Marketing Research

Teacher(s)

Pleyers Gordy;

Language

English

Prerequisites

Basics of marketing
Note: This course cannot be taken in combination with “LSMS2024 – Marketing studies”

Main themes

Marketing success largely lies on the ability to examine how targeted consumers (would) react to marketing concepts (e.g. brands, companies, products, services, advertisements, ideas) in order to guide crucial decisions to be made.  This course focuses on conducting marketing research to successfully address this fundamental issue.
Marketing success largely lies on the ability to examine how targeted consumers (would) react to marketing concepts (e.g. brands, companies, products, services, advertisements, ideas) in order to guide crucial decisions to be made.  This course focuses on conducting marketing research to successfully address this fundamental issue.
It first introduces students to marketing research, to the different types of marketing studies, and to the global research process.
It then briefly outlines the use of “secondary data” (public/existing data collected by others) as a useful early step in conducting marketing research.
The next section covers the “qualitative” approach (e.g. individual interviews, focus groups), which may be very useful for examining consumers’ deep motivations and perceptions, overcoming some problems such as those relating to consciousness or social pressure.
The main section then focuses on the “quantitative” approach. It typically consists in using a very structured questionnaire to collect various data (relating for instance to consumers’ knowledge or attitude towards a brand product) from a representative sample of consumers, and in performing statistical analyses in order to draw and apply conclusions to a target market.
Overall, the content of this course allows to apply for very interesting  jobs relating to marketing research –  for example in marketing agencies, in major companies (with internal marketing department), or in public organizations.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Having regard to the LO of the programme X, this activity contributes to the development and acquisition of the following LO: Mastering knowledge (2.1, 2.2, 2.4) Applying a scientific approach (3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.5) Managing teamwork (6.1) Communicating (8.1) Students will able to : Understand the research process and the different types of marketing studies (basics, advantages, limitations, etc.), as well as their complementarity with regard to other approaches. Consider the relevance of a qualitative or quantitative approach in the context of a specific marketing issue. Define an appropriate research design, in respect of the aim and context of a study. Convert the results of a marketing research into valuable guidelines for marketing decisions and strategies.

Content

1) Introductory elements
* Introduction to marketing research
* Types of marketing studies
* Global research process
2) Secondary data
3) Qualitative studies
4) Quantitative studies
* Process and skills to manage the different steps involved in a quantitative study: research hypotheses, data collection method, questionnaire, study sample, data collection management,…
* Quantitative data analysis: Basic statistical tools for analyzing the results and converting them into conclusions and managerial implications

Teaching methods

Lectures on theoretical/methodological inputs (with practical illustrations), case studies, practical training sessions.

Evaluation methods

The knowledge relating to all the concepts covered in the course will be tested in an individual written exam with multiple-choice questions, using the “standard setting” method (lll.sipr.ucl.ac.be:3838/SSS/), and accounting for 60% of the global mark. This written exam may be replaced by an individual oral exam in August.
The ability to perform statistical analyses (using SPSS) will be assessed in a short individual exam, accounting for 40% of the global mark.
All these activities will be carried out in English.
!!! This course requires active participation in all the sessions, which provide many additional elements that are not included in the slides. It is quite unlikely that the exam for this course is successfully passed by students who would not be able to attend the sessions (e.g. which may apply, in particular, to incoming students; to whom no favors/exception will be made). !!!

Bibliography

• Slides (Moodle).
• Scientific articles and books.

Faculty or entity

CLSM