Course Title: Practice Based Marketing Research Project 1

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Practice Based Marketing Research Project 1

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
MKTG1263	City Campus	Postgraduate	625H Economics, Finance and Marketing	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2006, Sem 2 2006, Sem 1 2007, Sem 2 2007, Sem 1 2008, Sem 2 2008, Sem 1 2009, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 1 2014, Sem 2 2014, Sem 1 2015

Course Coordinator: Professor Francis Farrelly

Course Coordinator Phone: (03) 9925 5561

Course Coordinator Email: francis.farelly@rmit.edu.au

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

MKTG 1100 – Marketing Management and Implementation

MKTG 1101 – Consumer Behaviour

MKTG 1103 - Marketing Communication Strategy

MKTG 1104 - Marketing Research

Students will also be required to have a achieved a credit-average across these four pre-requisites

Course Description

The Practice Based Marketing Project (PBMP) covers two courses (24 points) and is broken into two parts carried out over two semesters. Part 1 requires you to carry out a literature review on your topic area of interest and to write a proposal for your project. Part 2 requires you to select (and provide a rationale for) a method, to carry out field research (applying that method), and to write a final research report including theoretical and practical conclusions and recommendations. Together Part 1 and Part 2 form the PBMP and are completed in consecutive semesters. Noted below is information on both the overall project so you can gain a sense of the total task (i.e. Part 1 and Part 2), as well as the specific requirements for Part 1 of the project.

Under supervision you are expected to conduct and report on an original research project (research proposal and research report) that addresses a significant issue in a marketing context. The research is likely to have significant practical implications, and to be of publishable quality. The course gives graduates the training necessary to conduct independent high-quality research in an academic setting within a marketing context, cultivates analytical and critical skills, and helps to build an awareness of emerging developments in marketing. It also helps to build an understanding of what constitutes quality research, and how to evaluate and carry out quality research

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course is designed to assist students to develop the capabilities listed in the program guide, including:

•  understanding the role of marketing 
• application of theoretical knowledge to practical problems
• critical analysis skills in the marketing context 
• indeopendent research applying appropriate ethical standards

The PBMP has the following course objectives:

• To establish a clear line of inquiry (sometimes described as a topic or problem statement) for your marketing project.
• To conduct an in-depth analysis of research articles and other secondary information leading to a problem statement, proposal and literature review,
• To establish research hypotheses or research questions,
• To establish a rationale and explanation of your research methodology,
• To apply quantitative or qualitative techniques as part of field work,
• To carry out data collection and analysis,
• To successfully complete a scholarly and empirically based postgraduate research project.

Overview of Learning Activities

The course introduces you to a process for carrying out quality research. It does this by exploring the practical application of research techniques and by applying a quantitative or qualitative methodology and data analysis.

There are no formal lectures in this course as you work with an allocated supervisor (see below) on a research project. You are encouraged to attend research seminars in the school, and classes in other courses if deemed necessary. The course relies to a large extent on self-directed learning.

Overview of Learning Resources

There is no prescribed textbook or recommended reading for Part 1 of the PBMP. The in-depth reading that you carry out will depend on your research topic (your supervisor may also suggest particular readings). You may wish to refer websites or texts on how to write a literature review. The references noted below may be of assistance (the journal article is in the library database).

Overview of Assessment

Completion of a research proposal, literature review and conceptual model. Feedback will be provided by your supervisor on a weekly basis.