Answers for SPSS Assignments

I just wanted to let you know that all of the correct answers for the SPSS assignments you were asked to do either in class or outside of class, have been posted to the bottom of the SPSS Help page (you can find a link to this page under Course Links).

Data Analysis Assignment Due Thursday, April 7th

You have a two-part assignment, the New Freshman Study Data Analysis Assignment, due no later than the beginning of class on Thursday, April 7th.  You may work on this assignment alone or with one other person.  The first part of the assignment will require you to choose the appropriate analytical technique and the second portion will require you to run SPSS analyses (we will go over new analysis techniques that you will need for this assignment in class tomorrow) and answer questions about your output.  You will need two files to help you complete this assignment: the New Freshman Admissions Survey (Adobe PDF) and the New Freshman Student Data (SPSS data file). 

Downloading SPSS Data Files from the Course Blog

You cannot download SPSS data files posted to the course blog from Internet Explorer.  You can, however, download SPSS data files from Firefox (I have not tried it in other browsers such as Chrome or Safari).  To download SPSS data files from Firefox:

1. Right click on the link for the SPSS data file.
2. Choose Save Link As
3. When the dialog box opens if you see the File Type as HTML, make sure you change it to All Files AND be sure to save it to your H drive or some other place where you will know where it has been downloaded.

Entry Level Jobs That Pay

Guess what job field rated number one in 2010 according to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers?  Marketing Research!  I promise that I did not make this up just because you're in my reserach class this semester.  You can see this for yourself in the article Entry-Level Jobs That Pay (http://education.yahoo.net/articles/entry-level_high_pay.htm?kid=1FQPU). 

Next Exam & Questionnaire Assignment

The date for the next exam will be on Tuesday, March 29th (the date originally scheduled on the syllabus). Two-thirds of the students who voted in the poll taken during Thursday's class selected this option and, as I stated, the only way I would change the date would be if a majority of you wanted to do so.  Also, please remember that the deadline for the second deliverable has been extended to March 31st.  This second deliverable is to be submitted to me via email as a Word Document no later than the beginning of class on the 31st.  Late submissions will be penalized.

There is an assignment due for class on Tuesday.  The assignment (http://astanton.asp.radford.edu/mktg446/questionnaire_evaluation_assignment.doc) provides the questions to be answered.  You should use the posted survey (see http://astanton.asp.radford.edu/mktg446/survey_questionnaire_review.pdf) for the assignment.  You may work on this assignment alone or with one other person (if you work with a partner, you only need to turn in one assignment).  This assignment is to be turned in at the beginning of class on Tuesday, March 22nd (no electronic submissions will be accepted).  We will also discuss this assignment during class on Tuesday.

Quiz for Chapter 8

There will be a quiz for Chapter 8 at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 10th.

Superbowl Ad Assignment

Marketers spent between $2.8 and $3 million per 30 second spot on last night's superbowl (think about it -- that is about $100,000 per second of air time).  As with every year, there were commercials that were universally seen as hits (the Doritos Pug and VW Darth Vader ads) while others did not seem to hit the mark (Joan Rivers as the new Go Daddy girl, Kim Kardashian for Sketchers).  Some commercials created controversy (remember the Homeaway ad with the baby being squashed against the glass or the Groupon Tibet-themed ad) and others received critical acclaim (Eminem's 2 minute, $12 million Chrsyler ad promoting "imports from Detroit"). 

You can find ratings of the superbowl ads in many places -- especially with the use of social media -- but the most scientific rating approach was used by USA Today.  For the past 20+ years, USA Today has conducted the Ad Meter.  USA Today assembled 282 adult volunteers in Bakersfield, Calif., and McLean, Va., and electronically charted their second-by-second reactions to ads during the Super Bowl. Shugoll Research and Trotta Associates chose the volunteers, who used handheld meters to register how much they liked each ad (ratings could range between a low of 0 and a high of 10). A computer continuously averaged the scores. The scores shown are the highest average for each ad. 

Go to the USA Today Ad Meter page (you will see a drop down menu on the top right of the Ad Meter view box -- if it is not already set to Ad Meter, make sure you do so) and look at the results from the Ad Meter -- you can also view all of the ads here as well.  2011 was the first year in Ad Meter history that there was a tie for the top spot. 

Look at the 7 ads at the top and the bottom of the list.  Do you think the ad meter got it right for the best and worst ads?  Why or why not?  Put on your hat as a marketing professional.  In your opinion and regardless of the Ad Meter rating, which one commercial did the best job of effectively promoting the brand/product?  Keep in mind when answering this question that you should not simply be thinking about the commercial you liked best or found most entertaining -- you need to think about the commercial as an entire marketing package.  Why was this commercial the most effective?  Which one commercial, in your opinion, did the worst job of promoting the brand/product?  Why was it the least effective?

Post your responses to the blog no later than the beginning of class on Tuesday, February 8th