Critically evaluate the research design in the attached case (' Marketing Analysts and Promotional Specialists Inc. ') with respect to internal and external validity. Recommend a better design REAL - LIFE RESEARCH 8.1 Market Analysts and Promotional Specialists, Incorporated Market Analysts and Promotional Specialiscs, Incorporated ( MAP . S . ) is a marketing consulting firm that specialaus in the development of promotional campaigns. The firm w formed 5 years ago by two young marketing graduate students, Duvid Roch and Lisa Ryan, who soon overcame their initial lack of experience and have since be - come known for their innovativeness and creativity. Their clients include Industrial wholesalers, retail product manufacturers, food brokers, and distributors, as well as te cail oudlee. In 1994 . Disie Brewing Company enlisted MAP.S . to develop a new promotional campaign for id line of beers. At the time, Dixie was the list of the microbreweries in New Orleans and distributed is products within a 200 - mile radius of the city. The company had enjoyed a good reputation for a number of years, but its image had re cently been tarnished by the accidental distribution of a shipment of bad beer. Dixie 249 Real - Life Research 8.1 also was losing market share because of increased competition from national brewers. Mille High Life had purchased Cresent Distributois, i large liquor distributor in the New Odleans art, and was beginning to implement aggressiye promotional actia in the local market. Dide was concerned primarily wich is mal merchandising methode. Dund and Lina immediately began to study Dixie's product line and is present shelf space alloca cons in various stores throughout the market area. MAPS. ' s previous work with food ' brokers helped them realize that proper shelf placement was extremely important in su permarket merchandising The company's product line consisted of two beers, Die and Dide Light. Both bers were sold in 33 - ounce glass bordes, 12 - ounce glass - borde sit - paces, and 12 - ounce can set - paces. In New Odeans, best may be purchased in supermarkets and convenience store Also, in most stores, boer can be purchased either warm or cold. I studying the refriges and does holding beverages, David and Lin noticed that most were small - 850 12 fort in length and had glass doors on the front. Because of the relatively small size of the entire cold beer display, they believed that the typical consumer would view the case E from left to right, therefore, they believed Dicit should place its producu on the extreme left side of all cold beer cust. Warm beer was displayed in a much diffemt manner. Most or displayed bever - uge produce in bulk and usually devoted an entire aisle to such displays. David and Lin reasoned that the normal consumer could not view all the brands at once and thus would have to "shop" or walk into the aisle. For this reason, they recommended that Dixie place its beer in the middle of the other brands Because Dixie Light was produced in response to Miller Lite, David and Lisa recom mended that it be placed to the left of Moller Lite in boch warm and cold beer displays. Traditionally, Dide Light had been placed next to is standard beer brand. Disse had no ticed a significant decrease in is regular brands market share after the introduction of Dixie Light To test their theories, David and Lisa selected a convenience store, located in a suburb of New Orleans, that contained both warm and cold beer displays. This store was then used in an experiment to nieasure the effect of shelf placement on beer sales. One treatment consisted of setting up the displays as they were currendy being used in stores across town. The second treatment arranged the displays according to the Dew MAPS. plan. All other factors, such as price and number of bordes, were held constant throughout the experiment. The fist version of the setup was used for the first 2 weeks in April, and the second treatment was run for the last 2 weeks of the month. The following data show the percentage of beer purchased by brand for each N The following data show the percentage of beer purchased by brand for each treatment Treatment 1 % ) Treatment 21 % ) Ohio Light Miler Lite Coors Light