Amity CampusUttar PradeshIndia 201303

ASSIGNMENTSPROGRAM: MFC

SEMESTER-IISubject Name : Marketing Research & Report PREStudy COUNTRY :BOTSWANARoll Number (Reg.No.) : MFC001112014-20160213Student Name :PITSO SIYABONGA BOSIGO

INSTRUCTIONSa) Students are required to submit all three assignment sets.

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS MARKSAssignment A Five Subjective Questions 10Assignment B Three Subjective Questions + Case Study 10Assignment C Objective or one line Questions 10

b) Total weightage given to these assignments is 30%. OR 30 Marksc) All assignments are to be completed as typed in word/pdf.d) All questions are required to be attempted.e) All the three assignments are to be completed by due dates and need to be submitted for

evaluation by Amity University.f) The students have to attached a scan signature in the form.

Signature : _________________________________Date : __10/06/15_______________________________

( √ ) Tick mark in front of the assignments submitted

Assignment ‘A’

Assignment ‘B’ Assignment ‘C’

Marketing Research & Report Preparation

Assignment-1

1. Explain in details the process of marketing research.

It is paramount to delimit the universe of discourse by defining key concept being marketing research which loosely refers to the systematic methodology for informing business decisions. Some scholars refers to it as systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of information for the purpose of improving decision making related to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing. Green and Tull have defined marketing research as follows:” Marketing research is the systematic and objective search for, and analysis of, information relevant to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of marketing."As marketing research is systematic hence systematic planning is required at all stages of the marketing research process. All the procedures followed at each step are planned in advance. Scientific methods are being used to for data collection and analysis.

Stage1. Problem Identification

Perhaps the most important in the market research process is defining the goals of the project. It is therefore fundamental to understand the root question that needs to be informed by market research. This entails among others the purpose of study, background information, required information and its needs. It is during this stage that intense discussion with decision makers, discussion with industry experts, analysis of past data, and qualitative research are undertaken in order to make informed decision.

Stage2. Approach to the Problem

At the core of the stage of approach to the above identified problem is formulation of objective or theoretical framework, analytical models, research questions, and hypothesis and identifying the information needed and is largely guided by discussion, data analysis and qualitative research.

Stage 3. Research Design

Research design is an outline for piloting the marketing research project. It covers among others the actions necessary for obtaining the required information, and its purpose is to design a study that will test the hypotheses of interest, determine possible answers to the research questions, and provide the information needed for decision making. The choice of research instruments will be based on the nature of the data the researcher is attempting to collect. Therefore there are three classifications to consider being Exploratory Research, Descriptive Research or Causal Research. In addition the issue of how the data should be obtained from the respondents (for example, by conducting a survey or an experiment) must be addressed. It is also necessary to design a questionnaire and a sampling plan to select respondents for the study. Based on that the researcher will be able to identify the types of data analysis that he or she will conduct either simple summary, advanced regression analysis, etc., which dictates the structure of questions asked. More formally, framing the research design involves the following steps:

Secondary data analysis Qualitative research Methods of collecting quantitative data (survey, observation, and experimentation) Definition of the information needed Measurement and scaling procedures

Questionnaire design Sampling process and sample size Plan of data analysis

Stage 4: Field Work or Data Collection

This is the meat and potatoes of the project or a field force or staff that operates either in the field, as in the case of personal interviewing (in-home, mall intercept, or computer-assisted personal interviewing), the time of administering the survey, running focus groups, conducting the interviews, through mail (traditional mail and mail panel surveys with pre recruited households) or implementing field test. Proper selection, training, supervision, and evaluation of the field force help minimize data-collection errors hence is critical to note that each nugget of information is precious and will be part of the masterful conclusions which will be drawn at last.

Stage 5: Data Preparation and Analysis

It includes the editing, coding, transcription, and verification of data through usage of software package such as Excel, SPSS, Minitab, etc.). Each questionnaire or observation form is inspected, or edited, and, if necessary, corrected. Number or letter codes are assigned to represent each response to each question in the questionnaire. The data from the questionnaires are transcribed or key-punched on to magnetic tape, or disks or input directly into the computer. Verification ensures that the data from the original questionnaires have been accurately transcribed, while data analysis, guided by the plan of data analysis, gives meaning to the data that have been collected by giving tables, regression, graphs and also segmenting the results by groups that make sense and ultimately look for the major trends in the data. Univariate techniques are used for analyzing data when there is a single measurement of each element or unit in the sample, or, if there are several measurements of each element, each RCH variable is analyzed in isolation. On the other hand, multivariate techniques are used for analyzing data when there are two or more measurements on each element and the variables are analyzed simultaneously.

Stage 6: Report Preparation and Presentation

At last, the complete project should be documented in a written report which addresses the specific research questions identified, describes the approach, the research design, data collection, and data analysis procedures adopted and present the results and the major findings. The findings should be presented in a comprehensible format so that they can be readily used in the decision making process. In addition, an oral presentation should be made to management using tables, figures, and graphs to enhance clarity and impact. For these reasons, interviews with experts are more useful in conducting marketing research for industrial firms and for products of a technical nature, where it is relatively easy to identify and approach the experts. This method is also helpful in situations where little information is available from other sources, as in the case of radically new products

2. Compare and contrast the exploratory, descriptive, and causal research designs.

Global most research can be divided into three different categories; exploratory, descriptive and causal. Each serves a different end purpose and can only be used in certain ways. In the online survey world, mastery of all three can lead to sounder insights and greater quality information.

Exploratory research  seeks to gather preliminary information that will help define problems and suggest

hypotheses while Descriptive research seeks to describe things, such as the market potential for a product or the

demographics and attitudes of consumers who buy the product while Causal research: The objective of causal

research is to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships. If the objective is to determine which

variable might be causing a certain behavior, i.e. whether there is a cause and effect relationship between

variables, causal research must be undertaken

Exploratory research focuses on the discovery of ideas and insights as opposed to collecting statistically accurate data hence exploratory research is best suited as the beginning of your total research plan while Descriptive research takes up the bulk of online surveying and is considered conclusive in nature due to its quantitative nature and mostly enough Like descriptive research, causal research is quantitative in nature as well as preplanned and structured in design. For this reason, it is also considered conclusive research.

Moreover it is important to note that Causal research differs in its attempt to explain the cause and effect relationship between variables. This is opposed to the observational style of descriptive research, because it attempts to decipher whether a relationship is causal through experimentation. Unlike exploratory research, descriptive research is preplanned and structured in design so the information collected can be statistically inferred on a population

Exploratory research  is most commonly used for further defining company issues, areas for potential growth, alternative courses of action, and prioritizing areas that require statistical research while the core idea behind using the descriptive type of research is to better define an opinion, attitude, or behaviour held by a group of people on a given subject. Consider your everyday multiple choice questions. Since there are predefined categories a respondent must choose from, it is considered descriptive research.

3. What are the advantages of using projective techniques in comparison to focus groups and in- depth interviews?

They may elicit responses that subjects would be unwilling or unable to give if they knew the purpose of the study.

2. Helpful when the issues to be addressed are personal, sensitive, or subject to strong social norms.

3. Helpful when underlying motivations, beliefs, and attitudes are operating at a subconscious level.4. Disadvantages of Projective Techniques5. Suffer from many of the disadvantages of unstructured direct techniques, but to a greater extent. 6. Require highly trained interviewers. 7. Skilled interpreters are also required to analyze the responses. 8. There is a serious risk of interpretation bias. 9. They tend to be expensive. 10. May require respondents to engage in unusual behavior.

11. Guidelines for Using Projective Techniques 12. Projective techniques should be used because the required information cannot be accurately obtained by direct methods.13. Projective techniques should be used for exploratory research to gain initial insights and understanding.14. Given their complexity, projective techniques should not be used naively.

4. Write a brief note on survey methods.

Surveys provide a means of measuring a population’s characteristics, self-reported and observed behaviour, awareness of programs, attitudes or opinions, and needs. Normally, a questionnaire is a paper-and-pencil instrument that is administered to the respondents. The usual questions found in questionnaires are closed-ended questions, which are followed by response options. However, there are questionnaires that ask open-ended questions to explore the answers of the respondents. Between the two broad types of surveys, interviews are more personal and probing. Questionnaires do not provide the freedom to ask follow-up questions to explore the answers of the respondents, but interviews do. An interview includes two persons - the researcher as the interviewer, and the respondent as the interviewee. There are several survey methods that utilize interviews. These are the personal or face-to-face interview, the phone interview and more recently, the online interview. Self-completion surveys via mail, email, the internet or SMS are generally the least expensive, particularly for a widespread sample. They allow respondents time to consider their answers, refer to records or consult with others. In addition Cross-Sectional Surveys means collecting information from the respondents at a single period in time uses the cross-sectional type of survey. Cross-sectional surveys usually utilize questionnaires to ask about a particular topic at one point in time. For instance, a researcher conducted a cross-sectional survey asking teenagers’ views on cigarette smoking as of May 2015. Longitudinal Surveys is used when the researcher attempts to gather information over a period of time or from one point in time up to another, he is doing a longitudinal survey. The aim of longitudinal surveys is to collect data and examine the changes in the data gathered. Longitudinal surveys are used in cohort studies, panel studies and trend studies. Lastly Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) is a particular type of telephone survey technique that helps to resolve some of the limitations of general telephone-based surveying. With CATI, interviewers use a computer terminal. The questions appear on the computer screen and the interviewers enter responses directly into the computer. The interviewer’s screen is programmed to show questions in the planned order. Interviewers cannot inadvertently omit questions or ask them out of sequence. Online messages warn interviewers if they enter invalid values or unusual values.

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5. When selecting the use of a neutral alternative in dichotomous questions what considerations should be kept in mind?

If a neutral alternative isn't included, respondents are forced to choose between "no" and "yes" even if they feel indifferent. Conversely, if a neutral alternative is included, respondents may avoid taking a position on the issue, thus biasing the results. Following guidelines are offered. If substantial proportion of the respondents can be expected to be neutral, include a neutral alternative. If proportion of neutral respondents is anticipated to be small, avoid the neutral alternative.

Assignment-2

1. Explain data editing and coding process in details .

After being validated, the data must be edited for the possibility of mistakes. Therefore Editing is the process whereby the data are checked for mistakes made by either the interviewer or respondent. This is done by manually scanning through each completed interview so as to check several areas of concern including;

Proper asking of questions Proper recording of answers Proper screening of respondents Proper recording of open-ended questions

Data coding involves grouping and assigning value to responses to questions contained in the survey instrument. Coding specifically entails the assignment of numerical values to each individual response for each question within the survey. Typically, these codes are numerical- a number from 0 to 9- because numbers are quick and easy to input and computers work better with numbers than alphanumeric values.

2. Discuss the importance of marketing research report in the marketing research process.

With the economy becoming more and more competitive with each passing day, having apt knowledge about the concerns and preferences of your customers has become integral for any business. Market research is the best way to increase customer satisfaction, understand the factors that affect your business, and to elevate your performance. Here are three reasons why market research report cannot be ignored:

Market research report can guarantees the success of your marketing campaigns, and in-turn sales

Market research report not only helps in identifying new business opportunities, but also helps in designing marketing campaigns that will directly target the interest of your potential consumers and help in increasing sales. Marketing research provides valuable information about the potential of a particular market segment, during a specific time, and within a particular age group.

Market research can help you keep a tab on your competitors

Marketing research is a good evaluation tool that can be of great use in comparative studies. You can track your company's progress as well as the growth of your competitors, by keeping an eye on your competitors. You can devise business strategies that would keep you ahead of your business rivals.

3. Market research report can help you minimize loss in your businessWith market research, you can reduce the chances of loss to a large extent. Before launching a product, you can identify potential problems and even determine the solutions. The research carried out after the

launch of a new product can help you find loopholes and devise plans to counter that loss and increase the profits

3. Briefly discuss mechanical observation. What is it and why is it used? Mechanical observation, as the term implies, is the use of some type of mechanical or electronic device (videotape camera, traffic counter, optical scanner, eye tracking monitor, pupilometer, audio voice pitch analyzer, psychogalvanometer, to name a few) to capture human behavior, events, or marketing phenomena. Such electronic devices may reduce the cost and improve the flexibility, accuracy, or other functions in the data collection process.

Describe two devices used for mechanical observation that do not require the respondent’s direct participation.

The pupilometer mechanically observes and records changes in the diameter of a subject‘s pupils. In its employment, the subject is instructed to view a screen on which the stimulus is projected. As the distance and brightness of the stimulus to the subject‘s eyes are held constant, changes in pupil sizes are recorded and are interpreted to be the results of some type of unobservable cognitive activity. The assumption that underlies the use of a pupilometer is the belief that increases in pupil size within a controlled environment reflects a positive attitude or interest in the stimulus.

The eye tracking monitor is a device that observes and records a person‘s unconscious eye movements. Invisible infrared light beams record the subject‘s eye movements while reading or viewing the stimulus (e.g., a magazine ad, TV commercial, package design) and another video camera records what part of the given stimulus is being viewed at the movement. The two databases are overlaid and the monitor system can determine what parts of the stimulus were seen and which components were overlooked. In advertising, this type of data can provide insights to possible points of interest and impacts to selling points.

Assignment-3

1. Marketing Research, is everything except_______a. Systematicb. Politically biasedc. Objectived. Used to assist management in decision makinge. None of the above

2. _____ is undertaken to help identify problems that are perhaps not apparent on the surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in the future.a. Problem identification researchb. Segmentation researchc. Problem solving researchd. Marketing information systemse. Advertising research

3. In order to determine customer needs and to implement marketing strategies and programs aimed at satisfying those needs, marketing managers need information about _____.a. Customersb. Competitorsc. Other forces in the marketplace

d. All of the abovee. None of the above

4. Marketing managers need the information provided by marketing research for many reasons.Which of the following is not a reason to need information provided by marketing research?a. Firms have become national and international in scope.b. Consumers have become more affluent and sophisticated.c. Competition has become more intense.d. All of the above.e. (a) and (b) above

5. The Nielsen Television Index is a set of information of known commercial value that is provided to multiple clients on a subscription basis. The Nielson Index is an example of _____.a. Syndicated servicesb. Customized servicesc. Standardized servicesd. Analytical servicese. Partial services

6. Customized services are________a. Companies that specialize in one or a few phases of the marketing research projectb. Companies that use standardized procedures to provide marketing research to various clientsc. Companies that collect and sell common pools of data designed to serve information needs shared by a number of clientsd. Companies that tailor the research procedures to best meet the needs of each cliente. Both (a) and (b) above

7. Which one of the following techniques is not a qualitative research technique?a. Depth interviewb. Word associationc. Focus groupd. Conclusive researche. Projective technique

8. Which of the following tasks is not a component of research design?a. Design the exploratory, descriptive, and/or causal phases of the research.b. Construct and pretest a questionnaire (interviewing form) or an appropriate form for data collection.c. Specify the sampling process and sample size.d. Develop hypotheses.e. None of the above

9. As compared to primary data, secondary data are collected_______.a. Rapidly and easilyb. At a relatively low costc. In a short timed. All of the abovee. None of the above

10. Depth interviews are like focus group in all of the following ways except:a. Both are unstructured interviewsb. Both are direct ways of obtaining informationc. Both are qualitative research methods

d. Both are one-on-one interviewse. (b) and (c) above

11. An interviewing process which uses a computerized questionnaire administered to respondents over the telephone is known asa. Traditional telephoneb. In-homec. Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI)d. Internete. Mall intercept

12. In marketing research, attitudinal data obtained from rating scales are often treated as _______ data.a. Nominalb. Ordinalc. Intervald. Ratioe. Non metric

13. When used for classification purposes, the ________ scaled numbers serve as labels for classes or categories.a. Ordinallyb. Intervallyc. Nominallyd. Ratio scalee. Rank

14. The mathematical symbols ‘ X σ ’ and ‘ X S ’ represent a _____ for the population and the sampling distribution respectively.a. Standard error of the proportionb. Standard deviationc. Standard error of the meand. Mediane. Variance

15. Respondents have been asked to express their degree of agreement with a series of lifestylestatements on a 1-to-5 scale, assuming that 9 has been designated for missing values, data values of 0, 6, 7, and 8 are out of range. Where in the data cleaning process might any out-of range data be caught?a. Consistency checksb. Returning to the fieldc. Treatment of missing responsesd. Both (a) and (c) are correcte. Both (b) and (c) are correct

16. Which option for the treatment of missing values involves the researcher using the respondents’ pattern of responses to calculate a suitable response to the missing questions?a. Returning to the fieldb. Case-wise deletionc. Substitute an imputed responsed. Substitute a neutral valuee. Pair wise deletion

17. Which of the research questions / hypotheses given below is best answered using cross tabulations?

a. Is model appeal of an motorbike related to age and education levels?b. The department store is being patronized by more than 10 percent of households.c. One hotel has a more upscale image than its close competitor.d. Both (b) and (c) are correct.e. None of the above

18. The regression equation for a categorical independent variable with four categories would be modeled as: Ŷi=a+ b1 D1+ b2 D2+ b3 D3, here D1, D2, D3 are thea. Dependent variablesb. Independent Variablesc. Dummy variablesd. Surrogate variablese. Trial variables

19. If the discriminant function is estimated and the square of the canonical correlation is 0.81, what does it indicate?a. 81% of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the model.b. The null hypothesis is rejected. Therefore, there is significant discrimination between groups.c. 90% of the explained variance is accounted for.d. (b) and (c) are correcte. None of the above

20. The linear combinations of independent variables developed by discriminant analysis that will best discriminate between the categories of the dependent variable are _____.a. Discriminant functionsb. Discriminant scoresc. Characteristic profilesd. Classification matrixe. Group centroids

21. Factor analysis is a (n) _____ in that the entire set of interdependent relationships is examined.a. KMO measure of sampling adequacyb. Orthogonal procedurec. Interdependence techniqued. Varimax proceduree. Orthogonal rotation

22. The amount of variance a variable shares with all other variables included in the factor analysis is referred to as _____.a. Communalityb. Total variancec. Shared varianced. Percentage of variancee. Eigen value

23. An analysis technique which uses methods that are heuristics based on algorithms is known as.a. Factor analysisb. Discriminant analysisc. Clusteringd. Analysis of variancee. Regression analysis

24. If you are performing cluster analysis on the same data using different distance measures and then comparing the results across measures to determine stability of the solutions, you are at which stage of the cluster analysis process?a. Interpreting and profiling the clustersb. Assessing reliability and validityc. Deciding on the number of clustersd. Deciding on the number of factorse. Selecting a clustering procedure

25. _____ is a lack of fit measure; higher values indicate poorer fits.a. Attribute levelsb. Stressc. R-squared. KMOe. Relative importance weights

26. In which approach to collecting perception data are respondents often required to rate all possible pairs of brands or stimuli in terms of similarity/dissimilarity on a 1-5 scale? (1 – Most similar, 5 – least similar)a. Directb. Preferencec. Derivedd. Likerte. In direct

27. Which statement is true about using discriminant analysis to create spatial maps?a. Input data should be obtained via attribute-based approaches to obtaining perception data.b. Spatial maps are obtained by plotting brand scores on the factors.c. Discriminant weights can be used to label the dimensions.d. Both (a) and (c) are truee. None of the above.

28. Which of the following statements is not true concerning conjoint analysis?a. The underlying assumption is that any set of stimuli, such as products, brands, or stores, is evaluated as a bundle of attributes.b. Conjoint analysis relies on respondent’s subjective evaluations.c. Conjoint analysis seeks to develop the part-worth or utility functions describing the utility consumers attach to the levels of each attribute.d. The stimuli in conjoint analysis are products or brandse. It is used for determining the relative importance of attributes in the consumer choice process

29. For conjoint analysis, when full or complete profiles of brands are constructed for all the attributes, the process is known asa. Full-profile approachb. Pair-wise approachc. Two-factor evaluationsd. Both (b) and (c)e. Multifactor evaluation30. Marketing research has often been described as having four stakeholders. These stakeholders have certain responsibilities to each other and to the research project. Which of the following is not one of the stakeholders?a. The marketing researcherb. The respondentc. The publicd. The environment

e. The research agency

31. Because of potential difficulties when seeking advice from experts, it is best to use interviews with experts when conducting marketing research ________.a. For industrial firmsb. For products of a technical naturec. In situations where little information is available from other sourcesd. All of the abovee. None of the above32. The management decision problem focuses on ________, while the marketing research problem focuses on ________.a. Symptoms; solutionsb. Symptoms; underlying causesc. Solutions; underlying causesd. Underlying causes; solutionse. None of the above

33. ________ is a type of non-sampling error arising from respondents who do respond but give inaccurate answers, or their answers are mis-recorded or mis analyzed. It may be defined as the variation between the true mean value of the variable in the net sample and the observed mean value obtained in the marketing research project.a. Random sampling errorb. Non-response errorc. Non-sampling errord. Response errore. Inefficiency error

34. Which of the following is a disadvantage of surveys?a. Interviewer errors; respondent errorsb. Data is lacking in terms of content, quantity, and qualityc. Data may not be representative; quality of data limitedd. Coverage may be incomplete; matching of data on the competitive activity may be difficulte. None of the above35. The target population for a department store project was defined as “male or female head of household responsible for most of the shopping at department stores in metro Mumbai in 2006.” “Male or female head of household responsible for most of the shopping at department stores” is what part of the target population definition?a. Elementsb. Sampling unitc. Extentd. Timee. Both (b) and (c) above

36. Using the same text in question number 7 “Metro Mumbai” is what part of the target population definition?a. Elementsb. Sampling unitc. Extentd. Timee. Both (b) and (c) above

37. Supervisor should keep daily records of the number of calls made, number of not-at-homes, number of refusals, and number of completed interviews for each interviewer and the total for all interviewers under their control. These daily records are a part of ________.a. Quality control and editingb. Control of cheatingc. Central office controld. Sampling controle. Both b and c above38. The number of units that will have to be sampled is thea. Incidence rateb. Initial sample sizec. Completion rated. Final sample sizee. Population size

39. Which option for the treatment of missing values involves the researcher using only cases or respondents with complete responses for each calculation?a. Returning to the fieldb. Case-wise deletionc. Pair-wise deletiond. Substitute a neutral valuee. Using an arbitrary value

40. Factor analysis is a multivariate statistical techniques used when, there isa. Variable interdependenceb. One dependent variablec. More than one dependent variabled. Inter object similaritye. Inter object dissimilarity