THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
                SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
                     DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING

Course:                 Marketing Research and
                        Information Systems
Code:                   MKTG 350-10
Pre-requisites          MKTG 315 and OPIM 303 
			(note: both courses must have been 					
			completed prior to enrollment)

Class Hours:            Tuesday; 6:00-9:00pm
Term:                   Spring 1997

Instructor:             Dr. Girish Punj
                        Associate Professor of Marketing
Mailing Address:        School of Business Administration
                        368 Fairfield Road, Box U-41M
                        Storrs, CT. 06269-2041     
Office Hours:           By appointment
E-mail:			PUNJ@Uconnvm.Uconn.Edu
Phones:                 (860)-486-3835; (860)-486-4133 (messages)
 
 
Course Objectives:

The objective of this course is to assist you in gaining an in 
depth exposure to the marketing research process, as applicable 
to a large business organization. You will be expected to acquire
competence in designing high quality marketing research projects,
with particular emphasis on problem definition, questionnaire design, 
sampling and data analysis.

Course Philosophy:
 
The GIGO syndrome will be the guiding philosophy for the course.

Texts, Readings and Software:
 
McDaniel Carl, Jr. and Roger Gates (1996)
Contemporary Marketing Research
West Publishing Company

Statistica Release 5.0
StatSoft
 
An extensive set of articles from business publications such as American Demographics, 
Marketing News, Advertising Age, Marketing Research, and major newspapers will be used 
to supplement the text book. The supplementary readings have been carefully selected to
give you state-of-the-art exposure to current marketing research practice. You make use
the instructor's master copies for making personal copies of your own. 

Evaluation, Testing and Grade Determination:

The final grade in the course shall be based on the components described below. The evaluation 
system is designed to encourage  advance reading of all assigned material, regular attendance 
in class, well prepared presentations, active participation in discussions, and timely completion 
of all course requirements.

Mid Term Exam:			This will be given during the class period
				on March 11, 1997. The exam will be over 					
				all material covered in class until that 					
				date. Details on the testing method,					
				nature of exam, etc. will be provided in                           
				class.

Group Project:			You will be assigned to work with         					
				another student on a marketing
            			research project. Each group will be 					
				responsible for writing a report
				and making a presentation on a
				preselected research domain. Group 					
				Project presentations will be made 					
				on May 6, 1997. The written report 					
				is due at the time of the group 						
				presentation.

Article Presentations: 		In addition to the group project 						
				presentation, you will be expected to make 					
				two individual short presentations (about
				10 minutes each) on preassigned articles 
				from the supplementary readings mentioned 					
				earlier. These presentations will be 					
				scheduled on a week-to-week basis during 					
				the semester. A sign-up sheet will be 					
				available with the instructor. Please 					
				provide me with a "hard copy" of your 					
				transparencies immediately prior to the 					
				presentation. 

Class Participation:		You will be expected to actively 						
				participate in class discussions at all 					
				times. If you are unable to attend class 					
				on a particular date due to a schedule 					
				conflict, I will greatly appreciate being 					
				informed in advance.  

The above activities shall be weighted as follows in determining the final grade:

                        Mid Term Exam			30 percent
                        Group Project			30 percent
			Article Presentations		20 percent
			Class Participation		20 percent
 
Make-up work will be scheduled only under truly extraordinary
circumstances, and that too with prior written approval of
the instructor. Any pre-existing schedule conflict should be brought to 
my attention no later than February 4, 1997

Schedule of Classes:

 
DATE			TOPIC(S)					ASSIGNMENTS
 
28 Jan		Introduction to the course
		Role of Marketing Research				Chap 1
		Marketing Research Process				Chap 2
		Preliminary group formation	

 4 Feb		Who Does Marketing Research				Chap 3
		Ethics in Marketing Research				Chap 4
		Finalization of groups	

11 Feb		Published Secondary Data				Chap 5
		Group Project "scope" statement due 


18 Feb		Qualitative Research					Chap 6
		Primary Data: Observation				Chap 8


25 Feb		Primary Data: Survey Research				Chap 7
  

 4 Mar		Understanding Measurement				Chap 10
		Attitude Measurement					Chap 11


11 Mar		Mid Term Exam
 

25 Mar		Questionnaire Design					Chap 12
		Basic Sampling Issues					Chap 13
		Group Project progress report#1 due		
 
 1 Apr		Sample Size Determination				Chap 14
		Data Processing and					Chap 15 			
		Fundamental Data Analysis					 	

 8 Apr		Data Analysis: Statistical				Chap 16 			
		Testing of Differences 


15 Apr		Data Analysis: Bivariate				Chap 17 			
		Correlation and Regression


22 Apr		Multivariate Data Analysis				Chap 18
		Group Project progress report#2 due		

29 Apr		TBA	


 6 May		Group Project Presentations                 
		Course Evaluation
 

Notes and Important Announcements:
 
This course outline, the instructor's class notes for each chapter, and the abstracts 
for the "seed" articles for the Group Project are accessible through the internet. You
will first need to access the course outline as follows:

Type: http://www.uconn.edu/ (this is screen#1)

Then click on: Academics 
and get: http://www.uconn.edu/academics.html (screen#2)

Then click on: UConn's Virtual Classroom 
and get: http://yoda.ucc.uconn.edu/VirtualClass/index.html 
(which is screen#3)

Then click on: Marketing 
and get: 
"http://yoda.ucc.uconn.edu/VirtualClass/marketing/index.html 
(which is screen#4)

Then click on: 350: Marketing Research and Information Systems
and get: "http://www.lib.uconn.edu/~punj/mktg350.html
(which is this course outline)

Then click on: Any item in bold type to access it
If you are accessing the instructor's class notes you will be prompted to download 
(and install) ADOBE ACROBAT Reader 3.0 (a freebie). This software is needed to read
some of the graphs and illustrations that are part of the class notes.




              MKTG 350 GROUP PROJECT ASSIGNMENT                   

The group project consists of researching and writing a report on a defined topic 
of your choice within one of the following preselected research domains: 
1) conceptualizing and measuring customer satisfaction (SATISFACT), 
2) estimating customer value; valuation of customers (VALUATION), 
3) creating and managing customer databases (DATABASE) marketing/management, 
4) developing and using a marketing information system (MKTGINFO). 
While there some inevitable overlap across domains, I have attempted to 
conceptualize each domain using a list of "seed" articles from the marketing 
research literature. These reference sources generally do not overlap with the 
supplementary readings we will be discussing during our class sessions.  

Please identify a defined topic within one of the above research domains and use 
that to delineate the scope of your group project, in a manner best suited to your 
learning needs and resources (time, $, etc.). A Group Project "scope" statement is 
due on February 11, 1997. You can update this statement (until March 25, 1997) as 
you make progress on your project. The evaluation and grading of your group project 
will be done in context with this "scope" statement.
Written (brief) group project progress reports are due on March 25 and 
April 22, 1997 respectively. The final project report is due on May 6, 1997 
at the time of your group presentation.

Additional information on the group project will be given in class on February 4, 1997. 
You will be expected to select your group member on that date. An important part of the 
"skills" set for each group is easy access to a major academic/corporate library, ability 
to download full text articles from electronic databases (e.g. LEXIS/NEXIS), internet search 
capabilities, and the ability to resolve conflict (if it arises) and be a team player.