For this subject you will prepare, manage, implement and evaluate a market research plan� Assessment 1 will focus on preparing, managing and implementing the plan� Please read the case study carefully�

Case Study:

You have been hired as a marketing project manager by OurData, a marketing research agency servicing different clients in market research of all types� Your initial project is to prepare and manage a market research plan for a client who wishes to determine the factors that influence the preference of their customers when it comes to either online shopping or store shopping by gender� They currently have a total of 5,500 customers�

Your client has allocated a $50,000 budget for a market research project� They are not very clear about what needs to be researched so they have hired OurData� Your task is to come up with a market research plan that would provide your client with relevant data that would allow them to define a marketing strategy to solve their problem� Follow these tasks to complete the project�

 

Task 1 - Prepare market research plans for implementation

In order to confirm compliance you have been required to carefully review OurData's market research policy and procedure, which was developed to ensure the quality of all market research projects� After reviewing the document, please complete the questions that follow:

 

Market Research Policy and procedure The purpose of this policy and procedure is to outline the expected results to each one of the different stages of all market research projects conducted as part of OurData business operations� All market research projects must follow in their preparation, implementation and evaluation the guidelines of this policy and procedure, and also adhere to The Privacy Act 1988�
Stages of the market research	Task and Expected results	Budget allocation

Identify the role of The Privacy Act 1988 in the project

Define the market research hypothesis and objective that guides the market research project

  

Define the type of data necessary for market research� This is based on the type of research the project aims, either qualitative, quantitative or a combination of both�

Define data collection method� The two main methods used by the company are interview/questionnaire or experimental�

Define data interpretation method� The two main methods are statistical for quantitative data and interpretative/ observation for qualitative data�

 

Planning

30% of budget

60% of budget

10% of budget

 

Engage external consultants or service providers, to ensure support and quality�

   

Implementation

Conclusion and evaluation

Question 1:

Data collection
Data processing and organisation Data interpretation

Decision Making and recommendations

     

Access The Privacy Act 1988 and explain why it is relevant to this market research project�

Question 2:

Research and determine what other legislation, codes of practice or national standards could be taken into account for this project, and potentially added to this market research policy and procedure�

Question 3:

Based on your client's concern, come up with your market research strategy� This would be the guiding strategy for the plan that must include:

a hypothesis for the research, in the way of a question or guiding statement,

a SMART objective for this market research project that corresponds to the hypothesis,

the sample size of users to whom the market research will be conducted� To do this

take into account a 95% confidence level and a 5% margin of error and the total number of users of your client�

 

Question 4:

Based on your market research hypothesis and objective, identify at least 3 different types of required resources for the implementation of this market research project� Explain how you would obtain each one of them�

Question 5:

Based on your market research hypothesis and objective, explain what type of data (qualitative, quantitative or combination) you would use for this project�

Question 6:

Based on our market research strategy and the type of data that you desire to collect, design a survey instrument of at least 5 questions�

Question 7:

Based on your market research hypothesis and objective, explain what data interpretation method (Statistical, observational or combination) you would use for this project�

Question 8:

Based on your project requirements identify the requirement of external consultants or service providers that will contribute to the completion of this market research project� Please complete the following tasks:

a�  Identify and explain at least 1 requirement/need in the project that may require that you seek to hire an external consultant or service provider�

b�  Identify at least 2 external consultants or service providers that can fulfill the identified requirement/need� Then please make a decision for the best option to hire for this project� Complete the following table to make your final decision�

External Consultant

Service they offer

Price

Timing for completion

Advantages

Disadvantages

Final decision for hiring:

Based on the criteria identified above, choose one of the options and explain your final decision for hiring�

c� Once you have selected the external consultant or service provider� Please write a formal email in which you clearly state your offer for the contract� Make sure that in this email you also outline the specifications for research components that you will require from them�

to:

from:

subject:

Question 9:

Identify at least an additional product and an additional service that you would require in the implementation of this market research project� Explain the criteria you would use to select each one of them.

 

Task 2 - Manage market research activity

Based on the organisational market research policy and procedure and the project specifications, put together a project plan that addresses:

Stages of the market research

Tasks/expected results

Responsible for each task

Timeframe for each task

Allocated budget for each task

Monitoring method for each task

Please note that you must ensure, review and confirm that your plan is in alignment with the policy and procedure and relevant regulatory requirements.