Marketing researchers must become highly skilled at designing appropriate methods of data collection, especially when it comes to designing a data collection methodology, and developing survey questions used in the construction of a data collection form.

Scenario:

You are the new director of marketing for your chosen company. You have previously identified a marketing related problem or opportunity to study using marketing research principles. You have already identified a viable marketing related problem or opportunity to study, and you created research questions and objectives. You conducted research and developed a literature review to inform your strategic decision-making on the type of research design that would be most appropriate for your marketing research study. After an extensive evaluation, the C-level executives made the decision to proceed with the research. Now its time for you to design the sampling and measurement plan. In addition, you will create a prototype of the survey instrument that will be used to collect primary data for your marketing research study. Use the following criteria to explore your chosen award-winning organization to continue preparing a marketing research design:

Assessment Requirements: Outline the Definition of the Target Population and Sample Size, and Sample Design and Data Collection Method sections of your marketing research proposal (refer to pages 161-162 in your textbook).

Choose your Company: Choose an award-winning company from the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program website to study. You will evaluate the Award Application Summary as a business case for your chosen company.

Role of Sampling: Examine the role of sampling in the research process in a marketing research study.
In an introductory paragraph, provide three (3) examples of how sampling adds value in a marketing research study (refer to pages 144-150 in your textbook).

Sampling Design Outline: Construct a sampling design for a marketing research study (refer to pages 161-162 in your textbook).
Identify and explain the target population, and sampling units for your marketing research study (refer to pages 144-146 in your textbook).
Identify the sampling frames needed for your marketing research study. Provide reasoning (refer to pages 146 in your textbook).
Use research (including your textbook or other peer-reviewed resources from the Purdue Global Library) to substantiate your sampling design outline decisions.

Sample Design Size: Analyze the factors that determine the sample size for qualitative and quantitative data collection methods in a marketing research study.
Explain why your marketing research study will employ a probability or nonprobability sampling design (refer to pages 148-152 in your textbook).
Explain the sample size of your marketing research study will require (refer to pages 157-162 in your textbook).
Use research (including your textbook or other peer-reviewed resources from the Purdue Global Library) to substantiate your sampling design size decisions.

Value of Measurement: Analyze the value of measurement in data collection instruments.
Explain the value of measurement in a marketing research study (refer to pages 168-169 in your textbook).
Explain the value of construct in a data collection instrument (refer to pages 169-173 in your textbook).
Choose two measurement scales, and explain how they will be used in your data collection instrument (refer to pages 173-194 in your textbook).

Data Collection Plan: Design a data collection plan for a questionnaire. Outline the data collection plan using headings and subheadings to present a valid and reliable questionnaire (refer to pages 202-203 in your textbook).
Explain why applying the steps in the questionnaire design are important to apply in your data collection plan (refer to Chapter 8 in your textbook).
Complete step 1 in the questionnaire design process. Explain how and why your research objectives and information requirements are confirmed (refer to page 204 in your textbook).
Complete step 2. Select an appropriate data collection method, and provide reasoning for your decision (refer to pages 204-205 in your textbook).

Questionnaire Instrument: Design a data collection instrument using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative techniques for a marketing research study.
Using the knowledge in step 3 of the questionnaire design process, create four (4) unstructured questions for your survey questionnaire (refer to pages 205-219 in your textbook).
Using the knowledge in step 3 of the questionnaire design process, create four (4) structured questions for your survey questionnaire (refer to pages 205-219 in your textbook).
Format the layout, and explain the flow of your questionnaire.

Cover Letter: Develop a cover letter for inclusion in the introductory section of data collection instruments.
The cover letter follows the ten (10) guidelines for developing a cover letter and questionnaire introductory section (refer to page 220 in your textbook).