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Assessing and Recommending Quantitative Research Designs

Last week and this week focused on types of quantitative research designs. For this assignment, you will select the design most appropriate for your research plan and justify your choice. Furthermore, you will be asked to explain why other designs were not appropriate.

To prepare for this Application:

• Review Chapter 5, “Research Designs: Experiments” and Chapter 6, “Research Designs: Cross-Sectional and Quasi-Experimental Designs” in the course text Research Methods in the Social Sciences. What are the strengths and limitations of each of the designs presented in these chapters?
• Consider the quantitative research plan you are developing and your research questions, hypotheses, and variables. What kind of design would you recommend for your plan? What is your rationale for this choice? What is your rationale for NOT selecting another design?

• What threats to validity must you consider and avoid with your design? How might you increase internal and external validity?
  

The assignment:

• Craft a 5- to 7-page paper in which you do the following:
  • Assess the strengths and limitations of each of the research designs presented in Weeks 2 and 3.

  • Recommend a quantitative design for your research plan. Include a rationale for why that design would be most appropriate.

  • For the designs that you did not choose, state why each one is not appropriate for your research questions, hypotheses, and variables.

  • Support your work with references to the literature.
    

Select one (1) of the following categories of products to research: sports apparel, automobiles, home furnishings, or televisions. Use the Internet to research at least two (2) companies within the selected product category. Take note of the leading companies in this product group, as well as the types of marketing, pricing, and consumer-oriented promotional strategies that these leading companies within the product group use. 

Write a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Compare and contrast the promotional strategies used by two (2) different companies for a similar product within the category that you selected.
2. Recommend two (2) ways in which a company within the selected product group could use marketing information to differentiate itself in the marketplace to gain an advantage over its competitors. Provide a rationale to support your recommendations.
3. Propose two (2) uses for consumer-oriented promotions that could assist a company in both the short and long term for the product group that you selected. Provide a rationale for your response.
4. Analyze the strategic manner in which the leading company in this product group has made its pricing decisions by using one or more of the four (4) pricing objectives. Suggest two (2) actions that other companies within the same product group may take in order to differentiate themselves and gain a competitive advantage. Provide a rationale for your response.
5. Determine the most effective advertising medium for a company in the selected product category. Support your response with two (2) examples of the effectiveness of the chosen medium.
6. Use at least five (5) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia does not qualify as an academic resource. 

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Apply the core marketing concepts and marketing orientation to develop viable marketing strategies that fit a variety of market environments, domestic and international.
• Analyze information technology applications and the application of decision support systems to gain a competitive advantage and more effectively control operations.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in contemporary business.
• Write clearly and concisely about contemporary business using proper writing mechanics.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric found here.