Research Methodology in Marketing : Theory Development, Empirical Approaches and Philosophy of Science Considerations

This textbook describes and explains the fundamentals of applying empirical methods for theory building and theory testing in marketing research. The authors explain the foundations in philosophy of science and the various methodological approaches to readers who are working empirically with the purpose of developing and testing theories in marketing. The primary target group of the book are graduate students and PhD students who are preparing their empirical research projects, e.g. for a master thesis or a dissertation. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 1-18 The Nature and Relevance of Theories (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 19-57 The Philosophy of Science Viewpoint: Scientific Realism (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 59-81 Theory Building (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 83-106 Approaches for Theory Testing (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 107-122 Obtaining Data for Theory Testing: Operationalization, Measurement, and Data Collection (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 123-150 Hypotheses and Models for Theory Testing (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 151-172 Testing Causal Relationships (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 173-193 Generalizability of Research Results (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 195-210 Research Ethics and Research Practice (Martin Eisend, Alfred Kuss)....Pages 211-233 Back Matter ....Pages 235-238