Preparing the Marketing Research Brief and Proposal

If You Ignore Manipulation Errors in Your Experiments You Might Be P-Hacking Without Knowing.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a Pilot project to assist small and medium-size manufacture who want to minimize their generation of waste but who lac the expertise to do so. In an effort to assist these manufacturers Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) we established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual. The WMAC team at the University of Tennessee performed an assessment at a plant that manufactures outboard motors for water craft. Three basic subunits received from other manufacturing plants undergo primarily painting and assembly operations in order to produce the final product. The team`s report, detailing findings and recommendations, indicated that paint overspray waste and spent clean-up solvent are generated in large quantities and that significant cost savings could be achieved by installing robotic paint application equipment. This Research Brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA`s National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from University City Science Center.

Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Introduction to Marketing Research The Marketing-Decision Environment Marketing Research Marketing Research and Decision Making Strategic versus Tactical Information Needs The Nature of Marketing Research Steps in a Marketing Research Project Marketing Information Systems Summary Chapter 2. Research Designs for Management Decision Making Types of Research Designs Exploratory Research Descriptive Research Casual Research Experimentation Exploratory, Descriptive, or Causal Observation Dangers of Defining Design by Technique Summary Chapter 3. Secondary Data Uses of Secondary Data Advantages of Secondary Data Disadvantages of Secondary Data Secondary Data Sources Summary Chapter 4. Primary Data Collection Sources of Primary Data Types of Primary Data Methods of Collecting Primary Data Communication Methods Survey Methods Observation Method Summary Chapter 5. Measurement Introduction The Process of Measurement What Is to Be Measured? Who Is to be Measured? How to Measure What Needs to be Measured Assessing Reliability and Validity of Our Measures Measuring Psychological Variables Summary Chapter 6. Designing the Data-Gathering Instrument Goals of a Questionnaire Classification of Questions Designing a Questionnaire Summary Chapter 7. Sampling Methods and Sample Size What Is Sampling? Sampling Error, Sample Bias, and Nonsampling Error Sampling Decision Model Probability Sampling Nonprobability Samples Probability versus Nonprobability Sampling Statistical Sampling Concepts What Is a "Significant" Statistically Significant Difference? Summary Chapter 8. Fielding the Data-Gathering Instrument Planning Guidelines for Interviewers Types of Interviews The Interviewing Relationship The Interviewing Situation The Actual Interview Fielding a Research Project Errors in Data Collection Types of Nonsampling Errors Summary Chapter 9. Introduction to Data Analysis From Data to Decisions Data Summary Methods Cross-Tabulation Summary Chapter 10. Advanced Data Analysis Marketing Research and Statistical Analysis Hypothesis Testing Measures of Association Summary Chapter 11. The Research Report Introduction Report Format Guidelines for the Written Report Oral Reports Summary Cases Case 12. Contributors Case 1. Lone Pine Kennel Club Case 2. Select Hotels of North America Case 3. River Pines School: A Case 4. River Pines School: B Case 5. Gary Branch, CPA Case 6. Juan Carlos' Mexican Restaurant Case 7. Usedcars.com Case 8. Welcome Home Church Case 9. The Learning Source Case 10. Madison County Country Club Case 11. Plasco, Inc. Case 12. St. John's School Case 13. The Webmasters Case 14. House of Topiary Case 15. Professional Home Inspection Case 16. Europska Databanka Index Reference Notes Included

Among all Internet of Things (IoT) devices, a subset of them are related to users. Leveraging these user-related IoT elements, it is possible to ensure the identity of the user for a period of time, thus avoiding impersonation. This need is known as Continuous Authentication (CA). Since 2009, a plethora of IoT-based CA academic research and industrial contributions have been proposed. We offer a comprehensive overview of 58 research papers regarding the main components of such a CA system. The status of the industry is studied as well, covering 32 market contributions, research projects, and related standards. Lessons learned, challenges, and open issues to foster further research in this area are finally presented.

A market research project was conducted to determine whether: a substantial market exists for PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric) to sell, operate, and/or maintain backup generators for a profit, and the estimated outage costs predicted in a previous value-of-service mail survey (VOSS) were indicative of the investment customers would make to avoid outages. The results showed that, when a more detailed investigation was performed on-site with customers who had indicated perceived outage costs exceeding the costs of owning and maintaining a back-up generator (approximately $30/kW-yr), outage costs estimates were substantially lower and dropped to $0 in 40% of the cases. It is concluded that customers had difficulty quantifying effects of hypothetical outages, and most customers expect no future outages, even though outages occurred regularly in the past. >

This case study outlines the use of client-sponsored research projects in a quantitative postgraduate marketing research subject conducted in a 12-week semester in a research-intensive Australian university. The case study attempts to address the dearth of recent literature on client-sponsored research projects in the discipline of marketing. Evaluation results provided from students in a 3-year period indicate support for the use of client-sponsored projects because they provide a number of benefits. In particular, students feel that such projects give invaluable opportunities to develop consulting and research skills that are highly sought after by industry. However, despite the advantages of the client-sponsored research projects, the quantitative nature of the marketing research subject is still an impediment to attaining high student quality teaching scores. Furthermore, there can be problems if students lack basic statistical knowledge, do not practice SPSS outside of class, and segment project tasks within the team. Finally, although client-sponsored marketing research projects can improve the profile of marketing research courses, they demand high levels of energy by the lecturer, a small class size (up to 35 students), and are dependent on a strong degree of client commitment.

In a design-based research project, we sought to create professional development for elementary teachers to integrate computational thinking and culturally responsive teaching in their science lessons. In this research brief, we focus on the culturally responsive teaching practices incorporated by teachers in our first sub-cycle of this work. We examined their poster presentations of science lessons which participating teachers modified to integrate computational thinking and culturally responsive teaching using our framework of seven key culturally responsive teaching practices. We found that the median lesson had evidence of full integration of one and partial integration of two of our practices, but also found that some of our practices were rarely or never integrated in these lessons. As broader implications, we note an indication of the strength of diversity in the analysis process, and the production of a subconjecture to our central design conjecture.

Market research in developed countries is condition sine qua none business of successful companies. On the other hand, market orientation as the key mechanism of allocation of limited economic resources in the countries of transition is still in the implementation phase. This paper deals with the issues of market research in the function of business decisions, on the example of companies in the South Backa region (Republic of Serbia). The many-year transition process (it has been going on for 20 years now), the insufficiently developed market mechanisms, the problems imminent to the nature of transition – monopoles, slow decentralization and non-efficient institutional system resulted in the fact that companies are relatively slow in the implementation of modern business methods. The first part of the paper aims to define market research on theoretical-methodological level. The second part of the paper deals with the influence of research on company businesses, as well as the implementation of the research on company decision-making. The third part of the paper presents certain aspects of market research of companies in the South Backa region. The aim of the research implies the representation of market research analysis as a modern business method. The informative significance that company management attaches to market research results in the context of business decision-making has also been analyzed. The fourth part of the paper is reserved for the research results. Key words: Market research, companies, business decisions, business.

The purpose of this research is to find similarities and differences, as well as to describe the types of prefixes and suffixes in English, Indonesian and Banjar in Indonesian Borneo, to develop a description of the socio-cultural background of speakers of Banjar Kuala language and describe the morphology and syntax of the Banjar Kuala language: Formation of verbs in Banjar Kuala Borneo/South Kalimantan. Describes verbs formed from affixes, namely prefixes and suffixes, infixes, and prefixes + suffixes like the prefix maN-/mam-/ ( /maNujun/ 'fishing', /mambanu/ 'selling water', and the prefix maN-/ma- and ending -an like, /unjun/ 'kail' becomes /maunjunan/ 'all for fish' and /mambanuan/ 'sell all the water' other prefixes and suffixes maN- and -i: /maunjuni/ 'fishing' in a certain place/.and other verbs like /manjukuni/ 'give a boat' and prefix maN - and suffix i- + suffix -will /maunjanikan/ 'fishing for', /manjukuniakan/ 'to run a boat for' This research project clearly illustrates the differences in verb formation between the Banjar-Kuala language in South Kalimantan, Indonesia and the international language, namely English .both can be seen from the use of affixes in the formation of verbs, the similarity of the two can form verbs with the addition of prefixes and suffixes, while the difference is that English cannot form verbs from infixes, but Banjar language can form verbs from the same infixes as Indonesian and other languages in the world.

Enterprise Valuation and Credit Risk Evaluation Research I DCF-Based Credit Risk Model—Application in Project/Corporate Bonds & CLO ABSTRACT There are many research models about enterprise credit risk and can be roughly categorized into structural-form and reduced-form according to their assumptions and focuses. Under these two types of credit risk models, few people use stochastic cash flow model to evaluate enterprise credit risk. It’s because people generally think it difficult to estimate cash flow, and no one had ever developed an applicable model to describe the stochastic characteristics of cash flow. Through our observations of cash flow, however, we discover that the behavior of cash flow exist some stochastic characteristics, including mean-reversion and fluctuating above or under zero. We therefore use the concept of “varying coefficient model” (also called time-varying parameter models) to construct a “Time-dependent stochastic cash flow model”. And then based on this model, we further establish a “Multi-periods DCF-Based Credit Risk Model” to estimate a firm’s value and to evaluate a firm’s credit risk. By using these two models and the concept of expected payoff ratio used to evaluate risky bonds developed by Jarrow-Turnbull Model (1995), we can now value the project bonds and corporate bonds. Furthermore, we expand the single firm’s “Multi-periods DCF-Based Credit Risk Model” to multi-firms and then construct a “Multi-assets & periods DCF-Based Credit Risk Model”. In this way, we then can valuing the securitized products including CLO(Collateralized Loan Obligation), CDO(Collateralized Debt Obligation) re-pooled from all kinds of collateral debts . In our research, we select 24 companies as our sample and then make empirical tests of valuation and credit risk by our models. The empirical results show that our models precisely value more than two-third of sample companies and successfully assess credit risks of more than three-fourth of sample companies. These results indicate that our models are preliminarily supported by the empirical evidences. However, in valuing the securitized products such as the CLO by using the “Multi-assets & periods DCF-Based Credit Risk Model” is limited because the model correctly can only deal with the portfolio that assets are cross-default. To handle with this limitation, the Fourier Transform Method (FTM) can be introduced into our models. Fortunately, it seems very promising that the limitation can be relieved by FTM. It is also the focus of our further study. Research II The Influencing Factors’ Research of Market’s Acceptance on M&A Activities—Empirical Tests on Stock Exchange Cases ABSTRACT Due to hot merges and acquisitions in the recent years in the world, we are interested in the roles and hidden meanings of market’s reaction toward M&A activities. However, market reaction is primarily influenced by expected synergy and merger premium, which individually represents expected benefit in the future and cost for mergers. For this reason, the relationship between expected synergy and merger premium becomes the focus of our research. But in historical researches, there doesn’t exist an integrated-analytical framework to describe the relationship. In this paper, we set a measure for expected synergy through stock price’s fluctuating. Additionally, we construct a new plane for firm’s value and exchange ratio based on L-G model by consideration of the expected synergy and the time-varying earning performance. Furthermore, we develop a LMA model which can integrate expected synergy and merger premium in the analytical framework. This model overcomes the difficulties that expected synergy is hard to compare with merger premium in the past. Moreover, we also create a new measure “the level of market’s acceptance” (LMA) through the analytical framework. Therefore, there are two main purposes in our research. First, to examine whether the merger case is reasonable or not. Second, to find out what are the factors which can explain market’s reaction (LMA) and discuss the meanings of these significant factors. In our research, we select 251 stock-exchange mergers (214 for positive premium, 37 for negative premium) as our sample and make judgments for the merger reasonableness by LMA model and statistical tests. As a result, we make some important conclusions: First, 148 of the 251 proposed mergers produced sufficient combined value to maintain each participant’s quadrant I status at the time of merger announcement. Alternatively, the announcement effects produced wealth losses for one or both firms in 103 of the mergers. In the merger period examined (i.e., announcement to the month following completion), at least 40% do not conform to the rationality assumption of LMA model. Second, acquiring firms of the 148 cases outperform the market since one month prior to announcement. It reveals that there may be information leakage. Third, some ratios of relative wealth status significantly influence the level of market’s acceptance in the same direction during the three periods. To sum up, the main contributions of this study is that, by constructing LMA model and making expected synergy can be efficiently compared with merger premium. We not only solve the constraint of the original L-G model but also create a new and effective measurement of market‘s reaction toward M&A activities. In addition, we explore the relationship between LMA and relative wealth’s ratio and try to discuss its economic meanings.

The United Way of Greater Richmond, Virginia recently sponsored a market research project designed to assess the public’s general perceptions of United Way, importance ratings of tasks and services United Way performs, knowledge and attitudes regarding United Way’s performance, donation-related behavior and motives, and demographics. The data, based on 1,120 completed employee questionnaires from 15 major employers, are analyzed relevant to United Way’s future marketing efforts regarding market segmentation, product and service offerings, and promotional or educational programs. Key differences regarding potential and existing contributors to United Way are highlighted based on a profile of those aged 35 or over compared to those under 35.

Inflation is back – with a vengeance. Following the highly disruptive years of the pandemic, the world has experienced inflation levels not seen for many decades. A “perfect storm” of underlying causes including expansionary monetary and fiscal policies during the pandemic, pent‑up demand, supply-demand imbalances and commodity-driven cost pressures due to unfavorable weather conditions in various regions and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all conspired to steeply increase consumer price levels around the world. While current inflation levels are not unprecedented (they were even higher in the 1970s and 1980s), the decades-long period of extremely low inflation experienced in most countries means that current inflation rates continue to shock consumers, manufacturers and retailers. Equally, academic research has very little to say about how to conduct marketing in inflationary times, and that is why this paper presents an overview of what we know, what we don't know and what we argue we should know in the form of a research agenda.We first review key takeaways from prior inflation-focused research in the marketing literature, along with insights that could be derived from related studies that considered other causes of disposable-income reductions. However, given that the inflation literature is sparse, while insights from other forms of disposable-income reduction may not automatically generalize to the current inflationary setting, we identify various knowledge gaps along with a wide-ranging set of questions in need of further research in marketing and retailing. We do so, in the spirit of the Empirics-First approach to relevant knowledge generation, by identifying several frequently used retailer-initiated coping strategies. We subsequently circle back to pertinent prior literature to help with the interpretation of the observed patterns, identify best practices, and warn against potential pitfalls. We hope that this article will inspire cutting-edge research into the consumer-, retailer- and marketing consequences of extreme inflation, a worldwide problem that affects us all and is directly linked to the core role of retailing in the supply-chain channel.

Ever since the thought of manufacturing green products, environmental sustainability and eco-friendly business processes of corporate sector has gained momentum, there has been gradual increase in the awareness levels among consumers and various other stake holders. This momentum from the market has gradually percolated into other areas such as research in marketing and teaching marketing courses at B-schools. However, the extent of research in marketing with focus on Green & Sustainability needs to be examined. The objective of this study is to review the importance given to the growing idea of Green in marketing in academic research. This is captured through taking stock of conceptual, empirical and case based papers focusing on Green and Sustainability in marketing, over the past decade. This paper provides an insight about actual work carried out so far and what is needed in academic research for shaping the future of marketing to embrace the new paradigm of business in the context of environmental sustainability.

Research proposal grouping is one of the most important tasks for research project selection in research funding agencies. In this paper, a novel ontology based frequent item set method is proposed to deal with research proposal grouping problem. In the proposed method, a research ontology is firstly constructed to standardize research keywords. Secondly, frequent item sets with different support degrees are extracted from research proposals based on research ontology. Thirdly, a new measure of similarity degree between two research proposals is developed and then a clustering algorithm is proposed to classify research proposals based on the similarity degree, in which some parameters are discussed, and the proper parameters are selected. Finally, when the number of research proposals in some clusters is still large, research proposals are further divided into small groups, in which the number of research proposals is approximately equal. The proposed method is validated based on the selection process at the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The experimental results show that our proposed method can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of research proposal grouping, and is a potential and alternative one to support research project selection processes in other governments and private research funding agencies.

Gudeg is the most popular javanese food in Yogyakarta, which is divided into two types; wet and dry. The difference of them depended on their moisture content. Its moisture content caused differences on the product attributes. Aims of this research were identifying the socio-economic aspects of gudeg producers and measuring consumer preferences level. The research on the gudeg producer was conducted and analysed by using Bivariate Correlation and Joint Correlation (Partial Correlation) procedures. Based on the results, it could be stated, that the difference types of gudeg influenced by profit, price and marketing area. Consumers research was conducted by using attitude index analysis. The results were, that dry gudeg lead attitude index by 0.655 and wet gudeg by 0.104. It meant that the consumers more prefered to consume dry gudeg than wet gudeg.