The past, present, and future of measurement and methods in marketing analysis

The field of marketing has made significant strides over the past 50 years in understanding how methodological choices affect the validity of conclusions drawn from our research. This paper highlights some of these and is organized as follows: We first summarize essential concepts about measurement and the role of cumulating knowledge, then highlight data and analysis methods in terms of their past, present, and future. Lastly, we provide specific examples of the evolution of work on segmentation and brand equity. With relatively well-established methods for measuring constructs, analysis methods have evolved substantially. There have been significant changes in what is seen as the best way to analyze individual studies as well as accumulate knowledge across them via meta-analysis. Collaborations between academia and business can move marketing research forward. These will require the tradeoffs between model prediction and interpretation, and a balance between large-scale use of data and privacy concerns.