MARK 312-‐MARKETING RESEARCH – COURSE SYLLABUS Instructor: Kangkang Wang, Assistant Professor
Class Time: MWF 2:00-‐2:50 pm
Office Hour: Wednesday 12:00-‐1:00 pm, after class, or by appointment Office: BUS 3-‐40D
Email: [email protected] Office Phone: 780 492 2810
Course Website: https://ulearn.ualberta.ca
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The task of marketing is to facilitate exchanges that satisfy both consumer needs and
organizational objectives. In today’s complex market environment, the success of marketing activities is affected by a number of environmental factors and this reality creates uncertainty and difficulty for marketing decision makers. As a result, there is an urgent need for
organizations to obtain quality information to assist them in designing the optimal marketing strategy, which can be achieved through marketing research.
Marketing research is the systematic process of planning, collection and analysis of data to improve marketing decisions within an organization. This course provides you with an overview of marketing research process and methods. The chief objective is to acquaint you with the skills and techniques required to conduct solid marketing research. You will gain an
understanding of marketing research through this course as well as develop the necessary skills such as designing questionnaires, collecting primary and secondary data, analyzing data and writing a research report.
TEXTBOOK (optional)
Marketing Research Essentials (Second Canadian Edition) by McDaniel, Gates, and Sivaramakrishnan. John Wiley & Sons Canada, LTD, 2013
ASSESSMENT
Midterm Exam (Feb 13) 20%
Final Exam (Mar 27) 20%
In-‐Class Assignments 15%
Individual Presentation 5%
Attendance 5%
Class Participation 5%
Group Project 30%
In determining a student’s final grade, the instructor will consider the student’s overall individual performance in an absolute sense, as well as the student’s performance relative to his/her peers.
Exams (20%+20%=40%)
There is a midterm exam and a final exam. Both exams are in-‐class, closed-‐book and each accounts for 20% of the student’s final grade. There is no exam during exam weeks. Exams consist of multiple-‐choice, true-‐false questions and short answers. The final exam covers all the materials up to the exam date, including those that have been covered in the midterm.
Important: absence from exam -‐ If a student misses the midterm exam, there will be no make-‐
up exam. The weight of the midterm will be automatically transferred to the student’s final exam, in which case the final exam will account for 40% of his/her final grade.
In-‐class assignments (15%)
Students need to complete 6 or 7 group assignments (depending on course progress) throughout the semester. All assignments are completed in class and submitted to the instructor before the end of the class. Some assignments are marked based on quality. Some assignments are not marked, in which case students will obtain full credit for the assignment as long as they complete it. Students should complete these assignments in the same group as the group project (see details about the group project below).
Individual presentation (5%)
Each student needs to pick a company that targets the student market or a company whose products are consumed a lot among students, and make a 3-‐minute individual presentation in class. The presentation should cover the background of the company, the current marketing problem/decision faced by the company and other information that the student deems
important. The purpose of the presentation is to provide motivating ideas for the group project (see details about the group project below).
Attendance (5%)
Students are expected to come to class on time. The instructor will keep track of attendance of every class except the optional lab sessions. Students need to notify and get approval from the instructor beforehand if they are unable to attend a particular class.
Lab sessions – there will be two lab sessions. The first lab session will cover how to use Excel to conduct statistical analysis and the second session will cover statistical analysis in SPSS. For students who already know to use these softwares, attendance is optional.
Class participation (5%)
Students are encouraged to participate actively in class discussions and activities. A class participation sheet will be used to track each student’s contribution in class. Students who participated in class discussions on a particular day should remember to mark themselves on the participation sheet before they leave the classroom.
Group project (30%)
Students need to form groups of 3-‐4 people and carry out a comprehensive research project.
The research project should be about a company who targets the student market or whose products are consumed a lot among students. Students can pick one of the companies
mentioned in individual presentations or any other company they are interested in, and collect data among UA students. Each group needs to submit a research proposal earlier in the
semester and a final research report at the end of the semester. They also need to make a formal presentation of their research project at the end of the semester. Some important dates for the project are given below.
Group formed Jan 19
Research proposal due Feb 4 Presentation of proposal Feb 4
Presentation of final report Apr 1, 8 and 10
Final report due Apr 17
Students should turn in their group member list by email no later than 2:00pm on Jan 16.
Research proposal (10%) – each group should submit a written research proposal. The proposal should state the research background and research objectives, explain why the current
research needs to be carried out, and describe the data collection and analysis methods they expect to use. The proposal should not exceed 5 pages (12 point font, double space, 1 inch margin). Each group also needs to make a brief presentation about their research proposal in class. Students will be marked based on the quality of their written proposal, not the
presentation. The research proposal should be submitted through Ulearn before the beginning of the class on the due date.
Presentation of final report (10%) – each group needs to make a 15 min presentation in class at the end of the semester. Group members can choose the presenters and form of presentation they like.
Final report (10%) – final report is due one week after the last day of class. It should be a comprehensive research report that includes but is not limited to the following elements:
background introduction, research objective, data collection method and data description, data analysis, and managerial implications. The final report should be submitted through Ulearn before the end of the day on the due date.
Important: group member evaluation -‐ at the end of the semester an evaluation form will be distributed and each group member will have an opportunity to anonymously evaluate other members in the group. These evaluations are an important assessment of each member’s contribution to the group project. In most cases group members will receive the same grade.
But if the evaluations indicate certain people are significantly “free-‐riding” other group members, their project mark will be discounted.
CLASS SCHEDULE (tentative)
Date Lecture Topic Note
Jan 5 Course Introduction
Jan 7 Marketing Research Process 1
Jan 9 Marketing Research Process 2
Jan 12 Research Design and Data sources
Jan 14 Exploratory Research 1
Jan 16 Exploratory Research 2 Last day to add/drop course
Jan 19 Individual Presentations Group member list due
Jan 21 Individual Presentations
Jan 23 Measurement and Attitude Scaling 1 Jan 26 Measurement and Attitude Scaling 2
Jan 28 Questionnaire Design 1
Jan 30 Questionnaire Design 2
Feb 2 Group work on research proposal
Feb 4 Presentation of research proposal Research proposal due
Feb 6 Survey
Feb 9 Experimentation 1
Feb 11 Experimentation 2
Feb 13 Midterm Exam
Feb 18 Reading week, no class
Feb 20 Reading week, no class
Feb 23 Research design practice
Feb 25 Research design practice
Feb 27 Sampling 1
Mar 2 Sampling 2
Mar 4 Data Editing 1
Mar 6 Data Editing 2
Mar 9 Hypotheses Testing 1
Mar 11 Hypotheses Testing 2
Mar 13 Hypotheses Testing 3
Mar 16 Regression 1
Mar 18 Regression 2
Mar 20 Logistic Regression
Mar 23 Lab session 1 Class location TBA
Mar 25 Lab session 2 Class location TBA
Mar 27 Final Exam
Mar 30 Group work on research project Apr 1 Presentation of research project
Apr 3 No class
Apr 6 No class
Apr 8 Presentation of research project Apr 10 Presentation of research project
ACADEMIC INTERITY
The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior (online at
www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm ) and avoid any behavior which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an
offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.
RECORDING OF LECTURES
Audio or video recording of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the instructor. UNIVERSITY POLICY ON COURSE OUTLINES Policy about course outlines can be found in §23.4(2) of the University Calendar.