Market Research Specialization on Coursera

Online

Created by UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education and hosted on the Coursera platform, this is a series of online courses consisting of pre-recorded video lectures, auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments and community discussion forums. This specialization program is self-paced and designed to help you master a specific career skill in as little as 4-6 months.

"Finding the Story in the Data” is the most important emerging capability for market researchers according to GRIT (Greenbook Research Industry Trends) Report 2016. This specialization, designed for learners with no previous Marketing Research experience teaches a comprehensive marketing research approach that will help learners find and communicate the story in the data.

Students will learn how to initiate a research project for targeted business needs, conduct research through multiple modes and datasets, analyze research data, manage suppliers performing specialized research and deliver recommendations from the research. By the end of the specialization, learners will create and scope a research proposal, conduct desk research, design and test a focus group guide, interpret focus group results, design and implement a survey in Qualtrics, analyze quantitative data, develop insights by synthesizing findings across research methods, create data visualizations in Excel, and develop a presentation of findings with recommendations to stakeholders.

Section Number

000MKR100

Instruction Method

Online class

Section Notes

Enrollments are accepted on a continuous basis. Complete this specialization at your own pace.

This specialization consists of 4 courses:

Research Proposal: Initiating Research
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Research Report: Delivering Insights

Enrollments are accepted on a continuous basis. For more information on Coursera online courses, including enrollment policies and technical requirements, please visit: https://www.coursera.org/about/terms.

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Fee

Free and low-cost options available

Schedule

Enroll at any time and complete at your own pace.

Instructors

Ashwin Aravindakshan

Ashwin Aravindakshan, Ph.D., has research interests centering on learning how brands can better allocate their advertising resources (e.g., budgets, creatives, etc.) across different regions and/or multiple media over time. In addition to studying such dynamic advertising models, his research also investigates the dynamics of customer behavior and loyalty to help managers devise better communication and targeting policies in order to optimize their marketing mix at the individual level. His research expertise can be classified in marketing problems that deal with advertising allocation and attribution models, direct to consumer marketing, dynamics of customer behavior and loyalty, time series analysis in marketing, dynamic advertising models, and spatiotemporal models His research has been published in multiple journals including Marketing Science, Operations Research, Management Science, Journal of Marketing Research and Marketing Letters, among others. He teaches courses in Marketing Management, Customer Relationship Management, and New Product Development. Aravindakshan received his Ph.D. in business administration with a specialization in marketing from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland in 2007, and a BTech in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in 2001.

Susan Berman

Susan Berman is President of ImpactResearch (founded 1989) and holds a master’s degree in communication research from Stanford University (1985) and B.S. from UC Davis in Human Development (1983). Years of national public relations and marketing experience in the Los Angeles entertainment industry and at the UC Davis Division of Continuing and Professional Education have provided a backdrop for her goals to pursue in market research. "Most successful business ventures should be backed up by targeted market research before establishing plans for advertising and PR." ImpactResearch is a full-service market research firm specializing in in-person interviews, focus groups and quantitative research/clinical studies from project initiation to completion. Direct acquisition of research contracts, often interfacing with the director of marketing, board members, CEO’s, presidents, top executives, physicians, customers, and patients. Hire and train staff, recruit and conduct interviews/focus groups. Honesty, integrity, and meeting or exceeding research requests are of utmost importance. IR conducts both qualitative and quantitative research studies on a variety of topics including; health care image and satisfaction studies, pharmaceutical product development, clinical trials, new technologies, on-line services, product/brand marketing, and social science oriented research. Projects have been conducted in music, film, television, food, health care, pharmaceutical, medical device educational, and governmental industries. Research Capabilities • Identify and clarify the problem/project with client, • Determine appropriate sample, the optimum sample size, • Determine correct data collection procedures - survey, focus groups or interview; • Develop questionnaire instruments, focus group moderator guides, • Specialized recruiting for in-person interviews and focus groups, • Lead focus groups and conduct individual interviews, • Provide summaries and interpretation in professionally prepared written reports • Design and coordinate clinical trials with physicians, product managers, hospital teams • Competitive intelligence • Provide strategic marketing plans and public relations/advertising suggestions. Berman takes pride in personally leading focus groups and conducting individual interviews. With her approachable style and warm personality, respondents are usually open, honest and self revealing. Berman is exceptionally well versed in, and sensitive to the cultural differences so important in the world today helping Interviewees feel positive about taking part in the interview or focus group.

Robin Boyar

Robin Boyar is the founder of thinktank research & strategy, a San Francisco Bay Area consultancy specializing in the digital consumer. Key areas of focus include media, technology, video gaming, healthcare, IoT, and kids. Typical projects include strategic analysis, focus groups, surveys, usability, innovation workshops, playability testing, and ethnographic research. Selected clients include Activision/Blizzard, Amazon, August Lock, DeNA, Disney, Docusign, EA, ESPN, Facebook, Glu, Groupon, Hasbro, Hitachi, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, Kapor Foundation, King, Juniper Networks, LG, Logitech, Microsoft, Nest Labs, Nickelodeon, Nokia, Oracle, Samsung, Sony, Supercell, Tencent, Wargaming, Warner Bros., and Zynga. Before founding thinktank, Robin led research efforts for Electronic Arts (EA), which at the time was the world’s largest videogame publisher. In her six years at EA, she created the company’s first centralized research department, initiated new research methodologies, and managed a team of internal and external researchers. Robin also led research efforts at Pogo.com, a casual games company and was Manager of Consumer Insights at InsWeb.com, an online insurance marketplace. A veteran of four technology startups, she has extensive experience as a researcher, designer, and consultant. She began her career working for such organizations as McGraw-Hill, PBS, and the State of California, studying the impact of technology on children’s learning and play. Robin holds an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, where she majored in History of Art with a focus on art and technology. In her leisure time, she enjoys the visual arts, skiing, and driving her vintage Alfa Romeo convertible.

Jim Fong

Jim Fong has been active designing and implementing market research work in a variety of industries. During this time, he has adapted to the changing demands of the profession, as well as with business and industry needs. In the early part of his career, Jim worked for a number of survey research and polling firms primarily using telephone surveys as the primary data collection tool for almost 30 years. Over time, the profession and tools changed and he found himself early adopting to Internet research and the use of competitive intelligence, technology and big data analysis tools. During Jim's three decade market research evolution, he found himself working in a number of industry sectors, including healthcare, telecommunications, municipalities, retail products and most recently, the education sector. Jim is currently the Director of Research for the University Professional and Continuing Education Association, a nonprofit organization serving 400+ colleges and universities. He has produced a number of national studies and has published research articles on the evolution of marketing and data-driven environments in higher education. Jim holds a B.S. in Mathematics, M.S. in Statistics and an M.B.A. from the University of Vermont.

Olivier Rubel

Olivier Rubel, Ph.D., serves on the faculty of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California Davis. As an award-winning teaching, Professor Rubel’s teaching experience includes marketing classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, e.g., marketing strategy, multi-channel marketing and marketing research. In both teaching and research, Professor Rubel’s interests focus on data driven marketing decisions and in particular on measuring marketing actions’ ROIs and improving strategic allocation of marketing resources.