MARKET RESEARCH

Course Code: MHR 205 Credit Units: 04

Course Objective:
This course in marketing research aims at familiarizing the participants of the MBA program with scientific research and its
various methods in the field of management. The focus of the course is applied and decisional. It aims at providing the
relevant inputs to the participants so that they could study systematically various complex management problems and provide
information and solutions for the same. Besides the course work, the participants shall be required to undertake a market
research project incorporating the research techniques studied during the semester

Course Contents:
Module I: Nature and scope of marketing research
Marketing research as input in decision making process, Marketing research and marketing information system. Applications
of marketing research, Planning a research project: Problem identification and formulation. Research Design: Exploratory,
Descriptive and Experimental research designs, Market research on the Internet

Module II: Data collection methods

Observation Methods and Questionnaire Method, Questionnaire Design: Steps in constructing a questionnaire, types of
questions, Attitude measurement and Scaling techniques: Ratio, interval, ordinal and nominal scales. Likert’s scale,
Thurstone scale, Semantic differentiation method etc. Projective techniques. Multidimensional scaling and perceptual
mapping, Sampling decisions: Sampling frame, sample selection methods- Probability and non- probability, sample size,
Application of sampling methods to marketing problems.

Module III: Data collection and field force

Field work procedure. Common sources of error in the field work. Minimizing fieldwork errors, Tabulation of the collected
data

Module IV: Data analysis - I

Tests of significance Z, t, F and chi-square, Data analysis-II: Correlation and Regression techniques, Data analysis-III: Over-
view of Multivariate Techniques-Factor analysis, conjoint analysis, Cluster analysis

Module V
Pre-Writing Considerations, Format of the Marketing research report, Common Problems Encountered when preparing the
marketing research report. Presenting the Research Report

Module VI: Selected applications of marketing research

Identifying market segments, Product research, Sales research and Advertising research

Examination Scheme:

Components C A CT EE
Weightage (%) 10 5 15 70

Text & References:

Text:
• Malhotra, Naresh; Market Research- 6th Edition-PHI
• Churchill, Gilbert A, Lacobucci, Dawn; Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations, 8th Edition, South Western

References:
• Luck, David J And Rubin, Ronald S, Marketing Research, Seventh Edition, Prentice Hall Of India
• Beri, Gc., Marketing Research, Second Edition, Tata McGraw Hill
• Thomas H. Wancott and R. Wancott, Introductory Statistics for Business and Economics, John Wiley and Sons, New
York.
• Burns, Alvin C and Bush, Ronald F: Marketing Research, 5th Edition, Pearson Education

Software:
• Students can use SPSS 15.0 for analyzing the data for marketing research.
• The software is available in the computer lab.