Aims: To provide an introduction to some advanced techniques of quantitative data analysis which have a direct application to marketing and management research.
To develop an understanding of such techniques, enabling students to appraise the quality of research findings as presented, for instance, by a marketing research agency.
To provide practice in solving marketing and managerial problems.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will have the knowledge and confidence to manage and/or undertake large scale quantitative analyses utilising a range of multivariate statistical techniques.
Skills:
Practical knowledge of the application of a range of multivariate techniques will be taught and assessed. Prior basic-level statistical skills and use of SPSS are assumed.
Content:
Managers typically find themselves in the position of information overload. It is no longer a case of needing to undertake a market research survey, more a case of how to analyse the data at hand. In view of the widespread availability of statistical packages and computers, we address two questions: 1. How to decide which statistical procedures are suitable for which purposes and, 2. How to interpret the subsequent results. We are not primarily concerned with the complex formulae that underlie the statistical methods, those calculations are left up to the computer. The applications will be based on specifically generated data sets and include the use of cluster analysis for purposes of market segmentation, principal components analysis for purposes of positioning etc.
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