Masters of Science in Management MARKETING … · 3.1 Data Preparation. 3.2 Basic Methods of Data Analysis: descriptive statistics and frequency distributions, cross-tabs, hypothesis

MRSyllabus_E0211.v1

Masters of Science in Management

MARKETING RESEARCH

Academic Year: 2015-16 Semester: Fall

Instructor: Fernando S. Machado

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Course Description:

The quality of Marketing decisions largely depends on the information that is made available to decision makers about consumers, markets and relevant products. The main goal of this course is to familiarise students with the instruments and techniques that are commonly used for producing useful information for marketing-related decision making. The course covers the various stages of the marketing research process, from the basic definition of the research problem to the presentation of the research results.

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Course Content:

PART I – INTRODUCTION

1.1 The Role of Marketing Research in Management Decision Making. 1.2 The Marketing Research Process. 1.3 Defining the Research Problem and Objectives

PART II – RESEARCH DESIGN FORMULATION

2.1 Research Designs 2.2 Qualitative Research. 2.3 Survey Research. 2.4 Measurement and Scaling. 2.5 Questionnaire Design. 2.6 Experimentation in Marketing Research. 2.7 Sampling. PART III – DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS

3.1 Data Preparation. 3.2 Basic Methods of Data Analysis: descriptive statistics and frequency distributions, cross-

tabs, hypothesis testing. 3.3 Analysis of Variance. 3.4 Linear and Logit Regression. 3.5 Multidimentional Scaling. 3.6 Interdependence Techniques: factor analysis and cluster analysis. 3.7 Report preparation and Presentation. __________________________________________________________________________________

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Course Objectives:

When completing the course, students are expected to be able to:

• Understand the process of conducting both managerial and academic empirical research in marketing;

• Prepare and elaborate simple marketing research projects, involving the use of quantitative data analysis techniques;

• Critically evaluate and correctly interpret the results of marketing research projects.

Specific objectives of the course include:

• Develop capacity to structure a management problem, and develop and evaluate decision alternatives to its solution;

• Develop the ability to translate a management problem into a feasible research question;

• Acquire a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of alternative research designs, as well as of the main methods for gathering marketing information;

• Develop capacity to select and use appropriate statistical tools in data analysis for solving management problems;

• Become more sensitive to the biases and limitations of marketing data and its analysis;

• Develop capacity to plan, organize and implement projects within working groups;

• Develop the capacity to prepare and deliver oral presentations and written reports.

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Pre-Requisites:

• Command of Statistics and Marketing fundamentals.

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Grading:

• Group Project/Presentation (4 students per group) 30 %

• Class Participation/Homework Assignments 20 %

• Final Exam (*) 50 %

(*) Minimum grade of 8.0 in the final exam is required to pass

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Bibliography:

The main textbook for the course is:

- Aaker, Kumar, Leone and Day (2013), “Marketing Research”, 11th Edition, International Student Version, Wiley (hereafter AKLD).

Various other textbooks can be used alternatively or complementarily, such as:

- Naresh Malhotra (2010), “Marketing Research - An Applied Orientation”, 6th Edition, Pearson Education.

- McDaniel, C. and R. Gates (2015), “Marketing Research”, 10th Edition, Wiley.

- Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012), “Research Methods for Business Students”, 6th Edition, Prentice Hall.

- Hair, Black, Babin and Anderson (2010), ”Multivariate Data Analysis: A Global Perspective”, 7th Edition, Pearson Education

A detailed reading list, including book chapters and various articles is provided below.

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Short Bio:

Fernando S. Machado is an Associate Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Pre-Experience Masters at Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics. He holds a PhD in Economics (University of Reading, UK) and undergraduate degrees in Economics and in Business Administration (UCP). Formerly he was academic director of the International M.Sc. in Business Administration, director of the Center for Applied Studies and member of the board of directors of Católica’s Center for Public Opinion Studies (CESOP). His current research interests revolve around digital piracy, analysis of consumer preferences and consumer valuation of both market and non-market goods. His research has appeared in refereed international journals such as Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing and Environmental and Resource Economics.

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Contacts and Office hours:

Email: [email protected] Office: 534C (3rd floor) Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11.00-12.00

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Group Projects:

Project Description

Groups of 4 students are required conduct a Marketing Research study. Each group is responsible for identifying a management decision problem and for designing, implementing and reporting the results of small-scale marketing research project aimed at supporting decision-making.

Projects can deal with a variety of issues, such as market segmentation and positioning, concept testing, assessing consumer response to a new product, pricing, promotion or product decisions, customer satisfaction and loyalty research, etc. Groups are encouraged to discuss their initial ideas about the focus of their projects with me before conducting the research.

The project’s main sources of primary data will include both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.

Groups are required to submit a written report of their projects, as well as to present them in class. All members of the group are expected to participate in the presentation.

Project Objectives

The general objective of the project is to provide the students with an opportunity to apply the course materials to the solution of a real managerial problem. Throughout this “learning-by-doing” process students are expected to develop their capacities to:

- Define a management decision problem and identify possible courses of action for its solution;

- Specify the information required for supporting decision making; - Design appropriate methods for collecting such data; - Perform data analysis by using appropriate statistical methods; - Derive and report relevant conclusions and recommendations for solving the decision

problems they are faced with.