Crafting a Winning Research Proposal for Energy Drink Brands
School
UCSI**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
COMPUTER BER1023
Subject
Communications
Date
Dec 12, 2024
Pages
4
Uploaded by JudgeHareMaster1106
1 Assessment 1: Individual Research Proposal Due Date: Sunday, 11 August, 2022 –23.59 (NZ Time) Worth: 35% of the course totalFormat: Use size 11 font. Include a title page and number the sections and subsections. Please submit in a Word Document for the proposal. Evaluation of Written Communication Skills (10%) Note: In this course Assessment 1, the research proposal is also used to evaluate your written communication (WCOM) skills for AACSB accreditation purposes. Written Communication skills accounts for 10% of the overall assessment 1 total. See the Marking Guide for how you are evaluated on written communication. Guidelines for A1 ContentFor this assessment you will hypothetically take the role of a research associate working for a market research company. To secure contracts for the company you need to write a formal research proposal that will clarify a client’s research problem, form specific research question(s), design and justify an experiment to answer the specific research question, explain and justify the method and procedures, outline the costs (budget) and provide a timeframe for the research project. We discuss this in lectures as stages of the research process (see Exhibit 1.3, page 30, Zikmund et al. text 4thedition OR Figure 1.6 Page 28 in the Babin et al. 5thedition). The proposed research will not need secondary or qualitative research. Proposal Sections The proposal has six (6) main sections; some sections will have sub-sections. 1. Background and Marketing Managerial Problem The hypothetical client for the research proposal is any company that produces energy drinks and distributes their brand mostly in supermarkets throughout New Zealand. You may choose any brand in the energy drink category. Your task is to invent a marketing managerial problem with the energy drink brand; one that will require an experiment conducted in your company’s Virtual Reality (VR) Test Store to solve the invented problem. The VR Test Store is a market research tool used to provide information on consumers’ behaviour in a simulated shopping environment. While the VR Test Store simulates a supermarket shopping experience in the virtual world it is not a real on-line store. Instead, it provides a virtual experience where a test subject uses a virtual supermarket trolley to select products and checkout while wearing head goggles in an empty room. There will be a lecture that informs you more about the capabilities and
2 procedures in a VR Test Store. An example of a research marketing management problem an energy drink brand manager might face is that their competitor has colourful, new eye-catching packaging and since its introduction to the market your client’s energy drink sales have declined. Other potential challenges in a FMCG market (and suitable for testing in a VR store) might relate to shelf positioning, labelling, price, size, colour, or outdated branding. Amount of content –2 paragraphs In this section briefly describe the company and energy drink brand you have chosen in one paragraph subtitled ‘Background’If you use material from a company’s website make sure you paraphrase and reference, or if it is a direct quote then it should have “……” quotation marks and correct referencing format. NOT referencing this material means you risk breaching academic integrity. Here you might want to include an image of the energy drink brand (with a reference of the source) or display the energy drink’s brand image on the front cover of the proposal. A second paragraph describes the marketing managerial problem. 2. Research Question(s)Once you have invented the marketing managerial problem the company/brand managers are experiencing write specific research question(s). Examples of appropriate research questions and how to turn a marketing management research problem into a specific research question are provided in lectures/workshops and the Zikmund et al. textbook (Chapter 2, pages 40-53, especially useful is Table 2.2 on page 50). For the Babin et al. 5thedition see Chapter 2 pages 37-55. The figure 2.6 on page 50 is helpful. Amount of content - sentences You might have only one, or two research questions but each question is no more than a sentence. 3. Research Design and Methods Since you are using the VR Test store you will need to briefly explain the test store to client. The type of research design you will use is casual (see page 25 Chapter 1, Zikmund et al. OR page 23 in the Babin et al. 5thedition textbook). More specifically you are undertaking an experiment and the term for the people in your sample is subjects. Keep your design simple and use only two variables. One variable is independent, and you will have one dependent variable. The material you need here will be covered in lectures and in the Zikmund et al. textbook OR Babin et al Chapters 1, 7 & 10. Make sure you explain and justify your design choices in this section. The research design and method section should: •justify why the casual research is the most appropriate method, •identify the dependent and independent variables,
3 •explain the VR store, •outline the procedure in the VR store, •explain the experimental conditions and treatments (how you will conduct the experiment), •explain the control group, •the sample composition, size, and frame •explain how the sample is recruited and compensated, •explain how you will maximize external and internal validity, •discuss how you will consider the ethical code of conduct as set out by the research association of New Zealand Amount of Content 2-3 pages depending on how concisely it is written. 4. Research Outputs/Report Briefly inform the client how you will present the final results report should they accept your proposal. Will it be a written report or a power-point presentation? Will it present the results in charts or graphs? Amount of Content - one or two sentences 5. Budget Research proposals provide the client with an itemised research budget so that they can decide whether to accept or reject your proposal. Budgets are usually presented in a table. The format provided here is only one example of several ways you can table the budget. You can decide an appropriate format and delete or add rows as required. Add further items inclusive of your mark-up and delete the example in the rows if you use the table below. •The budget is $80,000 + GST(inclusive of x mark-up). For this assessment you decide the mark-up and reveal the amount as a footnote. (In a business context a mark-up is company specific and not usually revealed to the client). Research BudgetSub-TotalTotalSubject compensation (n =200)10,000.00
4 $ + GSTNote: The budget is inclusive of a x% mark-up. 6. Time Frame Provide a timetable for the period of the research so that the client knows when to accept the proposal and sign a more formal contract, when you will be actioning the various parts of the research, and when they can expectthe final results report. Alter the rows and columns as required, or redesign the table as appropriate. September October November December Proposal Acceptance Report Writing Report Presentation The proposal ends after the timeframe. It is usually accompanied with a persuasive covering letter (as you are trying to win business) but for this assessment it is NOT required. Assessment 1: Marking Guide The marking guide will be provided on Stream.