Course:FRE518

Survey Design and Data Analysis
FRE 518
Section:
Instructor:	Tim Silk
Email:	tim.silk@sauder.ubc.ca
Office:	Henry Angus 569
Office Hours:	TBA
Class Schedule:	Jan 8- Feb 16 Mon&Wed 12:30-14:00
Classroom:	MCML 154
Important Course Pages
	Syllabus
	Lecture Notes
	Assignments
	Course Discussion

COURSE INFORMATION

Dr. Tim Silk

Email: tim.silk@sauder.ubc.ca

Phone: 604‐822‐8362

Office: Henry Angus 569

Office Hours: TBA

Lecture & Discussion: Mon/Wed 12:30‐2:00 January 8th – February 16th, 2024

Classroom: MCML 154

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Focus groups and surveys are the two most common data collection methods used in industry. This course will teach students industry best-practices for conducting applied market research using focus groups and surveys.  The course will give students hands-on experience with focus group and survey research so that they leave the course with the ability to design, implement and analyze data collected via focus groups and surveys. Topics include the market research process, defining research objectives, focus group design and implementation, survey design and implementation, sample selection, data analysis, and presenting research findings. Classes will be discussion-based, interactive, and will present real-world examples of how the various research methods are used in industry. This course will be of interest to anyone who wants the ability to collect original data and insights using focus groups and surveys.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After this course, students will be able to:

• Write a well‐defined research question that acts as a guide in the market research process.
• Identify and apply the appropriate data collection technique to address the research question.
• Design and implement effective focus groups that identify new insights about the problem domain.
• Design and implement effective surveys that provide confirmatory data about the problem domain.
• Analyze focus group and survey data using a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques including narrative theme coding, descriptive analysis, crosstab analysis, t‐tests, chi‐square analysis, and cluster analysis.
• Present research findings in a captivating manner that clearly articulates key findings and insights.

ASSESSMENT REPORT

Students will form teams to complete a 4-part research project on a topic that interests them.  They will conduct a series of exploratory interviews, code the interviews to identify themes, develop a survey to measure attitudes and behaviors, and analyze the survey results to develop specific and actionable recommendations.   You can choose any real-world problem that interests you.Examples of past projects include: Attitudes toward sustainable packaging, how to increase adoption of organic foods, attitudes toward public transit, how to overcome food insecurity, attitudes toward the ban of plastic bags, hot to increase the adoption of vegetarian meat, barriers to buying local, attitudes toward lab-produced meat.  

BIG QUESTIONS & REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS IN CLIMATE, FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT COVERED IN THE COURSE

How to identify and uncover real-world insights that any organization is struggling to understand.  For example, how can we overcome barriers in getting people to reduce their carbon footprint?  What are people’s attitudes about our ability to positively impact climate change? This course will arm students with the methodological skill set to explore a problem domain, identify key themes, develop a survey to measure attitudes, and analyze the data to produce actionable recommendations.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Activity	Percent of Grade
Class Participation (Individual)	10%
Project Part 1: Exploratory Interview Script (teams). Due 8pm Jan 22nd	15%
Project Part 2: Qualitative Coding Results (teams). Due 8pm Jan 29th	15%
Project Part 3: Survey Design (teams). Due 8pm Feb 5th	20%
Project Part 4: Final Presentation of Findings (teams). In class.	20%
Cluster Analysis Exercise (Individual). Due 5pm Feb 17th	20%
Total	100%