Research Proposal.

Marketing Research and Consumer Behavior

My topic is ‘Organic Food’. In the research paper I am an organic food/product company. Like how to increase selling numbers, what to do to be more effective in business etc.

Part 1 – Research Proposal – 100 points

Students must select a business-based consumer topic that interests them personally.  It can be related to your occupation, a hobby, something you read about in the newspaper, a company you do business with or frequent.  You need an issue or some unanswered questions/needs (your topic) that will be answered as a result of your research. Pick a straightforward topic as the more complex the topic, the greater the amount of effort that will be required. You also want to pick a topic for which you will be able to get your target market consumers to participate.  Also, consider that you will be using an online survey method to collect your research.

Your research proposal should be 2 – 3 double-spaced pages.  It must include the following sections:

• Cover Page to include the Title of the Research Proposal, the person or group for which the research is being conducted, your name, etc.
• Introduction section to include: Background, Objectives, Methodology, Scope

o   Background: Explain the context of the issue that will become the essence of your research.  Include a description of the issue or opportunity to which your internal management or a client might need answers, why it is significant to them, and how it might produce decision making information.  This is a good place to include secondary research data to help justify the need for your project.

o   Objectives: In this section you will try to convey the information you are seeking:

• Business: What issue or opportunity needs information to aid in the decision making process? (e.g. increase sales of new products, selecting the most effective ad medium, etc.)?
• Research: What consumer information needs to be collected to help solve the business problem?
• Research Question: What will be the research question to be answered?

o   Methodology: Specific type of research to be conducted (qualitative/exploratory, quantitative, secondary, primary data requirements) with an explanation of the need for each.  Use of secondary research is required and must be included in this section.  Discuss the specific techniques and data collection methods.

o  Scope: Who, when, where, and how many minimum consumers will you plan to engage to collect the necessary data.  Say that you will be using online survey software.  You will need at least 30 sets of data (sample size) for your work but the more you collect the better your results will match a larger population.

• Potential Managerial Benefits: What value will the information be overall to management including any limitations, and how you anticipate it will help in their decision making process.