Chapter 10

 EXPERIMENTAL DILEMMA

A market researcher wishes to determine if a new product display will result in higher sales of brand X soda. Because of a limited budget, the researcher is only able to build one new display and test market it in one location. The researcher obtains the sales records for brand X soda for a 30 day period during the month of May in that location. On June 1, the researcher replaces the old product display with the new one. After 30 days, the researcher obtains the sales records and determines that sales have nearly doubled while the new display has been in place. The researcher concludes that the new display is an effective means of selling brand X soda. Do you agree with this conclusion? Why or why not? How could the test be improved given the budget constraints?