Do Academics and Practitioners agree on What and How to Teach the Undergraduate Marketing Research Course?

Abstract

A survey was undertaken with executives from marketing research firms and marketing faculty who teach the undergraduate research course. Each group was asked comparable questions about desired course delivery methods, course content, and statistical coverage. Several significant gaps were found between the two groups but none larger than the perception of which statistical methods should be taught in the undergraduate research class. It is clear that both groups could benefit from learning more about each other's preferences and reasoning.Thegoalofundergraduatemarketingresearchcoursesisto provide needed skills, thinking, and processes to students who desire to work either within the research field or as managers and users of research information. Either way, students need to understand the nature of the industry and the strategies and methods that are available to conduct a study. Even students who have no desire to become marketing research practitioners will need to understand the intricacies of research in order to understand research specialists, to evaluate their work, and to use the information in decision making.To teach students to perform well in the business world, it behooves professors to design their classes in a way that provides students with the tools and approaches they need. How can we be sure, though, that what we are teaching in the undergraduate marketing research class-or any class for that matter-is what is needed at the other end of the channel? That is the essence of what this study intends to address.

The Curriculum-Faculty-Reinforcement Alignment and Its Effect on Learning Retention of Core Marketing Concepts of Marketing Capstone Students

“…Studies have examined alignment relative to: (1) business leader and academician perceptions of the marketing environment (Aistrich, Saghafi, and Sciglimpaglia 2006;David, David, and David 2011;Pla¬ ias* et al 2011); (2) what educators attempt to teach and what students actually retain or want to learn (Floyd and Gordon 1998;Jackson 2012;Lewis and Ducharme 1990); and (3) misalignments between practitioners and marketing faculty viewpoints on curricula content (Gray et al 2007;Lundstrom and White 1997;Stern and Tseng 2002). Although these studies have provided valuable insights into how to improve the alignment between what educators teach and what various constituents desire, what has received less attention is a more fundamental alignment between the marketing curriculum that guides and supports knowledge building, and faculty beliefs about what marketing concepts are important for students to know along with their frequency of reinforcement across core marketing courses.…”

“…What they often encounter instead are students in senior-level courses that are open to receiving new knowledge without bringing sufficient know-how from prerequisite courses to the learning environment. Increased scrutiny of this matter has resulted in many business schools looking at how to ensure that students graduate with a sufficient body of knowledge (Aistrich, Saghafi, and Sciglimpaglia 2006;Chonko 2004;Nicholson, Barnett, and Dascher 2005;Pharr and Morris 1997;Stern and Tseng 2002;Wellman 2010).…”

Using the Jazz Metaphor to Enhance Student Learning and Skill Development in the Marketing Research Course

“…Either way, students need to understand the nature of the industry and the strategies and methods that are available to conduct a study, as well as the intricacies of research, criteria for research evaluation, and the use of information in decisionmaking (Stern and Tseng, 2002). However, as Pelton and True (2004), Lincoln (2008) and others note if we are to effectively educate this generation of students we must adopt teaching tools to their needs and expectations…”

“O2O+TDT”Model: Design of Integrated Teaching System for Teaching and Practical Training in Market Research Course Based on Informatization

“…However, the corresponding application of advanced teaching technology and curriculum assessment and evaluation have not been analyzed. With reference to Jie Tang et al's research, this article uses a new Internet-based teaching technology, classroom design method, and experimental operation software to explore the integrated curriculum design of teaching and training in Market Research course [3] [4]. In addition, this paper sheds light on the transformation of learning outcome.…”