University of California at Santa Barbara

Bren School of Environmental Science and Management

Survey Design and Environmental Public Opinion

ESM 269, Spring 2014

Class Room: TBD

Instructor: Michael Henderson, Ph.D.

Vice President, Full Service Research

Ipsos Observer

Office Hours: By appointment

Mobile Phone: 657.464.0275

Email:

Course Description

Course covers research methodology, including quantitative and qualitative research, survey design, sampling, data collection, data processing, and data analysis. Students will design a research study, and develop a quantitative and qualitative data collection instrument.

Learning Objectives

·  Understand the marketing research discipline and how it applies to your discipline

·  Define relevant research questions/hypotheses for defining and targeting customers for a new product/service

·  Develop the skills to design and execute a research program to guide your business model

Assignments and Grading

Individual
Contribution / Team
Contribution
Participation / 10%
Customer Research Plan / 45%
Research Instruments / 45%
TOTAL / 100%

Description of Course Assignment

Customer Research Plan

The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the research planning process and to develop your hypotheses/research questions, target population, sampling plan, and methodology. You also will be asked to describe your intended data collection plan. You should include background information on your topic, as well.

This assignment covers the following steps in the marketing research process:

·  Step 1 – Problem Definition

·  Step 2 – Development of an Approach to the Problem

·  Step 3 – Research Design Formulation

·  Step 4 – Data Collection

A completed hard copy must be turned in by email () on Friday, April 25.

Questionnaire and Moderator’s Guide

The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your ability to create data collection instruments, as well as determine an analysis plan.

This assignment should contain the following:

1.  A qualitative research discussion guide (for in-depth interviews or focus groups)

2.  A quantitative survey instrument (for collecting quantitative data on your customer group or user group)

3.  A description on how each will be analyzed

This assignment covers the following steps in the marketing research process:

·  Step 3 – Research Design Formulation

·  Step 5 – Data Preparation and Analysis

A completed soft copy must be emailed to me () on Friday, May 23.

Course Schedule

Session / Class Date/Time / Class Topic
1 / Sat 4/5/14
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM / ·  Overview of Marketing Research
·  Research Approaches
2 / Tues 4/15/14
4:30 PM –
7:00 PM / ·  Defining Research Questions and Establishing Hypotheses
·  Sampling Strategy
·  Developing Research Instruments
3 / Sat 4/19/14
10:00 AM –
12:00 PM;
1:00 – 3:30 PM / ·  Data Collection
·  Data Analysis
4 / Sat 5/10/14
Individual meetings will be scheduled / ·  Linking Data to Individual Projects

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