Marketing 180
Market Research
Fall 2004
Professor: Dan
Toy
Office: 473 Tehama
Hall
Phone: 898-4823
Email: WebCT
email or, for emergencies dtoy@csuchico.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday
Motivation
for Course
It is often heard among business
professionals in the information age "I have more
data, and more information than ever before. I have more powerful
computers at my fingertips than ever before. But, if the truth be known, I'm
still basically making decisions the same old way." This
phenomenon exists because business professionals have not been educated in the
effective ways they can gather new information or use the massive amount of
information their databases already contain.
In this course you will learn how to gather and analyze marketing-related information. The course is based on the concept of student-involvement and real-time learning. What that means is that you will learn concepts and procedures on a “need-to-know basis.” A great deal of the course will revolve around the analysis of data and thus will help remedy the problem of too much data and not enough knowledge.
Course
Description
This course is not a traditional marketing research course in the sense that it does not revolve around a marketing research text. Instead, this course relies on online statistics and research methodology books to provide (free) background material on the topics we will cover during the course.
More than ever, becoming a business professional requires that you be comfortable with numerical analysis and interpretation of quantitative information. Companies, both large and small, now incorporate ERP and CRM systems that provide massive amounts of data for managerial decisions. To help you become more comfortable with numbers, numerical analysis, and statistics the online material will be supplemented by an extensive statistics text incorporated with the Statistica Statistical Software used in the course.
We will create our own
database(s) from in-class surveys and use secondary databases as well.
This will give you experience with most phases of the marketing research
process. We may also experiment with an online survey tool that provides
a marketing research capability via the WWW. We will use a statistical
package called Statistica. This software has won every software award
over the past 10 years in the statistics category and we will be one of the
first schools to use it in an academic environment. You will need to
“rent” a copy of Statistica and load it on your PC (the “rent” notion refers to
the fact that the software will have an expiration date at the end of the
semester – it would be far too costly to have you buy the software).
Statistica is a “user-friendly”, package but like all software, there is a
learning curve involved in mastery of the program. Statistica has the
look and feel of Microsoft Excel but provides a much broader set of analytical
tools. You will need to do much of the “software mechanics” learning associated
with Statistica on your own (just as you would any software pacakage), but its
use will be demonstrated in many of the classes in this course.
You may also want to consult the online primer for statistics (this is a Statistica product) at the following website: http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html
WebCT
We will use WebCT as a means of communication for this course (between you and I and between each other). That means you will need to check it often. All of the course material (including the syllabus) will be available under the category in WebCT called “course information.” You should be able to access most of the material used in the course directly from WebCT (for example MS Word files). However, depending upon you computer setup, you may need to download files like PowerPoint presentations and data files to your desktop and then open the files from there. It is assumed that you know how to download files from WebCT. I would suggest that you create a folder on your computer with the heading of Marketing 180 to put files that are related to this course. You will also need to know how to unzip files (large files that are compressed). The data files in the course are sometimes too large to easily post without compression.
Grades for all assignments will be posted on WebCT under the “my grades” link.
If you need help with anything related to WebCT, you can use the resources on the course link under “Student Resources.”
Course
- Learning Objectives for Students - At the end of this course, I
expect each student in this course to:
·
Have a better understanding of the world of
marketing research
·
Have learned some of the vocabulary used by
professionals in marketing research
·
Have an understanding of the different types of
research used in marketing and the scientific research process
·
Have learned to turn data into information and
information into knowledge using each of the four major types of research tools
·
Have a clear understanding that most of what we
know in marketing is based on relationships and that statistical analysis is
one way of understanding and describing these relationships
·
Have a clear understanding of how to use the
Statistica software
·
Have greater confidence in dealing with numbers
(as the new world of marketing is a “numbers kind of place”)
Required
Texts and Course Materials
·
Statistica: Version Number 6: A Statsoft
software product
· Access to the Statsoft electronic statistics text is included on your CD and is also available at this URL address - http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/stathome.html
· Access to electronic statistical resources on the web including:
1. Hyperstat: http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/
2. Statnotes: http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa765/statnote.htm
3. Data Collection and Analysis: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~agoodman/sci101/index.php
4. Introductory Statistics – Concepts, Models and Analysis: http://www.psychstat.smsu.edu/sbk00.htm
5. Multivariate Statistics - Concepts, Models and Analysis: http://www.psychstat.smsu.edu/MultiBook/mlt00.htm
6. Visual Statistics with Multimedia: http://www.visualstatistics.net/Visual%20Statistics%20Multimedia/Outline%20of%20Visual%20Statistics.htm
7. Statistics at Square 1: http://bmj.com/statsbk/
8. The Little Handbook of Statistical Practice: http://www.tufts.edu/%7Egdallal/LHSP.HTM
9. Statistics Notes: http://www.tufts.edu/%7Egdallal/bmj.htm
10. Statistics Every Writer Should Know: http://nilesonline.com/stats/
11. Stat Refresher: http://cne.gmu.edu/modules/dau/stat/index.html
12. Seeing Statistics: http://www.seeingstatistics.com/
13. WebStat: http://sbm-connect.tees.ac.uk/webstat/
14. The Data Analysis Briefbook: http://physics.web.cern.ch/Physics/DataAnalysis/BriefBook/
15. VassarStats: http://faculty.vassar.edu/lowry/VassarStats.html
16. Statistical Glossary as part of Statistics Home Page: (note - you must sign up for this free service) http://www.statistics.com/content/glossary/index.php3
17. Research Methods Knowledgebase: http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/
Information
About the Software
This course does not assume that you have any background
using the statistical software package called Statistica, Version 6. This
means that “getting on board” using the software package will be one of your
first priorities in the course. Statistica has a very good HELP feature
with its software, and we will augment this help feature by discussing many of
the fundamental uses of the software in class.
Course
Policies and Expectations
Disenrollment Policy. Students who miss either of the
first two class meetings without prior notification will be disenrolled. The
purpose of this policy is to create room for those students that really want
the course. If there is an option for additional students in the class,
students will be added using a “sign-up sheet” process.
Academic Honesty. Cheating of any kind will not be
tolerated in this course. If you are found cheating on any assignment, test or
quiz you will be treated in accordance with University policies. My
classroom policy also extends to having students “sign in” for other students
not in class and individuals not contributing their fair share to group
projects. These sanctions for dishonesty can range from getting an “F” grade on
an assignment (or in the course) to being expelled from the University.
Class Conduct. Think
of attending this class as being much the same as attending a business
meeting. In a business meeting you would
use the restroom before coming to the meeting.
You would avoid being late, walking out in the middle of the
meeting for any reason, or leaving early. You would treat your boss and other
colleagues with respect. That would mean
you would only talk when called upon and would treat others as you would like
to be treated, that is, you would follow the “golden rule.“ You would leave
your meeting environment as clean as you found it (or cleaner) because of your
respect for your workplace.
You would be acutely aware that everything that you do in the meeting reflects upon you as a professional. That includes your facial expressions, yawns, posture and attentiveness to the material being discussed in the meeting.
If you needed to talk with your
boss, you would wait until after the
meeting. If you wanted to talk to a
colleague, you would do the same. You
would want to make sure you were prepared for the meeting, so you would read
whatever material was appropriate for the meeting. You would want to make a good impression
on everyone in the room and would behave accordingly. In sum, you would act like a
professional. This is exactly the type
of behavior that I expect in this class.
Assignments
There will be at least one group assignment to be completed
by teams of 3-4 students. There will also be either individual
assignments or quizzes. All of these
assignments must be turned in on time, or there will be a grade penalty.
Project
The project in this course will
require your team to create a market research report based on a data set that
we either create in class or acquire from a secondary source. The purpose
of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to put together the
analytical and communication skills that you have acquired in Marketing 180 and
in other courses at CSUC. It will be due at the end of the semester.
Teamwork
Teamwork can be a joy or a pain
depending on the members in your group. If you are having problems with
your team, let me know right away. There
will be no excuses if you do not bring problems to my attention when they
occur. You have the right to excuse
(fire) team members if they are not cooperating with your group. Firing should be a last resort after you have
allowed me to talk with all members of your group.
Daily
Class Participation
Successful learning depends
heavily upon careful and thorough preparation of course materials and active
class participation. It is imperative that you make the distinction between
quality and quantity of classroom participation. It is not how much you
say, but what you say that is important.
Another important aspect of class
participation is your ability to listen to and interpret what others have to
say. If you are not attentive, you will find yourself repeating previous
remarks. Listening is as important as speaking--keep this in mind.
Obviously, in order to
participate in the class, you must be there physically. That means that
class attendance is an important learning determinant in the course. The
impact of attendance is listed in the section below on grades.
Evaluation
and Grades:
The university has outlined its grading policy in the catalog as follows:
· A = superior work; achievement so outstanding that it is normally attained by relatively few students
· B = very good work; achievement clearly better than adequate competence in the subject matter/skill, but not as good as the superior achievement of students earning A’s
· C = adequate work; achievement indicating adequate competence in the subject matter/skill. This level will usually be met by a majority of students.
· D = minimally acceptable work; achievement which meets the minimum requirements of the course.
· F = unacceptable work; achievement that fails to meet the minimum requirements of the course.
Assignments that are late will receive grades in accordance with the following rules: one day late = loss of one letter grade; two days late = loss of two letter grades; no assignment will be accepted that is over two days late.
I will follow these guidelines in this course. The calculation of a final grade in the course will be based on the following grade scale:
|
Numerical grade |
Letter grade |
|
92.6 – 100 |
A |
|
90 – 92.5 |
A- |
|
87.5 – 89.9 |
B+ |
|
82.5 – 87.4 |
B |
|
80 – 82.4 |
B- |
|
77.5 – 79.9 |
C+ |
|
72.5 – 77.4 |
C |
|
70 – 72.4 |
C- |
|
67.5 – 69.9 |
D+ |
|
60 – 67.4 |
D |
|
Below 60 |
F |
Note that there is a distinction
between effort and achievement.
It is very hard to evaluate effort, so your grade will be based on
achievement only. This is precisely how
you will be evaluated in the business world that you are about to enter.
The final grade in Marketing 180 will be a function of:
Tests (60
percent: note that you will need a Scantron and you may have1 page of notes
[both sides of page] for the exams)
Short assignments/quizzes (15
percent)
Project(s) (20 percent)
Attendance (5 percent)
·
Perfect attendance = 100
·
One missed class = 95
·
Two missed classes = 85
·
Three missed classes = 75
·
More than three missed classes = 0
If you have a valid reason for missing a class (e.g.,
illness, job interview,