School of Business MBA Program Fall 2013

MKTG 610-6M1 — Business Research School of Business MBA Program — Fall 2013

Instructor: Timothy Dorr, DM, MBA Prerequisites: Statistics 600 or equivalent Office: Man 217B Class Meetings: As shown Hours: As shown & by appt Room: 208 Email: [email protected] Home Phone: 858-1619 (be reasonable)

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Alt. Fridays 9:30-10:45 Office 11:00-1:00 Office Office Office Office Open Computer 1:30-2:45 CAIS 102 Office CAIS 102 Lab Open Computer 3:00-4:15 Office Office Office Lab 4:30-5:45 Office CAIS 101 CAIS 101 6:15-8:45 MKTG 610

Course Content and Description: Today businesses are awash in data, and what businesses will pay for is an ability to make sense out of terabytes (a thousand gigabytes) of data. Business Research is a way to efficiently structure data and to infer characteristics of such large populations of data. It is not mathematics nor is it pure statistics. It is one of the most widely applicable areas available to business people, and also one that is not well mastered or understood among managers. The course objective is to provide the student with an appreciation of business research methods. After completing this course, a student will have examined the basic skills that enable a business researcher to conceptualize, design, implement, and analyze a variety of research projects. This understanding these enables the student to fully appreciate and use research in management decision- making. This is a graduate level survey of the field of business research; it is not designed to prepare the student for work in the field or within a business research firm in a capacity as a researcher.

Topics: Class date Topic

8/26/201 3 Semester Open Role of Research Information Systems 9/10/2013 Research Process Ethics Assessment 1

9/16/2013 Problem Definiton Qualitative Research

9/23/2013 Secondary Data Assessment 2

9/30/2013 Survey Research Observation Research

10/7/2013 Experimental Research Assessment 3

10/14/2013 Scaled Measurement Attitude Measurement

10/21/2013 Questionnaire Design Assessment 4

10/28/2013 Experimental Design Sizing Samples

4/11/2013 Fieldwork Assessment 5

11/11/2013 Data Coding Descriptive Statistics

11/18/2013 Significance Measures of Difference

Measures of 11/25/2013 Association Final Team Presentations

12/2/2013 Final Team Presentations Final Exam

12/7/2013 Semester Close

Expected Outcomes: At the conclusion of this course a successful student will be equipped to discuss the application of appropriate business research methods with peers and business colleagues. Within a business setting this student will be ready to discuss various strategic marketing research projects and proposals and to make informed decisions regarding their respective value to an organization. The student will be prepared to take additional graduate level courses in specific business quantitative analysis.

Text and Recommended Reading: The official text for the course:

Business Research Methods, 9th ed, Zikmund, Babin, Carr & Griffin (2013). Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western. ISBN-13: 978-1-111-82694-9

I will loosely follow the chapters in the text and you must buy a textbook. To stay with the material being covered you are encouraged to have the text within three weeks of the start of class. If this becomes an issue let me know. The text serves as an ancillary learning tool and resource. That said, we will be doing some business cases from the text. Such cases are contrived to illustrate a specific principle or application. I encourage students of modest financial means to find a used copy of the text online rather than pay full price at the bookstore. If you choose to use an earlier edition you may find that the references are somewhat dated, even though the subject material is current.

Grading Application and Ranges:

Grades are based on performance not on effort, desire, or need. English skills, written and spoken, are a part of every student's grade on every assignment. If you need a particular grade, to maintain your scholarship status, your athletic eligibility, or any other reason, the time to start working toward fulfilling that need is now. In-term assessments: 40% Class participation: 20% Final Exam: 40% Failure to earn a score of 50% or greater on the final will result in a course failure. Grade A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F Percentage 95+ 90-94 87-89 84-86 80-83 77-79 74-76 70-73 67-69 64-66 60-63 <60 At the end of the course you will have a raw course score available through the Canvas® gradebook. This grade may be adjusted to reflect the application of a normal distribution in keeping with statistical analysis prior to your grade being submitted to the registrar.