Marketing Research: Mid Term Examination (Closed Book) Batch: 2011-13 Duration: 2 hrs Answer all the questions.

Q.1 A prominent health foods beverage company,say A, routinely advertises that consumers (children) of its product grow 10 cm more in 12 months than consumers (children) of the other major competing health foods beverage brand, say, B. You are asked to design the appropriate experimental research methodology to credibly test the truth of the claim of Company, A. 10 Marks Equally matching samples of male and female children of the same age bracket from similar families, and similar physical growth orientations to be selected first.(Say, 90 children:males 45, females 45 all 9 years of age) Three equally matching groups have to be RANDOMLY segregated into two EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS(One gets Brand A, the other Brand B), and one CONTROL GROUP(follows the normal diet;No Brand A or B or any other health drinks) Groups tested Experimental Variable Measurement Before(Height in Cm) MB1 at the start of the treatment Measurement After (Height in cm) MA1 at the end of the treatment after 12 months MA2 at the end of the treatment after 12 months MA3 at the end of the treatment after 12 months PGP-I Total Marks: 100 Weightage:25% Date: 23 Feb 10

Exp. Group 1 Random Brand A 15 males, 15 females Exp. Group 2 Random Brand B 15 males, 15 females Control Group 1 Random 15 males, 15 females No health drinks

MB2 at the start of the treatment

MB3 at the start of the treatment

If the mean of (MA1-MB1) is more than the mean of (MA2-MB2) by 10 cm or more, one can establish that Brand B results in incremental increase of 10 cm among equally matching samples. The difference in observations between Exp. Group 1 and Control Group 1 can also be found out to ascertain the respective claims. So are the differences concluded upon between Exp. Group2 and Control Group.

Q.2 Below given are the details of three Tourist Families who visited (1) or not visited (2) the resort. A Discriminant equation has been computed on the basis of data of 15 families who visited the resort (1), and 15 other families who did not visit the resort(2).The value of the Constant is -7.975. Variable Unstandardised Canonical Discriminant Function Coefficients 0.08476 0.0496 0.120 0.427 0.0245

Income Travel Orientation Vacation-Attitude Household Size Age of the Head of Household

Variable Income Travel Orientation Vacation-Attitude Household Size Age of the Head of Household

Tourist Family 1 60 5.4 5.8 4.3 53

Tourist Family2 40 4 5 3 60

Tourist Family3 50 3 6 5 50

Q.2a. Calculate the Discriminant Score of each family. Family1

5 Marks

-7.975+ (60x0.08476)+(5.4x0.0496)+(5.1x0.12)+(4.3x0.427)+(53x0.0245)= 1.20904 Family2 -7.975+ (40x0.08476)+(4x0.0496)+(5x0.12)+(3x0.427)+(60x0.0245)= -1.0352 Family3

-7.975+ (50x0.08476)+(3x0.0496)+(6x0.12)+(5x0.427)+(50x0.0245)= 0.4918

D Score Family 1=1.209; Family 2= -1.0352; Family 3= 0.4918 Q.2b. State whether each of the Tourist Families visited the Resort(1) or not (2) 5 Marks Family 1 & 3 Visited the Resort (Their D Scores are positive, more than 0); and Family 2 did not visit the resort (Its score is less than 0, lower than the mean of the Group Centroid)

Q.3 Interpret the results of a Factor Analysis done on the following questions to find out the underlying dimensions related to attitudes towards job anxiety. Table I KMO and Bartletts Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olikin Measure of Sampling Adequacy Bartletts Test of Sphericity Chi Square Degrees of Freedom Sig. .760

1552.631 15 .000

Rotated Component Matrix Attributes I get heart palpitations when my boss calls me Work life also fills over to personal life I do not feel like meeting people after I go from my office A sitting job leads to digestive problems I always like to stay back after working hours in the Component 1 .971 .050 .085 Component 2 .088 .974 .920

.975 -.083

.095 -.971

office When I retire, I might not be physically fit to enjoy my retired life .977 .040

Q.3a. Interpret the Rotated solutions, and name the Factors Factor 1 loads strongly with three variables of Physiological Anxiety Factor 2 is comprised of family/ social time Anxiety variables

5 Marks

Q.3b. Calculate the communalities of each variable, and interpret the information content retention, and find out the anomalous variables, if any. 5 Marks (.971)^2 +(0.088)^2 =0.95 (.050)^2 +(.974)^2=0.95 and son . All the variables have communalities of above .90, which means that the information contents in the variables are almost fully captured in the two Factors. Q.3c. If you could work out the Factor Scores with respect to all the 30 individual respondents, what are the uses you can use the Factor Scores for? 5 Marks Factor Scores can help in precisely determining the two Clusters/ Segments of the respondents. They can also help in precisely working out the Discriminant Scores and equations that that will discriminate the two Discriminant Groups (Physical Anxiety Groups, and Social/ Family Anxiety Groups). The Factor Scores also will be useful for further analyes in Multiple Regression where one can have non-multicollinear independent variables. Q.4. A branded restaurant chain wanted to segment its 200 customers in its restaurant in Mangalore on 8 attributes. The Likert scale questionnaire had 9 response categories: 9= very important, and 1 = very unimportant. The K- Means Cluster Output is as shown below: Attribute Ambience Taste Cluster1(n=62) 8.6 8.6 Cluster2 (n=55) 4.5 8.1 Cluster3(n=83) 7.8 8.5

Hygiene Preparation Time Other Diners Variety in Menu Location Bill Amount

8.2 3.8 8.5 4.4 5.5 3.2

5.6 7.7 4.5 6.7 8.7 8.1

6.8 8.8 7.8 8.8 8.7 5.5

Q.4a. Name the Segments/ Clusters Cluster 1 is HYPE/ Image segment Cluster 2 is the Value for Money segment Cluster 3 is the Convenience segment

5 Marks

Q.4b. As an advisor to the Restaurant chain, what would be your suggestions to better cater to the wants and aspirations of the three customer groups? 10 Marks As Cluster1 stresses the image and ambience and the well-heeled clientele of restaurant, page3-oriented communication, or hep- lifestyle-oriented communication would be appropriate. As for Cluster2, functional value orientation is the key. Tasty food, with reasonable price, in a convenient location, with variety, and low wastage of time waiting for the food. Cluster3 considers this as a tasty one with great variety in menu, convenient location, and quick service. Ideal for office goers, who also get a suitable ambience. Q.5 You are the Brand Manager of Pen Indias nationally marketed brand of ball pens. T he brand has been losing sales volume consistently for the last three months. You ask the Marketing Research Department to do a study to determine the reasons for the decline. Q.5a Is this an Exploratiory, Descriptive, or Experimental study? 5 marks

As you are not clear about the reasons for the decline in sales, you have to start with an EXPLORATORY study to pinpoint on the facts/ causes. Secondary sources can be looked at to find out if slip ups are due to specific retailers, dealers, sales officers, or competitive activity (promotions/ new schemes/ margins), or poor quality of production. On seeing the pattern,

the identified groups can be further probed through disguised, and nondisguised interviews, and focus group discussions to arrive at the major causes. These causes can be further validated through a probabilistically sampled larger segment of the target population through a Descriptive study. Q.5b What are the Management Problem/s? 5 Marks

Management Problems: 1. Declining sales for the last 3 months;2. They dont know the reasons; Management Objectives: 1. To arrest the sales decline;2. To find out the reasons for the loss of sales by getting market survey done through the Market Research Department Q.5c What are the Research Objectives? 5 Marks

Research Objective: To find out the reasons for the loss of sales of Pen Indias ball pens in the representative areas of decline in India Q.5d How will the study be designed to meet these objectives? 5 Marks

1. Exploratory study of the secondary sources to understand the locations of sales decline. 2. Exploratory study through qualitative survey to get insights on the reasons for the sales loss. InDepth Interviews with a few respective local, regional, and national sales professionals of Pen India will be undertaken. So will be the interviews and FGDs with the dealers, and respective retailers. To complement the findings, responses from a few representative customers also will be collected. On the basis of the findings of the qualitative survey of the sales officials, dealers, retailers, and customers, a systematic random sampling(descriptive study) will be done in the respective locations in all the four groups to validate the insights of the qualitative research with the help of a structured non-disguised questionnaire. (The time frame of the survey will be very short, say, two weeks so that reasons are found out quickly and validated equally quickly) The study will be taken up simultaneously in all the sampled locations. Q.6 NCAER wants to interview final year management students in the city of Mumbai to determine their attitude towards self-employment. Assuming there are 10,000 students in the final year, spread over 30 Business Schools across the city, how would you arrive at a suitable sample size for the study? What method of sampling would you use, and why? 20 Marks

One key assumption is that there are three tiers of B Schools in terms of quality of students: Tier1(top quality),Tier2(medium quality), and Tier3 (low quality) (Stratified Random Sampling has to be adopted; or multi stage sampling with Stratified Random Sampling) Another assumption is that variability/ standard deviation of the the students intent to go for self-employment will be different in the three strata, say 1.2 in Tier1, 0.9 in Tier2, and 0.7 in Tier3 One more assumption is on the proportion of the strata:30% belong to Tier1, 30% belong to Tier2, and 40% to Tier3. Thus the ideal sampling will be Disproportionate Stratified Random Sampling, where more sample size would be from the stratum with the highest standard deviation, say, Tier1, and so on. If proportionate Stratified Random Sampling is adopted more sample size would be from Tier3.
2 2 The formula for Disproportinate Stratified Random Sample size is (Z/e) (WiSi )

The computed sample size would be as below: Z= 1.98; e = 0.03; w1=0.30;w2=0.30;w3=0.40 Sample Size =1272; Tier1=503; Tier2= 378; Tier3 =392 The formula for Proportionate Startified Random Sample is : And the estimated sample size is 1338;

(Z/e)2WiSi2

Tier1=402; Tier2= 402; Tier3 =535

Q.7 Below are four questions that might be found on questionnaires. Comment on each as to whether or not it is a good question. If it is not, explain why. (Assume that no screening questions are required. Judge each question on its own merits) 10 Marks Q.7a. Are you in favour of keeping out commercial breaks from TV programmes? It is not a good question, as it has not stated its implied assumption of the additional costs of broadcasting the programmes which could add significant costs to the viewer.

The question can be reworded: Are you in favour of keeping out commercial breaks from TV programmes, if as viewers, you will have to spend an additional amount of Rs 500 per month? Y / N Q.7b. Do you read Business World regularly? This is not a good question, either.Regularly is an undefined word which could mean different things to your respondents. It could be redone as a structured question: Please indicate the number of times you read Business World in the last two months: Number of times reading Once every week,ie 8 times in 2 months Once every two weeks, ie, 4 times in 2 months Thrice a month Less than thrice a month Yes or No (Indicate Y or N)

Q.7c. How much discretionary buying power do you have each year? It is a question with a phrase (discretionary buying power) which could confuse the respondent. It ought to be reworded. What is the amount of pocket money you got from your parents for sundry or petty expenses: Amount (Rs) In the last month In the last 6 months In the last 12 months

Q.7d. Where do you do most of your shopping?

Where could be confusing (specific town, type of shops, etc.) Shopping is not a uniform activity either. Different practices are for different types of shopping. Therefore, depending on the precise information requirement of your questionnaire, the question could be rephrased: In the last month in your city, which are the types of retail outlets you visited for purchasing different items? Out of these retail outlets, which are the items you purchased or wanted to purchase? Types of Retail Outlets in your city Tick Mark the one/s you visited last month Tick Mark the items you purchased or wanted to purchase Electronic items Clothes Toys . Supermarket Grocery (rice, sugar,) Soaps, detergents.. Mini Supermarket Retail shop nearby Common Market Others (specify) . . .. .

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