Business project
Faculty of Business
Marketing Discipline Group
Business Project Marketing
Course Notes
Spring 2019
PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT &
PROJECT PLANNING
David Waller
Lynne Freeman
Main Issues:
- Ethical Consideration
- Planning the Research Project
- Data Gathering
- Proposal
- Group Activity
Ethical Considerations
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“You will need to ensure that no harm occurs”
- There is sometimes the possibility that interactions with participants may inadvertently harm them in some unintended way.
This could include:
- Psychological harm.
- Financial harm
- Social harm.
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FOR EXAMPLE:
- Psychological harm—researching the use of nudity in advertising may show participants images that offend them.
- Financial harm—researching unethical behavior within a given firm may provide management with information on individual employees that results in an individual getting fired, or undertaking industry-based research inadvertently shares sensitive information with a firm’s competitors, resulting in financial harm to the organisation.
- Social harm—researching how lifestyle affects consumption may unintentionally disclose a person’s sexual orientation when that person wanted to keep this confidential.
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What Is Human Intervention?
- Human intervention is defined to encompass a broad range of activities, including interviews, review of corporate records, focus groups, experiments, oral histories, or surveys, where you have information that is not in the public domain.
- You are ‘asking’ potential participants to do you a favor and help you out by being involved in your research.
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Codes of Ethical Conduct/Practice
- The University and most professional organisations have approved codes of conduct in regards to research.
- There are also laws dealing with privacy, which relates to research ethics.
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Potential Ethical Problems Relating to Researching Consumers
| Ethical Issue | Right Violated | Compensation Available |
| Preserving participants’ anonymity | Right to privacy | |
| Exposing participants to mental stress | Right to safety | Right to be heard Right to redress |
| Use of special equipment and techniques | Right to privacy Right to choose | Right to redress |
| Involving participants in research without their knowledge | Right to be informed Right to privacy | Right to redress |
| Use of deception | Right to be informed | Right to be heard Right to redress |
| Use of coercion | Right to choose | |
| Selling under the guise of research | Right to be informed | |
| Causing embarrassment, hindrance, or offense | Right to respect | Right to redress |
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Ethical Issues to Consider
- Preserving participants’ anonymity
- Exposing participants to mental stress
- Use of special equipment and techniques
- Involving participants in research without their knowledge
- Security surrounding data collected and also its destruction
- Use of deception
- Use of coercion
- Selling under the guise of research
- Causing embarrassment, hindrance, or offense
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Voluntary Participation
- Participation should be voluntary in all research and there should be no coercion or deception.
- The potential for coercion varies depending on whom you are seeking assistance from, do you have some ‘power’ over the potential participant?
- Might the targeted sample have unique characteristics or needs, that require special treatment?
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Informed Consent
- When undertaking human intervention you must ensure that potential participants fully understand what they are being asked to do and that they are informed if there are any potential negative consequences of such participation.
- The most effective way to address the informed consent issue is through the use of an information sheet, which is provided to all those who are invited to participate.
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Information sheets should include:
- Who is doing the research
- Where you are from
- Why you are doing the research
- Who is the supervisor
- How where they selected to participate
- What do they need to do and how long it will take
- Is there any potential for them to be harmed (or will they be disadvantaged if they don’t participate)
- Whether they the confidentiality and anonymity will be protected
- What happens to the data and any report
- How will they be informed of the results
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Confidentiality and Anonymity
- Anonymity requires that you do not know who the participants are.
- Confidentiality means that you know who the participants are, but that their identity will not be identified in any way to others or in the resulting report.
- You tell people whether the information will be confidential or anonymous, both or neither (they can agree to be identified).
- In some instances it may be hard to protect anonymity and confidentiality, i.e. if you report what the Vice Chancellor of Deakin has said, people can find out who it is.
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Potential for Harm
Ideally your research should have minimal potential for harm!
However, it is important for you to identify any potential for harm and determine how this potential for harm could be overcome.
This includes:
- warning people they may be harmed by participating
- Distributing information on counseling or support services to deal with issues.
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Communicating Results
- Plagiarism- you do not misrepresent someone else’s work as your own.
- Academic fraud - involves the intentional misrepresentation of what has been done. This would include making up data and/or results from the data or purposefully putting forward conclusions that are not accurate.
- Misrepresenting results – be careful in over claiming what has been done or the implications.
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Other Issues
- Conflicts of Interest – do you have multiple roles that may influence people or how data is used.
- Focus Group Participant Identification- all participants in a focus group will hear what others have said, thus how can the information remain confidential or anonymous?
- Deceit- in some instances telling people what you are doing will effect how thy respond and thus you might want to not accurately inform them what the research is about.
- Observation – in some instances you may want to observe how people behave, you generally need to get approval from them or inform them this will occur.
- Permission from Organization/Location- even when undertaking research in ‘public places’ you often need permission.
- Video/Audio Taping – always get written permission in advance to tape people and clarify how the material will be used and destroyed.
- Consent Forms – getting signed agreement to participate is always valuable. This generally covers the issue in the information sheet, ending with people signing that they understand the issues and agree to participate.
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Project Checklist
- Is there any human intervention in this project?
- What ethical issues must you consider?
- Is there any areas of ‘conflict of interest’?
- Does the project need ethics approval?
- Does there need to be consent forms or an information sheet?
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Planning the Research Project
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- “He who fails to plan, plans to fail”
Proverb
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Importance of Planning
To assist in the planning of your research project:
Draw up specific goals and put them in writing
Make sure your activities are achievable, especially in a given time & resources available
Prioritise your activities.
Make a commitment to the completion of the research project with a clear timetable
Keep the project moving
Be flexible
Focus on producing the best research project you can
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Six-Step Research Process
Problem Definition
Research Objectives
Research Design
Data Gathering
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Presenting the findings
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Step 1: Problem Definition
- What is it that you want to explore?
- Do you understand the issue sufficiently to even develop a question?
- “A problem well defined is a problem half solved”
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- “...if one wants to solve a [research] problem, one must generally know what the problem is” (Kerlinger & Lee 2000, p. 24)
What is the project about?
What is the problem?
Why is it important?
- You must convince us of the value of your research so your proposal must make clear why the research needs to be conducted
- The research problem sets the parameters for what can be done
- For example, if the School of Marketing is faced with a situation in which its student numbers are dwindling, the appropriate course of action would be radically different if the problem causing that undesirable situation is one of poor service, than if it is one of high prices, or one of not knowing just what the students value.
what
why
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Academic Research is GREAT place to find previous research and theories!!!!
- Google Scholar
- Business Source Complete (via UTS library databases)
- Go to advanced search
Step 2: Research Objectives
- Specific components of the research question that you will be examining
- Focus on the core areas of interest
- You can’t include everything!
- Action words for objectives- TO: determine, ascertain, discover establish
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Step 3: Research Design
- Exploratory research- insights and understanding of a problem
- Descriptive research- explaining something that occurs
- Causal research- identifying relationships between variables
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Step 4: Data Gathering
- How will you collect the necessary data to look at your issue of interest?
- Secondary data- data that exists already. Often collected for different purposes that you have defined.
- Primary data- data that is collected particularly to answer your research question.
- You should always explore the secondary data first as it may give us insights into what primary data is available (literature reviews are secondary data).
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Marketing Research Pyramid
Step 5: Data Analysis and Interpretation
- How will you explore or interrogate the data collected?
- There are many qualitative and quantitative processes that can be used. The data you collect may potentially limit you ability to use certain types of tools.
- The analysis is the results, but you need to draw out meaning.
- What do the results say about your research issue? What can we learn for practice and theory from our findings?
- IF there are unexpected findings how can we explain these?
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Step 6: Presenting the Results
- How do you communicate your material?
- The written report
- Oral presentations
- You know what you have done and what in means, your task is communicating this with the audience
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Gantt Chart of a Project
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Stages in planning the research:
- Clarify the aims and objectives of the researcher
- Define the activities required to attain these aims and the order in which they take place
- Identify various critical points or “milestones” in the research at which progress can be reviewed and the research plan reassessed
- Produce estimates of times at which the various milestones will be reached so that progress can be clearly measured
- Ensure that effective use is made of key resources, particularly the researchers themselves
- Define priorities once the research is under way
- Serve as a guide for increasing the likelihood of successful completion on time
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Project Checklist
- What are the project’s research problem and research objectives?
- What will be the research design, or methodology?
- How will the data be gathered?
- What type of analysis will be used, and who will do it?
- Draw up a research proposal.
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Exercise
- Think of a title
- Now reduce it to eight words max
- It must describe your project.
Data Gathering
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“Without gathering the data, there is no way that you can fully answer your research problem and objectives”
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You need plenty of information ……………………
Source : Osterwalder & Pigneur 2010
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Some issues to consider
- Validity – will the data allow us to answer our question?
- Reliability- will the data in fact be accurate?
- Appropriate – Will the data collection method access the right people?
- Amount of data – Will we get the right amount of data (how much is enough)?
- Flexibility – can we adapt the process if needed?
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Some issues to consider (cont)
(7) Time constraints- how long will it take to collect our data?
(8) potential for errors- is there a potential for bias or errors?
(9) Researcher's ability – do we have the expertise to implement the data collection process.
(10) Resources- What other resources do you need?
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Types of Research Data
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Secondary Data
- Internal organisational data
- External Data
- Published materials
- Computerised and online sources
- Syndicated sources:
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Questions to ask about Secondary Data
What was the purpose of the study?
Who collected the information?
What information was collected?
When was the information collected?
How was the information obtained?
Is the information consistent with other studies?
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Secondary Research
Frequently overlooked
Can be task specific e.g sample stratification, population statistics
Can be exploratory, determining the context
At the start is helpful for:
Problem Definition
Research Design inc sampling
Hypothesis development
Planning
At the later stage:
- As a context for the interpretation of primary data
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Primary Data
Qualitative Research
Focus Groups
In-Depth Interviews
Projective Techniques
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Primary Data
- Quantitative
Surveys: On-line or face to face?
Experiments
Sampling
- We rarely examine an entire population and must select a sample, which is ideally representative of the population.
- We want to make sure that the responses collected reflect the views of the overall population, even though we have only collected information from a sample of people.
- What is the unit of analysis? An organisation? Individuals? Groups of individuals or organizations? Something else?
- HOW BIG DOES YOUR SAMPLE NEED TO BE TO ALLOW YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR OBJECTIVES?/
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Things to consider
- DO you need the respondents to be physically in the same space, ie do you have taste tests or tactile examples?
- DO you need to include visuals or other graphics.
- Where do you want the respondent to be? If in a store or in the process of using something you may have to utilise mobile technology as a vehicle for your questionnaire
- You can use Survey Monkey, Survey Gizmo, Amazon Mechanical Turk or others for on-line surveys or use social networks, depending on your desired sample characteristics
- Pilot testing is necessary
- MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FINAL VERSION IS CLEARED
Sampling Methods
Nonprobability Sampling
- Convenience sampling
- Judgmental sampling
- Quota sampling
- Snowball sampling
Probability Sampling
- Simple random sampling
- Systematic sampling
- Stratified sampling
- Cluster sampling
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Non-Probabilistic Sampling
Convenience sampling – selects people we can easily access.
Judgmental Sampling – we identify people we believe are part of the population.
Quota Sampling – we want to have a predefined set of characteristic and then select people to fill the relevant groups (gender age, income, etc).
Snowball Sampling – where participants recommend others who might be included in the sample (participants would know other people like themselves).
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Probabilistic Sampling
Random Sampling - each member in the population has a known and equal probability of selection.
Systematic Sampling –select a random starting point and then picking every i-th element in succession from the sampling frame.
Stratified Sampling – randomly select people from a set of people with a given characteristics.
Cluster Sampling – we select a block or group of people (say selecting a block in a municipality).
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Research Error
Random Sampling Error – variability because you do not have the population.
Non-random error- Things that the researcher may have introduced.
Response Errors: “When respondents give inaccurate answers or their answers are misrecorded or misanalyzed" (Malhorta etal 2002).
- Researcher Error: poorly defined samples or questions.
- Interviewer Error: The interviewer introduces added variability.
- Response error. When responses are not accurate.
Non Response Error- When you have missing data.
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Project Checklist
- How will your project be obtaining data?
- Who will be gathering data?
- When will the data-gathering occur?
- What equipment/stationery will you need?
- What potential chance for error should you be aware of?
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Main Objective:
- Investigate…
- a marketing-related…..
- business problem and……
- suggest a robust solution!
Remember
There
Is Not
Much
Time!
| BUSINESS PROJECT: MARKETING SPRING 2019 SESSION | |||
| Week | Topic Area(s) | Objective | |
| 1 | Introduction and project Overview | Familiarise yourself with the course and project requirements. | |
| 2 | Advice on Choosing a Project | Decide on project. | |
| 3 | Proposal Development and Project Planning | Decide on specific idea for the project. | In-workshop group activity #1 |
| 4 | No Workshop | Finalise project outline to provide a guide for how to conduct your project rest of semester | Project Proposal Due |
| 5 | No Workshop | Collecting data. | |
| 6 | No Workshop | Keep collecting data. | |
| 7 | No Workshop | Finalise main collection of data | |
| Mid-session StuVac | No classes | ||
| 8 | Analysing Data | Move from collecting data to analysing data and providing recommendations. | In-workshop group activity #2 |
| 9 | Preparing Recommendations | Complete all aspects of project report other than writing. | In-workshop group activity #3 |
| 10 | No Workshop | Finish draft of report. | |
| 11 | Recap and Discussion about the Project | Provide insights on your completed report. | Oral and Project Report Due |
| 12 | No Workshop | Provide reflection. | Project Reflection Report Due |
Throughout the session:
Emails/individual meetings with instructors and mentors
THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU DO NOT HAVE WORK IN BETWEEN MEETINGS!
- Well-designed, planned, implemented and analysed research must be performed
- Must include both primary and/or secondary research activity
- Must use qualitative or quantitative research.
- All questionnaires (quantitative) must be cleared by the instructor before being distributed. Anybody failing to do this will be penalised.
REMEMBER:
Expectations of Research
Weeks 1 - 4
You must:
- Work out what you want to do, i.e. the business problem
- Specify a suitable research question for this problem
- Outline specific objectives of your research
- Determine an appropriate schedule
- Prepare and submit your ‘Project Proposal’ for approval,
- Fine-tune with feedback
Scheduling Your Project
24790 Business Project: Marketing ‘PROJECT PROPOSAL’ TEMPLATE
Page Limit: Three (3) pages plus References unless include figures, graphs, etc. which do not count towards limit.
Save as: BP Draft Proposal [INSERT STUDENT ID NUMBER] [INSERT STUDENT NAME]
BP Final Proposal [INSERT STUDENT ID NUMBER] [INSERT STUDENT NAME]
| STEPS 1-9 should not exceed two written pages unless include figures, graphs, etc. which do not count towards limit | |
| STEP 1a: Full Name | STEP 1b: Student ID |
| STEP 2: What is the title of your project? (make it strategic) | |
| STEP 3: Which organization/industry is your project about? | STEP 4: Do you work for, or know managers at, this organization? |
| STEP 5: Do you have permission to do this research? Is this project sponsored or funded in any way? | |
| STEP 6: Describe a short market background based on your own research. State what the business problem is. Outline the research question. List the specific research objectives you will try to address. (DO NOT COPY/PASTE from client) | |
| STEP 7: Which marketing theories will you refer to and use? | |
| STEP 8: How do you propose to collect and analyse data? | |
| STEP 9: What will the organization gain from the project that you propose to undertake? | |
| STEP 10: A line about understanding your ethical and social responsibility to the client, customer, and UTS. | |
| STEP 11: (ONE PAGE ONLY) Provide a plan for your project, including timelines and key activities | |
| STEP 12: Provide a list of any references to which you have referred (use Harvard (UTS) referencing style) does not count towards your page limit |
Group Activity
- Get in mentor groups of 2-3
- Discuss proposed market research plan
- Provide feedback on suitability, applicability, and practically of proposed market research
Group Activity Discussion I
- Who is your target “customer” for your research?
- Which market research methods are you planning to employ and why?
- What are limitations of each of these?
- Who is your sample?
- Can you get this information?
- What iterative processes do you plan on employing to combine analysis, gaps, and research?
- Are the theories chosen relevant given what you know of the context?
Group Activity Discussion II
- Does this market research plan help understand customers, company, and competitors?
- What gaps are there?
- Does market research plan relate directly to your ultimate goal for project?
- Does research also include potential insights on which recommendations will work best on customers?
- Can this research plan identify several different types of marketing mix recommendations that should work?
NEXT WEEK (i.e., Week 8)
- Lecture Topic – Analysing the Data
- Keep in contact with your mentor and instructor