This is a decision-oriented course, one which focuses on how and when organizations should gather marketing intelligence for strategic marketing decision-making. The course introduces students to the research process and reviews both qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques. The course covers topics such as problem definition, research design formulation, measurement, research instrument development, sampling techniques, data collection, data interpretation and analysis, and presentation of research findings. Students form teams and choose a marketing research project: formulate research hypotheses, collect secondary and primary data, develop an SPSS database, analyze data, write a report, present findings and recommendations for further research. Students will develop their skills is focus group interviewing, questionnaire construction, and statistical analysis and data presentation.

This course is a comprehensive, practical presentation of the field of marketing research, particularly as it serves as an aid to managerial decision making. Accordingly, the course is primarily intended for prospective users of research results (i.e. aspiring marketing managers) rather than for the doers or specialists in marketing research. The rationale for potential users to study the "how" of marketing research is two fold.

First, the more one is aware of the tools of marketing research and their strengths and limitations, the more realistic will be the demands placed upon those responsible for the marketing research function.

Second, the more one knows of proper marketing research procedure, the better one will be able to judge the quality of the performance of the marketing research specialist(s), and thereby, the degree to which one may rely on the results.

Letter grades awarded in this course will normally correspond to the following numerical scores:

93+% A ; 90-92% A-; 87-89% B+; 83-86% B; 80-82% B-; 77-79% C+; 73-76% C; 70-72% C-; 67-69% D+; 63-66% D; 60-62% D-; 59 and below F.

A.   Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides coherent well structured persuasive arguments, displays an extensive knowledge of relevant information or content as well as its application. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B.     This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised. There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluate theory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture and reference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C.      This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D.      This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material. Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included. In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F.     This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues being questioned. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant or confused.