Literature Review
This competency assessment assesses the following Outcome(s):
MT355M2-2: Discover an appropriate research design to address a market problem.
After reviewing the tutorial as indicated in the “Activity” tab, complete the following requirements.
Having a deep understanding of the problem under study in a marketing research project is of the utmost importance. A literature review is a comprehensive examination of available information that is related to your research topic. When conducting a literature review, researchers locate information relevant to the research problems and issues at hand. Literature reviews provide background information for the current study by clarifying thinking about the research problem and questions you are studying. Upon completion of a literature review, it is time to start planning the research design. You will identify the qualitative features and benefits of an exploratory research design that are deemed useful in a marketing research study.
Scenario:
You are the new director of marketing for your chosen company. You have previously identified a marketing related problem or opportunity to study using marketing research principles. Your goal is to write a literature review report using numerous secondary research resources to better understand and explain the problem or opportunity. Additionally, you will explore the qualitative and quantitative research design options to structure your research proposal. You will be submitting a report detailing the research design of a marketing research study to C-level executives for their approval. Use the following criteria to explore your chosen award-winning organization to prepare a marketing research design:
Choose Your Company: Choose an award winning company from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program website to study. You will evaluate the “Award Application Summary” as a business case for your chosen company.
Literature Review Preparation: Prepare a literature review using this Literature Review format based on a marketing research problem.
Literature Review Content: Use secondary research to develop a literature review. The purpose of a literature review is to validate a marketing research problem or opportunity and research questions.
Summarize the literature review articles using critical thinking (refer to pages 53-65 in your textbook).
Explain how each literature review article helps to identify variables or constructs associated with the research questions and objectives of the marketing research study (refer to pages 53-65 in your textbook).
Explain how each of the peer-reviewed resources supports the need to conduct further marketing research to answer the research questions and objectives of the marketing research study (refer to pages 53-65 in your textbook).
Variables, Constructs, and Relationships:
Identify the independent variables, dependent variables, and constructs found within the research questions and objectives of the marketing research study (refer to page 66 in your textbook).
Explain why the variables and constructs in the research questions and objectives are observable or unobservable (refer to page 66 in your textbook).
Explain the relationship between variables and constructs in the research questions and objectives (refer to pages 66-67 in your textbook).
Hypotheses: Prepare hypotheses to identify the relationships between constructs.
Prepare three (3) descriiptive hypotheses related to the research questions and objectives for the marketing research study (refer to pages 67-69 in your textbook.)
Compare Research Designs: Compare the three basic types of research designs.
Explain the value of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Compare how the exploratory, descriiptive, and causal research designs are employed in a marketing research study.
Conduct research to validate how both qualitative and quantitative research methods can be used to collect and analyze data in a marketing research study.
Identify the Research Design: It is time to pick a research design. Read Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 in your textbook. Use your textbook and secondary research sources to validate the research design most appropriate to study a marketing research problem.
Pick a research design (exploratory, descriiptive, or causal) to propose a marketing research study for an identified problem or opportunity in your chosen company. Explain why.
Pick one qualitative data collection method, and explain how it will be employed in your marketing research study.
Pick one quantitative data collection method, and explain how it will be employed in your marketing research study.
Review the Competency Assessment Rubric before beginning this assessment.
