BUS 342 Marketing Research

Lycoming College, Department of Business Administration

Fall 2003

 

Instructor:  Dr. Bonita M. Kolb, X4170 (office phone), Email: kolb@lycoming.edu

Office hours:  Monday/Wednesday 3:15-4:45pm 

The best method to reach me is through email. All email messages must be in proper written English. You can also leave a message on my office phone. In your message please let me know your question so that I can be prepared when I return your call. Or, stop by and see me during office hours. 

Textbook and Reading: The required textbooks are:  

Introducing Marketing Research by Baines and Chansarkar

Qualitative Methods for Marketing Research by Sayre 

Course Description: The class will be a study of the principles and practices of marketing research. The focus is on marketing research process that can be used by both businesses and nonprofit organizations. Topics will include selection of a research objective, conducting secondary research, choice of an appropriate research tool, conducting primary research and analyzing the data and writing the final report. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be studies.   

Learning Outcomes: The objective of this course is to both expose students to the marketing research process but also to allow them to apply the concepts in a real world environment.   

After this class you should be able to: 

 

Student Responsibilities: Attendance is required. Since student involvement is crucial to the overall learning process, it is necessary for students to attend class. Role will be taken but no grade is assigned for attendance. Instead these factors will be assessed through quizzes given on a random basis. There will be no makeup quizzes given. 

Active class participation is expected. International marketing is an interesting subject that requires knowledge of different political, economic and cultural systems. It also requires knowledge of current events. So start reading or listening to international news. 

You must come to class with the assigned reading completed. (If you do not, you will fail the quiz.) Think of your reading assignments as exercise for your mind. And just as with physical exercise, the best method is to have a regularly scheduled time and place for you to do your reading and prepare for class. 

You may find the class demanding but I hope that you will also find it to be an exciting learning opportunity.  I will consider that you are all mature, intelligent adults who will rise to the challenge.


Problem Solving– Cases: Problem solving is an important ability for all students to master. The ability to identify, analyze and apply the correct solution or concept to a problem is a process that marketing professionals use on a daily basis. To help you learn this skill, four written case assignments will be completed in class. The cases and questions will be assigned from the case book. You will have thirty minutes to read the case and then outline and write your response. Your answer must correctly apply the appropriate marketing theory to the case. The cases will be similar in content to the case given for your final exam. If you learn to analyze the cases during class time, you should do well on your final. 

Written Assignments – Research Project on Student Use of Downtown Businesses:  Students will be grouped into teams. Each team will undertake a research study of the use of downtown businesses by college students for the Williamsport Downtown Business Development Association. Each team will use a different research method. The methods that will be used include:  

  1. In-depth interviews
  2. Person-on-the-street interviews
  3. Focus groups
  4. Written survey
  5. Observation
  6. Experimentation
  7. Projective techniques
  8. Internet-based research
 

Each project and paper will include the following steps based on the research process: 

 

You should support any important findings in your secondary research by using four different references from other marketing books, articles from reputable journals or government sources. (Do not use your own or other textbooks.) At least one of the references must be from each type of source. It is essential that you learn to use references well, rather than frequently. The outside sources that are used as references must be properly cited using Turabian (Chicago) citation style. If you do not know this style, check the library webpage. 

Be sure that your writing in the reports and proposals is clear and concise and that your papers contain no grammatical or spelling errors. (Make Mr. Spell Check and Ms. Grammar Check your friends!)  All written assignments must be typed in a 12 point Times New Roman font and stapled. You must use a word processing program and demonstrate in your papers that you can use the following features: bold, italics, indented paragraphs, bullets and numbering, borders and shading and insertion of clip art and text boxes.  Please do not hand in your work in a binder or cover until the final report is due. 

The purpose of the assignment is to allow you to apply what you are learning. It is critical that your reports and proposals appropriately and correctly use the marketing concepts in the text. 

All written work must be your own. All ideas taken from sources other than your textbook must be referenced. Plagiarism, either intentional or accidental, is not acceptable and will result in a failing grade on the assignment. Papers may be checked at turnitin.com for a plagiarism analysis. The assignment check list must be handed in with each section of the paper.  

Quizzes: A total of ten quizzes will be randomly given on the assigned written material. Therefore you must come to class prepared. The quiz will ask one of the following questions: 

 

After the completing the quiz, selected students will be asked to write their answers on the board. 

Final Exam: A final exam will be given. The final will consist of short answer essay questions based on a marketing case. 

Grading: The follow percentage distribution will apply: 

20% Final

40% Research Project

20%  Cases

20% Quizzes

100% Total

 

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