Research Methodology Practice

A large advertising company has hired you to find out whether a new multimillion dollar campaign has been effective.  They film the commercials in three separate ways and show the commercials in three separate large cities.  Their staff has contacted people in each of these three cities to rate how they like the commercials.  The researcher believes that the celebrity female star will be more effective.  The commercials differ by the following: 

a.  commercial one used a celebrity female star

b.  commercial two used a celebrity male star

c.  commercial three used the regular format of an "infomercial".

A correlational study was used to see whether or not people liked each of the commercials as well as to decide which commercial was most effective.

The results of the study are as follows:

Commercial One:  Rho = +.78 (liking the commercial & buying the product).

Commercial Two:  Rho = +.85

Commercial Three:  Rho = +.30

In comparing the three types of commercials, the following p-values were found: 

Commercial 1 vs. 2: p < .25.

Commercial 2 vs. 3:  p< .05.

Commercial 1 vs. 3:  p < .05.

Please answer the following questions about this study:

1.  What can you conclude about the effectiveness of the 3 commercials?

2.  Which commercial yielded the best results?

3.  What is the IV, DV, & CVs?

4.  What is the potential problem with using 3 separate cities?

5.  What would be important about our sample?

6.  What is the Ho and Ha?

7.  What does a positive rho tell us?

8.  If the rhos were negative, what would that mean?

9.  Who is a more effective spokesperson?  A celebrity male or female?

10.  Are infomercials effective?

11.  In comparing the 3 studies, which ones were statistically significantly different from each other?