Task 1

1a. Prepare and implement a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data

1b. Describe the survey methodology including sampling frame, sampling and collecting
method
• Sampling
Sampling involves selecting a sample of items from a population. Sampling is one of the
most important subjects in quantitative methods. In most practical situations the
population will be too large to carry out a complete survey and only a sample will be
examined. A good example of this is a poll taken to try to predict the results of an
election. It is not possible to ask everyone of voting age how they are going to vote: it
would take too long and cost too much. So a sample of voters is taken, and the results
from the sample are used to estimate the voting intentions of the whole populations.
Occasionally a population is small enough that all of it can be examined: for example,
the examination results of one class of students. This type of survey is quite rare,
however, and usually the investigator has to choose some sort of sample.

• Sampling frame
A sampling frame is a numbered list of all the items in the population.
If random sampling is used then it is necessary to construct a sampling frame. Once this
has been made, it is easy to select a random sample, simply by generating a list of
random numbers.
For instance, if you wanted to select a random sample of children from a school, it would
be useful to have a list of names:
0 J Absalam
1 R Brown
2 S Burrow
…
Now the numbers 0, 1, 2 and so on can be used to select the random sample. It is
normal to start the numbering at 0, so that when 0 appears in a list of random numbers it
can be used.
A sampling frame should have the following characteristics:
(a) Completeness. Are all members of the population included on the list?
(b) Accuracy. Is the information correct?
(c) Adequacy. Does it cover the entire population?
(d) Up to dateness. Is the list up to date?
(e) Convenience. Is the sampling frame readily accessible?
(f) Non-duplication. Does each member of the population appear on the list only once?

Sampling frame consists of three kinds of sampling named random sampling, quasi-
sampling and non-random sampling.

• Collecting method
There are several methods of obtaining sample data:
(a) Observation can be used as a means of obtaining sample data where
quantitative data is required. For example, if data is needed about the volume of
traffic passing along a road at a certain time of day, observers (either people or
recording equipment) can be placed so as to count the traffic as it passes by.
Observation can also be used to study consumer behavior, although this is
usually within a controlled experiment.
(b) Experimentation – a range of techniques are used in experimentation. Customer
preferences may be determined by ‘blind’ testing. At a higher level, different
marketing strategies may be test-marketed.
(c) The use of questionnaires provides a quick, cheap method of conducting a
survey but it suffers from several defects, which may lead to biased results.
 The people completing the forms (respondents) may be unaware of the
requirements and place different interpretations on the questions. This
problem will be aggravated if the questions are badly phrased.
 Large numbers of forms may not be returned or only returned partly
completed. This may well lead to biased results as the respondents who
reply are likely to be those most interested in the survey.
 Respondents may give false or misleading information, if, for example,
they have forgotten material facts, desire to give a favorable impression
of their circumstances, or simply out of a sense of mischief.
Questionnaires can be used in a variety of ways as follows.
 Telephone interviews
 Personal interviews conducted by market researchers in the interviewee’s
home
  Postal survey
 For self-completion, perhaps at the place of purchase
(d) Qualitative techniques – a relatively expensive method, but one which may yield
more valid results, is to conduct unstructured individual or group interviews. The
lack of structure may make analysis difficult but the results may be more valid in
that they are not the result of the prompting of the structured interview.
(e) Consumer panels (test panels) – some research firms have created consumer
panels consisting of a representative cross-section of consumers who have
agreed to give regular information about their attitudes or buying habits through
personal visits or mail questionnaires. Consumer panels with personal visits are
called home audit panels and panels which send data by post are called diary
panels. For example, a panel of households might keep a purchase diary of the
goods they have bought, and submit this diary regularly to the market research
company. Panels might be established for a long-term or short-term period.
(f) Trade audits or retail audits – trade audits are carried out among panels of
wholesalers and retailers, and the term ‘retail audits’ refers to panels of retailers
only. A research firm sends auditors to selected outlets at regular intervals to
count stock and deliveries, thus enabling an estimate of throughput to be made.
 Changes in retail sales provide an early warning of problems the
manufacturer may soon have to expect in ex-factory sales.
 They indicate long-term trends in the market place, thus providing
helpful information for strategic marketing planning.
 In the shorter term, they may indicate the need for changes in
pricing policy, sales promotion or advertising, distribution policy, package
design or product design.

1c. Design a questionnaire

Task 2
Quarterly sales (in VND millions) of Binh Minh Company during the period 2003-2006
are reported for domestic and international markets as follows:
Year Quarter Domestic Export

2003 I 8.4 80.5

 II 15.2 65.9
III 1.7 57.8
IV 7.6 37.9
2004 I 3 36.9
II 1.4 36.1
III 1.7 32.8
IV 16.9 14.1
2005 I 3.8 25.2
II 22 5.5
III 9.4 16.7
IV 1.8 19
2006 I 9.1 11.2
II 9.8 9
III 15.6
IV 13.8 1.8
Source: Company report

3a. Use suitable graphs to depict:

1. Trends of domestic and international markets during this period
The trend is the underlying long-term movement over time in the values of the data
recorded.There are three methods of finding a trend: inspection, regression analysis by
the least square methods and moving averages. In this case, we will use the regression
analysis by the least square method. This method provides a technique for estimating
the equation of a line of best fit.
Trend of domestic:
After calculating, the line of best fit is: Y= 7.034 + 0.096 * t ( See appendix to know how
to calculate). Replace t equals to 1-16 into the line of best fit above, we have the trend
as follow.

Time period Trend

1 7.13
2 7.226
3 7.322
4 7.418
5 7.514
6 7.61
 7 7.706
8 7.802
9 7.898
10 7.994
11 8.09
12 8.186
13 8.282
14 8.378
15 8.474
16 8.57

Based on the data above, we can draw a line graph as follow .

Domestic trend

9.000

8.500
Millions VND

8.000

7.500

7.000

6.500

6.000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

As we can see, this is an upward trend. It means that the domestic sales increase
during period of time.

Trend of internal markets:

After calculating, the line of best fit is: Y= 65.42 – 4.27 * t ( See appendix to know how to
calculate). Replace t equals to 1-16 into the line of best fit above, we have the trend as
follow.
Time period Trend
1 61.15
2 56.88
3 52.61
4 48.34
5 44.07
6 39.8
7 35.53
 8 31.26
9 26.99
10 22.72
11 18.45
12 14.18
13 9.91
14 5.64
15 1.37
16 -2.9

Based on the tables above, the trends of international markets will be shown as below.

International market trend

70.000

60.000

50.000
Millions VND

40.000

30.000

20.000

10.000

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
-10.000

This graph shows a falling trend. That means the international market sales decrease
over period of time.

2. Average proportions of domestic and international markets during the period

studied
To represent average proportions of domestic and international markets during the
period studied, we will use the pie chart. A pie chart is appropriate when the data are in
nominal form and the frequency count, proportion or percentage for each class must be
shown. The total sales of domestic and international maket sales during the period of
time is shown in the table below.
Year Quarter Domestic Export
2003 1 8.400 80.500
2 15.200 65.900
3 1.700 57.800
4 7.600 37.900
Total sale in 2003 32.900 242.100
2004 1 3.000 36.900
 2 1.400 36.100
3 1.700 32.800
4 16.900 14.100
Total sales in 2004 23.000 119.900
2005 1 3.800 25.200
2 22.000 5.500
3 9.400 16.700
4 1.800 19.000
Total sales in 2005 37.000 66.400
2006 1 9.100 11.200
2 9.800 9.000
3 15.600
4 13.800 1.800
Total sales in 2006 32.700 37.600
Total 125.600 894.400

From the data above, we will draw the two pie chart, one of which presents the average
proportions of domestic, the second one presents the average proportion of international
market over period of time.

D o m es tic sa les Export sales

37.600
32.810 32.900
66.400

242.100

23.000 119.900
37.000

1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4

3. Comparison of sales:
a. Same quarter in different years;

b. Same year in different quarter

4. Frequency distribution with equal class-interval of domestic market during the
period 2003-2006
Task 3
Output (units) Number of employees
100-160 1
160-180 5
180-200 10
200-220 35
220-240 55
240-260 74
260-300 20
Total 200

2a. Find the representative values and comment on the skewness of data distribution.
Based on these central measures, draw conclusions and write down a report on the
production of this company.