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BRM4008 Business Research Methods

Task Specifications

You are a researcher in a business consultancy who has been approached by several businesses to create a research program to look at the impact of advertisement of their brand on customers, and to identify any possible areas of improvement in product attractiveness.

In your capacity as a research consultant, you are required to design and plan a cohesive, robust and potentially longitudinal research approach that will help one of the following three businesses to develop marketing plans for designing more effective ads and production of more attractive goods and service processes for the future.

The clients demand that that all critical decisions, and the final design choice be theoretically justified, and based on a sound secondary analysis of the area. Your design therefore should attempt to capture, personal feelings, group feelings, individual customers’ views  and experiences for all customers. However, at this juncture you are not required to undertake any primary data collection.

You are to pick one client from the following list who you will undertake writing a research program schedule for:

1. Aramex
2. Nike
3. Royal Air Maroc
4. Snikers
5. if you are interested in another brand or company, please inform your lecturer.

Marks will be awarded for

• Developing at least two, cohesive and achievable objectives that will determine the scope of the work (10 marks)
• A justification of the research you’re undertaking (5 marks)
• A brief overview of the academic literature stating why understanding customer satisfaction is central to all service industries (20 marks)
• Describe how the proposed sample group of customers will be formulated (5 marks)
• Specify how the consent of participants will be obtained. How you will avoid risks, and maintain anonymity (10 marks)
• What method will you employ to obtain the data required to help the clients make a strong managerial decision, and why that method is the most appropriate for the research purpose (20 marks)
• An indication of how you might analysis the data and its benefits  (15 marks)
• A brief discussion of the limitations of your proposed approach (5 marks)
• Appropriate use and correct presentation of at least 10 academic references (10 marks)

Compulsory Reading

1. Saunders, M., Lewis, P & Thornhill, A. (2012) Research Methods for Business Students, 6^th edition, Harlow: Pearson

Additional Reading

1. Bryman, A. & Bell, E., (2011) Business Research Methods, 3rd edition, Oxford: Oxford: University Press
2. Bryman. A. (2012) Social Research Methods, 4th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2009) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students, 3rd edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
4. Cresswell, J.W. (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. Choosing Among Five Approaches. Second edition. Thousand Oaks, California, Sage
5. Cresswell, J. (2008) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Third edition. Thousand Oak, California, Sage.
6. Cresswell, J.W. and Plano Clark, V.L. (2011) Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research. Second edition. Thousand Oak, California, Sage.
7. Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (eds) (2011) The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
8. Easterby Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Jackson, P. (2008) Management Research: Theory and Research, London: Sage
9. Gill, J., Johnson, P. & Clark, M. (2010) Research Methods for Managers, 4th edition, London: Paul Chapman
10. Hart, C. (2009) Doing a Literature Review, London: Sage.
11. Kaplan, D. (ed.) (2004) The SAGE Handbook of Quantitative Methodology for the Social Sciences, London: Sage
12. Maylor, H. and Blackmon, K. (2005) Researching Business and Management, London: Palgrave
13. Murray, R. (2011) How to Write a Thesis, 3rd edition, Milton Keynes: Open University Press
14. Saunders, M. & Lewis, P. (2014) Doing Research in Business and Management: An Essential Guide for Business Students. Pearson.
15. Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R. (2010) Research Methods for Business. A Skill Building Approach. 5th Edition Chichester