupted
logic has been clouded because their hearts are so far from God—their blinded understanding
and deep-seated moral darkness keeps them from the true knowledge of God” (The Passion
Translation, 2020). This scripture shows that moral darkness leads to corrupted logic, cloudiness,
and deception which are all detrimental to the validity of good research. Therefore it would be
wise to keep and maintain focus on what is right, noble, and true and against those things there is
no law (The Passion Translation, 2020, Philippians 4:8).
References
Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2001). Do people mean what they say? Implications for
subjective survey data. The American Economic Review, 91(2), 67-72.
http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-
journals%2Fdo-people-mean-what-they-say-implications%2Fdocview%2F233033822%2Fse-
2%3Faccountid%3D12085
Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2013). Administering Quantitative Instruments With
Qualitative Interviews: A Mixed Research Approach. Journal of Counseling & Development,
91(2), 184–194. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00085.x
Mulvey, M. S., & Kavalam, B. E. (2010). Mining deeper meaning in consumer decision maps.
Qualitative Market Research, 13(4), 372-388.
http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1108/13522751011078809
Pelton, M., & Van Manen, F. (1996). Benefits and Pitfalls of Long-Term Research: A Case Study
of Black Bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Wildlife Society Bulletin (1973-2006),
24(3), 443-450. Retrieved May 11, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3783325
Schindler, P. (2021). Business Research Methods (13th edition). Mc Graw Hill Education (Uk).
The Passion Translation (2020). Brian Simmons. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?
search=Mark%2014%3A56&version=TPT
