CMGT 587

Audience Analysis: Understanding your Audience through Research

Wednesday 6:30-9:20 PM

ASC 223

Kimberlie Stephens, PhD

Office: ASC 323

Email:

Throughout this course, you will learn how to use research to answer business questions. As industries become increasingly competitive, organizations are relying more and more on data from research to make more informed decisions. This reality requires individuals who understand not only how to interpret data, but how research can be designed to optimize the quality of research findings. This course has been designed to provide you with grounding in the overall process of research design as well as practical skills in some of the most common research methods.

You will have the opportunity to learn course concepts through the development of a marketing campaign for your client, Fox Sports West. Throughout the semester you will work with a team and use research to develop and test your campaign. The final product will be presented to your clients with the possibility that your campaign will be put into production and aired in Los Angeles.

Required Textbooks:

  1. Dillman, D. A. (2000). Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method (2nd Ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
  1. Krueger, R.A. & Casey, M.A. (2009). Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research (4th Ed). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
  1. Malhotra, N.K. (2007). Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
  1. Cases from HarvardBusinessSchool Press

Course Evaluation

Client Project Proposal Presentation10%

Midterm Analysis Method Presentation30%

Final Client Project40%

Class Participation 20%

Assignment Overview

Midterm Analysis Method Presentation

The midterm for this class is to identify a method of analysis that can be used to analyze data and prepare a presentation and handout for the class on that method. Data can be gathered in a variety of ways and different types of data require different kinds of analysis. Different methods of analysis provide answers to different questions. Using the wrong method or data can result in incorrect recommendations and ultimately poor decisions. Your job is to identify a method that is useful for analysis of marketing research data and develop a presentation in which you teach the class about the method, what types of questions it can answer, what type of data is required and its strengths and weaknesses.

Client Project

You will work in groups to complete your marketing campaign development and research project for your client. You will be working on issues identified as important to Fox Sports West. There are two primary components to this project. First, you will be required to produce creative material, or a marketing campaign based on your clients’ specifications, and second you will be required to conduct appropriate research to generate your concept and test its viability. This project will be graded at the proposal stage, at which time your clients and I will give you feedback on progress so far, and then it will be graded as a final product at the end of the semester. Your client will be interested in the quality of your creative ideas, I will be interested in the process of exploration and research that you used to arrive at your final product.

Class Participation

Class participation is an important aspect of this class. We will spend time in class discussing the readings and working through cases that deal with research challenges. You will be expected to come to class prepared, having read the assigned readings, with questions/comments prepared on those readings, and with case questions or application examples when requested. There will also be several occasions where you will be asked to bring in some sort of report or sample of the research you have conducted for your final project. These are labeled as homework (HW) on the tentative schedule below.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

The AnnenbergSchool for Communication is committed to upholding the University's Academic Integrity code as detailed in the SCampus Guide. It is the policy of the School of Communication to report all violations of the code. Any serious violation or pattern of violations of the Academic Integrity Code will result in the student's expulsion from the Communication major or minor.

It is particularly important that you are aware of and avoid plagiarism, cheating on exams, fabricating data for a project, submitting a paper to more than one professor, or submitting a paper authored by anyone other than yourself. If you have doubts about any of these practices, confer with a faculty member.

Resources on academic honesty can be found on the Student Judicial Affairs Web site

( ):

1. "Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism" addresses issues of paraphrasing,

quotations and citations in written assignments, drawing heavily upon materials

used in the university's Writing Program;

2. "Understanding and Avoiding Academic Dishonesty" addresses more

general issues of academic integrity, including guidelines for adhering to

standards concerning examinations and unauthorized collaboration.

The “SCampus" ( ) contains the

university's Student Conduct Code and other student-related policies.

DISABILITIES POLICY

Students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me (or to the TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open Monday-Friday, 8:30-5:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and their phone number is (213) 740-0776.

Tentative Class schedule
Date / Topic / Reading / Class Prep / Assignments due
1/13 / Course Introduction / Ch 1 (Malhotra)
1/20 / Research design / Ch 2 & 3 (Malhotra) / Team selection and Topics (by Monday, Jan 18)
1/27 / Exploratory and Descriptive Methods / Ch 5 & 6 (Malhotra)
Inc Article
TiVo in 2002: consumer Behavior (HBS) / Tivo Case
2/3 / Causal Methods / Ch 7 (Malhotra)
Boston Fights Drugs (A) (HBS) / Boston Drug Case
2/10 / International Research considerations / Ch 23 (Malhotra) / Research Project Concept and Design Proposals Due
2/17 / Secondary Data / Ch 4 (Malhotra) / HW: Secondary Data Reports
2/24 / Survey Design: Measurement / Ch 8 & 9 (Malhotra) / Bring a survey to class (with results?) on ppt slides
3/3 / Survey Design: Question construction / Ch 10 (Malhotra)
Ch 4-8 (Dillman) / HW: Survey for Final Project
3/10 / Survey Design: Sampling / Ch 11 & 12 (Malhotra)
Harvard Graduate Student Housing Survey (HBS) / Harvard Grad Student Housing Case
3/17 / Midterm Analysis Methods / Midterm Method Presentation Due
3/24 / SPRING BREAK- NO CLASS
3/31 / Focus Groups: Screener and Moderator Guide / Ch 1-5 (Krueger & Casey)
Compaq Computer: Focus Groups (HBS) / Compaq video case / HW: Bring Focus group screener and moderator guide
4/7 / Focus Groups: Group dynamics / Ch 6 & 7 (Krueger & Casey)
Skim Ch 9-13 (Krueger & Casey) / Conduct Focus Groups: Get participants
4/14 / Web Analytics and Usability / Readings TBD / HW: TBD
4/21 / Web Analytics and Usability / Readings TBD
4/28 / Final Project Presentations / Final Project Presentations