Quantitative Market Research Coursework assignment
Submission guidelines
??The report should be professionally presented with clear numbering of sections and detailed contents page.
??Reports should be secured with a staple in the top left corner. No folders of any description are permitted.
??Remember that the purpose of the report is that it is of value, interest and practical use to the company as your client
??You must reference your work appropriately. The report should be fully referenced using the Harvard style
??Use 1.5 spacing and include the following details on your title page: name of group members, student number, degree, module
code, word count, title.
??Note that marked feedback will be returned to students within 4 weeks.
Overview of the research project and your task
The data comes from a survey of customers who use a lunch-time take away called Patel Poppadom. Mr Patel wants to find out how satisfied his customers are with the food he offers at the 3 sites he services at Penny St, Morecambe Rd and Queens Rd. He is concerned that maybe his children (who run the Penny St and Queens Rd shops) are not living up to the Patel Brand in terms of the product and service delivery.
The questionnaire below is the questionnaire he had customers complete. To encourage completion of the questionnaire there was a weekly draw for a free family meal. Patel Poppadom Questionnaire
This questionnaire has been designed to determine how satisfied you are with the quality of the food and service at Patel Poppadom. Please complete the questionnaire and place it in the box at the door after you have eaten your meal.
Please indicate your agreement with the statements by placing an ‘X’ in the appropriate box.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neither Agree Strongly agree
X1 My mean was delicious 1 2 3 4 5
X2 The food was a bit bland 1 2 3 4 5
X3 I was served promptly 1 2 3 4 5
X4 I felt satisfied after the meal 1 2 3 4 5
X5 I needed more roti to fill me up 1 2 3 4 5
X6 I would recommend Patel Poppadom to my friends 1 2 3 4 5
X7 How much did you spend today?___________________________
We now need to find something out about you.
X8 What is your gender? Male 1 Female 2
X9 What is your age? ______________________
X10 What is your marital status Single 1 Married 2
X11 In which branch did your buy your Patel Poppadom meal?
Penny St 1
Morecambe Rd 2
Queens Rd 3
Executive Summary (200 words)
An Executive giving clear outline of the purpose, methods and main findings of the
research.
Background (200 words)
??The title giving clear indication of the topic to be addressed
??The context of the study clearly stated
??A brief background to the study, linking to the context
??Purpose and objectives of he study clearly stated and appropriate to the
scale of the study
??Include also a section on the Methodology and data collection
Findings* (1000 words)
??Clear presentation of the findings and analysis directly related to the
research questions.
??Credit is given for appropriateness of the summary and collation of the data
as a first stage to the interpretation of the findings
??Interpretation of the evidence major element Students should demonstrate
their skills of classification, comparison and synthesis
??Credit will also be given for interpretation in the context which is the focus
of the study
??Appropriate use of graphs, diagrams and tables to illustrate the data
Conclusions (300 words)
??Conclusions must be linked to the title and purpose of the research AND
emanate from the evidence presented.
??You must link the research objectives
??If your secondary data (usually from trade journals and news papers, but
could be from academic journals) should be triangulated here?
Recommendations (100 words)
What are the marketing implications.
Presentation
??The report should show your ability to communicate effectively in writing.
??Do not allow tables to go over pages. No reason to have multiple page tables.
??Show clear organised structure, with sub-headings as appropriate
??Quotations, tables, charts, diagrams etc must be clear and relevant. Graphs
and tables are worth annotating
??References must be complete and in the Harvard style.
??Executive, Contents table, Table of tables, Table of appendices
Total 100
* You are expected to show your understanding of the tools using tables, graphs and
interpretation is expected for uni-variate analysis, cross tabulations, comparison of means, correlations and regressions.
FAQs
The list of questions and answers is useful to look over to get additional ideas on what is expected regarding this assignment.
How do I start the assessment?
The basic research question that the client wants answered is always a good starting point. What is it that the management question
that is requiured answering? In answerring this, you will need to first tell the reader who answered the questionnaire. This usually
would be univariate analysis of the demographic data. As the analysis gets closer to addressing this management question, you will be
required to look at more bi-varaite analysis (both decriptive and inferential).
How many tests do I need to use for each of the assessment questions?
You need to assess type of data before deciding which tests to use. The data bases presents the opportunity for you to use all the
decriptive and inferential tests conducted in the workshops. You are encouraged to use all of the tests (assuming of course that they
are apporpriate).
Do I need to do a literature review?
No. You may find it useful to look at the literature on measurement of customer satisfaction and reporting on this type of data, but NO
literature review is required.
What if I want to do additional analysis to answer other questions beyond those given?
This is very welcome, but not necessary to score well in the assignment.
Do I need to explain each of the tests that I’m using and why it’s the right one?
No, in the assessment we don’t expect you to explain why you used the test that you did. We want you to ensure that you undertake the
correct tests on the data presented and interpret the output correctly and display the data, using tables and charts to make it easy for a
reader to understand what the data is telling us.
How many words should I be using to interpret each of the tests that I conduct?
We don’t expect you to write more than a short paragraph providing the interpretation for each of the tests that you conduct. You might
find it useful to rather annotate the charts or tables that you include.
How important are the presentation of charts and tables?
These are absolutely crucial. Your assignment will not score well if you do not present the tables and charts that will assist the reader
in understanding the data that was collected. Remember that SPSS produces a lot of information it its tables, not all of it will be useful
in your interpretation of the results. Those bits of data that are superfluous should be excluded from the tables. You may also find it
worth while annotating your charts and tables.
I want to get more help with using SPSS, are there any videos that I could use?
Yes, there is lots of video material on Youtube. Just search for the tests that you want more information on, or charts that you are
battling to design. You might find videos by Andy Field on Youtube particularly helpful.
Should I be using the output from SPSS for my report or making up my own tables?
You might need to modify the table/charts in order to be more informative. Some charts and graphs that SPSS produce might not
convey exactly what you want, feel free to use Excel or other graphics tools as you see fit.
Should I state the null and alternative hypothesis?
The use of null and alternate hypotheses is not commonly used in Market Research. You are welcome to use the terms if you wish, but
remember your research clients should be seen as ‘skilled lay-people’, use language that they will understand and is easy to follow.
What numbers do I interpret for the assessment?
Remember that SPSS gives a lot of details in terms of how it calculates each of the tests that we employ during the course. There are NO
manual calculations required SPSS wil produce everything that you need to report on. Your focus here is on the interpretation of the
output and the implications for marketing practice.