1. Justify the need for market research.
a. Define the marketing situation.
b. What is the problem that will be researched?
2. Define the research objective: What is your hypothesis?
3. Identify data needs: How will the research be structured?
4. Identify data sources, and choose an appropriate research design (and
method).
a. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the basic methods for
collecting primary data, and recommend a methodology for the
study.
b. Understand and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
using secondary sources to gather relevant data about the
issue(s).
5. Define the population that will be targeted for primary research.
a. Given a population and desired level of precision, recommend an
optimum sample size and method to gather the necessary
research data within budget and time constraints.
6. Design the data collection instrument.
a. Develop a marketing research questionnaire, including a copy as
an addendum to your paper. You will turn in this phase of the
assignment to your instructor in Week 4, and then you will make
any changes suggested and include it in the final project.
7. Identify areas of ethical concern, and make recommendations for the
appropriate behavior of respondents and users of marketing research.
8. Recommended elements for the reporting should be developed with
results from the study to make sure that the findings are actionable.
9. Also, think about next steps: Is there an appropriate next step for the
study?
Your paper should follow APA formatting for citations and should be well
organized and well written.
