Online
Business School is now
open. Business/Management and Research curriculum
and learning contents subscriptions are available
to International Universities, Colleges,
Management Development and Training Centres
and their Students and Staff throughout the
world.
Research
is the search for and retrieval of existing, discovery
or creation of new information or knowledge for
a specific purpose. Research has many categories, from
medical research to literary research. Marketing
research (also called consumer research)
is a form of business
research. It is a form of applied sociology which
concentrates on understanding the behaviours, whims and
preferences, of consumers in
a market-based
economy. The field of marketing research as a statistical
science was pioneered by Arthur
Nielsen with the founding of the ACNielsen Company
in 1923.
Marketing
research is an important tool in marketing management.
Using the results from a research study is as important
as conducting one. By understanding the research process,
the users of research will better judge the suitability,
reliability and the validity of a research study. Understanding
the research process and commonly used tools in marketing
research is imperative for a student of marketing.
Therefore, this course aims to familiarize the student
with the commonly used techniques in the collection
and analysis of marketing research information:
To
have the student gain perspective and practice in applying
these techniques, and report findings through a research
project.
To
develop an understanding of decision making in marketing,
its inherent difficulties and pitfalls and the importance
of information in marketing research.
Therefore,
this course aims:
To
provide students with fluency in the language of marketing
research.
To
teach students how to use computers to analyze marketing
data.
To
familiarize students with the use of electronic mail
and other computer mediated communications techniques
such as the one you are using right now.
To
familiarize the student with the commonly used techniques
in the collection and analysis of marketing research
information.
To
have the student gain perspective and practice in applying
these techniques, and report findings through a research
project.
To
develop an understanding of decision making in marketing,
its inherent difficulties and pitfalls and the importance
of information in marketing research.
To
provide students with fluency in the language of marketing
research.
To
give students practice in performing an actual marketing
research project.
Learning
Outcomes
At
the end of the module the students will understand
and be able to plan:
Research
Process:design, implement, and communicate an applied
research project that demonstrates theoretical, conceptual,
and operational aspects of the entire research process
Ethical/Legal
conduct research that demonstrates respect for professional
ethical values, standards, human rights, and legislation
Methodology
- use qualitative and quantitative methodological knowledge
in designing, conducting, and evaluating research projects
and producing findings
Technology
- use the most recent technology in retrieving and
processing information as well as presenting and communicating
findings
Analysis
- process information and conduct statistical and non-statistical
analysis in a way that is best suited to the nature
of the information and to the purposes of the study
Interpretation
- critically interpret and evaluate research and its
implications within the decision process
Communication
- communicate in clear written and verbal format using
effective presentation techniques
Transferable
Skills
Complementary
to the learning outcomes, the students will have a
sense of confidence and competence that enables them
to function effectively in a research setting by demonstrating
many of the following:
Market
research is broader in scope and examines
all aspects of a business environment. It asks
questions about competitors, market
structure, government regulations, economic
trends, technological advances, and numerous other
factors that make up the business environment.
(See Environmental
scanning.) Sometimes the term refers more particularly
to the financial analysis of companies, industries,
or sectors.
In this case, financial analysts usually carry
out the research and provide the results to investment
advisors and potential investors.
Product
research - This looks at what products can
be produced with available technology, and what new
product innovations near-future technology can develop.
(see New
Product Development)
Advertising
research - This attempts to assess the likely
impact of an advertising campaign
in advance, and also measure the success of a recent
campaign..
The
EvaluationWiki -
The mission of EvaluationWiki is to make
freely available a compendium of up-to-date
information and resources to everyone involved
in the science and practice of evaluation.
The EvaluationWiki is presented by the non-profit Evaluation
Resource Institute.
Sampling is that part of statistical practice
concerned with the selection of an unbiased or random subset
of individual observations within a population of individuals
intended to yield some knowledge about the population of
concern, especially for the purposes of making predictions
based on statistical
inference. Sampling is an important aspect of data
collection.
Researchers
rarely survey the entire population for two reasons (Adèr, Mellenbergh, & Hand,
2008): the cost is too high, and the population is dynamic
in that the individuals making up the population may
change over time. The three main advantages of sampling
are that the cost is lower, data collection is faster,
and since the data set is smaller it is possible to ensure
homogeneity and to improve the accuracy and quality of
the data.
Each observation measures one or more properties (such
as weight, location, color) of observable bodies distinguished
as independent objects or individuals. In survey
sampling, survey weights can be applied to the data
to adjust for the sample
design. Results from probability
theory and statistical
theory are employed to guide practice. In business
and medical research, sampling is widely used for gathering
information about a population.[1]
TRSL – Template
Range Sampling Library is a free-software and open-source
C++ library that implements several sampling schemes
behind an (STL-like) iterator interface.
Data
Analysis is the act
of transforming data with
the aim of extracting useful information and
facilitating conclusions.
Depending on the type of data and the question,
this might include application of statistical methods, curve
fitting, selecting or discarding certain subsets
based on specific criteria,
or other techniques. Respect to Data
mining, data analysis is usually more narrowly
intended as not aiming to the discovery of unforeseen
patterns hidden in the data, but to the verification
or disproval of an existing model, or to the extraction
of parameters necessary to adapt a theoretical
model to (experimental) reality.
