MKTG90011: pass the exams, not just read the notes
Your complete guide to University of Melbourne's marketing research unit. See where the marks are, work real practice questions, and study with an AI tutor that knows MKTG90011.
Sia generates MKTG90011 practice questions, works through them step by step, and quizzes you on the material the exam weights most heavily.
Sharpen your argument
A brand does not know why loyal customers are quietly switching away and wants to surface the unknown reasons before designing a survey. Which research approach fits best first?
Research design follows the decision problem: here the reasons for switching are unknown and unarticulated.
A structured, fixed-choice survey is descriptive or confirmatory and presumes you already know the candidate reasons.
So the correct sequence is qualitative exploration first, then a quantitative survey to measure the reasons it uncovers.
The weaker choice: Jumping straight to a large survey. A fixed-choice survey can only measure reasons you already thought to ask about; when the reasons are unknown, exploratory qualitative research has to come first to discover them. watch this!
One exam decides 50% of your grade. This whole page is built around that.
Overview
What MKTG90011 is, and where it sits
MKTG90011 Marketing Research is the University of Melbourne's postgraduate subject on how marketing decisions are informed by evidence. It runs the full research process: defining the decision problem, choosing a research design, qualitative methods (depth interviews and focus groups), sampling, measurement and questionnaire design, data collection, analysis, and reporting findings that a decision-maker can act on.
The subject is applied: a 40% group research project takes a team through a real research question end to end, while a 50% final exam tests the design and methods judgement behind it. The recurring skill is matching the method to the question, knowing when an exploratory qualitative study is needed before a structured survey, and how sampling and measurement choices shape what the evidence can support.
Official outline: handbook.unimelb.edu.au · MKTG90011 outline. Always treat the official outline and the exam timetable as authoritative.
Difficulty & time commitment
Is MKTG90011 hard, and how much time does it take?
MKTG90011 is manageable if you keep a weekly rhythm and treat the back half as the main event. The pattern is consistent: it starts gently and steepens, and the heaviest assessment is the part that separates grades.
The difficulty curve and the assessment weighting point the same way: the back half is harder and worth more. Front-loading effort there is the highest-return decision in the unit.
Is this unit for you
Who tends to do well, and who tends to struggle
You will likely do well if
- You can match a research design to a decision problem rather than defaulting to one favourite method.
- You contribute steadily to the team research project, since it is a large share of the grade.
- You understand both qualitative and quantitative methods well enough to justify sequencing them.
You may struggle if
- You treat every question as a survey question and skip the exploratory step.
- You leave the group project to the final weeks, when design and data collection need lead time.
- You memorise method names without being able to justify which fits a given problem.
- For each method, prepare a one-line answer to which decision problems it fits and its limits.
- Treat the project as a consulting engagement: problem definition, design justification, evidence, recommendation.
- Practise justifying design choices (qualitative versus quantitative, sampling, measurement) since that judgement is what the exam rewards.
Syllabus
The 10 topics, topic by topic
The exam-weight marker on each topic shows where the marks concentrate. The amber topics carry the highest exam weight.
T1 · The Research Process
The 7-step process · symptom → problem · MDP vs MRQ
T2 · Secondary and Qualitative Research
Secondary vs primary · literature review · hypotheses & conceptual model · interviews & focus groups
T3 · Measurement and Scaling
The four scale types · reliability & validity · Cronbach's α
T4 · Research Designs
Exploratory · descriptive · causal / experiments
T5 · Sampling
Probability vs non-probability · sample-size formula · sampling error
T6 · Testing Differences
The which-test framework · one-sample / independent / paired t · one-way ANOVA
T7 · Measures of Association
Chi-square · Pearson vs Spearman correlation
T8 · Regression Analysis
Bivariate · multiple · dummies · R² / Beta / VIF
T9 · Principal Component Analysis
KMO · Bartlett · eigenvalues & the scree plot · loadings
T10 · The Research Project
MDP → RQs → qualitative → survey → H1–H6 → deck
How it's assessed
Assessment structure
| Component | Weight | Format & timing |
|---|---|---|
| Final exam | 50% | Exam period · on-campus digital LMS quiz under a lockdown browser · 2h + 15 min reading · MCQ + long-answer. |
| Group research project | 40% | Team of 4–5 · the real-client “Loneliness Economy” study — report + deck, built across the semester. |
| Quizzes | 10% | 5 × 2% across the teaching weeks — confirm the exact split in your subject guide. |
- Pass on a weighted average of at least 50%. No single-component hurdle unless noted; confirm against the official subject page.
This is an exam-cram unit. With the exams at 50% of the grade and the final exam alone at 50%, your result is overwhelmingly decided by how well you perform under time pressure.
How to actually pass it
A weekly rhythm, two checklists, and the traps to avoid
The unit rewards consistency over cramming, and practice over re-reading. Here is the loop that works, then what to have nailed before each exam.
The weekly loop
Before the mid-semester checklist
Before the final heaviest topics
- Rehearse matching research designs to decision problems, the exam's central skill.
- Revise the qualitative methods (depth interviews, focus groups) and when each is appropriate.
- Drill sampling and measurement choices and how they limit what the evidence supports.
- Prepare to justify a design end to end, from problem definition to reporting.
The mistakes that cost marks
Defaulting to a survey. Reaching for a structured survey when the reasons are unknown skips the exploratory step; a survey can only measure what you already know to ask.
Backloading the project. The 40% group project needs design and data-collection lead time; compressing it undermines both the project mark and the judgement the exam tests.
Naming methods without justifying them. Marks come from justifying why a design fits the decision problem, not from listing methods.
Teaching team
Who teaches MKTG90011
The bios below are factual. We do not rate lecturers; any star ratings are submitted by students who have taken MKTG90011.
Dr Yi-Lin Tsai
Subject coordinator for Marketing Research in the Department of Marketing, University of Melbourne.
Dr Aysha Arafat
Lecturer for Marketing Research in the Department of Marketing, University of Melbourne.
Teaching team as listed in the unit materials reviewed. AskSia does not rate lecturers; star ratings are submitted by students who have taken MKTG90011.
Where it fits
Prerequisites, related units & why it matters
Postgraduate marketing subject; check the UniMelb Handbook for program prerequisites.
Your MKTG90011 study toolkit
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is MKTG90011 hard?
It is a moderate postgraduate subject. Some statistics appears in sampling and analysis, but the core skill is design judgement, matching methods to decision problems, delivered through a 40% team project and a 50% exam rather than heavy computation.
How is Marketing Research assessed?
A 50% final exam, a 40% group research project (in teams of four to five), and 10% from quizzes across the teaching period. The components sum to 100%.
How much statistics is involved?
Some: sampling, measurement and basic analysis involve quantitative work, but the subject balances this with qualitative design (depth interviews, focus groups) and reporting.
What is the group project?
A team of four to five works a real research question through the full process, from problem definition and design to data collection, analysis and a decision-oriented report. It is 40% of the grade.
What does the exam reward?
Design and methods judgement: matching a research design to a decision problem, sequencing qualitative and quantitative methods, and justifying sampling and measurement choices.
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