Tuesday March, 19, 2013
7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Introduction to Marketing Research
Christopher Murphy, Executive Vice President & Managing Partner, Client Solutions, Millward Brown
To remain competitive companies need to continually adjust their marketing offering to meet ever changing customer needs. Keeping current with those ever changing needs requires quality marketing research. This session will define marketing research and will discuss its critical importance to effective decision making. The broad scope of marketing research, including consumer research, business to business research, and competitive intelligence will be covered. The importance of and key elements of marketing information systems will be discussed. The session will address how to handle key challenges faced by researchers on both the client and vendor side.
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Problem Definition
Christopher Murphy, Executive Vice President & Managing Partner, Client Solutions, Millward Brown
The success of a marketing research project begins with correctly identifying and framing the marketing problem. This is often the most difficult step in the research process. Poor problem definition can result in wasted time and money, and can lead to information that has been correctly collected but that does not address the marketing problem at hand. This session will address how to identify the key concerns of the decision maker and how to differentiate between symptoms and problems. Methods for setting appropriate research objectives and developing key research questions and hypotheses will also be covered.
Lunch 12:00 noon – 1:15 p.m.
1:15 – 3:00 p.m. and 3:30 – 5:00 Research Design
Walter Blotkamp, Vice President, MMR Research
The research design is the master plan for a research project. The plan establishes what information is needed and how that information will be collected. An effective research design ensures that the data collected will be accurate and valid and will address the research problem at hand. This session will outline the steps in establishing an appropriate research design including definition of objectives, sampling plan, data collection tools, and the analysis plan. The three main types of research (exploratory, descriptive, and causal) and will be discussed. Sources of secondary data and methods of collecting primary data will be covered. Issues of data validity and reliability will be introduced.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Sampling (30 minute break at 10 a.m.)
Richard (Rich) J. Fox, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Marketing, Terry College of Business, University of Georgia
The quality of research results depends substantially upon the quality of the sample used to obtain those research results. This session will provide guidelines on how to develop and implement a sampling plan that will provide valid, projectable results. The proper identification of the population to be sampled and the selection of an appropriate sampling frame will be discussed. The difference between probability and non-probability sampling, as well as the importance of probability sampling in the context of drawing conclusions, will be discussed. The importance of sample size and the calculation and meaning of sampling error will be addressed. The benefits of stratified sampling will also be discussed.
Lunch 12:00 noon – 1:15 p.m.
1:15 – 3:00 p.m. and 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Questionnaire Design
Alisa Hamilton, Director of Project Management, CMI
In marketing research it is not only critical to ask the right question, it is just as critical to ask that question in the right way. Survey results can be influenced significantly by the way a question is worded, where the question appears in survey and the format of the question. This session will address key issues in designing and developing effective questionnaires that will capture the true beliefs and actions of consumers. Issues that will be addressed include selecting the appropriate types of questions (likert scale, projective, semantic differential, etc) and the advantages and disadvantage of each question type. Understanding the difference between ratio and interval scaled questions and the proper use of each will be covered. Do’s and don’ts of question wording will be shared along with key strategies of sequencing questions. This session will ensure that your future surveys are both effective and user friendly.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 – 12:00 Qualitative Research Methods including Social Media Research
Naomi Henderson, Master Moderator/CEO, RIVA Market Research and Training Institute
Qualitative research provides an understanding of consumers’ thought processes and helps to discover the “why” of consumer behavior. This session will discuss when qualitative research should be used and its advantages and disadvantages as well as how the use of social media research can be a useful tool. Specific tools of qualitative research including facilitation, focus groups, in depth interviews, case studies, voice of the customer techniques, observational and ethnographic methods, and usability studies will be covered. Actual case studies will be presented and attendees will have the opportunity to offer and have discussed current situations they are facing which are amenable to qualitative research.
Lunch 12:00 noon – 1:15 p.m.
1:15 – 3:00 p.m. and 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Data Analysis
Serap Bilis Alvarez, Research Analyst, CMI
Data analysis is the step in the research process concerned with transforming data into meaningful information. Appropriately analyzing the data collected is critical to effective decision making. This practitioner oriented session will cover the basic analytical tools and techniques commonly used in the marketing research industry. Emphasis will be placed on how to apply the methods and interpret results, not the mathematical details. The session will include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, sample size determination, regression analysis and analysis of variance. Real world examples and applications will be provided.
Reception, 5:15 – 6:30 p.m.
Friday, March 22, 2013
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Competitive Intelligence
Timothy Kindler, Associate Director, Competitive Intelligence, Ernst & Young LLP
Competitive intelligence cannot be developed as an afterthought or operated in a vacuum. In order for a CI program to truly have an impact, the goals of the intelligence program need to be in sync with those of the overall corporate strategy and operational planning processes. Competitive Intelligence provides the insight and perspective on the external environment, without which business plans may not be grounded in reality. This session will detail a process for aligning CI with corporate strategy and business planning that should be used from start to finish. Topics to be covered include: organization structure and alignment, communication issues, key deliverables, integration with market research, and metrics for success.
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon Research Report Writing and Presentation
Bruce Olson, Partner, MMR Research
The final step in the research process is presenting research results to the decision maker. This step is greatly influenced by how well the initial research objectives were defined and should be considered at the outset of the research, not just “at the end.” This session will show how to present results that are understandable and actionable. This session will cover the key elements of an effective research report. It will demonstrate how to translate the results of a statistical test into meaningful information for managers. The proper use of graphics in both written and oral presentations will be covered. Examples of great and “not so great” report language will be shared.
12:00 p.m. Program ends. A boxed lunch will be available to go.