(It is recommended that you print this document for your reference.)

MKTG 310: MARKETING RESEARCH (In-class)
Course Syllabus
Fall 2006
Instructor: Dr. Michael Hyman
Wells Fargo Professor of Marketing
New Mexico State University
Voice Phone: 646-5238
Fax: 646-1498 (office)
e-mail:  mhyman@nmsu.edu

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Objectives

MKTG 310 addresses the use of marketing research as an aid to making marketing decisions; specifically, how the information used to make marketing decisions is gathered and analyzed. Accordingly, MKTG 310 is appropriate for both prospective users of research results and prospective marketing researchers.

After this course, you should:

• be able to translate a marketing problem into a feasible research question;
• appreciate marketing research as a process that involves a sequence of activities, each compatible with the preceding activities;
• have a general understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of alternative research designs;
• be aware of the many sources of marketing information and the various means for gathering such information;
• be more sensitive to the biases and limitations of marketing data and basic data analysis;
• have a general understanding of univariate and basic bivariate data analysis techniques (i.e., should be able to decide when a technique is appropriate and understand the managerial implications of analytical results); and
• be able to design and execute a basic survey research project.

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Recommended Textbook and Texts

There is no required textbook for the in-class version of MKTG 310. That said, the current textbook most consistent with Dr. Hyman's PowerPoint lectures--available either online or via DVD--is: 

• Exploring Marketing Research, 8^th edition, by William G. Zikmund, Thomson/South-Western, 2003.

If you find that reading a textbook helps you to better understand course lectures, then any edition of the Zikmund textbook from the 5th edition onwards should be of value. Used copies of the 5th through 7th edition should be available from an online textbook seller--such as Bigwords.com, eCampus.com, VarsityBooks.com, or efolletts.com--at little cost.

Two of Dr. Hyman's PowerPoint lectures draw extensively from the following texts, which are not required for successful completion of MKTG 310:

• How to Lie with Charts, by Gerald E. Jones, Sybex, 1995.
• Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 2^nd edition, by Don A. Dillman, Wiley, 1999.

Students who want to improve their exam-taking skills may benefit from reading the following book:

• Exam Success, by David McIlroy, Sage Publications, 2005.

These excellent desk references serve as optional readings that may be purchased from any online book vendor.

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Computer Requirements

Access to all course materials other than the recommended textbook and texts requires a Microsoft Windows-based PC with the following features:

Installation programs for the free reader or players listed above are hyperlinked to the above program names. Because all exams are administered over WebCT, an internet connection is required. Non-textbook-related course content is available either online or via a DVD; viewing some of this content requires Adobe Acrobat Reader and either Real Media Player or MS Windows Media Player.

Optional DVD Version of Non-textbook Course Content

An optional DVD version of the non-textbook content of MKTG 310 is provided as a courtesy to students who may have difficulty accessing the course's large electronic files over a slow Internet connection (or who want a personal copy). Because of issues related to profiting from DVD sales, DVD production and sales are handled by the NMSU student chapter of the American Marketing Association. Please contact the student chapter or its advisor, Dr. Michelle Jasso (jasso@nmsu.edu), for a copy of the DVD.

Alternatively, you can create your own DVD. WebCT cannot accommodate 4 gigabyte files--the size of the .iso file with the DVD image. Instead, an archive (zip) file was created and then split into five subfiles. To download these subfiles (M310.z1; M310.z2; M310.z3; M310.z4, and M310.zip), click on the appropriate icons in WebCT. After you've downloaded all five files, open the file named M310.zip with your archiving software (such as WinZip; a copy is downloadable from WebCT). When you try to extract the file named m310_DVD.iso, your archiving software should combine the five subfiles. Then use your DVD-burning software to create a DVD from that roughly 4 gigabyte .iso file.  (Note: Due to limited space on the College of Business server, only the DVD subfiles for the in-class version of MKTG 310 are available online. The PowerPoint lectures, ancillary readings, and videos are identical between the in-class and online versions. If you are enrolled in the online version of MKTG 310, please make sure that you are completing its course requirements.)

The DVD is meant to run on a PC, not a TV DVD player. It's not like a movie DVD that runs automatically. The files on the DVD are in html, PowerPoint (pps), Adobe Acrobat (pdf), and Windows Media Player (wmv and mpg) formats. To run the DVD, place it in a DVD drive of a PC and run the file named m310syl.htm (in your browser).  What will appear on your PC monitor is identical to this syllabus, which is posted on WebCT and mirrored on Dr. Hyman's personal home page (http://business.nmsu.edu/~mhyman) at NMSU. (Note: The DVD cannot be read by a PC with a CD-only drive.)

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Exams

The exams--consisting of 60 objective items--are limited to material assigned since the previous exam. (In other words, the exams for each module are limited to the content of each module.) The additional readings and videos are intended as supplementary materials; thus, all exam questions are based on the instructor's PowerPoint lectures. All exams will be administered over WebCT. You must answer each exam question in turn, i.e., you will be unable to return to a skipped question. Exams must be taken during scheduled class time. There is a 70-minute window for completing each exam; WebCT will not grade any questions answered after that period.

You will have two opportunities to take an exam over each of the five course modules, typically on consecutive Wednesdays. Only your highest score on the two attempts will count toward your final grade. If your score on the first attempt is acceptable to you, then you may skip the subsequent attempt. Your grade will be posted on WebCT.

Important Caveat

MKTG 310 is more like an accounting course than a marketing course in that MKTG 310 is very detail-oriented.  Success in most marketing courses relies on your ability to apply basic principles. In contrast, success in most accounting courses requires you to master a large set of specific rules. (This is a broad, but essentially fair, characterization.) The value of a marketing research study is only as great as its weakest aspect. The findings of a such a study will be of limited, if any, use to a marketing manager unless (1) the correct problem is identified, (2) the correct research questions are asked, (3) a proper study is designed, (4) a proper population is sampled, (5) a proper data analysis is performed, and (6) a proper evaluation of that analysis is made and reported.  Unfortunately, the devil is in the details when it comes to marketing research. Hence, the detailed knowledge required to perform well on MKTG 310 exams may be unexpected given your previous experience with marketing courses.

Grade Appeals

To ensure that students receive the grade they deserve, extra credit is awarded to students who identify problematic questions. For the opportunity to receive extra credit, you must e-mail Dr. Hyman (mhyman@nmsu.edu) and explain your reason(s) for believing a question is problematic. If he finds your reasoning sound, then you will receive extra credit equivalent to answering that question correctly on an exam. (Note: Extra credit is awarded for identifying a problematic question on any administered exam; it is not limited to the exam on which you received the highest score.) 

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Marketing Research Project

Groups comprised of no more than four students will conduct a marketing research project. Although the client for your research may cover your expenses (e.g., photocopying costs), neither you nor Dr. Hyman are meant to earn a profit from your research efforts. (However, your client is permitted to give an honorarium to NMSU's Marketing Department, the Professional Golf Management Program, or the student chapter of the American Marketing Association.) A typical project would include the following tasks:

• formulate a research problem,
• design a questionnaire,
• select a sample frame,
• collect respondent data,
• enter respondent data into a computerized spreadsheet,
• analyze respondent data with statistical software,
• write a research report, and
• make a brief, in-class presentation.

At a minimum, your research proposal should include the following content:

• the names of all group members,
• a brief description of your overall research problem,
• at least six specific research questions, and
• a brief description of your proposed sample.

Although Dr. Hyman will explain his expectations regarding data analysis and the format of your research report during the semester, at a minimum all reports should include the following content:

• a cover page with project title and names of all co-researchers;
• a letter of transmittal;
• a table of contents;
• an introduction to the research problem and research questions;
• a discussion about data collection that addresses the questions who, when, where, and how;
• a basic descriptive statistical analysis and interpretation of collected data, which should include response frequencies, basic summary statistics (e.g., mean, range), and meaningful subgroup comparisons consistent with one or more research questions;
• at least three cross-tabulation tables with proper chi-square statistics and interpretations;
• a conclusion and recommendation based on the data analysis and interpretation;
• an extensive discussion about study limitations and lessons learned;
• an appendix containing the research proposal;
• an appendix containing the questionnaire used for data collection; and
• an appendix containing basic SPSS frequency output with descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, range).

Simple graphical displays, such as pie and bar charts, are optional.

Copies of many sample questionnaires are attached to this syllabus under the topic Questionnaires and Instruments (see the last topic under Module 2 below). For copies of sample reports, you might check the Burger King, Snuggles Dog Biscuit, Resident Assistant, Merrill Lynch, Joining a Greek Organization, and Obesity studies. (A sample questionnaire appears in an appendix of each report.) All these sample files are in pdf format. (Note: Pages have been omitted from some reports to conserve space.) In addition, the DVD bundled with your textbook includes a sample questionnaire and report.

You should use SPSS for Windows to analyze your survey data (although a spreadsheet program such as Excel may be used for data entry). This statistical package is installed on select PCs in the BC computer lab and the BC Marketing Suite (BC 208). In addition, two trial copies of SPSS are linked to Module 5 of this syllabus. (Unfortunately, high site license costs preclude installing SPSS on more than a few NMSU PCs.) Finally, you may make a brief, in-class presentation during the last week of the course.

Groups will be self selected to minimize the number of dysfunctional ones. Even so, a free rider may occasionally try to take advantage of other group members. To address a free rider problem, a group may fire one or more members until Monday, October 30th. After that date, group membership is permanent. To replace the entire project grade (25% of the total grade), a fired group member must write an extensive (roughly 25 page) library/secondary-data-based research report related to marketing research. That report is due on Monday, December 4th. 

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Research Reports: Assignment Schedule

The schedule for your research projects is as follows:  

Submission of first drafts is optional. However, Dr. Hyman will not provide ungraded feedback for drafts submitted after the draft due date unless you and he agree on an alternative date. Drafts must be submitted as Word or WordPerfect file attachments to an e-mail message. Final versions may be submitted as hard copies, but Word or WordPerfect file attachments to an e-mail message are preferred.

Note: For each day that the final version of your research report is late, Dr. Hyman will reduce the grade on it by one letter grade unless you provide an acceptable excuse.

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Grading Policy

Your course grade will be computed as follows:

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Grading Scale

The grading scale is as follows: 

A student with an 80.0% or higher average on the best exam score for each of the five modules and research project earns an 'A', a student with a 70.0% or higher average on the best exam score for each of the five modules and research project earns a 'B', et cetera. Up to three points of extra credit--based on completion of an optional ethics assessment survey and score on a statistics homework assignment--may be earned. In other words, there is a 13 point curve for the course grade relative to the standard 90/80/70/60% grading scale. (Please do not request that grades be curved further.)

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E-mail Announcements

Dr. Hyman may use e-mail to make course-related announcements. Unless otherwise indicated, he will use your NMSU e-mail address. (Note: E-mail providers such as Yahoo and Hotmail frequently block e-mails from NMSU addresses.) Students should not use the e-mail facility in WebCT to communicate with Dr. Hyman because he rarely checks that e-mail account.

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Class Schedule

This course is divided into five modules. Basically, these five modules cover the following topics:

• introduction to marketing research,
• questionnaire design,
• non-survey-based research and research designs,
• sampling, research ethics, and research report writing, and
• simple data analysis.

All lectures, which are in PowerPoint format, are available either online or from the course DVD. PowerPoint (PPT) presentations designated below by the word Textbook were created by the authors of the textbook for the online version of MKTG 310; presentations designated below by the word Instructor were created by Dr. Hyman. The Instructor presentations include both jpg insertions and audio clips (i.e., pre-recorded discussions of slides by Dr. Hyman). Although adding such content to Dr. Hyman's PowerPoint presentations allows asynchronous delivery of lectures, such content also greatly increases the size of PowerPoint presentations.  As a result, some of the Instructor presentation files are 30+ megabytes, which take roughly 90 minutes to download via a 56k modem. Thus, you should only use a broadband Internet connection to access these files online.

If you do not have a copy of PowerPoint and if your browser cannot handle PowerPoint files, then click on this hyperlink for the file reader installation program. (Note: This reader was downloaded from the Microsoft web site.) The articles, book excerpts, and samples are pdf files, which may be viewed and printed via Adobe Acrobat reader. If you do not have a copy, click on this hyperlink for the installation program.

To play the video (wmv or mpg) files available either online or from the course DVD, a copy of either Real Media Player or MS Windows Media Player must be installed on your PC. Although both players are free, the latter is "only available to customers running genuine Microsoft Windows" (quote from Microsoft website).

Wednesdays are reserved for studying and taking exams. As all exams are administered over WebCT during class time, Dr. Hyman will monitor students' efforts from his office PC. (In other words, Dr. Hyman will not visit BC 103 on Wednesdays unless noted otherwise.) Mondays are reserved for Q&A over the course materials and for working on the group research project. Attendance will be taken on Mondays as a way to monitor students' involvement on that project. Please note that there is no class meeting on the following Mondays: September 4th (Labor Day) and November 20th (Thanksgiving holiday).

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Module 1 

Note:

DVD/Video items denoted by DVD: are .mpg files on the DVD bundled with the textbook assigned to the online version of MKTG 310. These files are roughly 125 megabytes. All other DVD/Video items are .wmv files hyperlinked to this syllabus.  Although most .wmv files are from 20 to 30 megabytes, one is more than 42 megabytes. Regardless, you should only use a broadband Internet connection to access these files online.

Additional Materials are from the following sources:

• Student DVD--Additional Chapter-Related Material
• articles from Marketing News (a bi-monthly publication of the American Marketing Association), and
• articles from Marketing Research (a quarterly publication of the American Marketing Association).

Articles, book excerpts, and samples are pdf files and available by left clicking the appropriate hyperlink. These files may be viewed and printed with Adobe Acrobat reader.  Most of these files are less than 1 megabyte.

Although the additional (i.e., non-textbook) readings and DVD/Video content provide excellent supplements to the instructor's PowerPoint lectures, no exam question is based exclusively on those supplements. 

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Module 2  

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Module 3 

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Module 4

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Module 5

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Bonus Material: Multivariate Statistics

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Final Notes

Dropping the Course. Although Dr. Hyman may drop students administratively, students remain responsible for dropping this course.

Incomplete Grades. Under university policy, you may only receive an 'I' grade if you have a passing grade at mid-semester (the last day to withdraw from a class) and are precluded from successful completion of the second half of the course by a documented illness, documented death, family crisis, or other similar circumstances beyond your control. An incomplete cannot be given to avoid assigning a grade for marginal or failing work. Requirements for removal of an 'I' grade will be clearly stated on the 'I' grade form and you will receive a copy of that form. Incompletes do not automatically convert to 'F's if the course is not completed.

Cheating. Cheating is defined as (1) submitting another person's work as your own work, or (2) using any external source to answer exam questions. Any student caught cheating on an assignment or exam will receive a permanent 0 (zero) for that assignment or exam.

Students with Disabilities. If you have or believe you have a disability and would benefit from any accommodations, you may wish to self-identify by contacting the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) Office located in Garcia Annex (phone: 646-6840). If you have already registered, please make sure that your instructor receives a copy of the accommodation memorandum from SSD within the first week of classes. It is your responsibility to inform either your instructor or SSD representative in a timely manner if services/accommodations provided are not meeting your needs.

Feel free to call Jerry Nevarez, Director of Institutional Equity, at 505-646-3635 with any questions you may have about NMSU's Non-Discrimination Policy and complaints of discrimination, including sexual harassment.

Feel free to call Michael Armendariz, Coordinator of  Services for Students with Disabilities, at 505-646-6840 with any questions you may have on student issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  All medical information will be treated confidentially.

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