Essentials of Marketing Research William G' Zikmund

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Essentials of Marketing ResearchWilliam G.
Zikmund

• Chapter 16
• Report Writing

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Purpose of Report

• Communicate what you have done at all stages of
  the project
• No one is as involved in this project as your
  team
• You need to communicate all that you have done to
  your client in an efficient and effective manner

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• Title of Report
• Prepared for
• Name of person
• company
• location
• by
• Group Members
• Date

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Table of Contents
Contents
Section Title Page
Executive Summary 1 Introduction 2 Backg
round for the study 2 Research objectives 4
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List of Figures
Figures
Figure Title Page
Length of time with current provider 10 Satisfac
tion with current provider 12
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Executive Summary (1-2 pgs.)

• Must summarize major points of results in concise
  manner
• Yet give enough description to summarize complete
  project
• Many executives only read this part
• Write this section last

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Executive Summary (cont.)

• Objectives
• Dont need to state all 6-8 objectives, just
  overall objectives of study
• Concise statement of methods
• Results/Conclusions
• bullet points are good
• Recommendations
• Bullet points are good
• What everyone is interested in

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Introduction (Turned this in for Assignment 1)

• Background
• All your secondary research should be described
  here
• Why was this study undertaken?
• Why was it important to study?
• Need to demonstrate you are knowledgeable about
  this industry/company.
• Objectives
• List all objectives
• Bullet points

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Methodology (1-2 pgs.)

• What procedures were used to collect the primary
  data?
• observation, questionnaire, experiment
• How was the data collected?
• Telephone, mail, personal interview, video camera
• Where was the data collected
• Laboratory, state, nationwide

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Methodology (cont.)

• What type of sampling was used?
• Convenience, random, snowball
• How many subjects completed the questionnaire
• Completed vs. usable
• General characteristics of sample?
• Average age and other demographic questions
  (e.g., of times visited store per month)

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Data Analysis and Results (1/2 to 1 pg. per
objective)

• Break down by objectives
• Review questions asked and scaling of questions
  if needed
• State what you found
• Be clear, concise, and dont make the reader have
  to interpret what you mean
• E.g., the mode was 1
• Explain tables, charts, and graphs clearly
• Can insert them in text or put in appendix

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Limitations

• Most research is not flawless
• State any limitations regarding sample size,
  non-representative sample, low response rate,
  social desirability bias, etc.
• Look through your notesthere are several
  limitations weve talked about

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Limitations (cont.)

• If I were to do this again.(BE SPECIFIC)
• Would you make any changes?
• If so, why?
• Any parts of the questionnaire that consumers
  said were confusing?
• If so, how would you change?
• Any questions you would Add? Delete? Change
  format of?
• If so, how and why?

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Conclusions and Recommendations (2-3 pgs.)

• Broad generalizations focusing on answering what
  you found for each objective
• Do not reiterate numbers/statistics
• General conclusion of what you found
• Based on these general conclusions what
  recommendations would you have for the company
  you are working for?
• Recommendations are based on your datathey
  shouldnt just come out of the blue

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Appendix

• Coding Guide (including cover letter)
• Detailed calculations (for cross-tabs)
• Tables, Graphs, Charts
• References
• Cite in text and in reference section. Must be
  enough detail so that readers can look up the
  reference themselves
• All SPSS printouts (label them by research
  objective)
• Graded Assignment 1
• Any other support material

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Things to keep in mind

• Final report 15-20 pages
• not including title page, table of contents, list
  of figures, appendix
• Report should be typed, double-spaced
• Consistent with a high-quality business report
• Need to turn in SPSS printouts with project

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What am I looking for?

• High Quality Business Report
• Proofread, no typos, professional presentation
• All parts are included
• Effective communication
• I can read it once and understand
• what you wanted to research
• who you sampled
• what you found
• and the significance of it.

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Weighting

• Executive Summary 15
• Body (Intro/Objectives) 5
• Methodology 5
• Data Analysis and Results 50
• Limitations 10
• Conclusions/Recommendations 15