MN3035 Marketing Research. Autumn Course Outline and Study Guide

Transcription

1 MN3035 Marketing Research Autumn 2013 Course Outline and Study Guide

2 Course Lecturer: Dr Isabella Chaney Room FE 112 Office Hours: Wednesday Course Tutor: Suman Saha Brief Outline and Aims of the Course Marketing Research is fundamental for informed management decision-making in modern organisations. The course prepares students in both how to identify and how to obtain appropriate marketing information for strategic and tactical marketing decisions. In addition, the course seeks to develop students analytical skills and critical thinking to properly interpret the results of a marketing research exercise. Marketing Research focuses on providing students with the necessary skills that will enable them to carry out marketing research projects within a real life environment. This main aim of the course is to prepare students in identifying, gathering and analysing appropriate marketing information for management decision making, and to do this while developing students' critical thinking and analytical skills in the broader context of research and scholarship in the marketing research field. Learning Outcomes By the end of this course you will be able to: Formulate, organise and conduct a marketing research project Apply and evaluate different sources of marketing information Apply and evaluate various data collection techniques Apply and evaluate various methods of data analysis Write a comprehensive market research report. Lectures: Wednesday: 12-1pm (Jane Holloway Hall, JHH) Seminars/Workshops: Thursdays: Group A in WIN1-05 Thursdays: Group B in WIN1-05 Thursdays: Group C in WIN1-05 Thursdays: Group D in WIN

3 Course Overview DATES LECTURES READINGS/ CHAPTERS SEMINARS (THURSDAY AFTER DATE SHOWN ON LEFT) 2 nd Introduction to Marketing Research 1 & 2 9 th The Marketing Research Process and Problem Definition 3 Review question 39 Burns and Bush (2014:94) 16 th 23 rd 30 th Research Design and Secondary Data 4 & 5 Memos from a Researcher Burns and Bush (2014:118) Data Collection: Qualitative Approaches 6 The College Experience Burns and Bush (2014:168) Survey Data Collection Methods 7 Machu Picchu National Park Burns and Bush (2014: 200) 6 th November Measurement, Scaling and Questionnaire Design 8 Extreme Exposure Rock Climbing Center Faces the Krag Burns and Bush (2014: 234) 13 th November Sampling and Fieldwork Issues 9, 10 & 11 Peaceful Valley Burns and Bush (2014, 262) 20 th November Data Analysis: Descriptive Analysis and Inferential Analysis 12, 13, 14 & 15 SPSS Tutorials: Lab sessions HITT LAB Burns and Bush (2014, 347) 27 th November The Research Report 16 SPSS Tutorials: Lab sessions HITT LAB Burns and Bush (2014, 377) 4 th Revision Lecture December 3

4 Organisation This course is held during the Autumn Term, and consists of a weekly one-hour lecture and a seminar/workshop. Students are expected to contribute actively and make presentations in the seminars/workshops. Presentations, though not formally assessed, are designed to stimulate class discussion, to further enhance your knowledge and to refine/improve your presentational skills. Note on Plagiarism At RHUL, plagiarism (i.e., passing the work of others as one s own) is a serious example of intellectual theft. Common infractions include palming-off paragraphs of text lifted from books or the internet, clipping-and-pasting together several articles downloaded from the internet, and off-the-shelf purchases from commercial organizations. Mandatory penalties are not applied. Every case is considered on its own merits. However, it is important for you to realize that sanctions can put your degree classification indeed degree completion in jeopardy. Penalties vary from loss of marks (including a grade of 0% for offending pieces of work) to outright expulsion from College. Faculty members do not get satisfaction from catching plagiarists. It takes time to collect evidence when a case is suspected. Yet it would be a dereliction of duty not to investigate suspected cases. The use of computer software available to British universities makes the task that much easier this is one reason why all course work is submit online via Turnitin. Please consult the School of Management Student Handbook 2013/14 for further details on plagiarism. Note on Academic Sources and References Search engines (like Google) and a popular source like Wikipedia are suitable as a preliminary start to your research. But they are wholly insufficient as adequate data sources for any assessed document. You must access the online database Business Source Premier for relevant academic journal articles. If you do not know how to use Business Source Premier, please seek guidance at Bedford Library. The proper referencing of sources whether footnotes, endnotes, or the Harvard system (of author and year) is required. Likewise, a correct bibliographic format is mandatory. It is really about academic form. This ought to have been part of what you learned in your first year of study. If guidance is needed refer to the Assignment and Writing Guideline Booklet on the UGIV. Note on College It is imperative that you maintain your RHUL account in working order. It is the official one used for correspondence by the College, including the distribution of information for individual course units. 4

5 Assessment This course will be assessed by the following: Group Assignment: The coursework will comprise of a group project. The groups will comprise of four students and will be self-selected. The purpose of this group project is for you to have hands on experience at conducting a real market research project by applying concepts learned and skills acquired throughout the course. Marking will be on the basis of research effort, content, argument effectiveness and writing style. The options for the group project are: You are a group of newly appointed Market Researchers to a company in a sector of your choice. You are required to conduct a primary market research project into; EITHER; i) the viability and market potential for a new product/service (e.g. new vegetarian meal, new online subscription service); OR; ii) the perception/attitude towards an existing product/service (e.g. customer satisfaction, service quality, brand image, store atmospherics). You are required to submit a group essay style report, not exceeding 5000 words, to your Marketing Research Director setting out clearly the research objectives and justifying your chosen methodology (e.g. type of research design, sample method, data collection methods) where appropriate with relevant literature. Your report should also highlight the main findings of your research together with the data analytical techniques used. The report should conclude by making appropriate recommendations and discussing problems encountered while conducting the research. Research instruments should be provided in the appendix. Sources must be acknowledged; a bibliography is required. Please note that extra marks will be allocated for originality of the chosen research topic and for appropriately integrating a variety of research approaches. This assignment carries 30% of the total grades The deadline for this is 15th January Examination: Two hour unseen exam paper. The examination carries 70% of the grades 5

6 Text books Core Reading: Burns A.C. and Bush, R. F. (2014) Marketing Research, 10 th International Edition, Harlow: Pearson (ISBN: ). The library holds several copies of the book. Other useful texts: Malhotra, N. (2007). Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 5 th ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Janssens, W., Wijnen, K., De Peismacker, P. & Van Kenhove, P. (2008) Marketing research with SPSS, 1 st ed., London; Pearson Education Limited Burns A.C. and Bush, R. F. (2008) Basic Marketing Research; using Microsoft Excel data analysis, 2 nd Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Hackley, C. (2003). Doing Research Projects in Marketing, Management and Consumer Research, Chippenham, Wiltshire: Routledge. Bearden W. O., Netemeyer R. G., and Haws, K.L. (2011) Handbook of Marketing Scales: Multi-item Measures for Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research, 3 rd ed., Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication. Bruner, G. C., James, K. E., and Hensel, P. J. (2001) Marketing Scales Handbook, A Compilation of Multi-Item Measures, Vol. 3, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Chisnall, P. (2005). Marketing Research, 7 th ed., Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education. Malhotra, N.K., Birks, D.F. and Wills, P.A. (2013). Essentials of Marketing Research, Harlow: Pearson. McDaniel, C., and Gates, R. (2006). Marketing Research Essentials, 5 th ed., New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Pallant, J. (2005). SPSS: Survival Manual, 2 nd ed., Maidenhead: Open University Press Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, Newbury Park, California: Sage Publication. Proctor, T. (2005). Essentials of Marketing Research, 4 th ed., Harlow: Prentice Hall. Silverman, D. (1997). Qualitative Research, London: Sage Publication Wilson, A. (2006). Marketing Research: An Integrated Approach, 2 nd ed., London: Pearson Education Limited. 6

7 Yin, R. K. (1994). Case Study Research Design and Methods, Newbury Park, California: Sage Publication. 7

8 Some Useful Articles Boddy, C. (2005). Projective techniques in market research: valueless subjectivity or insightful reality? A look at the evidence for the usefulness, reliability of projective techniques in market research, International Journal of Market Research, 47 (3), pp Cobanoglu, C., Ward, B., and Moreo, P. J. (2001). A comparison of mail, fax and web-based survey methods, International Journal of Market Research, 43 (4), pp Ilieva, J., Barton, S., and Healey, N.M. (2002). Online survey in marketing research: pros and cons, International Journal of Market Research, 44 (3), pp Kaynak, E., Bloom, J., and Leibold, M. (1994). Using the Delphi technique to predict future tourism, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 12 (7), pp Kiecker, P., and Nelson, J.E. (1996). Do interviewers follow telephone survey instructions? Journal of the Market Research Society, 38 (2), pp Roster, C. A., Rogers, R. D., Albaum, G., and Klein, D. (2004). A comparison of response characteristics from web and telephone surveys, International Journal of Market Research, 46 (3), pp Scholl, N., Mulders, S., and Drent, R. (2002). On-line qualitative market research: interviewing the world at a fingertip, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 5 (3), pp Trim, P.R.J., (2001). Researching management issues and problems using the qualitative approach: a methodological approach and discussion, International Journal of Management Literature, 1 (1), pp Wright, L.T. (1996). Exploring the in-depth interview as a qualitative research technique with American and Japanese firms, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 14 (6), pp Journals Students are also informed that they are required to access the library s electronic databases for journal articles on any topic they are covering, or for which they are writing the coursework. You should read widely for the whole course amongst relevant journals, such as: Journal of Consumer Research Journal of Marketing Research Journal of Marketing Science Qualitative Market Research International Journal of Market Research Journal of Marketing Journal of Marketing Management Journal of Marketing Intelligence and Planning 8