Marketing_Research

Trecian Brown Professor Tustin Unit 8 Project Fancher Golf Center Growing up in Harrisonburg, Virginia, Brian Fancher dreamed of becoming a professional golfer. As a captain of his high school golf team in both his Junior and Senior years, he led his team to many tournament championships. His success did not go unnoticed by college coaches and he was offered scholarships by the University of Texas at Austin, UCLA, Stanford and Pepperdine University. He decided to accept Pepperdine University’s offer, where he went on to be the team’s star in his sophomore year. In his last two seasons, he experienced enough success and started to believe that his dream of becoming a professional golfer can become a reality. After graduation, he pursued his goal by entering the PGA Qualifying Tournament but failed but the following year he tried again and received his PGA tour card. In his first and second season Brian earned a total of $2, 243, 500 before long tragedy struck. While playing the first round of a tournament Brian’s club caught a tree root during his downswing resulting in a serious wrist and shoulder injuries. Surgeons were able to repair the damage but he was informed that his professional career of playing golf was over. He decided to move back home where is mother experienced serious health problems. Brian was disappointed, but still loved golf and wanted to earn his living by being somehow involved in the sports. He decided to use his earnings to create a Golf Center in Harrisonburg. Brian and his associate wanted to assess the validity of his business idea so he contacted the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center which was housed at James Madison University. He met with the marketing research professor and students to produce a list of research problems. The types of error that were likely introduced by the data collection process varied. Team one who focused on the permanent Harrisonburg residents 18-70 years of age decided to use the intercept method; they administered a survey at Valley Mall. Of the 613 shoppers they approached, 227 were within the designated age range, and 143 of these shoppers agreed to complete the survey. Team one experienced a non-coverage error. Churchill (2008) stated that “Non-coverage errors occur because part of the population of interest was not included in the sampling frame” (p. 393). They could have avoided this by going to a mall that was closer. Team two conducted a study of the JMU student’s population. They built a website and obtain the email addresses of 12 campus organizations. They sent the survey to every fourth person on each list with a total of 2,219 messages. They obtained 392 completed questionnaires. Team two experienced a non-response error. Churchill (2008) stated that “non-response errors are possible when some elements designated for inclusion in the sample did not respond and were systematically different from those who did respond on key characteristics” (p. 393). They could have gone to each organization, speak to the students, hand out the surveys and have them complete them. Team three examined the Staunton residents 18-70 years old via telephone surveys. Using the systematic sampling and the Staunton telephone directory as a sampling frame they made 472 calls and obtained 96 completed surveys. Team three experienced a non-coverage error. People did not want to participate because they are 25miles away. To deal with each type of error now that it has occurred they might be able to change their approach. They can make the procedure interesting and as short as possible. Asking the respondents to complete a short task before asking them to complete the longer data collection. References Churchill, Gilbert A. (2008). Basic Marketing Research 7th Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.