BBA 431: Marketing Research

Overview

As it is true in the physical sciences, so it is in marketing - research or information gathering is essential for making sound inferences and decisions. Marketing research is the process of obtaining appropriate information about a company’s markets - customers, competitors, distributors, economic/regulatory environment, and other factors - and analyzing and interpreting such information to help managers make better marketing decisions.

This course provides an introduction to practical market research; to help you become well versed in commonly used marketing research methods and techniques, and knowledgeable on how to apply them in real-world marketing contexts. You will complete a marketing research study that addresses a broad research question/problem. Additionally, you will conduct in-depth interviews, design and administer a survey questionnaire, and analyze your findings, and write a final report conveying your research findings and recommendations.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Select a business-related question appropriate for a research study.
• Translate a business decision problem into a set of research objectives amenable for marketing research.
• Conduct secondary research and analyze information relevant to your research question.
• Evaluate information for validity and reliability.
• Design a sampling plan for your research.
• Design a survey questionnaire with unbiased wording.
• Conduct and analyze in-depth marketing research interviews.
• Design an experiment and/or observational study to answer a research question.
• Analyze data using univariate methods, such as mean and standard deviation.
• Analyze data using bivariate methods, such as cross-tabulation and correlation.
• Write a comprehensive marketing research project report.

Required Texts
BBA 431 texts are available from the JIU/MBS bookstore