Although the pervasive assumption in microeconomics is that firms know their markets’ demand functions, understanding how firms actually acquire this information requires studying the well-established techniques embodied in the field of marketing research. The features of consumer demand that are studied include preferences among existing products, new product development, competitive analysis, and customer satisfaction. We progress through research design, data collection methods, sampling issues, and data analysis using basic and advanced statistical techniques. Through studying these components of marketing research, as well as collecting and analyzing data of their own, students apply their training in econometrics to the task of understanding consumers’ needs.
This course also has a CBLR (community-based learning and research) component.
Prerequisites:
ECON251 – Intermediate Microeconomics
ECON253 – Econometrics