Marketing Research Topical outline
The following represents the general sequence of the coverage of topics. In order to leave sufficient time to devote to the research project, we will cover most of this material three to four weeks before the end of the semester.
Consider this to be a standing assignment and study at least one chapter ahead of in-class lectures and discussions. As the semester progresses, we may have a better idea about the timetable of events.
The first few chapters are fairly general and we will cover them reasonably fast. So, as your first reading assignment, read chapters 1-4 before the second meeting of the semester.
You may want to print a copy of the slides that I will use in class. It may help in following the lecture and note taking. Follow the link labeled “slides for printing” after the chapter numbers which will display the printable presentation slides in Adobe Acrobat format. To view or print these, you need to have the Acrobat viewer installed on your computer. In the computer labs, this application is already installed. Note that these links will open a new page and display the new content in it. When you are done with these windows, simply close them to return to this page.
- Course explanation
- Introductory concepts (Ch. 1 slides for printing)
- Marketing research
- The marketing concept
- Decision making and the need for information
- Information systems, technology for marketing and research (Ch. 2 slides for printing)
- Research process (Ch. 3 slides for printing)
- Types of research
- Stages in marketing research
- The research proposal
- Organizing for marketing research, the research industry and ethical issues (Ch. 4 slides for printing)
- Data types, secondary data (Ch. 6 slides for printing).
- Purposes
- Sources of secondary data
- Exploratory research (Ch. 5 slides for printing)
- Reasons for conducting it
- Methods
- Survey research (Ch. 7 slides for printing)
- Sources of errors
- Types and tools
- Observation (Ch. 8 slides for printing)
- Nature of observation
- Types and tools
- Experiments (Ch. 9 slides for printing)
- The concept of experimentation
- Types of experiments
- Experimental validity
- Types and tools
- Measurement (Ch. 10 slides for printing)
- General concepts
- Measurement scales
- Attitude measurement (slides for printing)
- Rating and ranking scales
- The survey instrument (Ch. 11 slides for printing)
- Wording
- Structuring
- Sequencing
- Layout
- Design sample (Ch. 12 slides for printing)
- General concepts
- Probability sampling
- Nonprobability sampling
- Determinants of sampling method
- Establish the sample size (Ch. 13 slides for printing)
- Statistical concepts
- Population vs. sample, Statistic vs. parameter, Reasons for sampling
- Determining sample size
- SPSS training in the lab
- Analytical tools (Chs. 14-15)
- Data reduction and descriptive statistics (slides for printing)
- Hypothesis testing (slides for printing)
- Inferential analysis (slides for printing)
- Contingency tables and Chi-Square tests (slides for printing)
- Reporting research findings (Ch. 16)
- Written report, format and content
- Oral presentation