Course Description:
The basis for any good marketing plan is intelligent market research. Marketing plans must be data-informed and customer-centric to be effective and valuable to an organization. However, organizations can easily be overwhelmed with this kind of customer information. The key is to sort valuable data from noise to craft an effective marketing strategy.

This course is designed to provide a foundational understanding of key topics in marketing research - and illustrate ways that research can be used to solve marketing challenges. You will distinguish the differences between quantitative and qualitative research, and primary and secondary research. Participants will gain practical hands-on knowledge on how to develop, conduct, evaluate and present market research.  This course will focus more on practical applications of key research topics rather than going in-depth on theory.  Case studies will be used to illustrate the essential concepts and to demonstrate common mistakes and successes in marketing research design.  You will also develop a project that will help you practice some of the concepts learned.

• Research industry overview and and potential careers
• Uses of research and examples of successful and failed outcomes
• Research methodologies and processes
• Questionnaire design, development and deployment
• Focus group guide development and execution
• Importance of sampling and statistical measurement
• Commissioning and overseeing research
• Analyzing data and effectively reporting results

• Recognize quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Select and evaluate research suppliers
• Determine how results are used
• Design, write and test questionnaire and survey execution
• Conduct focus group and/or personal interviews
• Analyze data
• Report and present actionable results

• Fundamental concepts and techniques for using research as a decision-making tool
• The research industry, how it functions, its code of ethics and its challenges
• Ability to distinguish primary from secondary research and quantitative from qualitative methods
• Learn about surveys, focus groups, observation techniques, and market testing
• Increase understanding of the role of sampling and analysis techniques
• Understand how market research can be used to help support key marketing initiatives, including brand strategy, segmentation and ROI analysis
• Familiarity with buzzwords and jargon, types of information and measurement scales

Course Prerequisite:
Previous academic coursework in marketing or some professional experience. Participants with limited training or experience in marketing are strongly encouraged to take Principles of Marketing first.