DMK 2033 / Assignment / March 2019

SUNWAY UNIVERISTY BUSINESS SCHOOL

DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

ACADEMIC SESSION: MARCH 2019

DMK2033: MARKETING RESEARCH

ASSIGNMENT: Staggered Component Submission

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
1. There are NINE (9) pages in this assignment guidelines including the cover page.
2. This group assignment will contribute 50% to your final grade.
3. The assignment must be completed individually.
4. Students are required to produce a typewritten report which is divided into two
assignments worth 25% each detailing the objectives, reasons, process and analysis
of the market research.
5. The individual assignment must be typewritten in A4 size paper, double line spacing,
Arial font size 12 points, justified paragraphs and single sided.
6. There must be a cover sheet, which includes student name, student ID, subject
code, lecturer’s name, tutor's name, title page, table of contents, abstract,
literature review, content with in-text citation, conclusion and a list of references
using APA style of referencing. Failure to adhere to this format will result in marks
deduction.
7. Word length should not exceed 5,000 words (2500 words each) (excluding graphs,
charts, reference list).
8. The marking criteria, marks allocation, and more details guideline are available at the
end of this assignment guides.

IMPORTANT
Assignments must be submitted on the due dates and time listed. If an assignment is
submitted after its due date, a mark of 0 will be imposed: Assignments that are found
to have substantial plagiarism or collusion will also be given a mark of 0.

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Objectives of the Assignment:

Upon completion of this assignment, students will be able to:

• Define a marketing problem/opportunity statement and understand the marketing

research process.
• Conduct a marketing research led qualitative research techniques using either one or
a combination of techniques (Observations/Interviews/Focus Groups/Photo
Elicitation/Video)
• Construct a usable questionnaire that will be appropriate for meeting marketing
research objectives.
• Possess a sound knowledge of quantitative techniques and results interpretations
which is useful for client implementation.
• Recommend appropriate marketing strategy based on report findings.

Assignment Details:
Your marketing research should be revolved around the following area:

• Global Marketing (Eg., The effects of global marketing and customer behaviour)

Prior to starting the research process, students are to:

1. Perform an appropriate situational analysis on the Malaysia market (which includes market
penetration, consumer preference and sales performance) that will be relevant to the
assignment objectives.
2. Review appropriate literature and online reports or articles related to the latest issues and
demographic data about the industry.
3. Decide on what would be the most relevant issues or opportunity worth researching, where
you could have an impact on the consumer behavior and ultimately the industry.

Students may or may not engage in specific companies in order to help develop their specific
marketing research objectives. The marketing research objectives will be based on the
issues that will arise from the initial situational analysis, the availability of data and the ability
to analyze those issues or opportunities. The objectives will then be supported by a
theoretical framework developed from a literature review. The theoretical framework will
then be used to identify the variables they wish to investigate and to formulate hypotheses
for further testing
The format of your report must be in A4 size paper, double line spacing, Arial font type; font
size 12 points, justified paragraphs and single sided. You must use headings and
subheadings within your report. Your report should be fully and correctly referenced, using
APA style of referencing. Word length of assignment should not exceed 5,000 words. The
assignment must be entirely your own work. Please ensure that you are aware of the rules
regarding plagiarism.

NOTE: The group assignment is highly prescriptive, demanding and challenging. They cannot
be completed overnight or within a couple of days. It is an incremental, milestone
assignment, meaning that students are to hand-in individual components of the assignment
at different stages during the semester. So, be prepared to invest considerable time on the
assignments every week throughout the semester.

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Deadline for the components are listed below under assignment components. Late
submission of any component will results in marks NOT being awarded for that particular
component. Students are reminded to plan out their research and time properly so as to
not fall back on their submissions. The components will be compiled into a final report and
handed-in to the lecturer. At the end of the whole research process, there will be a poster
presentation to showcase your research outcome.

Assignment Components:

Assignment 1 (25%): Deadline: Week 6 (10thMay 2019 Friday 5pm before the mid
semester break)

This assignment will include the below four points (Background, Literature Review
Methodology and questionnaire design)

a. Background
A brief description of the sector you are researching, current trends, and the market leader.
Situational analysis of the conditions surrounding the sector.

Problem Definition
Highlight your research gaps.

Research Questions
From the problem definition, define the research questions to be investigated.

Research Objectives
A proposal on the objectives in answering the research questions.

b. Literature Review
Critically conduct/review the literature that supports the research objectives from articles,
journals and other appropriate sources of literature. Literature should be of interest
surrounding the sector’s sales performance and as well as academically sound. This will
form the basis for formulating hypotheses (testing) for the assignment. A logical flow of
appropriate literature review/ criticism should be clear, concise and matured to gain full
marks. There should be an identification of gaps in the literature search and an indication
of the objectives of the study (or even hypothesis formulated) based on the literature
search. Literature cited must not be more than 10 years old and must have in-text
referencing (APA style).

Hypothesis Formulation (Only for quantitative study)

From the literature search, and research questions formulate appropriate hypothesis that will
meet the marketing research objectives.

Eg.1: From literature, you discovered that customer satisfaction will leads to customer loyalty;
hence your proposed hypothesis would be:

H1: Customer satisfaction has a positive effect on customer loyalty.

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Eg 2: From literature, you discovered that there are differences in gender preferences in terms
of taste for Cadbury; hence one of your proposed hypothesis would be

H2: There is a difference between gender in terms of taste for Cadbury.

Theoretical Framework
From the hypotheses and literature review; draft a theoretical framework for your market
research objectives carefully outlining the relationships or questions you wish to explore
and test.

c. Methodology

Identify the methodology from the hypothesis listed. Write briefly about

• The appropriate sampling target for your research and why this sample was chosen.
• The content analysis strategy in analyzing data from focus groups/interviews.
• The appropriate quantitative data analysis strategy employed to test the hypothesis
identified.

d. Questionnaire Design

You are required to construct an appropriate questionnaire that will focus on asking questions
for the purpose of meeting your marketing research objectives identified.

This section requires you to:

• Create a questionnaire with an appropriate combination of objective based questions

(closed ended), Likert scales, open ended question, single select questions, ranking
type questions
• This questionnaire should be no more than 4 pages fit into a single A4 size page (simple
and straight to the point)
• Questions should be appropriately worded and arranged taking into consideration
questionnaire design issues and marketing research objectives.
• Sectionalise your questions into parts that measures different constructs and profile
e.g.: products, perception and demographics. Your questionnaire needs to be
approved by your lecturer before you collect your data
• Data collection should start immediately after approval from relevant parties. A good
number of sample should be collected.

Assignment 2 (25%): Week 12 (21st June 2019 Friday 5pm)

This assignment will include the below two points (quantitative data analysis and
discussion, recommendations and conclusion)

a. Quantitative Data Analysis - Descriptions, Test Hypotheses, Identify Relationships and

Segmentation

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Completed questionnaires should be properly and clearly entered into SPSS checked
thoroughly for validation and correctness before analysis begins

This section requires you to:

• Distribute the questionnaire to respondents based on targeted sample.

• Enter your data into SPSS and do proper data editing and cleaning before analysis
Use appropriate data analysis methods learned and draw appropriate
conclusions.
• Your analysis should identify:
• The overall summary of your respondents (descriptive)
• Conclusions of the hypotheses drawn from analysis, identifying
similarity/differences from groups on different characteristics based on research
objectives.
• Relationships (if any- based on hypothesis) between variables.
• Any other interesting discovery –segments, importance of variables, target markets,
etc…
• This analysis should be brief and concise and visually interesting with sound
descriptions on each section.

b. Discussions, Recommendations, Conclusions – Identify Marketing Strategy

Compiling analysis results from both qualitative and quantitative analysis by drawing useful
conclusions and propose recommendations for your clients who are in the area you are
researching on.

This section requires you to:

• Compile and summarize findings from analysis.
• Derive useful conclusions from content analysis and hypothesis test results (e.g.
appropriate target market segment; hypotheses agreed/not agreed; relationships)
• Explain how marketers will benefit from the results of these findings
• Recommend useful suggestions on marketing strategies suitable for the company’s
immediate implementation (e.g. Either to expand or to change strategy based on
results of analysis)

References

You should have proper APA referencing style including proper in-text citation, and appropriate
references list

Your references must be relevant, sound and credible to be convincing enough for the
business implications. It is important to be reminded that sufficient referencing is required to
add value to the report. Your report will be checked for plagiarism (using Turnitin). The
Turnitin report must be accompanied with the report and no more than similarity index of 10%
is allowed. Any violation of this will result in severe deduction of marks. Please refer to the
University Policy on plagiarism and collusion issues.

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 DMK 2033 / Assignment / March 2019

SECTIONALISED MARKING CRITERIA:

Assignment (80 Marks)
CRITERIA/ SECTIONS TOTAL MARKS
MARKS AWARDED
ALLOCATED
Title Page, Assignment Cover Sheet, Peer Evaluation form* 5

Table of Contents 5

Executive Summary 5

Component 1: Background, Problem Definition, 10

Research Questions and Objectives Comments:

Poor Pass Satisfactory Good Outstandin

g
0 4 5 6 7-10
Very weak in Has one or States all the Explanation Clear
background, two elements elements but of all explanation
unclear but not the with no clear elements and tie up of
research rest explanation all elements
problem,
questions and
objectives
Component 2: Literature Review, Hypothesis Formulation, 10
Theoretical Framework
Comments:
Poor Pass Satisfactory Good Outstandin
g
0 4 5 6 7-10

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 DMK 2033 / Assignment / March 2019

Has one or States all the Explanation of Clear Excellent

two elements elements but all elements; explanation explanation
but not the with no clear Presence of lit and tie up of and tie up of
rest explanation; review, theory all elements; all elements;
Weak lit and Literature Critically
review framework review, theory conduct/revie
and w the
framework literature
which is up to
date and
using non
mainstream
theory and
framework
links clearly to
hypothesis
Component 3: Methodology, Questionnaire Design 10
Comments:
Poor Pass Satisfactory Good Outstanding
0 4 5 6 7-10
Very weak Explanation Methodology Methodology Excellent
methodology of is clear is justified explanation of
and methodology (includes, (sampling and methodology
questionnaire used and sampling and analysis); and
design adequate analysis); questionnaire questionnaire
(irrational) questionnaire questionnaire is clear and design and
design meets
design in provides
objectives
adequate to justifications
achieve based on
objective research

objectives and
constraints.

Component 4: Quantitative Data Analysis - Descriptions, Test 10

Hypotheses, Identify Relationships and Segmentation
Comments:
Pass Satisfactor Good Outstanding
Poor y
0 4 5 6 7-10
Showing only Showing Showing Showing Showing
results results with results which relevant and relevant and
(irrelevant or inaccurate are relevant accurate correct results
inadequate) explanation and proper results with with excellent
but shows summary but accurate clear explanation
attempt with inadequate explanation summary that
explanation and summary ties back to
research
objectives

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 DMK 2033 / Assignment / March 2019

Component 5: Discussions, Recommendation, Conclusions a nd 10

References Comments:
Poor Pass Satisfactory Good Outstanding
0 4 5 6 7-10
Weak Evidence Relevant Good sources of Good sources of
discussio of references with references references
n and sufficient sound (relevant and (relevant
poor (not discussions and adequate) with and
referencin necessaril recommendation good adequate)
g y) relevant s discussions and with
references recommendation excellent
and s and
discussion discussions and
s analytical
recommendation
s that answers
research
questions and tie
the whole
research

Report format and presentation (including titles, font and paragra formats,ph 7
outline, graphs placements, spelling)

Comments:

Referencing Style (including proper in-text citation, and appropriate 8

references list Turnitin Similarity Index Report not more than 10%)

Comments:

TOTAL MARKS 80

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Overall Comments:

Important: Marks for all the components will be awarded based on the following level of
student’s discussion:
• Pass: Shallow or very general description or discussion for the component;
• Satisfactory: Covering major components with reasonable discussion;
• Good: Comprehensive coverage but lack of critical discussion for the
components;
• Outstanding: Excellent coverage, effective and thoughtful discussion for the
components.

Note: Even after marks for coursework are released, results will not be official until the full
results are released officially by the Sunway University Business School. Please take note
that this coursework will be subjected to an extensive moderation process.

END OF ASSIGNMENT BOOKLET