HANOI UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM

Course Outline
MARKETING RESEARCH

SPRING 2024

HANOI
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Course details

Course name Marketing Research (MRE)

Units of credit 3
Study length 15 weeks
Prerequisite /Co requisite PAS + PMK
Suggested study commitment Approximately 15 hours per week
Year 2023
Minh-Duong Nguyen
Email: duongnm@hanu.edu.vn

Course Coordinator/Lecturer Lien Nguyen Phuong

Email: liennp@hanu.edu.vn
Please put [MRE] and your name or student number in the subject line of ALL e-mail
to me
R.201 Building C
Contact details
Tel: (024) 355 33 560

Course aim/rationale

This course is a study of research methods and techniques applied to solve problems in marketing such as market needs
identification, customers’ perception of product design, channel of distribution, pricing, and promotion, or measuring
customer satisfaction, etc... In this course, students learn to identify research problem, set research objectives, select
appropriate research design. Students learn to develop skills to design survey questionaire, collect data, analyze data, and
present the research report. Attention is also given to social and ethical issues in marketing research.

Course learning objectives (LOs)

This course is designed to provide students with understanding of marketing research with regard to what to research, why,
and how to do the marketing research.
On completion of the course, students should be able to:

LO1: Demonstrate an understanding of the role and value of marketing research in business context.
LO2: Identify marketing problems and translates into research questions.
LO3: Differentiate research paradigms and designs.
LO4: Determine sample size, design Interview protocols, and conduct interviews.
LO5: Be competent in using data collection instruments, and data analytical tools.
LO6: Draw on research findings to make relevant recommendations.
LO7: Present the final report in oral and written form.

Course materials

Materials of Marketing Research course will include textbooks, industry and academic articles handed out in class. Also, the
students are encouraged to browse the university library, the Internet, Google Scholar etc… to get a profound and better
understanding of relevant academic literature, and relevant marketing research methodology for their research project.

Course structure

The structure of this course for the mixed mode of online and on-campus students comprises:

• One 2.5 class hour lecture per week

• One 2.5 class hour tutorial per week

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Student Expectation

• The student is expected to participate in the course via F2F or Teams with the instructor, by reading the assigned
readings, doing tutorial exercises, and completing the project in a timely manner. Teams should be checked daily
for updated information.
• Email correspondence should indicate that the student understands common business etiquette. Include your name
and course name in every email, reply to emails by including the original email in addition to your comments or
questions. Avoid grammatical and spelling errors.
Prescribed textbook: Burns, A.C., Veeck, A. and Bush, R.F (2017), Marketing Research, 8th ed., Pearson, England

Proposed weekly schedule (*):

Week Date Chapters Lecture Tutorial activities
1 13 Jan 1, 2,3 Introduction to Marketing Research Group assignment brief
The Marketing Research industry Referencing style (Harvard style)
The Marketing Research process Group formation (**)
2 20 Jan 4,5 Research design: qualitative and Research structure guide
quantitative research Research problem
Ethical issues in Research

3 27 Jan 6 Secondary analysis Secondary analysis: Buzzsumo/Fanpage

Social media analysis and content Karma/Nvivo/Google trend
analysis Population size estimate

4 3 Feb 6 Qualitative research: In-depth interviews Literature review

(Online) and Focus group discussions Interview protocol practice
5 24 Feb Handouts Qualitative data analysis Interview protocol practice
Consultation
6 2 Mar 8 Understanding measurement, developing Coding guide 1
questions, and designing the Interview protocol submission: 29 Feb
questionnaire (23:59)

7 9 Mar 9 Sampling methodologies Coding guide 2 – In-depth Interview

comments in class
First In-depth Interview submission: 7
Mar (23:59)
8 16 Mar Data collection Data collection
Students do fieldwork. Data collection submission: 19 Mar
(23:59)
9 23 Mar 12, 13, 14 Quantitative analysis Consultation

10 30 Mar In class mid-term test (60’) Consultation

11 6 Apr 16 The research reports Consultation

Industry engagement (tentative)
12 13 Apr All Revision Group presentation
chapters Reflection guide Slide submission due date: 10 Apr
(23:59)
Reflection submission due date: 17 Apr
(23:59)
(*) The schedule is subject to change.
(**) If you are absent in the first tutorial, you will be assigned to a group randomly.

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Assessment
Assessment for the subject will include:
1 Participation (Individual) Required assessment: Yes 10%

2 Mid-term test (Individual) Required assessment: Yes 20%

3 Data collection (Individual) Required assessment: Yes 15%

4 Project report (ppt) (Group) Required assessment: Yes 35%

5 Project presentation (Group) Required assessment: Yes 05%

6 Reflection (Individual) Required assessment: Yes 15%

Total 100%

Details of assessment

1. Participation (Individual) - 10%

Students are expected to be present in Lectures and Tutorials. If you are absent for more than 3 lectures or 3 tutorials, you will
not be eligible to pass the course. Also, active participation in class will be counted toward the final participation mark. If you
are not present when your tutor/lecturer checks attendance, you will be marked absent.

You must sign the exam list at the end of the course by yourself. Any violations on this leads to the failure of the course.

2. Mid-term test (Individual) – 20%

The mid-term test will be a 60-minute in-class test and it includes only multiple-choice questions. There will be NO make-up
test except for eligible and documented reasons. In this case, the make-up test will be oral test. The midterm test includes one
case study. Three cases will be given to you at least one day before the test. The case will be selected randomly from three given
cases. The format of the test is subject to change.

3. Data collection (Individual) – 15%

You must collect data as required (2 In-depth interviews/student). Interviews must be transcribed in an Excel file, each line is
for one sentence; and you need four columns including line number, text, code, and category. Your data collection submission
includes audio recording in mp3, wma, or wav, transcript with guided format, and picture of respondents taken by interviewers.

The file names follow below structures:

Audio/transcript/picture_yourname_yourstudentID_DateofIDI_nameofrespondents_locationofIDI_timeofIDI
E.g: Audio_NguyenVanA_204050007_13.04.2021_NguyenThiHong_HaDong_15.23_15.45

Technical 11.25-15 9.75-11.25 8.25-9.75 6.75-8.25 0-6.75 Total mark

skills
IDIs Extensive evidence of Significant Clear evidence Evidence of Little or no 15
the appropriate selection evidence of of the appropriate evidence of
and highly skilful the appropriate selection of appropriate
execution of techniques. appropriate selection and techniques, selection of
Application of skills may selection and execution of which may techniques, and
lead to conceptual skilful techniques. require more significant gaps
advances within the execution of skilful in skill
topic. techniques. execution. execution.
The format for a transcript:

Line number Text Code Category

1 First sentence

The codebook example: https://www.evalacademy.com/articles/creating-a-qualitative-codebook

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 4. Project (Group) – 40%

Each group of 5-6 students will take charge of a project, which runs throughout the semester. The team should work well all the
time, ensure constant communication. Every member of the team must contribute to the project and be respectful to each other.

Brief description of project

You are a team of junior executives at a reputable marketing agency. You are assigned to support a client in understanding its
consumers by doing qualitative research, which focuses on your assigned topic. You must define the research problems, research
design, sample, and data collection, and perform the research. Afterward, a detail analysis and recommendation presented in
PowerPoint slides will be presented to the client. Your group will be assigned to a brand and a topic randomly. Each student
will conduct two in-depth interviews with consumers. You must make sure that one interviewee participates in one and only
one IDI. Each group will have to analyse all your groups’ IDIs.

Brand Topic
Honda Brand loyalty
Toyota Brand reputation
Oral-B Brand experience
Shiseido Brand identity
The Face Shop Brand promise
X-Men Brand personality

4.1 Report (Group) – 35%

The structure of the final report is as below. You are expected to perform actual analysis from IDIs. Each group just must do
the report in the form of slides. The report is submitted via Turnitin. Submission outside Turnitin will not be evaluated. There
is no limit in number of slides. Slides must be numbered.

Assessment criteria Note Mark (35)

Brand introduction The problem should be clearly clarified. You must use social media 7.5
Brand problem analysis/content analysis to support your problem identification.
Research questions and Research objectives must be SMART. 3
Research Objectives
Conceptual and operational 3
definitions.
Target audience’s You should show how you calculate the population size. Sample size must 2
characteristics and population be specified.
estimate.
Research method 2
Ethical concerns related to
research methods should be
discussed.
Sample design and Data 2
collection
Timeline From the date of the proposal till the date of delivery. 1.5
Findings 7.5
Managerial implications 3
Conclusions and limitations 1.5
References You must follow Harvard style. Guide is as below: 2
https://www.lib.rmit.edu.au/easy-cite/?styleguide=styleguide-1#stn-0

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Rubrics
Assessment criteria
Brand introduction
Brand problem (7.5 point)
Research objectives
Research question
(3 point)
Definitions (3 point)
- Conceptual
operational definition
Methodology (7.5 points)
- Target audience
- Research method
- Ethical concerns
- Sample design and data
collection
- Timeline
Research findings and
interpretations (7.5 points)
Recommendations
Conclusions
Limitations (4.5 point)
References (2 point)
Needs improvement
(≤60%)
Too brief or too lengthy. Do
not provide the business
managers an overview of the
main parts of the report.
Demonstrates no or limited
ability to provide clear research
objectives and relevant research
question(s).
Weak review of key papers
related to the research project.
and
Inappropriate research
methods. Inappropriate
sampling.
Incompetent in statistical
analysis techniques
No findings or weak findings
are presented.
No or few interpretations are
provided.
No recommendation or
irrelevant recommendations.
No summary of all parts of the
project.
References and in-text citation
errors detract significantly
from Harvard style.
Good
(60 - 80%)
Provide the business managers an
overview of the main parts of the
report.
Provide clear research objectives
and relevant research question(s)
or hypotheses.
Clear review of key papers related
to the research project.
Demonstrate evidence of
extensive research of previous
studies.
Appropriate research methods.
Identify previous studies to
support the selected methods and
instruments for this research.
Appropriate sampling.
Good command of statistical
analysis techniques.
Provide descriptive outcomes.
Few interpretations of research
findings are provided.
Relevant recommendations to the
research problems are provided.
Attempt to summarize all parts of
the project.
All references and in-text citation
follow Harvard style. At least 7
academic references are listed.
Excellent
(80-100%)
Provide the business managers a
succinct overview of the main parts
of the report.
Provide very clear research
objectives and relevant research
question(s) or hypotheses.
Able to evaluate the timeliness and
significance of the project.
Demonstrate evidence of extensive
research and a depth of thinking
through critical review of key
papers related to the research
project.
Build up a conceptual framework
from published theories or
constructs to present the overall
structure of the study.
Appropriate research methods.
Extensive research on previous
studies that support the selected
methods and instruments for this
research.
Appropriate sampling, evidence of
effective field work to collect data.
Competent use of statistical
analysis techniques.
Effectively present descriptive
outcomes, compare information
from different groups of variables.
Able to evaluate the reliability,
validity, and accuracy of the
research findings.
Effective interpretation of the
implications of research findings.
Insightful discussion of the
relationship between the research
findings and research question(s).
Recommend relevant solutions to
the research problems.
Nicely connect all parts of the
project.
Good sources of academic and
industry reference. At least 10
academic references are listed. All
references and in-text citation
follow Harvard style.

4.2 Project presentation (Group) – 5%

Presentation will be no more than 15 minutes following by 5 minutes Q&A session.

Detailed presentation guidance will be delivered in the tutorial classes. Presentation marking rubrics:

Group number: Tutorial: Project title:

Oral Presentation 3.75-5 3.25-3.75 2.75-3.25 2.25*2.75 0-2.25 Total

Skills mark
Flow and Content Message and Message and Message and Message and Message and/or 5
Strong Start and Finish, medium are medium are medium are medium may medium are not
Clear story, Clear highly relevant relevant to the mostly relevant not be totally relevant to the
relevance to client, to the topic. The topic. The to the topic. The relevant to the topic. The
Clear differentiation communication communication communication topic. The communication
points, Appropriate is consistently is mostly clear is clear and communication is not clear and
visuals, Delivery within clear and highly and persuasive. mostly is clear but not not persuasive.
allocated time, persuasive persuasive. persuasive.
Engagement with
audience, Questions
answered appropriately.

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 4.3. Teamwork

During group work, the group must arrange the work by themselves, which include work allocation, meetings, and other works
that help projects done successfully. In case there is any dispute or lack of contribution of members, your group must inform
lectures/tutorials as soon as possible. The latest for the information is one day after your presentation. Otherwise, all claims are
discarded. In case, you are reported to not contribute to group work, you have one day to claim with evidence.

5. Reflection (Individual) – 10%

We request you to reflect on your experience related to the creation of a specific research material used by your team, and to
establish a connection between that experience and a fundamental principle of conducting ethical research. The reflection should
not be more than 600 words. The reflection should follow DIEP model. Below materials could help you.
DIEP model: https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/resources/developing-an-academic-
writing-style/reflective-writing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntBj0FIApw&t=5s
Ethics in Qualitative research: https://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/3155/4306

Reflection 8-10 7-8 6-7 5-6 0-5 Total

marks
- Include clear Extensive Significant Clear evidence of Some evidence Little or no 10
description of a evidence of ability evidence of ability ability to critically of ability to evidence of
decision or moment to critically to critically engage in analysis critically engage ability to
you experienced engage in analysis engage in analysis of own skills and in analysis of critically engage
creating research of own skills and of analysis of own knowledge and own skills and in analysis of
materials (YOUR knowledge and skills and analysis of knowledge in own skills and
EXPERIENCE) analysis of knowledge and performance/outc relation to the knowledge in
- 1 relevant performance/outc analysis of omes relating to assignment or relation to the
principle of ethical omes relating to performance/outc the assignment context of the assignment or
conduct of research the assignment omes relating to objectives. Where brief. There may context of the
is clearly objectives. Where the assignment required the be limited brief. No or
articulated required the objectives. Where analysis is evidence of an poorly defined
- Sophisticated analysis is required the supported by an associated action plan
interpretation and supported by a analysis is action plan that action plan or provided if
reflection on what detailed and supported by a may require plan may not required.
you might do clearly defined clearly defined further detail or clearly address
differently in the action plan. action plan. clarification. the key issues.
future / next phase
- Well written and
professionally
presented with
accurate/consistent
referencing style

6. Late submission policy

If you submit late for any assessments, you will be deducted 10% for every 24 hours late (Note: 0.1 second late will be treated
as 1 day late).

For example, for the report (40%):

If you submit 1 day late, you will be deducted 4%
If you submit 2 days late, you will be deducted 8%
If you submit 3 days late, you will be deducted 12%
If you submit 4 days late, your work will not be considered.

_The end_