MARKETING RESEARCH

MARKETING RESEARCH
AREA OF STUDY: SPECIALIZATION
BAC 126

Year: 3
Semester: 6

________________________________________
* Continuous
** Duration: 3 hours

Course Objectives
The basic objective of this course is to make students understand the basic techniques of identifying problems of marketing research and also apply the various tools in this regard.
Course Contents
Unit 1: Introduction T.H.4
Meaning and importance of marketing research; Kinds of marketing research; Management and marketing research; Scientific method of marketing research; Marketing research process.
Unit 2: Research Objectives T.H.3
Problem and opportunity identification; Developing a marketing plan; Selecting among alternatives without research.
Unit 3: Types of Research T.H.7
Exploratory research; Design of exploratory studies: Study of secondary data; Survey of individuals with ideas: depth interviews, projective techniques, focus group interviews and process; Descriptive studies: importance of design; Types of descriptive studies: case method, statistical method; Experimentation: laboratory versus field experiments; Selected experimental designs: "After Only", "Before-After", "After-Only" with control group, "Four-Group-Six Study"; Ex post facto and continuous diary panel design.
Unit 4: Secondary Data T.H.4
Meaning and use of secondary data; Advantages and drawbacks of secondary data; Types of secondary data
Unit 5: Methods of Collecting Primary Data T.H.8
Accuracy of survey and observation data; Questionnaire method: advantages and disadvantages; Questionnaire studies classified by structured disguised, structured non-disguised questioning, non-structured non-disguised questioning, non-structured disguised questioning, structured disguised questioning; Questionnaire studies classified by method of communication: telephone interviews, personal interviews, mail surveys; Observation method: advantages and disadvantages of observation method; Methods of observation.
Unit 6: Attitude Measurement T.H.5
Methods of collecting attitude data: questionnaire and observation; Methods of measuring attitudes: non-disguised non-structured techniques, disguised non-structured techniques, non-disguised structured techniques, disguised, structured techniques.
Unit 7: Introduction to Sampling T.H.3
Sampling error verses data collection error; Basic sampling problems; Probability sampling: Simple random, Stratified random, Cluster, Systematic and area sampling; Non-probability sampling: convenience sampling, judgment sampling, quota sampling.
Unit 8: Data Collection T.H.3
Field work procedures: Telephone interviewing, personal interviewing; Common sources of error in field work; Minimizing field work errors.
Unit 9: Preparation and Tabulation of Collected Data T.H.4
Preparing the raw data; Tabulating the data: univariate, bivariate and multivariate tabulations.
Unit 10: Data Analysis T.H.4
Sampling statistics; Chi-square analysis; analysis of variance; Cross tabulation; Correlation and regression analysis
Unit 11: Research Presentation T.H.3
Writing Research Report; The report format; Evaluation of the research procedure.
Suggested Readings
1. Boyd, Westfall and Stasch, Marketing Research 7th Edition, New Delhi: AITBS
2. Luck and Rubin, Marketing Research 7th Edition, New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Ltd.
3. McDaniel, Carl and Gates, Roger, Contempory Marketing Research 3rd Edition, New York: West Publishing Company.