MARK3220 MARKETING RESEARCH

MARK3220 MARKETING RESEARCH Fall 2013 Section: L1 Syllabus Instructor Teaching Assistant Ralf van der Lans Lily Wong Room LSK 4003 Room LSK 4025 Tel: 2358-7706 Tel: 2358-7705 rlans@ust.hk lilywong@ust.hk Course website: http://lmes2.ust.hk Syllabus MARK3220 1

Course Description The course marketing research provides the basic tools and procedures in marketing research. During this course you will acquire the insights to translate practical marketing problems in adequate research questions. You will obtain the skills to answer these research questions by designing an appropriate research approach, collecting data and analyzing these data using computer software. Based on these skills, you will also be able to judge the strengths and weaknesses of marketing research reports as presented by firms. Learning by doing will be an important feature of this course! Who should take Marketing Research? All companies do marketing research, and interpreting the findings of such research is essential for survival of companies. Therefore this course should be of interest to all students who will need to understand marketing research reports in their future careers. These students typically consider careers at the senior level of corporate management, consultancy or advertising agencies. This course should also be of interest to students who will execute marketing research. These students consider careers at marketing research and consultancy companies. Prerequisites (strict) Marketing Management (MARK 2120) and Business Statistics (ISOM 2500). Method of instruction This course consists of lectures, tutorials, group research projects, and presentations. During the lectures we will discuss the marketing research process and the various research tools that marketing researchers use. You are expected to think critically and voice your opinions about the various research methods and conclusions that real marketing managers can draw from them. As outlined in the course grading section, your class participation will be graded. To exercise your critical thinking and to improve the quality of your class participation, you will need to come to class prepared. This means you should always read the assigned materials ahead of time. The tutorials will start during the second half of this course (see Course Schedule). During these tutorials you will get the opportunity to practice statistics on marketing data using the SPSS software. An important part of this course is the group research project. Based on a relevant marketing problem decided by your group, you will execute a full marketing research project. As in reality, such a research project consists of several steps and feedback moments in which your group has to hand in a research report. As we will determine at the beginning of the course, your group is also expected to present one research report in class. As outlined in the course grading, the research project forms the most important part of your grade. Hence, similar to business situations, to deliver a good research project and to not disappoint your team members, all group members are expected to contribute equally to the research project. Any dispute should be handled amicably and among yourselves. The formation of groups will be discussed in class. Teams are meant to last the entire semester. Reading material Churchill, Gilbert A. Jr. and Tom J. Brown, Basic Marketing Research, Seventh Edition, Dryden Press. available in the campus bookstore Syllabus MARK3220 2

Course grading Assignment weights Quiz 1 (Best of three exams) Quiz 2 (Second best of three exams) Individual Class Participation: Group project: Group Project Presentation: Reports: Marketing Experiment Total: 100 points 100 points 40 points 60 points 190 points 10 points 500 points Quizzes The course has 3 quizzes which will include both multiple-choice questions and short-essay questions. Quiz questions can cover materials addressed in the book or during the lectures. However, be advised that topics discussed during the lectures are most important. We understand that personal circumstances (e.g., illness, accidents, interviews, etc) may sometimes cause students to miss or underperform during a quiz. To help protect your grade against such unfortunate events, I will count only your best 2 (out of 3) grades. Therefore, and also out of fairness towards other students, there will not be a make-up exam. Individual class participation Class participation is evaluated on the quality and the frequency of your comments, i.e., on your contribution to the learning experience of the class. Note that quality is not the same as quantity. You will be evaluated according to the following guidelines: Very Good: The student provides great additional insights, gives correct answers on questions that came up during the lectures, and asks questions. Good: The student provides additional insights, gives reasonable answers on questions that came up during the lectures, and asks questions. Satisfactorily: The student asks questions. Remember: all questions are relevant. So please, do not hesitate to ask your questions during the lecture, there are probably more students with the same question. Unsatisfactorily: The student disrupted the class (e.g., by chatting, not switching off mobile, arriving late), the student is absent or does not pay attention. Group Project The group project provides you with a learning-by-doing opportunity of conducting a marketing research project professionally. The group project consists of the following steps. Step 1: Form Groups and select research topic (deadline: September 18) Each group consists of 5 students from the same session and hands in the group member form by September 18 after which the change of group membership is not allowed. Submit a written report specifying your topic that you want to research. Your report should include the following components: 1) background, 2) decision problems, and 3) research questions. Your topic must be related to a realistic problem faced by real local Hong Kong or multinational institutions, either businesses or nonprofit organizations. More details will be provided on LMES and during class. Syllabus MARK3220 3

Step 2: Research proposal (deadline: October 4) Based on the research topic and the feedback of the instructor, write a research proposal. More details will be provided on LMES and during class. Step 3: Exploratory research (deadline: November 1) In this step, you answer the first part of your research questions using exploratory research. In this step, based on your exploratory research, you will also set up a questionnaire and/or experiment for follow up research. Step 4: Final report (deadline: November 29) In this step, you analyze the data you collected based on the questionnaire and/or experiment that you developed in the previous step. Based on the results of the analysis, you draw conclusions and indicate what these results mean for marketing management (i.e. focus on your decision problems). Group project presentation: Each group will give one presentation during the course. You will present only one of three steps of the research project (i.e., one of the steps 2 to 4 described above). After all groups are formed, the instructor will determine by a random lottery which research project your group will present. For the presentation you have a maximum of 12 minutes, and 5 minutes for class discussion. Although groups present different topics, the grading criteria for each topic are the same. Each group may decide which team members will present. However, all group members are responsible for the presentation and will obtain the same grade. Marketing Experiment In accordance with HKUST s research mission, students in all marketing courses are expected to complete a research requirement during the semester. The purpose of this assignment is to give you a brief acquaintance with the type of research conducted in behavioral sciences. You can fulfill this requirement in one of 2 ways. First, by signing up for two marketing experiments. Second, by writing two 2-page critiques of academic articles. See the document Marketing Experiment on the course website for detailed instructions. You are advised not to wait until the final weeks of the semester to participate in the marketing experiment. Peer reviews: For the research project and presentation, everyone will receive the same grade. As in professional research projects, every team member should invest appropriate time and effort. However, I realize that this may not always be the case. Hence, I have devised a peer-review system, which will give you the opportunity to evaluate your teammates contribution to the research project. Based on the peer evaluation, I may adapt the grades of individual students to fairly represent their input. Syllabus MARK3220 4

Course learning outcomes Marketing research serves as a central basis for marketing strategy and firm profitability by providing information relevant to marketing decision making. It is critical for marketing managers to understand the nature of marketing research and to be able to specify what information to seek, how to get it, and how to utilize it in making marketing decisions. This course is aimed to provide students with an overview of marketing research in terms of needs, definition, process, analysis and reporting. Generally, on completion of this course, students should be able to: Translate management problems into tangible research questions Demonstrate understanding of basic concepts and methods of marketing research Evaluate the quality of marketing information and identify the biases in and/or the limitations of marketing information Identify the most appropriate research methods in various conditions Analyze marketing research data using the statistical software package SPSS Apply research results for a better marketing decision making Design and implement a research project that include (i) problem identification (ii) research design (iii) data collection design (iv) sampling design (v) data analysis and solution generation Questions about the course Your teammates are obviously your number one source of help. You will need to work together a lot. If you need any additional help, you may always contact Lily Wong, your teaching assistant. You can find her email on the first page of the syllabus. I must remind you, however, that Lily assumes responsibility for many other students. Hence, please respect her time. This means checking your classmates first if you are uncertain about general class issues. If there are things for which you think only I can help you, please come see me after class rather than send me an email. I will gladly address your question/comment right away if I can. If not, I will set up a time to meet with you in my office. Syllabus MARK3220 5

Class schedule Lectures are on Wednesday and Friday (16:30 17:50) in room LSK 1001. Starting from October 29, there will also be tutorials on Tuesday (18:00 19:50) to practice skills on marketing research data in room LSK G021 (computer lab). The detailed schedule is outlined below: DATE TOPIC ASSIGNMENTS AND READINGS Sept. 4 Introduction Chapter 1 Sept. 6 Marketing Research Process and Chapters 3 and 4 Problem Definition Sept. 11 Research Design I: Exploratory Chapter 5 Research Sept. 13 Research Design II: Descriptive and Chapter 6 Causal Research Sept. 18 Reporting research Chapter 21 Due Sept 18: Team member form & Project Topic Sept. 20 No class: The day following the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival (holiday) Sept. 25 Project Discussion I Sept. 27 Measurement and Scaling I Chapter 12 Oct. 2 Measurement and Scaling II Chapter 13 Oct. 4 Student presentations Due Oct 4: Research proposal Oct. 9 Questionnaire design Chapter 14 Oct. 11 No class (Quiz preparation) Oct. 15 Quiz 1 Oct. 16 Collecting data I Chapters 15 and 16 Oct. 18 Collecting data II Chapter 17 Oct. 23 Basic data analysis I Chapter 18 Oct. 25 Basic data analysis II Chapter 19 (until Hypothesis testing, page 434) Oct. 29 Tutorial 1 (computer lab G005) Oct. 30 Hypothesis testing I Chapter 19 (from page 434) Nov. 1 Student presentations Due Nov 1: Exploratory research Nov. 5 Tutorial 2 (computer lab G005) Nov. 6 Project discussion II Nov. 8 No class (Quiz preparation) Nov. 12 Quiz 2 Nov. 13 Hypothesis testing II Chapter 20 (until page 466) Nov. 15 Regression I Chapter 20 (pages 466 475) Nov. 19 Tutorial 3 (computer lab G005) Nov. 20 Regression II Chapter 20 (pages 466 475) Nov. 22 Wrap up Nov. 26 Special Topics (Guest lecture) Nov. 27 No class Nov. 29 Student presentations Due Nov 29: Final report Dec. Quiz 3 Syllabus MARK3220 6

Team Member Form Section L1 (Due: September 18) Group members Name Student ID Email Syllabus MARK3220 7