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MKT2001 Marketing Research and Insights - Middlesex University Business School

Module aim: This module aims to familiarise students with the importance of marketing research and insights to business and, in particular, the marketing management process. Students will learn how to conduct a marketing research project, including establishing business research needs, gaining insights into the consumer market, designing an appropriate research design, creating research instruments, gathering data primary and secondary data, conducting both qualitative and quantitative data analysis, and using the findings to improve marketing decision-making.

Learning outcome 1: Evaluate management decision problems, marketing research problems and research objectives

Learning outcome 2: Evaluate and select appropriate research methodologies, sampling designs and questionnaire design in marketing research;

Learning outcome 3: Assess secondary information sources to gain insights into the consumer market and determine the reliability and validity of the information from secondary sources

Learning outcome 4: Compare research approaches, methods of data gathering and analyses

Learning outcome 5: Apply knowledge towards conducting information search from online and offline sources;

Learning outcome 6: Evaluate and interpret both quantitative and qualitative marketing research data, using appropriate statistical tools

• Introduction to the marketing research process
• Problem definition and the marketing research approach
• Research design
• Secondary data collection and analysis
• Qualitative research: its nature and approaches
• Qualitative interviewing techniques
• Qualitative observation techniques
• Qualitative data interpretation and analysis
• Quantitative data collection methods
• Sampling methods for primary research
• Designing quantitative research questionnaires
• Quantitative survey fieldwork and data preparation
• Statistical techniques for quantitative data analysis
• Presenting and using marketing research findings.

Research Ethics

• This module will require you to undertake an ethical review process/application before you carry out any research involving human participants, human data, animals/animal products, precious artefacts, materials or data systems.

• Data MUST not be collected without first obtaining ethics approval for your research. If you submit a project that includes data gathered from or about people without ethical approval this may be treated as academic misconduct and could lead to fail grade being awarded.
• Research ethics approval seeks to ensure all work is designed and undertaken according to certain principles of ethical research. These include:

1. Primary concern must be given to the safety, welfare and dignity of participants, researchers, colleagues, the environment and the wider community

2. Consideration of risks should be undertaken before research commences with the aim of minimising risks to those involved - i.e. human participants or animal subjects, colleagues, the environment and the wider community, as well as actual or potential risks to those directly or indirectly affected by the research.

3. Informed consent should be freely given by participants, and by a trained person when collecting or analysing human tissue (details on accessing and completing online training for gaining informed consent for HTA purposes can be found below in Section 8).

4. Respect for the privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of participants

5. Consideration of the rights of people who may be vulnerable (by virtue of perceived or actual differences in their social status, ethnic origin, gender, mental capacities, or other such characteristics) who may be less competent or able to refuse to give consent to participate

6. Researchers have a responsibility to the general public and to their profession; as such they should balance the anticipated benefits of their research against potential harm, misuse or abuse which must be avoided

7. Researchers must demonstrate the highest standards of ethical conduct and research integrity. They must work within the limits of their skills, training and experience, and refrain from exploitation, dishonesty, plagiarism, infringement of intellectual property rights and the fabrication of research results. They should declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest, and where necessary take steps to resolve them.

8. When using human tissues for research,?Human Tissue Act and Human Tissue
Authority (HTA) requirements?must be met.?Please?contact the relevant designated person (DP) in your department or the HTA Designated Individual

9. Research should not involve any illegal activity, and researchers must comply with all relevant laws
• You can apply for research ethical approval by contacting your seminar tutor for MKT2001. Research ethics approval letters for this module will be granted to you based on your demonstration of meeting the required conditions, as expressed in your research proposal and your questionnaire.

Assignment: Each student will choose a company, compile background information for the company, identify a research problem, conduct a research study and analyse collected data to solve marketing problems.