Academic management

Marketing Research is offered in the second semester, third course of the Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Business Administration of the Oviedo University. It is a mandatory subject included in the Module 4, Marketing, linked with the Unit 1: Fundamental Aspects of Marketing.

This subject deals with the role of  information in marketing decisions. It is a very important topic in the background of any graduated in Business Administration. This subject allows the student to understand the importance of the information in an environment characterized by highest levels of change and uncertainty. Moreover, it shows how to obtain and analyze the information through scientific procedures that increases the success in marketing decisions.

The different units of the syllabus insist in the value of the information and how to design a marketing research coherent with the needs of the marketing strategy. It is also explained the application of qualitative and quantitative marketing research methods as well as the statistics techniques needed to solve marketing problems. The subject finish with an explanation of how to communicate, both oral and written, the main results of a marketing research.

This subject is connected with the rest of the subjects of the Marketing field (Module 4: Marketing). It follows the subjects Fundamentals of Marketing and Marketing Management.  Additionally, those students particulary interested in strenghted their marketing background have the possibility of choosing the subjects Commercial Distribution and E-commerce (fourth course, first semester) and Commercial Communication (fourth course, second semester). Likewise, it is recommended to get familiar with the search of information through Internet and with the use of analytics tools such as SPSS. 

There is not any mandatory requirement to choose this subjetct. It is just recommended to get familiar with the search of information through Internet and with the use of spreadsheets and text processors. However, the subject is self-contained and all materials will be explained from the basics. Regarding the relationships with other fields, it is highly advisable, but not mandatory, that students have previously attended the course on Economy of the Firm, Fundamentals of Marketing, Marketing Management and Statistics.

Marketing research intends to help students to develop managerial expertise and analytical skills valuable for marketing decisions. After completing the course the students should:

a. Be able to recognize the role of the information in the marketing decisions.

b. Be familiar with and be able to apply marketing research methods in order to prepare and present the final research report.

 Generic competencies

• Analisis and synthesis capacity
• Fluent oral and written communication competencies in English
• Ability to search and analyze sources of information in the field work
• Capacity to use computer tools and communication technologies
• Capacity for teamwork
• Capacity of criticism and self-criticism
• Capacity to take decisions
• Ability to apply knowledge in practice
• Creative capacity to found new ideas and solutions
• Initiative and entrepreneurship spirit
• Ability to organize and plan
• Adaptability to new situations
• Integrate the principles of equality of treatment and opportunity for women and men in the workplace
• Itegrate the principles of equalite of opportunities and universal accesibility of people with disabilities in the the workplace

Specific competencies

• Manage and interpret specific software for data analysis
• Formulate marketing plans: understand concepts and activities of strategic and operational marketing
• Design and develop business projects
• Communication information, ideas, problems and solutions of the business field to both a specialized and non-specialized audicence
• Issue advisory report on specific company and market situations

Learning objectives

• Undertand the role of marketing in different markets
• Perform an analysis of threats and opportunities
• Design segmentation and positioning strategies
• Adopt right decisions regarding marketing-mix variables
• Distinguish and evaluate the application possibilities of qualitative and quantitative marketing research methods
• Design marketing research process
• Analyze information collected through marketing research studies
• Make reports with the results and conclusions extracted form marketing research

Synthetic syllabus 

Part I Knowledge and information for marketing decision-making

Unit 1.-      Information in marketing decisions. Marketing intelligence

Unit 2.-      Marketing research. Fundamentals and methodology

Part II Marketing research methods

Unit 3.-      Design of an exploratory research. Qualitative research

Unit 4.-      Design of a descriptive and causal research. The survey and the experimentation

Part III Methods of information analysis. Marketing research reports

      Unit 5.-      Methods of collection and analysis of information for decision-making

Unit 6.-      Preparation and presentation of the final report

 Analytic syllabus and learning objectives

Unit 1.- Information in marketing decisions. Marketing intelligence

General objectives:

This first Unit presents the value of the information as an intangible asset in the firm. Marketing is evolving rapidly with new developments of information technology and advancements in analytical tools. The “big-data” revolution is driving a shift away from intuitive decision making to data-analytics based decisions.

Student’s difficulties: the vast majority of students have completed the Fundamentals of Marketing subject in which the concept and purpose of finding information for decision-making is introduced, along with the content of marketing information system. Nevertheless, in this first Unit the student may encounter difficulties in understanding the wealth of information sources that can be used in a company.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define the concepts of:
   • Data/information/knowledge
   • Marketing information system
   • Marketing intelligence. Internal and external sources of data
   • Information panel
2. Propose useful sources of information to carry out specific market studies
3. Search for sources of information and analysis of their content

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid. Capítulos 1 y 2.

Vázquez Casielles, Trespalacios Gutiérrez, Rodríguez-del Bosque y otros (2005), capítulo 6, pp. 201-228.

Unit 2.- Marketing research. Fundamentals and methodology

General objectives:

This Unit clasifies the different marketing research techniques. It presents the marketing research process as a sequence of phases that starts with the problem definition and finalizes with the presentation of the final report.

Student’s difficulties: the student must understand the importance of establishing the research objectives as well as applying the right methodology to accomplish them. Assimilating the theoretical concepts should not present any difficulty. However, that is not the case when trying to apply the concepts to solve specific problems. Combining the theoretical concepts with highest doses of creativity and planning is required.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define the concepts of:
   • Marketing research content
   • Distinguish between exploratory, descriptive and causal research
   • Know the marketing research process
   • How to elaborate a marketing research project
2. Compare the effectiveness of different marketing research techniques to solve specific problems
3. Design a marketing research project

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid. Capítulo 3.

Unit 3.-           Design of an exploratory research. Qualitative research

General objectives:

This Unit introduces the fundamental elements of a qualitative approach to research. The most common qualitative research methods are explained in detail. Those methods are divided according both with the number of people involved and their direct or indirect nature. The last part of the Unit presents current and emerging trends in qualitative research.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define the concepts of:
   • Direct and indirect qualitative research methods
   • Focus groups
   • In-depth interviews
   • Projective techniques
2. Compare the effectiveness of different qualitative marketing research methods
3. Design research plans based on qualitative methods
4. Propose managerial implications departing form the results of qualitative research methods

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid. Capítulo 4.

Unit 4.-           Design of a descriptive and causal research. The survey and the experimentation

General objectives:

This Unit explains the basic differences between quantitative and qualitative research methods emphasizing the complementariety of both approaches. The main quantitative research technique —the survey— is deeply explained detailing aspects such as how to design a questionnaire or how to deal with the sampling process. The last part of the Unit explore the utility of marketing experimentation.

Student’s difficulties: the main difficulty is how to design market research surveys and marketing experiments to solve managerial problems with an appropiate relationship between cost and value.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define the concepts of:
   • Quantitative research methods
   • Sampling and sample size
   • Probability and non-probability sampling
   • Questionnaire
   • Collect data
   • Attitude scales
   • Marketing experiment
2. Determine sample size
3. Distinguish sampling procedures
4. Design questionnaires
5. Know different types of marketing experiments
6. Design the most appropriate marketing experiment for each situation

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid. Capítulo 5.

Unit 5.-           Methods of collection and analysis of information for decision-making

General objectives:

The first part of this Unit focuses on database design and management. Then different analysis techniques are presented distinguishing between univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis. A specific section of this Unit is devoted to causal analysis.

Student’s difficulties: as students have previous knowledge about statistics, the application of specific analysis techniques should not be particularly difficult. However, the more challenging part of the Unit consists on choosing the most appropiate technique to solve a given problem.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define de concept of:
   • Descriptive analysis/inferential analysis
   • Metric and non-metric data
   • Hypothesis testing. Null hypothesis
   • Confidence level and significance level
2. Choosing the most appropriate analysis technique depending on the research objectives and on the data
3. Apply the most appropriate techniques and correctly interpret the results

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid. Capítulo 6.

Unit 6.-         Preparation and presentation of the final report

General objectives:

The aim of this Unit is to present the importance of the final report as a cue of the quality of the research. Different elements that should be taken into account when presenting the results are explained as well as how to construct the report in a logical manner.

Student’s difficulties: it is not a particularly complex Unit for the student as all the concepts are quite familiar for him/her. Communication skills should be improved through practice.

Specific learning objectives:

1. Define de concepts of:
   • Market research report
   • Technical report/popular report
2. Design tables, graphics and contents that improve the comprehension of the results
3. Identify and highlight the most relevant contributions of the marketing research

Reading materials:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R. y Bello Acebrón, L. (2005), capítulo 10, pp. 319-343.

Methodology

The teaching methods of Marketing Research involve both in-class and out-of-class activities.

1. In-class activities

1. Lectures. They will consist in the exposition of the basic theoretical contents of each unit, encouraging the active participation of the students and motivating their learning.
2. Classroom practices. Oral presentations by the students of case studies and readings.
3. Lab practices. Devoloped in the computer room. Students learn how to create a database and how to use a specific software to analyse it.

2. Out-of-class activities

1. Individual work. Student work devoted both to the preparation of the final exam and to the resolution of case studies.
2. Team work. Propose, develop and present a real marketing research.

Teaching plan

1. Chronogram

2. Activities-Units distribution

3. Activity distribution

Exceptionally, if health conditions so required, it may be possible to include online teaching activities. If that is the case, students will be informed of those changes.

 Final grades for this course will be based on the following weighting methodology:

1. Continuous assessment. 4 points maximum (40% of the final grade). It will be done through the following activities:
   • In-class activities. The presentation of the results will take place in the classroom during the classroom practices hours. 1 point maximum (10% of the final grade).
   • Problem-sets during the laboratory practices. 1 point maximum (10% of the final grade).
   • Propose, develop and present a real marketing research. 2 points maximum (20% of the final grade).
2. Final exam. 6 points maximum (60% of the final grade).

Summary

Assessment requirements:

1. A minimum grade of 2 points out of 6 in the final exam is required to be eligible for continuous assessment. When the student does not reach the minimun grade required to pass the course in the final exam, but when taking into account the continuous assessment it exceeds 5 points, the grade that will appear in the record will be 4.9.
2. Extraordinary exam (December-January). Continuous assessment of previous courses will not be taken into account. Maximum grade of the extrarodinary exam will be 10 points. 

System of Differential Evaluation

Those students following the Degree in Business Administration in a part-time schedule will have a specific exam that will cover the full content of the course. By this exam, they will be able to show their knowledge and capabilities for carring out a marketing research. Maximun grade of the exam will be 10 points.

Exceptionally, if health conditions so required, it may be possible to include online assessment methods. If that is the case, students will be informed of those changes.

The Ethical Code of the University of Oviedo is current and applicable and can be accessed from the following link:  Universidad de Oviedo - Código ético (uniovi.es)

Main subject resources, such as this course guide, slides with presentations used during lectures, as well as the applied cases and guidelines for the assignment will be posted on the Campus Virtual (www.campusvirtual.uniovi.es).

Other important references are listed below:

Recommended reading:

Trespalacios Gutiérrez, J. A.; Vázquez Casielles, R.; Ballina Ballina, J. y Suárez Vázquez, A. (2016): Investigación de Mercados. El valor de los estudios de mercado en la era del marketing digital. Editorial Paraninfo, Madrid.

Supplemental reading:

• Malhotra, N.K. (2020): Marketing research: an applied orientation, global edition, 7/e (e-Book VS 12m). Pearson. 

• Marqués, F. (2015): Técnicas de investigación de mercados. Editor: RC Libros.

• Mas Ruiz, F.J. (2012): Temas de investigación comercial (6.a ed.). Editorial Club Universitario.

• Shiffman, L.G. (2019): Consumer behavior, global edition, 12e (e-Book VS 12m). Pearson. 

Web sites:

• AMA (American Marketing Association): https://www.ama.org
• AIMC (Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación): www.aimc.es
• Asociación de Empresas de Estudios de Mercado y Opinión: www.aneimo.com
• Asociación Española de Estudios de Mercado, Marketing y Opinión (AEDEMO):
• www.aedemo.es
• Asociación Española de Marketing Académico y Profesional (AEMARK): www.aemark.es
• ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research): https://www.esomar.org
• Instituto Nacional de Estadística: www.ine.es
• Ipsos, S.A: http://www.ipsos.com
• Kantar Media: http://www.kantarmedia1.es