Assignment 3

Assignment Instructions

Submit Assignment 3 after you have completed Lessons 9 through 13 and after you have received and reviewed the feedback for Assignments 1 and 2. This assignment is worth 20% of your final course grade.

• Assignment 3 requires that you write a 15–20 page research plan, double spaced, using a 12-point font, on a marketing research topic either of your own choosing or from the list (see Examples of Research Topics below). The title page and reference page do not count toward the page limit.
  
  
• The marketing research problem you select should have a narrow focus. You will need to make assumptions (e.g., type of product, market for the product). Be sure to state these assumptions in your term paper. If you find that you need to make an excessive number of assumptions, it may be necessary to narrow your research problem. You cannot use the same case/problem that you used in Assignments 1 or 2.
  
  
• When you receive your graded assignment, carefully review the comments the evaluator has made. This review component is an important step in the learning process. If you have any questions or concerns about the evaluation, contact the Student Support Centre.
  
  

Requirements

The purpose of this assignment is for you to write a term paper that demonstrates that you understand how to develop a marketing research plan. Therefore, your term paper must focus on a marketing research problem.

You cannot use the same case/problem as you used in Assignments 1 or 2. If you have questions about the suitability of your term paper topic or need help starting to research your idea, contact the Student Support Centre. Be sure to review the Athabasca University Write Site, which offers a variety of writing resources.

The most important part of Assignment 3 is the research design, which should be convincing in terms of its ability to be applied in exactly the way you describe (this is how any research design should be described). The more specific you are, the more convincing is the assignment. This includes questionnaires, moderator’s guides, and any other research tool. The question is, “Can someone take your plan and apply it as is?”

A simple research design that is consistent with the research problem is preferred to a complex design with inconsistencies.

Your term paper should incorporate information from your textbook, marketing research–related books, and articles found in marketing journals such as the following:

• Journal of Marketing Research
• Journal of the Academy of Marketing Research
• Journal of Consumer Research
• Journal of Marketing
• Psychology and Marketing

You might also find interesting articles in magazines or trade periodicals, or on the Internet. Your paper should contain no fewer than 10 different reference sources.

Examples of Research Topics

After you read the textbook, you will have a better idea of topics that interest you. You are encouraged to develop your own topic (be creative!), but the following are a few examples of the many possible topics:

• How can marketing research be used to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet advertising for reaching a specific target market? Describe your plan for developing a study that addresses this research question.
  
  
• A manager asks you to develop a new advertising campaign. What kinds of research are necessary to develop such a campaign? Describe your plan for using marketing research to create an ad campaign.
  
  
• The owner of a company believes that the company’s products would do well in overseas markets. Explain your plan for determining whether these products could succeed in foreign markets.
  
  

If you have difficulty selecting a topic, contact the Student Support Centre. The Student Support Centre may forward your query to an Academic Expert, who can provide advice on research topics and project scope.

You do not need to collect data for this assignment. However, if you collect data, be aware that Athabasca University’s ethics policies require that your project be approved by Athabasca University’s Research Ethics Board (this does not apply to secondary data). Contact the Student Support Centre for more information.

Organizing Your Paper

Your paper should be well written and logically structured. Term papers are typically divided into sections with major and minor headings. Assignment 3 should include the following headings and sections:

Title Page	Include the course number and name, assignment number, the title of your study, your name and student ID number, and date submitted.
Introduction	Provide a brief background on the topic to be addressed. Assume your reader is well educated but unfamiliar with the subject matter. State the purpose of the paper. Why have you chosen to research this particular topic? What is (are) your research question(s) and what are the objectives of your project? Also, briefly outline the sections of the paper and the approach you plan to take.
Literature Review and Hypotheses	The purpose of this section is to inform the reader about what is currently known about the topic you selected. Explain the origin of your research question, including information about the industry and relevant customers. Your literature review should summarize and synthesize the important points of your research on the topic. This section is complete if an outsider can read it and understand the major themes and issues of your topic.
	As you review the literature for existing information, you should be developing hypotheses that reflect your research questions. Hypotheses are specific statements that describe exactly what you will evaluate in your research, and they should be linked with a plan for testing the hypotheses (i.e., what data are needed to test the hypotheses?).
Research Design	This is the most important section of this assignment. Describe the research plan or design you will use to address your research project. Use ideas from the textbook and lessons to address issues such as the data collection method, sample plan, and ideas for data analysis. You will have to use your knowledge and imagination to develop a plan that will answer your research question.
	In the previous section, you developed one or more testable hypotheses. In this section, you need to explain the specific data analysis methods you will use to test the hypotheses. If you are unfamiliar with data analysis methods, keep your hypotheses simple. The textbook chapters and lesson notes from Lessons 11 and 12 should help you select quantitative analysis methods, but you may find it necessary to obtain more information elsewhere.
Conclusions	Discuss how you would use the information you obtained from carrying out the research you described in the research plan. Explain how the information you obtain from your research plan addresses the research question and objectives. If there is anything missing from your research plan, explain why it is missing and what you have to do to correct the shortcoming.
References	This term paper assignment will contain your own thoughts and opinions, plus facts, thoughts, and opinions from other authors. It is critical to identify when you use others’ intellectual property. When you use an outside piece of information, always cite the source in the body of the paper with either footnotes or endnotes, or use in-text citations to acknowledge the ideas of others. In your reference list at the end of the paper, record all your sources in alphabetical order. Choose either APA or MLA style, and apply the style consistently throughout your paper. Consult the AU Library Help Centre for useful resources on citing and referencing other authors’ work.

Depending on your topic, some headings may not be appropriate, or you may have to add other sections and minor headings as needed to cover the topic you choose.

Evaluation

Use the following marks breakdown to help you structure your paper. Consider how much each section is worth when writing your term paper.

Marks are allocated as follows:

Title page (containing course number and name, assignment number, the title of your study, your name and student ID number, and date submitted)	5 marks
Introduction	10 marks
Literature review and hypotheses	15 marks
Research design	40 marks
Conclusions	10 marks
References (in-text citations and list at end of paper)	10 marks
Professionalism (document appearance, spelling, grammar)	10 marks
Total	100 marks