Course Outline: Marketing Research

Course Code:
Credit: 3
Course Teacher: Ms. Adiba Anis, Lecturer, School of Business, Bangladesh Open University
Description
Marketing Research, is based on a proactive approach to the management of marketing information and the
application of that information to marketing decisions. At its best, marketing research can provide you with
valuable insights concerning markets, customers, products, and business strategy. Done incorrectly,
marketing research can provide the decision maker with a false sense of validity and integrity, leading to
misguided and costly decisions.

As a marketer, you are required to evaluate the worth of marketing research information as you make
decisions. In some instances you will collect information yourself and in other instances you will require
professional marketing research services to collect the data for you. Thus, it is necessary for you to be able
to distinguish good research from bad research and to guide high-quality research efforts of others. This
course teaches you how to evaluate research as well as how to do it. You will learn by doing - by applying
what you learn to practical situations. The material is interesting, and the exercises are relevant to most
administrative, supervisory and managerial positions. The approach to study should make your work really
enjoyable. If you are motivated and can commit yourself to doing a good job of the course, you will derive a
great deal of benefit from it.

Delivery Method
Delivery is scheduled, allowing you the some basic flexibility to proceed through the course according to
your fixed class schedule. You have to deliver your assignment papers – self handwritten and filed (hard
copies) and on Disks (soft copies) – if required.

Prerequisites
Completion of Principles of Marketing, Marketing Management

Objectives
When you complete this course, you should be able to: conduct research yourself, manage staff that conduct
research for you, and/or deal with professional research firms that provide you with research services. The
aim of this course is to illustrate to you that there is only one thing worse than making decisions with no
data at all, and that is making decisions with bad data. Upon completion of the course, you will be able to:
 Write a management decision problem and a marketing research problem, and discuss the
differences between them.
 Collect secondary data to refine a marketing research problem.
 Plan, conduct, and interpret a mini focus group.
 Create a strategy for increasing survey response rates.
 Differentiate between situations that call for surveys and situations that call for observational
research.
 Create and conduct a small survey, applying a wide range of survey, scale, and questionnaire
techniques.
 Recommend the best sampling technique for different situations and defend that recommendation.
 Produce a marketing research report and a recommendation for further research.

Course Outline
Module 1: Introduction to Marketing Research and Research Design
 Topic 1: The Definition of Marketing Research
  Topic 2: The Marketing Research Process
 Topic 3: Marketing Research and Marketing Decision Making
 Topic 4: The Importance of Defining the Problem
 Topic 5: The Management-Decision Problem and the Marketing Research Problem
 Topic 6: Research Questions and Hypothesis
 Topic 7: Basic Research Design and the Types of Research
Module 2: Exploratory Research
 Topic 1: Secondary vs. Primary Data
 Topic 2: How to Use Secondary Data
 Topic 3: Sources of Secondary Data
 Topic 4: Introduction to Qualitative Research
 Topic 5: Focus Groups
Module 3: Descriptive Research
 Topic 1: Survey Methods
 Topic 2: How to Choose a Survey Method
 Topic 3: Observational Methods
 Topic 4: How to Choose Between Surveys and Observation
Module 4: Scaling
 Topic 1: Primary Scales of Measurement
 Topic 2: Comparative Scales
 Topic 3: Non-comparative Scales
 Topic 4: Non-comparative Scale Decisions
 Topic 5: Scale Evaluation
 Topic 6: Questionnaire Design
Module 5: Sampling
 Topic 1: The Concept of Sampling
 Topic 2: The Sampling Design Process
 Topic 3: Non-probability Sampling
 Topic 4: Probability Sampling
 Topic 5: Internet Sampling
Module 6: Data Analysis and Reporting
 Topic 1: Data Collection
 Topic 2: Data Preparation
 Topic 3: Data Analysis
 Topic 4: Communicating the Research Results
Recommended Books:
Malhotra, Naresh K., Dash, Satyabhushan, Marketing Research – An Applied Orientation (5th or 6th Edition),
Pearson.

Marks Distribution
Attendance Presentation Quiz Mid-Term Assignment Final
7 8 15 25 5 40

Course Teacher Information

Students enrolled in the course may contact with their teacher usually in the Class, however, if necessary,
they may also contact by phone and email.
Contact Information: Ms. Adiba Anis,
Lecturer of Marketing, School of Business (SOB),
Bangladesh Open University (BOU)
Contact # +8801818644137, (available 9 am- 9pm)
email: adiba10mkt@gmail.com