Research Methods for Marketing

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• describe the main methodologies and methods used in marketing research.
• demonstrate an understanding of the research paradigms deployed by marketing researchers;

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• conduct an independent research at masters level;
• understand research from an ethical perspective (ERGO).

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• design research projects and outline the key steps to managing them.
• critically assess the main types of contemporary management/marketing research;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• critically evaluate the diverse techniques that can be employed in quantitative and qualitative data analysis.
• identify appropriate data collection strategies that link methodological theory to research practice;

Foundations of marketing/management research: ontology, epistemology, axiology and links to methodology and methods; positivist/phenomenological research; conducting a literature review, collecting and analysing data using quantitative and qualitative methods; formulating research questions/research problems; questionnaire design; interviews; participant observation; exploratory data analysis; case study methodology; grounded theory; ethnography; netnography, standard software packages for analysing quantitative data (SPSS) and qualitative data (QRS NVivo), University Ethics Approval Procedure (ERGO).

Teaching and learning methods

This module is delivered as a series of lectures with computer laboratory workshops.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (2017). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research. UK: Sage Publications.

Corbin, Juliet and Anselm Strauss (2008). Basics of Qualitative Research. CA: Sage.

Gray, D.E. (2022). Doing Research in the Real World. Sage.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2018). Research Methods for Business Students. Pearson - An e-version of this text is available via the Hartley library.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External