MARKETING RESEARCH PROJECT
Each individual will participate in a marketing research project which will involve the following distinct parts. This will be achieved by working with a group of students. Several assignments relating to the project should be completed individually. These assignments can be based on group discussion but should be done independently.
(i) Each group will define a problem to study. Groups are free to choose any problem. You could choose a problem that is relevant to students so that you can easily collect data on campus. Alternately, a problem for which data can be collected through telephone calls may also be easy. Another possibility is to collect data through the World Wide Web.
(ii) Develop a set of research objectives and information needs for your project. Each individual should submit this separately. This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently. In other words, you should not directly mimic what someone else is doing but come up with your own description (about a page long).
(iii) Develop a questionnaire containing to use in data collection. Remember to keep your objectives specific so that you can collect data in a short questionnaire. This is a group assignment.
(iv) Conduct exploratory research. Locate sources of data from the library that pertains to your problemand submit a page describing the insight gained from the material (with information sources attached). Conduct qualitative research relating to your project (one-on-one interview or focus group) and report insights gained in a page. This is an individual assignment. This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently.
(v) Collect data (ask at least 15 individuals to complete your questionnaire). Each individual should submit this separately (i.e., print-out of data on 15 completed questionnaires). This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently. One coding sheet per group should also be developed to describe the format of the data file.
(vi) Analyze data. Details will be discussed in class.
(vii) Interpret the data.
(viii) Make a presentation and prepare a written report. These are group assignments.
Project Asn 1 - A one page write-up (type-written) of the problem you are looking at and your research objectives. Due as announced in 61 Wohlers. This is an individual assignment. This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently.
Project Asn 2 - Questionnaire to be used for data collection. Due as announced in 61 Wohlers. This is a group assignment.
Project Asn 3 - Exploratory research assignment due as announced in 61 Wohlers which consists of two parts. (i) Locate sources of data from the library that pertains to your problem and submit a page describing the insight gained from the material (with information sources attached). (ii) Conduct qualitative research relating to your project (one-on-one interview or focus group) and report insights gained in a page. This is an individual assignment. This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently.
Project Asn 4 - Data entered into file due as announced in 61 Wohlers. This is an individual assignment. Each student should collect data from 15 individuals and submit a printout of the data after entry. This assignment can be based on group discussion but should be done independently. The individual requirement of collecting 15 surveys will be relaxed in some cases such as for mail surveys which require joint effort. (ii) One coding sheet per group describing format of data file.
Presentation & Written report - A 20 minute oral group presentation is due as indicated in the class schedule . A written group report is due as announced in 61 Wohlers (12 pages maximum excluding exhibits). The presentation and the report should have the following distinct parts. The oral presentation can be in any format as long as it has the following parts. (In the past, students have used skits, talk show formats, video tapings, etc. to present their report.)
(i) Problem definition/formulation
(ii) Research design.
(iii) Design of data collection and Forms; Sources of data (should include a total of four sources of secondary data).
(iv) Sample design and Data collection procedure
(v) Data analysis and interpretation
These steps are largely similar to the steps described in Ch. 3 of the text. Also refer to Ch. 22 of text on how to write a written report and Ch. 23 of the text on how to prepare an oral presentation. For further details please refer to the text.

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