Social Media Advertising Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of validity ensures that a social ad effectiveness survey actually measures what it claims to measure?
- External validity
- Internal validity
- Construct validity (Correct answer)
- Face validity
Correct answer: Construct validity
Construct validity confirms that a measurement tool accurately reflects the theoretical concept it is designed to assess.
Question 2: A brand wants to test whether red or blue CTA buttons drive more conversions. What is the minimum recommended test duration?
- 24 hours
- 3 days
- At least one full business cycle (typically 1–2 weeks) (Correct answer)
- 60 days
Correct answer: At least one full business cycle (typically 1–2 weeks)
Running a test for at least one full business cycle accounts for day-of-week variation and prevents premature conclusions.
Question 3: What is the purpose of a holdout group in social media advertising experiments?
- To receive the highest-budget ad version
- To serve as an unexposed control group for measuring true lift (Correct answer)
- To test ads on the least active users
- To benchmark against competitor campaigns
Correct answer: To serve as an unexposed control group for measuring true lift
A holdout group sees no ads, allowing researchers to isolate and measure the true incremental impact of the campaign.
Question 4: Which research design is best suited to establishing a causal relationship between ad exposure and purchase behavior?
- Cross-sectional survey
- Randomized controlled experiment (Correct answer)
- Case study analysis
- Secondary data review
Correct answer: Randomized controlled experiment
Randomized controlled experiments randomly assign participants to conditions, allowing true causal inference.
Question 5: An advertiser notices that ad performance spikes every Friday. This pattern is an example of what data characteristic?
- Outlier effect
- Seasonality or cyclical trend (Correct answer)
- Selection bias
- Regression to the mean
Correct answer: Seasonality or cyclical trend
Recurring performance patterns tied to specific time periods are classified as seasonality or cyclical trends.
Question 6: What is 'data triangulation' in the context of social media ad research?
- Using three ad creatives in one test
- Combining multiple data sources to validate findings (Correct answer)
- Segmenting audiences into three groups
- Running campaigns across three platforms
Correct answer: Combining multiple data sources to validate findings
Data triangulation involves cross-referencing multiple data sources or methods to strengthen the reliability of conclusions.
Question 7: A social ad campaign targeting women 25–34 generates skewed results because younger users are underrepresented in responses. This is known as:
- Confirmation bias
- Non-response bias (Correct answer)
- Recency bias
- Anchoring bias
Correct answer: Non-response bias
Non-response bias occurs when certain segments of the target population are systematically less likely to participate, skewing results.
Social Media Advertising Research & Evidence-Based Practice 3
Which type of validity ensures that a social ad effectiveness survey actually measures what it claims to measure?