NMIMS Global Access

School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)

Course: Marketing Research
Internal Assignment Applicable for June 2019 Examination

Assignment Marks: 30

Instructions:

 All Questions carry equal marks.

 All Questions are compulsory
 All answers to be explained in not more than 1000 words for question 1 and 2 and for
question 3 in not more than 500 words for each subsection. Use relevant examples,
illustrations as far as possible.
 All answers to be written individually. Discussion and group work is not advisable.
 Students are free to refer to any books/reference material/website/internet for attempting
their assignments, but are not allowed to copy the matter as it is from the source of
reference.

 Students should write the assignment in their own words. Copying of assignments from
other students is not allowed.

 Students should follow the following parameter for answering the assignment questions.

For Theoretical Answer For Numerical Answer

Assessment Parameter Weightage Assessment Parameter Weightage
Introduction 20% Understanding and usage 20%
Concepts and Application 60% of the formula
related to the question Procedure / Steps 50%
Conclusion 20% Correct Answer & 30%
Interpretation

1. The Distance Education Council (DEC) wants to conduct a research among the various
distance learners across different colleges, universities and courses across India. Since the
population of distance learners is widely dispersed, the research team at DEC feels that it
may be effective to conduct an online or telephonic survey. However, these methods have
their own drawbacks. Besides, the information to be collected is quite detailed which is
prompting the researchers to consider other approaches such as a face-to-face survey.
 NMIMS Global Access
School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)
Course: Marketing Research
Internal Assignment Applicable for June 2019 Examination

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the various data collection methods available
to the researchers at DEC and recommend an approach (10 Marks)

2. Nestle wanted to understand the key challenges that their brand Maggi is likely to face in its
comeback; in the wake of more aggressive competition from competitors such as Sunfeast
Yippee noodles and Patanjali Atta noodles. The research agency took this brief from Nestle
and gave instructions to its team to find out the customer satisfaction with Maggi and its
arch rivals. “Specifying the research objective in the most clear and precise form, is the most
crucial step involved in the research process”. Evaluate this statement in the light of this case
and discuss how the steps involved in this research process (as proposed by the research
agency) will turn out to be different from what Nestle expects as the research outcome.
(10 Marks)
3. Scene 1: Nivedita, an interviewer for a data collection agency, approached a couple at the
mall seeming to be hailing from a rural background and asked the woman, if she would like
to participate in a marketing research survey. The couple quickly walked away. A group of
teenage girls overheard Nivedita and asked her if they could participate. They were from
rural areas, and they would like to answer Nivedita's questions. Nivedita was ecstatic! She
could fill a good portion of her sample with these helpful girls!

Scene 2: Nivedita had a list of names and contact details of 100 women in Faisapur in U.P.
She started with the top 5 names. In 4 out of 5 cases, the women either didn’t respond to her
request or refused to participate. Only one woman took the survey. How will she reach out
to these 100 shortlisted women in one week? It seemed to be a daunting task as of now.
Nivedita was confused.
 NMIMS Global Access
School for Continuing Education (NGA-SCE)
Course: Marketing Research
Internal Assignment Applicable for June 2019 Examination
The reason was simple: The "normal" rules for conducting a marketing research survey do
not apply when the target sample is a Rural population.

Nivedita was one of the women researchers who had been appointed by an NGO for
conducting a research on the sanitation and personal hygiene methods being used by women
in rural areas. The objective was to capture the aftermath of the awareness campaigns been
done on account of the Indian Household Latrines (IHHL), School Sanitation and Hygiene
Education and Anganwadi toilets. After a whole lot of debate and discussion, it had been
decided that the respondents for this survey shall be rural girls / women ranging from a broad
age group of 12-60 years. For conducting a survey among this wide audience, two things
were done:

 A list of women was procured from secondary sources of data

 The women were segregated on the basis of age into the following categories: 12-17, 18-25,
26-35, 36 – 45, 46-60

The sampling method had also been very scientifically decided. However, reaching out to
these women unknown to the researcher, unrelated to each other, was not working out, no
matter how scientific the approach may be. With this very first experience shared by
Nivedita as a part of the pilot, the team was a bit confused on whether their understanding
of the rural research methods is correct. Anxiety was creeping in as to what should be the
ideal method to choose this sample of rural girls / women?

a. To choose this sample of rural girls / women, which sampling methods will you consider
most appropriate and why? Suggest any two methods and justify your answer. (5 Marks)

b. Suggest some innovative interview methods to reach out to the target audience
(5 Marks)

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