Using Quantitative and Mixed Research Methods in Marketing: A Meta-Analytic Approach

The problem of the inconsistent results of empirical studies is a reality in any research field. Literature provides the meta-analysis approach as a solution that responds to the challenge of evaluating, combining, comparing and synthesizing the accumulation of results to a typical, common and representative value of a particular research topic. In this paper, through meta-analysis, we aim to respond to a double challenge within the marketing scientific research field. We analyze the mixed method applicability level in relation to quantitative methods by evaluating the differences among the empirical results of the studies whose aim concerns the same research topic, namely customer behavior. Based on a set of well-defined criteria, we have selected 20 studies published in two journals from the American Marketing Association database. The search has been limited to a number of keywords included in the title of these papers: consumer, behavior and customer. The results obtained following the quantitative review of the specialized literature specific to consumer behavior analysis suggest that the type of method is a significant determinant of the existing differences among the primary studies’ empirical results.