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Marketing
Research
Summer 2008
Dr. Mary Wolfinbarger
California State University Long Beach
There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and
statistics. -- Disreali
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Textbook:
Essentials of Marketing Research
Joseph H. Hair, Jr., Mary Wolfinbarger, David J. Ortinau and Robert P.
Bush, 1st Edition.
Description of the Course: Marketing research is a pervasive function of
modern organizations. If, in fact, the "marketing concept" is to
be implemented, marketers must have a way of determining what it is that
customers desire. As the complexity of the problems facing the marketing
manager has increased in recent years, so has his or her need for
information -- about the market environment, about the competition and
particularly about the customers. It is now a virtual certainty that every
marketing manager (and many managers in other functional areas and in
general management) will come in close contact with marketing research
frequently through his or her career in business.
Marketing research techniques can broadly be separated into
qualitative and quantitative approaches. Qualitative techniques include
many methods, such as focus groups and in-depth interviews. Quantitative
methods are numerous; although we will discuss qualitative techniques, in
this class we will focus on experimental and survey research.
We will focus
especially on survey research. Students will learn to develop a
questionnaire, code and enter data, to analyze data, and finally, to
prepare a managerial report that concisely and clearly summarizes results.
Students are not expected to become statisticians; they are, however,
expected to learn how to successfully use and interpret statistics. The
uses, as well as the limitations of specific statistics, and "hard
data" in general, will be explored. Students will learn how to use the
statistical package most widely used by marketing research firms, SPSS.
Course Goals:
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To improve the student's
ability to critically and conceptually analyze research results.
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To develop the student's
ability to critically evaluate alternative research designs and to
develop and select the most appropriate one for a particular problem
situation.
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To provide the
student with the necessary skills to implement a research design
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To provide the
student with an introduction to the various data analysis procedures
that are most frequently used in marketing research.
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To provide the
student with an introduction to the statistics program SPSS-PC.
In
brief, this course is designed to make the contacts between management and
marketing research as productive as possible by making each student an
intelligent user and consumer of marketing research. Four learning vehicles
will be used in the course: a) readings, b) lectures, c) discussion and
assignments of problems and readings and d) analysis of a data set e)
preparation of a research report based on data analysis and d) tests.
Group Mini-Project: The
objective of the research project is to provide you with some experience in
applying the concepts and methods of marketing research to a real marketing
problem. The project will be implemented and a report (made up of
PowerPoint slides) will be written by self-selected three- or four-person
teams. The report will be a PowerPoint presentation. Sample Presentation -- Midas (This sample is much,
much longer than your project will be.)
For the summer class, you will use an already existing data
set. These sections will appear in your final report:
- Key findings: similar to an
executive summary, it contains a brief background of the project, and
major findings.
- A fuller background of the
project and a description of the research design, questionnaire and
sample.
- Graphs with text below them
describing (briefly and directly) your analyses and findings. The
graphs should be easy to understand quickly and make straightforward,
easy-to-understand points.
- Limitations of the research
(be careful -- write these honestly, but in a way that develops some
confidence in the findings).
- Conclusions and
recommendations: Interpret results and outline how these may be used
by decision maker(s).
- Appendix: Survey instrument
and any technical details and output of interest not included in the
body of the report in which a specialist may be interested. These
do not have to be part of the PowerPoint slides, but may be attached
to them as part of the hard copy you turn in.
Grading
2 tests..................…………………………..65%
Final Project......................... .................20
Qualitative Project ...............................10
Other Assignments ..……….................. 5
Total.........................................................100%
Course Schedule
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Week 1
July 15-17
Introduction to the Course. Overview of the Research Project.
Tuesday: The Marketing
Research Process
Lecture to download
Read: Chs. 1 and 2
Thursday: Exploratory and/or
Qualitative Methods
Lecture to download
Read: Chs. 5 and 10
In-class group assignment: Develop your own in-depth interview
guide to assess satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the CBA. In writing
the questions, think about what characteristics of the business school and
experiences in your major that contribute to satisfaction/satisfaction (and
any other questions you would like to ask to evaluate the program)? Over
the weekend, each person in the group should interview one marketing major
(you can interview each other if you have trouble finding people).
Each person should summarize the findings from their interview in 2-3 pages
for your group members. Careful: This assignment is NOT a
survey, I am looking for qualitative information, not quantitative
findings.
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Week 2
July 22-24
Tuesday: Primary Data Collection/ Questionnaire Design and Attitude
Measurement
Read : Ch. 6 (except
for experimental design)
Lecture to
download
In class Tuesday--Share
your findings with group members, and develop a 5-10 minute presentation to
summarize your results in front of the class. We will go to the lab
to work on the presentation during the second half of class. You will
make the presentation on Thursday and turn in both the PowerPoint slides
and the individual write-ups. Yes, I know this is quick and
dirty, but do the best job you can with the time you have!
Thursday: Group Presentation
of interview results.
More on Survey Design
Read Ch. 9
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Week 3
July 29-31
Tuesday:
Finish Survey Design
Read Ch. 8
Start Sampling (time permitting)
In class group assignment: Evaluate Hallmark questionnaire.
Thursday:
Finish Sampling
Sampling
Read Ch. 7
Lecture to download
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Week 4
August 5-August 7
Exam #1-- What's on the exam?
Essay, Medium Answer, Short Answer
Topics:
*1 essay concerning consumer research you would suggest collecting (secondary
and primary) if you were considering opening a type of business on campus
(I will specify the business on the exam)
*3-4 medium answer questions in which I describe a research problem and you
suggest an EXPLORATORY research approach for that problem. You will
defend your choice as providing the information needed for the budget you
are spending (e.g. if you choose an expensive method, you must defend the
need for it).
*Describe the process for analyzing qualitative data (steps in Ch. 10)
*Evaluation of a questionnaire -- tell me what's good and bad about it and
how to fix what needs to be fixed.
*Short answer questions
*Sampling topics for test:
--Sampling terms -- population (universe), sample, sampling frame, element,
parameter, sampling frame
--You should know the difference between probability and non-probability
samples
--You should know all non-probability samples and probability samples we
covered in class: convenience sampling, judgment (purposive)
sampling, quota sampling, simple random sampling, systematic random
sampling, stratified random sampling (disproportionate and proportionate)
and cluster sampling. Know how to use the sample size formula
Sample Exam
You may bring a 5 x 7 card with notes to use for the test. You may not copy
and reduce; they must be hand written
Thursday: August 7
Finish
Sampling (if don't finish on Aug, 7).
Data Processing -- Data Entry, Hypothesis Testing, Data Entry in SPSS, Basic
Data Presentation -- Bar Charts, Pie Charts, Tabulation,
Descriptive statistics --
Read: Ch 11
Data Processing Lecture to download
Introduction to project, and data set
Complete Ad
Attitudes file to download for project
Download Sample SPSS Data Set, Topic:
German/American Service Quality (in class examples, not your project
files)
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Week 5
August 12-14
Start
Crosstabs.
Lecture: Crosstabulation/Crosstabulation in SPSS
Lecture to download (no tables, but faster download)
Crosstabs lecture notes -- FAT file, slow,
but complete, tables should print
Read: Ch. 12
Work
on project and/or finish Crosstabs
Download Project Instructions, Part 2
Thursday: ANOVA
Lecture to download
Analysis of Variance/Analysis of Variance in SPSS
Read: Ch. 13
Can work on project in lab if have time.
Crosstabs
and ANOVA in SPSS/ Work on project in lab
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Week 6
August 19-21
Tuesday: Correlation and Regression
Analysis/Regression in SPSS
Read: Chapter 14
Lecture to download
Can work on project in lab.
Experimental Design (Time Permitting)
Read: Ch 6 (experimental design)
Thursday: Final Exam
(Crosstabs, ANOVA, Correlation/Regression) and Experimental design
Final will cover:
*A crosstabs and/or ANOVA calculation (a critical tabled value will be
provided as necessary)
*You will see computer output for all statistical techniques, including
crosstabs, ANOVA (with single and multiple IVs), correlation and
regression. You may be asked to come up with hypotheses, tell me whether a
hypothesis is supported (or not), how you determine whether or not a
hypothesis is supported. You will also occasionally be asked to summarize
the research in words (as you've been doing in your project -- for example,
"college men are more likely than women to say they enjoy sex appeals
in ads." I might also ask for managerial implications of findings .
Your understanding of business and marketing can be used to develop more
insightful implications for managers.
*You
may use a 5 x 7 piece of paper/card for notes during the exam.
*Cheaters
will be rewarded with a zero on this exam.
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