For what purposes are MDS procedures used?
> What does the word ‘coding’ mean in the context of qualitative data analysis? What problems do you see associated with the process of coding?
> What may be classified as ‘data’ when assembling data as part of the data analysis process?
> What should be recorded in a field notebook?
> Why should a qualitative researcher maintain a field notebook?
> What is the significance of a qualitative researcher having a theoretical and marketing understanding of the subject they are researching?
> Why does the interpretation of qualitative findings have ethical implications?
> Why is the researcher’s understanding of their social and cultural values particularly important in international marketing research?
> Summarise the nature of threats and opportunities that social media offer the researcher.
> Evaluate the main concerns that exist with the use of software in qualitative data analysis.
> How may different types of software help in the whole process of qualitative data gathering and analysis?
> How may theoretical sampling aid the process of verification?
> Evaluate ‘when’ the stage of data verification should occur.
> How may the social and cultural background of researchers affect the way they: a. gather qualitative data? b. interpret the whole array of qualitative data they have gathered?
> Describe the ‘word association’ technique. Give an example of a situation in which this technique is especially useful.
> What are projective techniques? In what circumstances should projective techniques be used?
> Choose any particular application of an in-depth interview and present a case for why you think the technique may work much better than a focus group.
> Evaluate the context and timing requirements that you think would be needed to make the repertory grid technique work.
> Describe the process of administering the repertory grid technique.
> What arguments would you use to make the case for greater investment in marketing research?
> Why may a structure be applied to the in-depth interview in the form of laddering or the repertory grid technique?
> What are the requirements of the researcher undertaking in-depth interviews? Why are these requirements particularly important when conducting interviews with managers?
> What are the major advantages of in-depth interviews?
> What limitations are there to conducting in-depth interviews online, compared with meeting participants face to face?
> Describe a projective technique that you feel would work particularly well online – without the use of webcams.
> Why may in-depth interviews or projective techniques upset or disturb participants?
> Why is the context of questioning particularly important when conducting indepth interviews in international marketing research?
> Describe the criteria by which researchers may evaluate the relative worth of qualitative techniques.
> Describe the ‘story completion’ technique. Give an example of the type of participant and the context in which such a technique would work.
> What is an in-depth interview? Summarise the process of administering an indepth interview.
> What kinds of new skills are increasingly being demanded from researchers?
> Describe the purpose of marketing research.
> Why does research into children create particular ethical challenges?
> What are the consequences of unethical behaviour by marketing researchers?
> How can you ensure you have properly gained informed consent when carrying out a survey?
> What are some of the additional variables used for profiling the clusters?
> When is it useful to calculate factor scores?
> Explain how eigenvalues are used to determine the number of factors.
> How do you assess the validity of a measurement model?
> What factors influence the choice of an MDS procedure?
> What is the most commonly used measure of similarity in cluster analysis?
> What are the two major disadvantages of non-hierarchical clustering procedures?
> Why is the average linkage method usually preferred to single linkage and complete linkage?
> For what purpose is the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy used?
> Present a classification of clustering procedures.
> What is meant by the term ‘communality of a variable’?
> What hypothesis is examined by Bartlett’s test of sphericity? For what purpose is this test used?
> Explain the concept of uninformed consent.
> What is the major difference between principal components analysis and common factor analysis?
> Discuss the similarity and difference between cluster analysis and discriminant analysis.
> Summarise the threats presented by new technologies to the effectiveness of anonymization of participant data.
> What are the particular ethical challenges associated with the use of secondary data?
> How can researchers prevent adverse effects from occurring when carrying out focus groups?
> Describe the key concepts embedded in the ESOMAR code of conduct.
> Why is self-regulation viewed as important by professional bodies in marketing research?
> Why is participant anonymity so important in market research?
> Evaluate the reasons why gaining access to key participants may be so difficult. Why may gaining access grow more difficult over time?
> What is b2g marketing? What kinds of challenges might be associated with b2g marketing research?
> Upon what basis may a researcher decide which variables should be selected to formulate a clustering problem?
> What does ‘access’ mean in the context of b2b marketing research?
> Describe the sampling challenges that the b2b researcher faces.
> What are the five major differences between b2b and consumer marketing?
> How do the concepts of business networks and relationships relate to each other?
> What challenges do b2b marketers face in managing relationships?
> What characteristics distinguish b2b marketing from consumer marketing?
> What is competitive intelligence? How does this definition differ from notions of ‘conventional marketing research’?
> Describe the potential participant errors that may occur in b2b marketing research. What may be done to reduce these potential errors?
> What is meant by ‘interviewer credibility’? What may interviewers do to be seen as more credible in the eyes of target participants?
> Why is it important to ask the question ‘Is b2b marketing research significantly different from consumer marketing research?’
> Briefly define the following: eigenvalue, factor loadings, factor matrix and factor scores.
> What is a pie chart? For what type of information is it suitable? For what type of information is it not suitable?
> What is an infographic? Why can visual communication techniques sometimes be more effective than text at communicating research findings?
> Describe the guidelines for report writing.
> Discuss the importance of objectivity in writing a marketing research report.
> Why is the ‘limitations and caveats’ section included in the report?
> Describe a commonly used format for writing marketing research reports.
> What is the difference between dissemination and communication of research findings?
> Why should marketing research projects be evaluated after they have been completed?
> To what extent should researchers interpret the information they present in a report?
> What is the purpose of an oral presentation? What guidelines should be followed in an oral presentation?
> What is a ‘cluster’?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages of presenting data using 3D charts?
> Why is the quality of report presentation vital to the success of a marketing research project?
> How do you establish convergent and discriminant validity in an SEM framework?
> What is confirmatory factor analysis? How is it similar to and different from exploratory factor analysis?
> What are the similarities and differences between a parsimony and incremental fit index?
> What are the similarities and differences between an absolute and incremental fit index?
> How is model fit assessed in SEM?
> What is a measurement model? Why is it estimated?
> What is the role of theory in SEM?
> SEM is similar to what other multivariate techniques? How is it similar?
> Briefly define the following terms: dendrogram, icicle plot, agglomeration schedule and cluster membership.
> What is a recursive model? Why is this aspect relevant in SEM?
> How do we determine whether the difference between two structural path coefficients is significant?
> What is a structural theory and how is it different from measurement theory?
> What is a second-order factor model? How is it different from a first-order factor model?
> What is average variance extracted? Why is it useful to calculate this statistic?
> What characteristics distinguish SEM from other multivariate techniques?
> What is the difference between internal and external analysis of preference data?
> Describe the ways in which the reliability and validity of MDS solutions can be assessed.
> What guidelines are used for deciding on the number of dimensions in which to obtain an MDS solution?
