Bayesian Multi-Resolution Spatial Analysis with Applications to Marketing
55 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2011 Last revised: 21 Mar 2012
Date Written: February 29, 2012
Abstract
Marketing researchers have become increasingly interested in spatial datasets. A main challenge of analyzing spatial data is that researchers must a priori choose the size and make-up of the areal units, hence the resolution of the analysis. Analyzing the data at a resolution that is too high may mask “macro” patterns, while analyzing the data at a resolution that is too low may result in aggregation bias. Thus, ideally marketing researchers would want a “data-driven” method to determine the “optimal” resolution of analysis, and at the same time automatically explore the same dataset under different resolutions, to obtain a full set of empirical insights to help with managerial decision making.
In this paper, we propose a new approach for multi-resolution spatial analysis that is based on Bayesian model selection. We demonstrate our method using two recent marketing datasets from published studies: (i) the Netgrocer spatial sales data in Bell and Song (2007), and (ii) the Pathtracker® data in Hui et al. (2009b,c) that track shoppers’ in-store movements. In both cases, our method allows researchers to not only automatically select the resolution of the analysis, but also analyze the data under different resolutions to understand the variation in insights and robustness to the level of aggregation.
Keywords: Spatial Analysis, Graphical Methods, Statistical Modeling
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
An Exploratory Look at Supermarket Shopping Paths
By Jeffrey S. Larson, Eric Bradlow, ...
-
An Integrated Model of Grocery Store Shopping Path and Purchase Behavior
By Sam K. Hui, Eric Bradlow, ...
-
Path Data in Marketing: An Integrative Framework and Prospectus for Model-Building
By Sam K. Hui, Peter Fader, ...
-
The Traveling Salesman Goes Shopping: The Systematic Deviations of Grocery Paths from TSP-Optimality
By Sam K. Hui, Peter Fader, ...
-
Subjective Knowledge, Search Locations, and Consumer Choice
By Christine Moorman, Kristin Diehl, ...
-
Household Life Cycles and Lifestyles in the United States
By Rex Yuxing Du and Wagner A. Kamakura
-
By Erjen Van Nierop, D. Fok, ...
-
Cross-Category Effects of Aisle and Display Placements: A Spatial Modeling Approach and Insights
By Ram Bezawada, Subramanian Balachander, ...