MKTG90011 · Marketing Research
The Research Project
The 40% group project re-runs the marketing-research process end-to-end on a live client problem — the “loneliness economy” theme — in a team of four or five across the semester. It forces a fixed sequence of hypothesis tests that deliberately mirrors the exam's signature skill: H1 chi-square (two categorical variables) → H2 and H3 two different t-tests → H4 one-way ANOVA (3+ groups) → H5 multiple regression → H6 your choice (often correlation or PCA). Learn that map and you have also learnt the exam's “which test for which question” question — if you can justify why H4 must be ANOVA and not a t-test, you can answer the exam version of the same item. The deliverables walk down the seven-step process: define the management decision problem and research questions, do qualitative work to shape the survey, build and field a Qualtrics survey (a descriptive design), clean and analyse the data in SPSS against H1–H6, then turn the findings into a recommendation in a written report and a short deck. The marking rewards a clean problem-to-decision chain, correct test selection justified by variable structure, and clear APA reporting — the same standard as the exam.
What this chapter covers
- 01The pipeline — one client problem, end to end (the seven stages)
- 02From MDP to research questions to a conceptual model
- 03Qualitative stage → shaping the Qualtrics survey
- 04The mandated hypothesis → test map (H1–H6)
- 05Why each hypothesis forces a specific test (variable structure)
- 06SPSS pipeline: clean → describe → H1–H6 → report
- 07The report, the rubric and the craft (recommendation + deck)
Worked example: justify a hypothesis's mandated test
- +1(a) Why not a t-test. A t-test compares only two means; here there are four segments, so a single t-test cannot do the job and running several would inflate the error rate.
- +1(b) The variable structure. The DV (wellbeing) is metric; the IV (segment) is nominal with four independent groups — one metric outcome across 3+ groups → one-way ANOVA.
- +1State the hypotheses. H₀: all four segment means are equal; H₁: at least one differs. Read the ANOVA F and its Sig.
- +1(c) After a significant ANOVA. Run a post-hoc test (Tukey) to identify which segments differ, then report in APA, e.g. F(3, n−4) = value, p = value.
Key terms
- The research project
- A semester-long group study (4–5 members) on a live client ‘loneliness economy’ brief that re-runs the full research process and is worth 40% of the subject — report plus a short deck.
- The H1–H6 test map
- The mandated sequence of hypothesis tests: H1 chi-square, H2 & H3 two different t-tests, H4 one-way ANOVA, H5 multiple regression, H6 free choice — deliberately spanning the which-test framework the exam rewards.
- Qualtrics
- The survey platform used to build and field the project's descriptive survey, which generates the metric and categorical variables that feed the SPSS hypothesis tests.
- SPSS pipeline
- The fixed analysis sequence: clean and code the data, describe it with scale-appropriate statistics, run H1–H6 with the correct tests, then report each result with its statistic, p-value and an APA sentence.
- Recommendation
- The project's payoff — translating the statistical findings back into an action the client should take, closing the loop from the original management decision problem.
The Research Project FAQ
How does the project relate to the exam?
Directly. The project's mandated H1–H6 tests are the model for the exam's signature ‘choose the right test’ item, which is worth a large slice of the 50% exam. Justifying why each hypothesis forces a specific test (e.g. H4 = ANOVA because of 3+ groups) is exactly the reasoning the exam grades, so the two assessments reinforce each other.
What tests does the project require?
A fixed map: H1 chi-square (two categorical variables), H2 and H3 two different t-test types, H4 a one-way ANOVA (3+ groups), H5 a multiple regression, and H6 of your choice (often a correlation or PCA). The point is to exercise the whole which-test framework, so know why each hypothesis's variable structure forces its test.
What software does the project use?
Qualtrics to build and field the survey, and IBM SPSS Statistics to clean, describe and analyse the data against H1–H6. You read SPSS output rather than computing by hand, then report each result in APA style with the statistic, degrees of freedom and p-value.
What does the marking reward?
A clean chain from the management decision problem to the research questions to the analysis to a clear recommendation; correct test selection justified by variable structure; correct reading of SPSS output; and clear APA reporting and visuals. In short, the same standard as the exam — right test, right read, right report — applied end-to-end.
Exam move
Use the project to bank exam marks: every time you choose a test for H1–H6, write down the one-sentence justification from the variable structure (scale of each variable, number of groups, paired or independent) — that sentence is the exam's hardest item. Run the analysis as the fixed SPSS pipeline (clean → describe → test → report) and practise the APA report line for each test. Keep the whole study anchored on the management decision problem so your recommendation actually answers the client's question — the chain from problem to decision is what both the rubric and the exam reward.
