Student Name ___________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STONEHILL COLLEGE

Fall 2006

 

BA341 Marketing Research

Final Exam

 

 

 

 Dr. Geoffrey P. Lantos

 

 Part 1  24 points ______

 Part 2  40 points ______

 Part 3  111 points ______


Total Points Deducted ______

 Total Points Earned  175 points ______

Your Grade ______

PART I: CONCEPTS (24 points – 4 points each)

 

Please briefly define in your own words, and in one or two sentences, six of the following eight concepts as each relates to marketing research.  You may use examples to help clarify your answers where examples are not specifically asked for.

 

1. Random sampling error -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Double-barreled question –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Semantic differential -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Laddering  (Note: Not a ladder scale)–

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Product adoption curve –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Letter of authorization -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Contingency table -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Measurement -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PART II: DESCRIPTIVE SHORT ANSWERS (40 points)

 

Please briefly answer the required number of questions for each Section as they relate to marketing research in either a short paragraph or else in outline form-- complete sentences need not be used.  You may use graphs, figures, charts, equations, etc., where appropriate.  Be sure you answer all parts of all questions that you choose to answer.

 

Section A (12 points): Answer two of the following three 6-point questions

 

1. (6 points) What is the standardized normal distribution? Describe how it is used in making statistical calculations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. (6 points) Marketing Research neophyte Dick Tater believes that there is a direct relationship between population size and sample size.  Is he correct?  Cite and explain all three of the factors which should be considered when determining sample size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. (6 points) Cite the three possible general scenarios that might emerge as a result of introducing a second independent variable in an elaboration analysis, i.e., the effect on the original relationship between the first independent variable and the dependent variable that introducing the second independent variable could have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section B (16 points): Answer two of the following three 8-point questions

 

4. (8 points) Interviewer cheating is a problem in survey research. 

a. (2 points) What type of survey error does interviewer cheating involve: administrative error or respondent error?

 

 

 

 

b. (4 points) Cite two reasons for/causes for/pressures resulting in interviewer cheating (other than the obvious answer: “unethical/dishonest interviewers”).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c. (2 points) What should a research director do if she suspects interviewer cheating (other than firing the field workers)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. (8 points) Name each of the four stages of the strategic marketing planning process during which marketing research can be useful, and cite an example of the kind of research methodology (survey, focus group, secondary data search, etc.) that can be used for three of the four stages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. (8 points) What is the relationship between elaboration analysis, moderator variables, and spurious relationships?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section C (12 points): Answer one the following two 12-point question

 

7. (12 points) Marketing research is often touted as being “scientific” Professor Lantos has cited reasons throughout the course why he is skeptical of this claim.

 

a. (4 points) Cite four criteria a field or discipline should meet in order to be considered scientific.  (Just list them—you need not explain them).

 

 

 

 

 

b. (8 points) Cite four reasons why Professor Geoff believes marketing research often fails to meet the criteria of being a science.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. (12 points) a. (6 points) Cite four possible interpretations that can be given to a "don't know" response on a given questionnaire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. (6 points) Explain four possible ways to deal with a "don't know" response during the coding process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PART III: APPLIED SHORT ANSWERS (111 points)

 

Please read the following scenarios and then briefly answer the required number of questions for each Section in either a short paragraph or else in outline form--complete sentences need not be used.  Be sure to answer all parts of all questions that you select to answer. 

 

PLEASE BE SURE TO SHOW ALL CALCULATIONS.

 

Section A (50 points) Answer all parts of the following question

 

1. (50 points) Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2006 (Reading Day) was a rather slow day at the 95 Banilla Bunn Bakery, a haunt frequented by Banilla University students and faculty-persons.  The values of the (few) sales transactions that occurred that day were as follows (in dollars - $):  

 

$2, 5, 3, 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, 1, 3, 5, 7, 35, 4, 5.  

 

 

REQUIRED:

 

a. (3 pts.) Prepare an array (Note: Not a data matrix) for this data.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. (4 pts.) Prepare an absolute frequency distribution for this data.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c. (8 pts.)

 (1)  (4 pts.) Prepare a percentage distribution for this data. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (2) (4 pts.) Can you prepare a probability distribution for this data?  Why or why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

d. (9 pts.) Calculate the:

    1. Mean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    2. Mode

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   3. Median

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

e. (4 pts.) Which, if any, of the various measures of central tendency you calculated in part d. is/are not very representative as a measure of central tendency for this data?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

f. (4 pts.) Describe the skewness (symmetry) of the distribution of this data.

 

 

 

 

 

g. (10 points)

    (1) (4 points) Calculate the range.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   (2) (3 points) Which measure of dispersion is more useful, the range or standard deviation?  Why?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     (3) (3 points) Which is the more useful measure of variation in this case: the standard deviation or the variance?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

h. (4 pts.) Assume that this distribution of number of cars sold is approximately normally distributed (you know from part f. above that this isn't a perfect assumption, but that's okay).  Without doing the cumbersome calculation (not worth your precious time), what approximately would be the value of the standard deviation?  How did you go about guestimating this?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i. (4 points) Calculate the interquartile range?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section B (12 points): Answer both of the following 6-point questions

 

2. (6 points) Classify each of the following research scenarios by function/purpose (exploratory, etc.).  Then, name the research technique (e.g., survey, experiment, etc.) that is being proposed to achieve the purpose and whether it is appropriate for the research purpose.

 

 a. Myles Apart wants to know which of two magazines his coupon ad will run in are more effective, so he will hire a coupon redemption company to count the number of coupons redeemed from each magazine ad.  He will then shift all of his magazine advertising to the magazine with the highest coupon redemption rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. Kitty Litter is trying to figure out why sales of her brand of cat food are down.  She plans to talk for a good while each with a small number of her consumers to see what they think of the product, its advertising, and its pricing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. (6 points) You have been requested by your client to estimate with  90% confidence the proportion of people age 12+ who have ever tried your recently launched new clam chowder eggnog (both regular and low-cholesterol versions).  A sample of 100 people reveals an ever-tried rate of 15% (not bad, considering…).  What will you report to the client? (i.e., interpret the meaning of your numerical calculation)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section C (12 points): Answer the following 12-point question

 

4. (12 points) The following questions were part of a survey on how a clothing store for women can better serve its customers.  Design a code book for this portion of the questionnaire.

 

     1. How often do you shop for clothes for yourself?

____  Less than once a year

____ One to six times a year

____ Seven to twelve times a year

____ More than once a month.

 

      2. Which of the following attributes are important to you in selecting a clothing store from which to shop for yourself? (Check all that apply.)

___ Location

___ Price range

___ Friendly, helpful salespeople

___ Brand names carried

 

       3. What is your age?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section D (10 points): Answer the following 10-point question

 

5. (10 points) What organizational and human relations problems between marketing researchers and marketing managers (discussed in the text and in class) are presented in each of the following situations?  Briefly explain.   For each problem, suggest two possible good solutions for that problem.

 

a. Ferren Hite, Marketing Director, was complaining to Crystal Ball, the Marketing Research Director: “You want HOW MUCH money to learn about our customers’ satisfaction?  $25,000?  What am I, made of money?  It doesn’t grow on trees, you know!  Do it with $5,000, or don’t do it at all!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. Katie Didd, brand manager for Cleano Soap flakes, is explaining to Holly Berry, her marketing research coordinator, “We’re determined to launch Cleano Lite, come hell or high water.  Your market research must verify that both trial and repeat rates are high.  If not, I could lose my job.  And, if I do, you’re going down with me!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section E (12 points): Answer the following 12-point question

 

6. (12 points) Justine Vogue, owner and manager of Barney the Purple Dinosaur Emporium, is trying to stimulate customers to make larger transactions at her boutique by offering a generous 25% discount to customers who make substantial size purchases during the upcoming month of June.  Sales data for the month of June 2006 reveal that the mean sales figure for a customer's expenditures per store visit is $25.50 with a variance of $74.00.  A frequency distribution plot of sales shows that customer transaction size is approximately normally distributed.  Justine figures that it would be economically justified to grant discounts to customers spending at least $45.  

 

a. (5 points) From the data for June, what percentage of the customers would qualify for the discount?  

 

  

 

    

 

  

  b. (2 points) Think of one or two reasons why the percentage figure you just calculated would not be an accurate measure of the percentage.  

 

  

 

  

 

  

  c. (5 points) What percentage of her customers spent between $20.00 and $35.00 in April?  (More room on next page.)

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

Section F (15 points): Answer one of the following two 15-point questions

 

7. (15 points) A survey of 300 red-blooded Americans, using simple random sampling, reveals that on average each consumes 31 hot dogs a year, with the sample standard deviation equal to 9.    

 

Required:  

 

a. (5 pts.) Calculate a 95% confidence interval for the population mean.  Explain the meaning or interpretation of this interval estimate, i.e., what information does it give you?  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. (3 pts.) Without doing the calculation, would the size of this confidence interval become wider or narrower if you wanted to be 99% certain of your results.  Why does the size change in the direction you've indicated?  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

c. (2 pts.) What Z value would you use if you were asked to compute this confidence interval at the 96% level?  

 

  

 

  

 

d. (5 pts.) Assume that the sample size in the survey was 24 people, not 300.  Calculate a 95% confidence interval for the population mean.  Is it wider or narrower than your interval estimate in part a?  Explain why.  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. (15 points) A survey of a sample of your classmates reveals the following descriptive information:

 

Student Name            Gender        Age               Attended at least One Football Game 

                                                                             On Campus This Year

Snideley                       M                18                                  No

Horace                         M                20                                  No

Matilda                         F                19                                  No

 Zelda                           F                18                                  Yes

Millicent                       F                20                                 Yes

Irving                          M                 20                                 Yes

Wilbur                         M                18                                  No

Spike                           M                19                                  No 

Ike                                M              19                                   No

Ethel                             F               18                                  Yes

 

Required:

 

a. (4 points) Cross-tabulate respondents' gender with whether or not they attended at least one football game using absolute frequencies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

b. (5 points) Perform a percentage cross-tabulation for gender vs. game attendance.  Explain in which direction you performed the cross-tabulation and why.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

c. (2 points) Is there a relationship between gender and attendance at football games?  Explain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

d. (4 points) Perform a three-way frequency cross-tabulation of age and game attendance, holding gender constant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAVE YOURSELF A VERY MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS.  BEST WISHES FOR A HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.  I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING SOME OF YOU BACK IN THE CLASSROOM IN THE SPRING SEMESTER.