Critique of Yahoo Consumer Direct Marries

Was the research well designed? Was it a good research?

The research is an example of a good research and well designed as follows. Firstly, the research purpose is clearly defined as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of Yahoo banner ads from ad exposure to shopping behaviour. The scope is limited to the ad placement on Yahoo only. Secondly, the research procedure is well detailed, e.g. the steps to acquire participants, well informed consent, sampling methods, representativeness and data collection procedures. Other search engine could also conduct similar research under these settings. Thirdly, the research design is well planned with identified constructs like “awareness” and “persuasiveness” of the banner ads. Fourthly, high ethical standards were applied as they already got consent from the Homescan panels to opt for joining the program in which their website visiting record will be tracked. Moreover, the limitation of research is described at the very beginning that the number of internet users are only an estimate. Adequate analysis could be provided as Yahoo can directly obtain figures via the database from ACNielsen. Furthermore, detailed executive summary over 30 pages are compiled after research. The research conclusion is justified as they are drawn from the data collected with no prior assumptions. Finally, Yahoo is an experienced researcher on such kind of purchasing behaviour research as they have conducted research with the Dynamic Logic.

What type of Research?

This study was a longitudinal descriptive mode of research. It tried to evaluate the true effectiveness of the banner advertisements from ad exposure to shopping cart. It was also to test two possible hypotheses: 1) Effectiveness of ad targeting; 2) Persuasiveness of the advertising.

This research was using an inductive reasoning approach by establishing two test groups (the ad-exposed group vs. the control group) with certain propositions and observing test participants’...