Course Objectives:
The general objective of this course is to examine marketing research as a tool for providing information for marketing decision making.

The specific objectives are to develop an understanding of
(1) the central concepts of marketing research
(2) the methods of conducting marketing research and
(3) how to use concepts and methods to solve the problems of the marketing manager.

Course Activities :

We will accomplish the following activities during the course:
a. Identify the marketing research process, the kinds of information it can provide, and how it is used by marketing management.
b. Develop the concept that meaning is derived from models of real world situations.
c. Provide a general understanding of the process of obtaining information by surveys and observation of respondents.
d. Develop an in-depth understanding of Market Segmentation, Customer Satisfaction and Concept Test research and surveys.
e. Examine alternative ”research designs" and their relative strengths and weaknesses. Special attention will be given to non-sampling errors and their effects on design.
f. Examine the major types of ”sampling plans"and their advantages and disadvantages, and how sample size is determined.
g. Develop an understanding of the meaning of ”measurement and scaling" and the application in marketing research. This includes sample data analysis using univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis.
h. Develop for a client, a marketing research project. The project will involve problem definition, maintenance of client relations, development of a survey instrument, data collection, analysis of data obtained, preparation of a "professional" report and presentation of the study results and report to the client.