Question: Why would a researcher consider conducting

> What are the three main challenges marketing managers face when attempting to integrate “big data” into the firm?

> What are the main differences between descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analyses?

> What is a stratum chart? For what kinds of information is it particularly appropriate?

> In terms of marketplace sources of “big data,” what is social data? Mobile data? Omni-channel transactional data?

> Compare and contrast structured versus unstructured data. Using Facebook as an example, would data available from Facebook to a marketer be structured, unstructured, or both?

> How might a marketing manager obtain value from “big data” that is different from value obtained from traditional data sources?

> Which of the four Vs—volume, velocity, variety, or veracity—creates the biggest challenge to marketing managers intent on “finding a needle in a haystack”?

> What are the necessary skills for employment in a junior or entry-level marketing research position? Do the skills change as one changes job levels?

> In a large research department, who would be responsible for specifying the objective of a research project? For deciding on specific procedures to be followed? For designing the questionnaire? For analyzing the results? For reporting the results to top

> What characteristics should a good focus group moderator possess? Why is each important?

> How does knowledge management expand the concept of an information system? What additional kinds of marketing intelligence can it provide?

> In a decision support system, what is a data system? A model system? A dialog system? Which of these is most important? Why?

> What are the main differences between a marketing information system and a decision support system?

> What content appears in each of the following parts of the research report? a. Title page b. Table of contents c. Executive summary d. Introduction e. Method f. Results g. Conclusions and recommendations h. Appendices

> What are the main advantages and disadvantages of secondary data? Do these apply equally to internal and external secondary data?

> How does a project emphasis in marketing research differ from a systems emphasis?

> How does a focus group with 8 to 12 people differ from a series of depth interviews with 8 to 12 people? How does a focus group differ from a nominal group?

> What are the characteristics of a depth interview? Who should be interviewed?

> What is a literature search? What kinds of literature might be searched?

> What are the key characteristics of exploratory research?

> What are the basic uses for exploratory research?

> What are the benefits of using a request-for-proposal?

> What factors should be considered when choosing a research supplier?

> How does the research proposal differ from the research request agreement?

> On the one hand, we argued that the research report must be complete and, on the other hand, that it must be clear. Are these two objectives incompatible? If so, how do you reconcile them?

> What is involved in a research request agreement? What is included in the written statement?

> What is a research problem? Why is it important to develop the full range of possible research problems?

> What are the fundamental characteristics of the two types of decision problems?

> What is the basic nature of a decision problem?

> What is “normal thinking”? Why is it a problem when defining the marketing problem/opportunity?

> What are the sources of marketing problems or opportunities? Are different sources typically associated with different research objectives? Explain.

> What does it mean when we say that problems and opportunities are two sides of the same coin?

> Why is it important to consider marketing research ethics?

> What are the main differences between the utility, justice, and rights approaches to ethical reasoning?

> What is the most important error in research? Explain.

> What is meant by the written report standards of completeness, accuracy, and clarity?

> What are the various forms of data capture?

> What is the research process?

> What is a line chart? For what kinds of information is it generally used?

> Why did marketing research begin to experience real growth after World War II?

> What is a pie chart? For what kinds of information is it particularly effective?

> What are the two rules for presenting the oral report?

> What are the key considerations in preparing an oral report?

> If two continuous measures are positively correlated with one another, does that mean that one of them caused the other? Why or why not?

> What does the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient measure? When is it appropriate to use?

> Why do analysts often construct confidence intervals? What is their purpose?

> What would be the appropriate test to determine if men differed from women in their satisfaction with a meal served in a fast-food restaurant?

> How do you determine which set of percentages (i.e., row versus column percentages) to use on a cross-tab analysis?

> What technique is typically used to investigate relationships between two categorical variables?

> Who does marketing research? What are the primary kinds of research done by each enterprise?

> What is a two-box technique? A median split? A cumulative percentage breakdown?

> Why might an analyst choose to convert a continuous measure to a categorical measure?

> Why must the distribution of responses be taken into account when deciding which type of “average” to present?

> What are the most commonly used descriptive statistics?

> What type of error do confidence intervals take into account?

> What is a histogram? What information does it provide?

> How many decimal places should normally be reported with percentages?

> What is an outlier?

> What types of variables might be analyzed with frequency analysis?

> What are some of the techniques for improving response rates?

> How would you compare a sample mean against a standard?

> How should response rates be calculated for the different methods of data collection?

> What is a response rate?

> What causes data merger errors?

> What are the possible ways for dealing with missing data? Which strategy would you recommend?

> What is double-entry of data?

> What is a blunder?

> What is the purpose of the codebook?

> What methods are available for building a data file?

> Why should multiple coders be used to establish categories and code responses for open-ended questions? Does this apply to all open-ended questions?

> What are the two kinds of open-ended questions, and why is one more difficult to code than the other?

> What is the basic use of a chi-square goodness-of-fit test?

> How might a researcher best code “please check all that apply” questions?

> What should a researcher do with incomplete answers? Obviously wrong answers? Answers that reflect a lack of interest?

> How is marketing research defined? What are the key elements of this definition?

> Why is it important to study marketing research?

> Why can office error be described as the most frustrating kind of error?

> What is recording error? How might it apply to both communication- and observation-based studies?

> What are the basic considerations underlying response error?

> Why might it be better to work with a smaller total sampling elements (TSE) and work diligently to get responses than to start with a much larger TSE but obtain a lower response rate?

> What are the two primary sources of nonresponse error? Describe how each source could result in nonresponse error

> Why is nonresponse error a “potential” source of error?

> What is a p-value? Do researchers typically want to obtain higher or lower p-values?

> Why is noncoverage error considered to be a sampling frame problem?

> Why is sampling error potentially less troubling than the other kinds of error?

> What are the six general types of error that can enter a research project? How do they differ?

> What are some other methods of determining sample size?

> What is the relationship between population size and sample size?

> What effect would relaxing the precision with which a population mean or proportion is estimated have on sample size? What about decreasing the degree of confidence from 95% to 90%?

> In determining sample size, what three basic factors must you consider?

> What is the notion of total sampling elements (TSE)? Why is TSE calculated?

> How do cluster samples differ from stratified samples?

> What are the main types of probability samples? What are their differences?

> Why can a hypothesis be rejected, but never fully accepted?

> What are the main types of nonprobability samples? What are their differences?

> What distinguishes a probability sample from a nonprobability sample?

> What is difference between a parameter and a statistic? How are they related?

> Why is it important to carefully define the population?

> What is a census? What is a sample?

> If so, what new skills are necessary at the higher levels?