ASSIGNMENT BRIEFING NOTES MRKT19038 MARKETING RESEARCH Assignment 2: Marketing research plan Weighting: 50% Due: 9th May 2017, 3pm AEST Length: 2000-2500 words Your task You are a Marketing Officer working for Royal Caribbean International. Your bosses need to know if the products they are offering on their New Zealand ‘Explorer of the Seas’ Cruise experience are meeting the needs and preferences of their guests. Royal Caribbean International want to achieve a five star customer satisfaction rating with the aim of becoming the best cruise line in the South Pacific region. Key aspects of the cruise experience include: • Ports of call • Shore excursions • The ship itself • On-board activities (entertainment, pool, kids’ activities, seminars, spa, bars, dance lounge, etc.) • Dining options (range, food quality, service quality, etc.) • Rooms (cleanliness, quality, noise, bed comfort, bathrooms, etc) • Whether people would recommend the cruise to others or whether they would return themselves You decide to undertake a marketing research project and need to produce a marketing research plan. The plan must contain the following: 1. Introduction: A short introductory background to Royal Caribbean International (300 words max). 
 2. Research objectives: The research objectives of the report. You can come up with your own research objectives. 
 3. Literature review: about guest satisfaction and behavioural intentions in cruising (about 600 words, 4 academic references minimum). 
 4. Sampling plan to survey guests. 
 5. Questionnaire: Design a questionnaire that addresses your research objectives (25 questions maximum). Use your creativity by using different measurement scales such as workhorse scales. You are welcome to use free questionnaire design websites to design your survey. Marks will be allocated for presentation. Questions should address reliability and validity issues. 6. Administration: Explain the administration plan for the survey. 
 7. Ethical considerations: Recommend ethical considerations for the research you will conduct. 
Page 2 of 3 Please note that you do not need to conduct the survey or produce a report. This assessment is the first part of the marketing research report – the marketing research plan. Assessment criteria are listed at the end of these briefing notes. Submission • Submission: All assignments should be submitted online through the MRKT19038 Moodle site. • Plagiarism: All reports will be checked by Turnitin to compare the report to other sources and will provide students and lecturers with a similarity score for the report. Reports with a similarity score index of more than 20% will be checked for plagiarism by the marker (although it may not necessarily mean that the student has plagiarised). • Extensions: Requests for an extension of the deadline for this assignment need to be submitted through the Assignment Extension System (AES). Requests for reasons not mentioned in the CQUniversity Assessment of Coursework Procedures policy and not supported by appropriate evidence will not be considered. For example, if you have been sick for 2 days before the assignment is due, you need to submit your request in the AES by the due date for the assignment and upload a medical certificate dated the day(s) of the sickness. 
 Planning ahead • This assessment requires planning and thought. You should start working on the assessment from Week 3. Literature review • At least four academic references (preferably from a journal associated with marketing, marketing research or consumer behaviour) are required for this assessment • Literary support from Google, Wikipedia, www.NetMBA.com, www.marketingteacher.com, www.tutor2u.com, etc. will be treated very negatively. These are not appropriate sources for your academic assignment and their use is not acceptable. 
Page 3 of 3 Assessment criteria Please copy and paste at the end of your report for marking. Student Name: Student ID Number: Criteria Max. Marks Mark Comments Report structure and presentation 3 Introduction 3 Research objectives 3 Literature review 8 Sampling plan • Population definition, sampling unit, etc. 
 • Sample frame • Sample size calculation • Sampling method • Sample validation 6 Questionnaire design • Address the research objectives • General guidelines followed • Creativity with measurement scales • Overall quality of draft instrument • Addressing of reliability and validity issues 26362 Administration plan for survey 2 Ethical considerations 4 Referencing 2 Total 50