1. In your own words, what is the difference between market research and marketing research?

2. Write a problem/opportunity statement for City Compost.

3. Pick one direction from the Four P’s Marketing Mix that City Compost can take to move forward with their residential plan. Write a sentence elaborating on how City Compost can move forward in your chosen direction.

4. Write three to four possible decision points that City Compost could take to move forward in the direction you picked in Question 3. (Hint, one of them should be “Do nothing”).

5. Pick one of your decision points from Question 4. Write out a research question that would give City Compost the data they need to make that decision.

6. Pick one of your research questions from Question 5. Would you recommend that City Compost’s owner answer this research question using exploratory research, descriptive research, or causal research? Why?

7. Give an example of an action standard City Compost could apply to your research question in Question 5.

8. In your own words, what is the difference between exploratory and descriptive research?

The Perfect Knot is a yoga studio. Their owner has noticed an increased interest in Pilates lately and is considering adding Pilates classes to the studio’s weekly schedule, but she doesn’t know much about who takes Pilates classes and what types of Pilates she can offer.

9. Describe a way The Perfect Knot could use exploratory research to get background information on this decision point.

10. The Perfect Knot has settled on two decision points: offering mat Pilates or classic Pilates. The owner will give a descriptive survey to her clientele to see which type of Pilates fits best. Do you recommend she use a cross-sectional study or a longitudinal study? Why?

11. It’s five years later. The Perfect Knot has been running a classic Pilates class successfully. Would a cross-sectional study or a longitudinal study be better to monitor changes in enthusiasm for this class? Why?

Moar Guitars is an independent electric-guitar maker that sells most of its instruments online. They would like to update their website to increase online guitar sales, but don’t know what website changes would cause more online sales.

12. What is the dependent variable in this example of causal research?

13. Give an example of an independent variable on their website that Moar Guitars could test?

14. Imagine Moar Guitars is going to run an A/B test using the independent variable you listed in Question 12. Name one way their experimental design can control for extraneous variables.

15. Moar Guitars also would like to see consumer reaction to a new guitar model. Given their small, niche market share, would a standard test market or a controlled test market be appropriate for them to test the reaction to this new model? Why?

16. Name two things you might do in order to protect your survey participants from potential harm when conducting research.

17. You run a dishonest marketing research firm looking to take advantage of your clients. Explain one way you can be unethical and why it would be harmful to your client.

18. Name one advantage and one disadvantage of using secondary data instead of primary data.

19. Give an example of secondary research from your group project. Describe how would you make sure that source is credible?

You own a small comedy club and are looking for ways to increase your patronage. Your decision points are:

1.) Change up your mix of comedy acts

2.) Add more expensive drinks to your menu

3.) Redecorate the interior with a new theme

20. Give an example of how you could use indirect observational research from archives rather than direct observation to research changing up your mix of comedy acts.

21. Which one of these decision points would be best answered with an unstructured observation? Why would unstructured observation be effective for this decision?

22. Pick one of the comedy clubs three decision points and describe how either in situ observation or invented observation could be used to research it? Explain why either in situ or invented observation would be effective for your chosen decision point.

23. Pick one of the comedy club’s three decision points and describe how an interview would be effective for researching the decision.

24. What is an advantage of using a focus groups instead of an interview for your data collection?

25. If you had the time and resources to perform ethnographic research for your group project, how would the data you collect be richer than the survey or interviews you will perform? Please refer to details of your project when answering.