Overview
This assignment has 3 parts:
You will find 2 other files, in addition to this description. The first file, being aword document, containing the survey questions for the assignment topic of online dating. The second file is an excel file which contains the results of the survey questions. There are 100 responses which are to be analysed as described in this document.
DO NOT ADMINSTER THE SURVEY, THE EXCEL FILE IS THE RESULTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE SURVEY.
Your group (of 4-5 members) is a marketing research consultancy that has been hired by a company to provide advice on their online marketing strategy. They are expecting a report which will summarize your research findings as well as some substantiated recommendations on how they could proceed.
Phase 1: Begin by selecting a ‘client’ company and clearly stating the marketing problem from the perspective of their VP Marketing. Complete a scan of the environment in which this company operates. Identify the key strategic issues facing the organization as well as information from existing studies that shed more light on their situation. End this section with a statement of your team’s research question and specific research objectives to be addressed through the questionnaire you are going to administer (in other words, what information are YOU going to deliver, above and beyond what’s already available?).
Phase 2: You will be provided with a ready to use questionnaire related to consumer motivations, attitudes and behaviours and results.
Phase 3:You will be given access to a dataset containing at least 100 completed questionnaires, taken from Phase 2. Your group will then select a small number of specific items from the questionnaire to form the basis of your analysis and presentation. Your selection of questions should relate directly to the research objectives you specified at the end of Phase1. DO NOT try to analyse/summarize the entire questionnaire!
The assignment is to be completed in report format. A hard copy of the full report will be handed in to your ‘client’ (the professor through Turnitin).
Assignment Components
1) Front Section (5 marks)
Every submission must have a Title Page and a “Table of Contents” to identify what the presentation contains. Make sure you include the following on your title page: a relevant title for the report, all group members’ names, instructor’s name, the name and number of the course and date of submission.
2) Background (10 marks)
This section of the report provides an overview of the purpose and importance of the study. Put yourself in the shoes of your client and that will help you articulate why it is important. From the client’s perspective, what is the business problem/opportunity? What is/are the key strategic issue(s)? What existing information have you uncovered through your secondary literature search? You may want to check with the Instructor about the appropriateness of how you have chosen to interpret your topic before going too far.
3) Objectives (10 marks)
This section of the report focuses on the specific information the study will gather (from the researcher’s perspective) in an effort to assist the client in addressing the business problem/strategic issue(s). You may have to work backwards from the questionnaire to identify these specifics. The wording of this section is usually as follows:
The objectives of this study are both general and specific.
Generally, the goal of this study is… (Identify the broad research objective that will address the client’s business problem/strategic issue).
Specifically, this study will determine… (Identify the more specific research objectives related to the broad research objective, in bullet format). These objectives usually start with words like…. the attitudes toward, the use of, the perception of, the appeal of, the intention to… etc.
Don’t get too ambitious. You want to limit your objectives to something that can be covered in about 5-7 tables. Think about subgroups… some of your objectives can be: to determine the differences in attitudes/perceptions/use among various subgroups (by sex, age, year of study, etc.)
4) Method (10 marks)
This section describes the nature of the research design (as outlined in your textbook and discussed in class), the sampling framework and size (also discussed in class) and the time frame for the data collection. You can also include a count of closed ended and/or open-ended questions used in your analysis. Finally, describe how you are going to analyse the data (for example, frequency distributions, cross-tabulations and/or ANOVA using SPSS/Excel).
5) Results (40 marks)
In this section, you will include summary tables and commentary on 5 to 7 tables that describe the data corresponding to your objectives. You need to tell a bit of a story with the tables. In addition to describing the results of an individual table, interpret the results in terms of your broader objectives. That means making comparisons between tables and linking one finding to another finding. When making subgroup comparisons, focus on distinguishing between the independent and dependent variables and ensure that your summary tables are constructed appropriately. Each table must have a table number and a meaningful title. Commentary should accompany each table, either with bullets next to the table or on a separate slide (be sure to indicate to which table the commentary is referring). You may include any combination of frequencies, means, cross-tabulations, t-tests, and/or ANOVA results – whatever your group determines to be most effective in addressing your research objectives. Use the examples provided in Chapters 12 and 14 as a guideline. Remember – all cross-tabulations and ANOVA tables should include the relevant measures of significance. Refer to class lecture notes for further information and examples of proper table construction.
6) Summary and Conclusions (10 marks)
In this section, summarize your findings in terms of the objectives you outlined and answer the “so what” question in your conclusion. How do these findings relate to the reason the study was done? What are the implications for the client in terms of the decision to be made?
