The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Department of Marketing, CUHK Business School
MKTG3010A: MARKETING RESEARCH
Meeting time:
Meeting period:
Meeting place:
Tue 14:30 – 17:15
Sep 8, 2015 – Dec 1, 2015
CYT 410
Instructors:
Prof. Mandy Hu
Rm1105, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK
MandyHu@baf.cuhk.edu.hk
Tel: 3943-5908
14:00 – 16:00 (Friday) or by appointment
Office Hour:
Teaching Assistant:
Miss DANG, Chu (Ivy)
Rm1149-1151, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK
dangchu@baf.cuhk.edu.hk
Tel: 6436-0831
Description of the course
The main objective of this course is to equip students with the key concepts, process
and methods of marketing research, and learn how to apply those tools to solve reallife business problems. This course puts more emphasis on quantitative research
methods to prepare students for the newest development in the field. We cover the
technical aspects of marketing research (both qualitative and quantitative research
methods) through lectures and discuss real life applications using various articles and
cases. An important element of this course is a marketing research project (more
details under the “Marketing Research Project” section below) where students identify
and solve a real business problem using marketing research methods.
Learning objectives
1. To develop an appreciation for the potential contributions and limitations of
marketing research.
2. To learn about the steps in the marketing research process, which include
problem definition, research design (exploratory, descriptive and causal), data
collection methods, questionnaire design, sampling schemes, and data analysis.
3. To operationalize several key marketing concepts such as customer preference,
segmentation, targeting, positioning and new product development.
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Learning outcomes
On successfully completing this course, students should be able to:
1. Understand the basic concepts, processes and techniques of marketing
research.
2. Apply the knowledge to solve real business problems.
3. Appreciate the fundamental role marketing research plays in developing a
credible marketing plan and supporting a company’s short-term and long-term
objectives.
Prerequisite Courses
MKTG 2010
Class Requirements & Grading
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Class commitment: 20%
Group Project: 30%
Midterm Exam: 20%
Final Exam: 30%
Required materials
Required Textbook: Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 6th ed., by Naresh
K. Malhotra, Pearson, 2009
Required software: IBM SPSS Statistics 18 or above (You may also access SPSS
using Computer Lab), Microsoft EXCEL (version 2007 or newer)
Reading materials: You may download all the reading materials/video from
Blackboard.
1. “Backward Market Research”*
2. “The Science of Shopping” (section 1, 2 &3)
3. “Ethnographic Research: How Americans Eat”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbDPUQYjXMg)
4. “Boost Your Marketing ROI with Experimental Design”
5. “Mining the Mind”
6. “Self-Reports: How the Questions Shape the Answers”*
7. “Market Research – The Inside Story (BBC Documentary)”*
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eirq6hdiJbU)
8. “The TED talk of Malcolm Gladwell on Spaghetti Sauce”
(http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce?language=
en)
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Detailed Class Requirements
Class commitment (20%)
Given that marketing research is an applied subject where participation and discussion
is essential for learning, I encourage class participation and interaction as much as
possible. Class participation is mainly evaluated by the following criteria:
Electronics Policy
You may not use electronic devices (laptops, iPads, tablets, mobile phones,
Blackberries, etc.) in class unless directed to do so.
Classroom Etiquette
Attendance and Punctuality: Class will begin on time. Please make every effort to
arrive for class on time as late entries are distracting to your classmates. If you are
unable to arrive on time or must leave early, please enter/exit the room as quietly as
possible so as not to disturb your fellow students. If you are unable to attend class for
any reason, please notify me in advance (or as soon as possible) by email. There are
exceptions in accordance with CUHK policy for religious holidays, funeral, and
student/dependent hospitalizations, weddings, interviews, etc. Students are expected
to remain in class for the entirety of the session.
Beverages and Snacks: You are welcome to bring something to drink to class. Please
don’t bring food into class.
Class Sessions
Rather than merely rehashing concepts developed in the textbook, class sessions will
be devoted to extending and applying the concepts. I will assume that all of you have
completed the reading assignments (both chapters in the textbook and articles
assigned) before coming to class. If you all come to class well prepared, we will be
able to spend time on class exercises that simulate real world problems. You should
be prepared to discuss and present in class the readings and/or problems that have
been assigned for that session.
In-class Exercises
Starting from Week 3, you will spend the second half of the classes working on
exercises. You will work in groups.
There are two types of exercises. One is about assigned readings and videos. The
readings will be uploaded to Blackboard in the beginning of the semester. The links to
the videos are provided in the course outline. The star indicates that the material is
difficult so the team who chooses that will have 2 bonus points automatically. Each
group will present one of the readings/videos (15 minutes) and raise three questions
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about the reading to the class. The other teams email the answers to the questions to
the focal team voluntarily and the instructor (cc TA) by Friday of that week. The
answers will be graded by the focal team. The focal team will send the grades to the
instructor and TA by Sunday of that week. All the answers will be posted to
Blackboard. On the other hand, the quality of the presentation and the raised
questions of the focal team will be evaluated by the rest of the class. Each one has to
fill up a short evaluation form on Blackboard right after the class.
The other type of exercises is short answer/calculation questions. They serve to
facilitate your learning process by summarizing the key points you just learned and
applying them to real business problems. You will be working in groups to answer
those questions.
The group performance on the exercises will count toward your class commitment
grade. The team with the best performance will have full marks. The score of other
teams will be normalized according to the formula in Appendix.
Midterm Exam (20%) and Final Exam (30%)
The purpose of the exams is to assess your analytic skills and technical competence.
The exam will cover materials presented in textbook, lectures and articles discussed in
class. Exams are closed book.
Midterm Exam is optional. You can let me know your decision even after you take
the midterm exam but before I start grading. If you opt out, your final exam will count
for 50% of your total grade.
Marketing Research Project (30%)
The objective of the research project is to provide students with experience in
applying the concepts and methods learned in class to a real world problem.
Group Formation and Choice of Research Problem
The project is to be done in groups of 5 to 6 students. You are required to send the
names, student IDs and pictures of group members to the TA before the deadline in
week 2. Please also indicate the week and date that you want to present the reading
material. The group submission form can be downloaded from Blackboard. You are
not allowed to change group members after the course add/drop period.
A good team is formed based on mutual interests among its members instead of pure
friendship. So everyone has to submit a research problem by the end of the first week
through blackboard. We will compile a list of research problems for the class. In the
second week, everyone will be given a chance to introduce yourself and talk about the
topic you choose. This will help you get to know each other and form the group.
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Project Management
The project has been broken into different tasks (please refer to the course schedule
for the deadlines). To keep track of the progress, we will let each team report its
progress in the beginning of each class starting from week 3.
Notes on Survey
An important point to keep in mind is that respondents in the survey should have the
right to remain anonymous. This means that the data collected in the survey must be
stored in a manner such that individuals’ identities cannot be linked to their responses.
Respondents must be assured before you collect data that their responses will be
treated as confidential and will be anonymously analysed. Under no circumstances
should you give to your sponsor or anyone else your completed questionnaires, names
and contact information of people you have interviewed, or other material that may
reveal the identity of your respondents without their prior explicit approval.
Respondents should also be provided with the name and contact information of either
the client or a group member in case they have questions regarding the research.
When conducting your survey, you should do one of the following:
1. Represent yourself as CUHK students working on a class project and provide
contact information with your CUHK email address in case respondents would
like to ask about the research.
2. Represent yourself as CUHK students working on a class project for a client
(identify the client) and provide contact information of one of the group
member and/or the client.
To the extent feasible, please also indicate how you obtain the contact information of
the respondents you are contacting. Please be reminded that you are at all times
expected to respect and protect the privacy rights of the respondents. You should also
not misrepresent the School or your client in any fashion or form.
Evaluation
Your final group project report is due in Week 13. To help you manage the project, I
have broken it into five tasks:
1. The research proposal
You should have a brief description of the client background, the business
problem, research objectives, and how they follow from the business problem.
Outline a research design and briefly justify the choice (e.g., interviews + web
survey, focus groups + phone survey, on-site observations + survey, etc.).
Discuss potential problems in the research design.
2. An exploratory research
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This part should include secondary data analyses and qualitative research.
Your secondary data analyses may include analysing industry reports,
economic trends, input from existing data sources (e.g., company data, census,
trendwatching.com, etc.); your qualitative research may include one-on-one
interviews, focus groups, observations, etc. You are welcome to make videos
of focus groups or on-spot observations. This part typically takes 3-5 pages in
length in your report.
In the exploratory research report, please:
1. Describe the insights gained from secondary data (include proper
citations)
2. Describe the qualitative research that you conducted and the key
findings
3. Discuss how these findings may be used to refine your research
objective and identify the target population.
4. Include in the appendix any tables and figures, as well as guiding
questions used in the qualitative research.
3. Draft questionnaire and sampling strategy:
1. Define planned target population for data collection. If you are considering
online surveys with panel respondents, please be precise (e.g., Females 18‐65
who purchase yogurt at least once a week).
2. Your sampling strategy and sample size (if using a random sample)
3. A draft questionnaire that you have developed to address the research
objective and research questions that you have identified. The questionnaire
should include:
 An introduction (who you are, what the survey is about, how long it is going
to take, any compensation/incentive, and reasons why they should complete
this)
 The questions
 A thank you section
 Contact information in case the respondents have questions about the research
and/or the survey
 The accompanying cover letter/email/verbal script
A few suggestions:
1. Try to show professionalism in wording, formatting and sequencing the
questions.
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2. For each question in the questionnaire, think about how it will help you
answer the bigger research questions and what type of analysis you are
planning to use on the responses to that question (set of questions).
3. Given the time constraints you face, I encourage but do not require a
random sampling procedure. If you follow non-random sampling,
appropriate caveats for the use/interpretation of your results must be stated.
4. Data Analysis and Final report
You are required to collect at least 100 completed survey responses if you
decide to use survey to collect data. If you want to use some other ad hoc
approach, please talk to me first. The final report should be 12-point font, 1inch margin and should not be longer than 20 double-spaced pages, excluding
tables and figures and the final questionnaire. Please note that if your client
does not wish the contents of the report to be made public, make sure that you
put “CONFIDENTIAL” on the front cover of the report.
Please submit a zip file that contains a copy of the i) Final Report and ii)
the data file (in excel).
Your final report should follow this structure:
1. An executive Summary. Describe in one paragraph the business problem,
the research methodology, the main findings, the conclusions and your
recommendation to the client. The purpose of the executive summary is to
allow really busy CEOs to get a good grasp of what you have done, and digest
the most essential information without reading every sentence in the report.
2. Background. Define the problem to be studied and the purpose to be served
by the research (What is the benefit to the client? What is the value of the
research project?). This is what you did in the first task.
3. The research strategy. Define the population and the sampling frame.
Describe your sampling method as well as the size and profile of your sample.
If secondary data are used, identify the sources. This is what you did in the
first task.
4. Briefly describe the exploratory research you conducted. The insights you
generated and how that led to the design of your questionnaire. This is what
you did in the second task.
5. Include the final version of your questionnaire in the Appendix so that I
know exactly what questions were asked and what scales were used in the
questionnaire. You also need to talk about your sampling strategy in the report
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which should include all the components I introduced in class. This is what
you did in the third task.
6. Report your findings. You need to show how you analyse the data, the
results and your interpretation of the results. Discuss the implications of these
findings for your client. You can either use the data analysis methods you
learned in this class or from other classes. However, a successful application
of the methods from this class will be evaluated more favourably.
7. Finally, your recommendations − what should the client do? Make sure that
your recommendations are supported by the research findings.
8. Appendix
9. List of references.
5. Presentation
All groups have to submit your presentation PowerPoint in week 11 to TA via
email. You are not allowed to change after that. You will make a 30-minute
presentation of your project in class. Your presentation should be based on
your research report and have the following structure.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
Introduce the business problem
Define the research objective
Insights from exploratory research
Link c) to your questionnaire design
Describe your sampling method and the size of your sample
Data analysis and key findings
Your recommendation
General presentation guidelines:
1. All the members of the group should make the presentation.
2. Time limit: 30 minutes (with another 5 min Q&A). The group marks will
be deducted 1 point (out of the total 30 points) per 1 minute overdue.
3. Q & A – 5 minutes. Be prepared to answer questions from the Client.
Students may be randomly selected to ask questions and give comments.
4. Evaluation. The marking is based on:
 The evaluation of rest of the class (including the instructor) (70%). The
weight is the same.

Self-evaluation (30%) which is calculated based on how close your own
evaluation is with the evaluation of the rest of the class.
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Other Class Related Issues
Course Website: All relevant material related to the course will be posted on
Blackboard. Schedules, reading material, cases, and class notes will be made available
in class.
Grading: You can only appeal a grade if there is a clear misreading of what you wrote.
I can give you suggestions for improving your work, but will not respond to
emotional appeals.
Due dates: All due dates are strictly enforced without valid reason and prior
permission. Late assignments will not be accepted.
Feedback: If at any point during the course you have any questions regarding the
materials covered in class or regarding preparation for assignments or cases, please
raise them either in class so others may also benefit, or via email, or in person.
Group member Review: Group members can evaluate each other’s performance on
the assignment and project using a “peer review form” available on Blackboard. If no
evaluation is turned in, I will assume that everybody in the group contributed equally.
Individual project grades may be adjusted up or down depending on the evaluations
by all the other group members.
Plagiarism: Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in
academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to
breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
To uphold the University's policy on plagiarism, please submit your written
assignment through VeriGuide (https://veriguide1.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/cuhk/). When turn
in a hard copy, please attach a signed "Academic Honesty Declaration Statement" to it.
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Class Schedule
Week 1 (Sep 8)
Topic:
Course Overview
Research Question
Skim:
Chapter 1-2, 14
Submit (ind) Please submit your research question/interest to the TA as
well as your name, student ID and email address through
Blackboard.
Week 2 (Sep 15)
Topic:
Research Designs: Exploratory, Descriptive & Causal
Research
Group formation
Read:
Chapter 3
Skim:
Chapters 4-5
Submit (gr)
Please submit your Group Form as well as the presentation
date to TA by email
(due 8pm on Sep 16).
Week 3 (Sep 22)
Topic:
Descriptive & Causal Research
Read:
Chapter 6 – 7
Reminder:
We will start reporting project progress from this week.
We will start to have presentation and exercises from this week.
Week 4 (Sep 29)
Topics:
Types of Scales and Attitude Measurement
Questionnaire Design
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Read:
Chapter 8-9
Skim:
Chapters 10
Reminder:
Project Proposal should be done.
Week 5 (Oct 6)
Topic:
Sampling & Sample Size
Read:
Chapters 11-12
Skim:
Chapters 13-14
Week 6 (Oct 13)
Topic:
Designing New Products (Conjoint Analysis)
Read:
Chapter 21
Skim:
“New Way to Measure Consumers’ Judgements”
Reminder:
Exploratory research should be done.
Week 7
Midterm Exam
Week 8 (Oct 27)
Topic:
Frequency Distribution, Cross Tabulation, and Hypothesis
Testing
Read:
Chapters 15
Case 3.1 in the textbook, P. 820-824
Reminder:
Questionnaire and Sample Strategy should be done.
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9 (Nov 3)
Topic:
Regression
Read:
Chapters 17
Case 3.1 in the textbook, P. 820-824
Week 10 (Nov 10)
Topic:
Factor Analysis
Read:
Chapter 19
Case 3.1 in the textbook, P. 820-824
Week 11 (Nov 17)
Topic:
Submit (gr)
Group Presentation -1
Final Project Presentation Slides (due 8pm on Nov 16)
Week 12 (Nov 25)
Topic:
Group Presentation -2
Week 13 (Dec 1(Tue), time= TBD venue = TBD)
Final Exam
Week 14
Submit (gr)
Final Project Report (due 8pm on Dec 8)
Please submit a zip file that contains your i) final report, and
ii) data file (in excel).
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Appendix: Evaluation Method
1. For group project
|
(
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)
2. For exercise
3. Forget to submit peer evaluation?
We will automatically assume that you give the highest score to the other team.
4. Individual Score
(
|
|
)
5. Strategic Grading
Some of the students will be very strategic when they evaluate the other teams. They
tend to give low grade no matter what.
To encourage fair play, for each presentation if the average grade of peer evaluation
differs from the instructor’s grade by 2 standard deviation, we will award the top 3
students whose evaluation is closest to the instructor’s and the discrepancy is within 1
standard deviation by 2 bonus points.
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