The Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Marketing, CUHK Business School MKTG3010A: MARKETING RESEARCH

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1 The Chinese University of Hong Kong Department of Marketing, CUHK Business School MKTG3010A: MARKETING RESEARCH Meeting time: Tue 14:30 17:15 Meeting period: Sep 8, 2015 Dec 1, 2015 Meeting place: CYT 410 Instructors: Office Hour: Teaching Assistant: Prof. Mandy Hu Rm1105, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK Tel: :00 16:00 (Friday) or by appointment Miss DANG, Chu (Ivy) Rm , 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK Tel: Description of the course The main objective of this course is to equip students with the key concepts, process and methods of marketing research, and learn how to apply those tools to solve reallife business problems. This course puts more emphasis on quantitative research methods to prepare students for the newest development in the field. We cover the technical aspects of marketing research (both qualitative and quantitative research methods) through lectures and discuss real life applications using various articles and cases. An important element of this course is a marketing research project (more details under the Marketing Research Project section below) where students identify and solve a real business problem using marketing research methods. Learning objectives 1. To develop an appreciation for the potential contributions and limitations of marketing research. 2. To learn about the steps in the marketing research process, which include problem definition, research design (exploratory, descriptive and causal), data collection methods, questionnaire design, sampling schemes, and data analysis. 3. To operationalize several key marketing concepts such as customer preference, segmentation, targeting, positioning and new product development. 1

2 Learning outcomes On successfully completing this course, students should be able to: 1. Understand the basic concepts, processes and techniques of marketing research. 2. Apply the knowledge to solve real business problems. 3. Appreciate the fundamental role marketing research plays in developing a credible marketing plan and supporting a company s short-term and long-term objectives. Prerequisite Courses MKTG 2010 Class Requirements & Grading Class commitment: 20% Group Project: 30% Midterm Exam: 20% Final Exam: 30% Required materials Required Textbook: Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 6th ed., by Naresh K. Malhotra, Pearson, 2009 Required software: IBM SPSS Statistics 18 or above (You may also access SPSS using Computer Lab), Microsoft EXCEL (version 2007 or newer) Reading materials: You may download all the reading materials/video from Blackboard. 1. Backward Market Research * 2. The Science of Shopping (section 1, 2 &3) 3. Ethnographic Research: How Americans Eat ( 4. Boost Your Marketing ROI with Experimental Design 5. Mining the Mind 6. Self-Reports: How the Questions Shape the Answers * 7. Market Research The Inside Story (BBC Documentary) * ( 8. The TED talk of Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce ( en) 2

3 Detailed Class Requirements Class commitment (20%) Given that marketing research is an applied subject where participation and discussion is essential for learning, I encourage class participation and interaction as much as possible. Class participation is mainly evaluated by the following criteria: Electronics Policy You may not use electronic devices (laptops, ipads, tablets, mobile phones, Blackberries, etc.) in class unless directed to do so. Classroom Etiquette Attendance and Punctuality: Class will begin on time. Please make every effort to arrive for class on time as late entries are distracting to your classmates. If you are unable to arrive on time or must leave early, please enter/exit the room as quietly as possible so as not to disturb your fellow students. If you are unable to attend class for any reason, please notify me in advance (or as soon as possible) by . There are exceptions in accordance with CUHK policy for religious holidays, funeral, and student/dependent hospitalizations, weddings, interviews, etc. Students are expected to remain in class for the entirety of the session. Beverages and Snacks: You are welcome to bring something to drink to class. Please don t bring food into class. Class Sessions Rather than merely rehashing concepts developed in the textbook, class sessions will be devoted to extending and applying the concepts. I will assume that all of you have completed the reading assignments (both chapters in the textbook and articles assigned) before coming to class. If you all come to class well prepared, we will be able to spend time on class exercises that simulate real world problems. You should be prepared to discuss and present in class the readings and/or problems that have been assigned for that session. In-class Exercises Starting from Week 3, you will spend the second half of the classes working on exercises. You will work in groups. There are two types of exercises. One is about assigned readings and videos. The readings will be uploaded to Blackboard in the beginning of the semester. The links to the videos are provided in the course outline. The star indicates that the material is difficult so the team who chooses that will have 2 bonus points automatically. Each group will present one of the readings/videos (15 minutes) and raise three questions 3

4 about the reading to the class. The other teams the answers to the questions to the focal team voluntarily and the instructor (cc TA) by Friday of that week. The answers will be graded by the focal team. The focal team will send the grades to the instructor and TA by Sunday of that week. All the answers will be posted to Blackboard. On the other hand, the quality of the presentation and the raised questions of the focal team will be evaluated by the rest of the class. Each one has to fill up a short evaluation form on Blackboard right after the class. The other type of exercises is short answer/calculation questions. They serve to facilitate your learning process by summarizing the key points you just learned and applying them to real business problems. You will be working in groups to answer those questions. The group performance on the exercises will count toward your class commitment grade. The team with the best performance will have full marks. The score of other teams will be normalized according to the formula in Appendix. Midterm Exam (20%) and Final Exam (30%) The purpose of the exams is to assess your analytic skills and technical competence. The exam will cover materials presented in textbook, lectures and articles discussed in class. Exams are closed book. Midterm Exam is optional. You can let me know your decision even after you take the midterm exam but before I start grading. If you opt out, your final exam will count for 50% of your total grade. Marketing Research Project (30%) The objective of the research project is to provide students with experience in applying the concepts and methods learned in class to a real world problem. Group Formation and Choice of Research Problem The project is to be done in groups of 5 to 6 students. You are required to send the names, student IDs and pictures of group members to the TA before the deadline in week 2. Please also indicate the week and date that you want to present the reading material. The group submission form can be downloaded from Blackboard. You are not allowed to change group members after the course add/drop period. A good team is formed based on mutual interests among its members instead of pure friendship. So everyone has to submit a research problem by the end of the first week through blackboard. We will compile a list of research problems for the class. In the second week, everyone will be given a chance to introduce yourself and talk about the topic you choose. This will help you get to know each other and form the group. 4

5 Project Management The project has been broken into different tasks (please refer to the course schedule for the deadlines). To keep track of the progress, we will let each team report its progress in the beginning of each class starting from week 3. Notes on Survey An important point to keep in mind is that respondents in the survey should have the right to remain anonymous. This means that the data collected in the survey must be stored in a manner such that individuals identities cannot be linked to their responses. Respondents must be assured before you collect data that their responses will be treated as confidential and will be anonymously analysed. Under no circumstances should you give to your sponsor or anyone else your completed questionnaires, names and contact information of people you have interviewed, or other material that may reveal the identity of your respondents without their prior explicit approval. Respondents should also be provided with the name and contact information of either the client or a group member in case they have questions regarding the research. When conducting your survey, you should do one of the following: 1. Represent yourself as CUHK students working on a class project and provide contact information with your CUHK address in case respondents would like to ask about the research. 2. Represent yourself as CUHK students working on a class project for a client (identify the client) and provide contact information of one of the group member and/or the client. To the extent feasible, please also indicate how you obtain the contact information of the respondents you are contacting. Please be reminded that you are at all times expected to respect and protect the privacy rights of the respondents. You should also not misrepresent the School or your client in any fashion or form. Evaluation Your final group project report is due in Week 13. To help you manage the project, I have broken it into five tasks: 1. The research proposal You should have a brief description of the client background, the business problem, research objectives, and how they follow from the business problem. Outline a research design and briefly justify the choice (e.g., interviews + web survey, focus groups + phone survey, on-site observations + survey, etc.). Discuss potential problems in the research design. 2. An exploratory research 5

6 This part should include secondary data analyses and qualitative research. Your secondary data analyses may include analysing industry reports, economic trends, input from existing data sources (e.g., company data, census, trendwatching.com, etc.); your qualitative research may include one-on-one interviews, focus groups, observations, etc. You are welcome to make videos of focus groups or on-spot observations. This part typically takes 3-5 pages in length in your report. In the exploratory research report, please: 1. Describe the insights gained from secondary data (include proper citations) 2. Describe the qualitative research that you conducted and the key findings 3. Discuss how these findings may be used to refine your research objective and identify the target population. 4. Include in the appendix any tables and figures, as well as guiding questions used in the qualitative research. 3. Draft questionnaire and sampling strategy: 1. Define planned target population for data collection. If you are considering online surveys with panel respondents, please be precise (e.g., Females who purchase yogurt at least once a week). 2. Your sampling strategy and sample size (if using a random sample) 3. A draft questionnaire that you have developed to address the research objective and research questions that you have identified. The questionnaire should include: An introduction (who you are, what the survey is about, how long it is going to take, any compensation/incentive, and reasons why they should complete this) The questions A thank you section Contact information in case the respondents have questions about the research and/or the survey The accompanying cover letter/ /verbal script A few suggestions: 1. Try to show professionalism in wording, formatting and sequencing the questions. 6

7 2. For each question in the questionnaire, think about how it will help you answer the bigger research questions and what type of analysis you are planning to use on the responses to that question (set of questions). 3. Given the time constraints you face, I encourage but do not require a random sampling procedure. If you follow non-random sampling, appropriate caveats for the use/interpretation of your results must be stated. 4. Data Analysis and Final report You are required to collect at least 100 completed survey responses if you decide to use survey to collect data. If you want to use some other ad hoc approach, please talk to me first. The final report should be 12-point font, 1- inch margin and should not be longer than 20 double-spaced pages, excluding tables and figures and the final questionnaire. Please note that if your client does not wish the contents of the report to be made public, make sure that you put CONFIDENTIAL on the front cover of the report. Please submit a zip file that contains a copy of the i) Final Report and ii) the data file (in excel). Your final report should follow this structure: 1. An executive Summary. Describe in one paragraph the business problem, the research methodology, the main findings, the conclusions and your recommendation to the client. The purpose of the executive summary is to allow really busy CEOs to get a good grasp of what you have done, and digest the most essential information without reading every sentence in the report. 2. Background. Define the problem to be studied and the purpose to be served by the research (What is the benefit to the client? What is the value of the research project?). This is what you did in the first task. 3. The research strategy. Define the population and the sampling frame. Describe your sampling method as well as the size and profile of your sample. If secondary data are used, identify the sources. This is what you did in the first task. 4. Briefly describe the exploratory research you conducted. The insights you generated and how that led to the design of your questionnaire. This is what you did in the second task. 5. Include the final version of your questionnaire in the Appendix so that I know exactly what questions were asked and what scales were used in the questionnaire. You also need to talk about your sampling strategy in the report 7

8 which should include all the components I introduced in class. This is what you did in the third task. 6. Report your findings. You need to show how you analyse the data, the results and your interpretation of the results. Discuss the implications of these findings for your client. You can either use the data analysis methods you learned in this class or from other classes. However, a successful application of the methods from this class will be evaluated more favourably. 7. Finally, your recommendations what should the client do? Make sure that your recommendations are supported by the research findings. 8. Appendix 9. List of references. 5. Presentation All groups have to submit your presentation PowerPoint in week 11 to TA via . You are not allowed to change after that. You will make a 30-minute presentation of your project in class. Your presentation should be based on your research report and have the following structure. a) Introduce the business problem b) Define the research objective c) Insights from exploratory research d) Link c) to your questionnaire design e) Describe your sampling method and the size of your sample f) Data analysis and key findings g) Your recommendation General presentation guidelines: 1. All the members of the group should make the presentation. 2. Time limit: 30 minutes (with another 5 min Q&A). The group marks will be deducted 1 point (out of the total 30 points) per 1 minute overdue. 3. Q & A 5 minutes. Be prepared to answer questions from the Client. Students may be randomly selected to ask questions and give comments. 4. Evaluation. The marking is based on: The evaluation of rest of the class (including the instructor) (70%). The weight is the same. Self-evaluation (30%) which is calculated based on how close your own evaluation is with the evaluation of the rest of the class. 8

9 Other Class Related Issues Course Website: All relevant material related to the course will be posted on Blackboard. Schedules, reading material, cases, and class notes will be made available in class. Grading: You can only appeal a grade if there is a clear misreading of what you wrote. I can give you suggestions for improving your work, but will not respond to emotional appeals. Due dates: All due dates are strictly enforced without valid reason and prior permission. Late assignments will not be accepted. Feedback: If at any point during the course you have any questions regarding the materials covered in class or regarding preparation for assignments or cases, please raise them either in class so others may also benefit, or via , or in person. Group member Review: Group members can evaluate each other s performance on the assignment and project using a peer review form available on Blackboard. If no evaluation is turned in, I will assume that everybody in the group contributed equally. Individual project grades may be adjusted up or down depending on the evaluations by all the other group members. Plagiarism: Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at To uphold the University's policy on plagiarism, please submit your written assignment through VeriGuide ( When turn in a hard copy, please attach a signed "Academic Honesty Declaration Statement" to it. 9

10 Class Schedule Week 1 (Sep 8) Course Overview Research Question Skim: Chapter 1-2, 14 Submit (ind) Please submit your research question/interest to the TA as well as your name, student ID and address through Blackboard. Week 2 (Sep 15) Research Designs: Exploratory, Descriptive & Causal Research Group formation Read: Chapter 3 Skim: Chapters 4-5 Submit (gr) Please submit your Group Form as well as the presentation date to TA by (due 8pm on Sep 16). Week 3 (Sep 22) Descriptive & Causal Research Read: Chapter 6 7 Reminder: We will start reporting project progress from this week. We will start to have presentation and exercises from this week. Week 4 (Sep 29) Topics: Types of Scales and Attitude Measurement Questionnaire Design 10

11 Read: Chapter 8-9 Skim: Chapters 10 Reminder: Project Proposal should be done. Week 5 (Oct 6) Sampling & Sample Size Read: Chapters Skim: Chapters Week 6 (Oct 13) Designing New Products (Conjoint Analysis) Read: Chapter 21 Skim: Reminder: New Way to Measure Consumers Judgements Exploratory research should be done. Week 7 Midterm Exam Week 8 (Oct 27) Frequency Distribution, Cross Tabulation, and Hypothesis Testing Read: Chapters 15 Case 3.1 in the textbook, P Reminder: Questionnaire and Sample Strategy should be done. 11

12 9 (Nov 3) Regression Read: Chapters 17 Case 3.1 in the textbook, P Week 10 (Nov 10) Factor Analysis Read: Chapter 19 Case 3.1 in the textbook, P Week 11 (Nov 17) Group Presentation -1 Submit (gr) Final Project Presentation Slides (due 8pm on Nov 16) Week 12 (Nov 25) Group Presentation -2 Week 13 (Dec 1(Tue), time= TBD venue = TBD) Final Exam Week 14 Submit (gr) Final Project Report (due 8pm on Dec 8) Please submit a zip file that contains your i) final report, and ii) data file (in excel). 12

13 Appendix: Evaluation Method 1. For group project ( ) 2. For exercise 3. Forget to submit peer evaluation? We will automatically assume that you give the highest score to the other team. 4. Individual Score ( ) 5. Strategic Grading Some of the students will be very strategic when they evaluate the other teams. They tend to give low grade no matter what. To encourage fair play, for each presentation if the average grade of peer evaluation differs from the instructor s grade by 2 standard deviation, we will award the top 3 students whose evaluation is closest to the instructor s and the discrepancy is within 1 standard deviation by 2 bonus points. 13