Kelley Blue Book Case: Experimental and Quantitative Research Designs

In this scenario, NetConversions had to address the problem of making the Kelley Blue Book website efficient enough to guarantee customer satisfaction. Therefore, NetCs team conducted a site analysis to monitor clients behavior from when they log into the website and maneuver through the pages. The objective was to find answers to the following questions: How many visitors log into the website within a certain time frame? Which pages have the most number of visitors? And which paths do users follow when opening pages in the site? (Cooper & Schindler, 2017)

From the research questions above, the key variables that were identified include the number of visitors entering the site, the paths that clients follow when opening pages, and the number of clients drilling down each page. The research approach was structured into two consecutive stages, namely site analysis, and hill climbing. Site analysis entailed monitoring visitors, analyzing the data collected and reporting it. Path analysis, click data analysis and path analysis were the analytical processes used during assessment of the variables above (Cooper & Schindler, 2017).

Since this research requires determination of the variables stated above, a quantitative design, specifically experimental, would best facilitate finding a solution to the research problem. An analysis of the current situation at the website will ensue, whereby the researchers ascertain the areas that require improvement. This analysis will first involve collecting raw data that includes the defined variables and pre-processing this data using spreadsheet applications. From the analysis, the findings are then reported to provide the basis for devising the changes that are needed. These changes are introduced into the website. Pretests and post-tests are then conducted to determine the effectiveness of the solution. If the solution doesnt improve the website and pages performance, a different solution is proposed and tested until the desired results are achieved.

Comments

Tao

I fully concur with Tao's opinion that an experimental design would best suit this Kelley Blue Book case. Since the ultimate objective is improving this website, regarding customer satisfaction, NetConversions would be justified, to begin with assessing the current site performance by determining the number of visitors logging into the website, number of visitors opening specific pages on the site, the pages having the most visitors opening them, and the paths that visitors take when drilling down pages. NetConversions can then analyze the results to derive a relationship between these variables and the websites performance that helps determine the weak areas and design improvements to solve the weaknesses. However, to add onto the use of control groups in checking the effectiveness of these improvements, NetConversions can also adopt pretest and post-test checks that only requires determination of the above-mentioned variables in the improved website version and comparing them with those from the previous version.

Hu

I also agree with Hu's opinion to some extent that experimental and quantitative research designs are the most suited for this study. However, I think that an experimental design is an example of a quantitative research and thus Hu should just have specified that an experimental survey is the most befitting research methodology for Kelley Blue Book website improvement. A quantitative survey is a wide category that covers other designs such as quasi-experimental and correlational, which may not necessarily suit this case. Focusing on the experimental approach, I fully concur with Hus recommendation of pretesting and post-testing to check if the hill climbing solution has improved the websites performance. The browsing experience before and after introducing the hill climbing design, and the stated research variables are compared to check if the solution has enhanced or lessened customer satisfaction.

References

Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2017). Business Research Methods: NetConversions Influences Kelley Blue Book. Retrieved 5 October 2017, from http://file:///C:/Users/Anderson/Downloads/NetConversionsInfluencesKelleyBlueBook.pdf