Marketing Research 336 Case Study #1 By Elizabeth Kulin

Management Problem As discussed by Professor Jason Jacobson in Marketing Research 336 at Golden Gate University, the initial step in the process of marketing research is to clarify the business/management problem. In this case it is apparent that the business objective is to increase the volume of students who rent Harvard houses, verse private homes, by 40% more among graduate school students. The management problem is how to accomplish this goal. In greater detail, The Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES) team wants to know how their housing development (of new student housing propriety that they are planning the design of) should be designed to most likely appeal to Harvard students, and most likely reach their goal of obtaining their residency. Marketing Research Objective The marketing research objective is a narrowed down scope of the management problem. It is more specific, stems from the management problem, and clarifies the proper next steps of the research process. In this case, the marketing research objectives are to determine which characteristics are most critical in obtaining students to choose residency from Harvard verse private housing. The marketing research topics need to be investigated in greater, more granular detail, to determine how to design the housing, which attributes students care about most, and if designing the housing in such specific ways would better guarantee that students would choose to live in the Harvard student housing over private housing. From the 2001 survey we learned that cost, space, and location were the 3 most important attributes to students. Therefore, the marketing research topics in the 2005 survey must explore: 1. Are costs, space and location still the most important to current students when choosing between student verse private housing. The weight of importance between each variable. 2. Are cost, space, and location desired attributes to prospective students. Which variable is the most desired. 3. Do students (current and prospective) choose a school verse another based on these variables. Are cost, space, and location of housing actual variables that students research and contemplate when deciding between schools. Research Design Since the marketing research objectives and topics of this survey are attempting to learn market characteristics (interest, desires, perceptions, behaviors) of the target audience (students) the research design is descriptive. Also, since the survey will be give and information collected only once (the same exact survey will most likely not be given to the same audience of participants again), it is cross-sectional design. Furthermore, as in 2001, to determine if interests, desires, perceptions an behaviors are true for the entire audience of Harvard prospective and current students or not, a multiple cross-sectional

design that involves sampling each of the 10 different Harvard schools is necessary. The HRES team has many options as to which survey method to use to carry out the research. They can choose between telephone interviewing, personal interviewing, mail interviewing, or electronic interviewing. The first three types of survey methods are more expensive and time consuming. This factor, and the fact that the HRES is accustom to this method since the 2001 survey was conducted via electronic interviewing, electronic interviewing method is the most appropriate for the 2005 survey. Also, this method is able to reach the majority of the target audience since it only requires participants to have a computer (Harvard students are likely to have access to computers), the research team could send the link to the internet survey via email to participants, the participants will be able to do the survey at their convenience with save a continue features, and the results are easily syndicated with excel. Secondary Data Sources To gather an initial general understanding of the management problem, marketing research objective and topics on a large scope, as well as insight into which research method and questions might be best for the HRES team to focus on, the team should perform secondary research. Secondary data sources hold information that has already collected, and there might be information related to this specific case that could be helpful to the team while they are trying to identify the exact problem, formulate a potential hypotheses about the situation, develop an approach to solving their problem, and understanding the audience that will be their study participants. For little cost, a short amount of time and effort, the team could gather such secondary research as: Past research performed on student housing, internal and external data sources. External research performed on competing schools housing. External articles that have focused on student opinions of student housing, and specifically Harvard students. For example: RIKER H, DECOSTER D. The Educational Role in College Student Housing. Journal of College & University Student Housing [serial online]. October 2008;35(2):80-85. Available from: Academic Search Elite, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2010. Bekurs G. Outsourcing Student Housing in American Community Colleges: Problems and Prospects. Community College Journal of Research & Practice [serial online]. August 2007;31(8):621-636. Available from: Academic Search Elite, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2010. ST. ONGE S, ELLETT T, NESTOR E. Factors Affecting Recruitment and Retention of Entry-Level Housing and Residential Life Staff: Perceptions of Chief Housing Officers. Journal of College & University Student Housing [serial online]. October 2008;35(2):10-23. Available from: Academic Search Elite, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2010. Fleming S. The ABCs of Student Housing. National Real Estate Investor [serial online]. October 2009;51(9):38-41. Available from:

Business Source Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 5, 2010. The Boston Globe Allston Brighton Community Blog, Harvard University Gazette and Allston-Brighton Tab Harvard Crimson Harvard University Gazette

Scale Questions The questions within the survey should be relevant, and stem from, the marketing research objective topics. The survey should not include questions about attributes that do not relate or are easily assumed. Additionally, the questions should start general, in effort to get all participants in the same mindset as each other, and then move to more specific and very specific questions that concretely answer the marketing research problem. They should be simple, clear, easy and attractive for participants of the online survey to understand and answer. To answer the marketing research problem, answers to the questions must be measurable and scalable. To achieve this, the questions must be drafted in a way that allows the answers to be such. There are categories of questions that result in measurable and scalable results. They are: Nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The following is an example of the questions flow, and two scale questions within each of the four scale types: General - NOMINAL QUESTIONS *Current students: What Harvard school do you attend, check 1 out of 10? (RATIONAL: groups the participants) Do you live in Harvard housing, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets mind on topic of survey) Are you happy with your residency, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets stage for topics) *Prospective students: What Harvard program are you planning to attend, check 1 out of 10? (RATIONAL: groups the participants) Are you considering living in Harvard housing, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets mind on topic of survey) Have you started to, or plan to, research the rental prices of Harvard housing units, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets stage for topics) Have you started to, or plan to, research the rental sizes of Harvard housing units, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets stage for topics) Have you started to, or plan to, research the rental locations of Harvard housing units, YES or NO? (RATIONAL: sets stage for topics) More Specific ORDINAL QUESTIONS *Current students

Please rank from 1-3 which housing characteristic is most important to you (RATIONAL: addresses topic #1) Rent price _______ Size of the living space__________ Location of your living quarters ____________ *Prospective students Please rank from 1- 3 which housing characteristic you are most interested in learning about (RATIONAL: addresses topic #2) Rent price _______ Size of the living space__________ Location of your living quarters ____________ Very Specific INTERVAL & RATIO *Current students Please indicate how much rental price is important to you while conducting your academic program (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3) Completely not important Sort of important Important Extremely important Please indicate how much size of living space is important to you while conducting your academic program (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3) Completely not important Sort of important Important Extremely important Please indicate how much location of living quarters is important to you while conducting your academic program (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3) Completely not important Sort of important Important Extremely important How much longer (days, months, years) do you plan to continue residency with Harvard housing? (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3) **Prospective students On a scale of 1-7 please rate how much student housing is a part of your decision in which school to attend (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3) How many schools are you applying to that do not offer the housing that you desire? (RATIONAL: addresses topic #3)