Define the role and scope of marketing research in contemporary marketing organizations,

Measuring Performance

Canadian businesses spend tens of billions of dollars on marketing communications each year. With the move to digital, improvements in measurability, and an increasing pace of technological change, marketers in Canada are increasingly expected to do more with less. This requires a systematic approach to measurement that is incorporated from the beginning of the planning process.
Content
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
• define the role and scope of marketing research in contemporary marketing organizations,
• distinguish between qualitative data and quantitative data,
• describe the methodologies for collecting primary research data,
• determine the influence of primary and secondary data and information on the development of marketing communications plans,
• assess a variety of marketing research procedures and methodologies that measure and evaluate behavioural responses to communications messages, and
• identify the unique methods that measure the effectiveness of individual components of marketing communications.
Marketing Research Planning
Marketers use research to understand what’s happening in the markets they serve. It is generally used on an as-needed basis to answer specific questions, define marketing opportunities, test assumptions, monitor trends, and monitor marketing performance.
The second reading provided below is a great introduction to the marketing research process, but it is briefly outlined here:
1. Identify the Problem: The research process starts with identifying the purpose of the study and how it will be used in decision making. This is used to formulate a research objective and questions that will influence research strategies and techniques.
2. Develop the Research Plan: This is the development of a framework for conducting the research that identifies what information is needed and how it will be used in decision making. It is the selection of the research strategies and techniques, including who will do what. The development of the research plan is guided by what is already known.
3. Conduct the Research: Data collection is typically the longest and most intensive part of the marketing research process. It is what we think of when we talk about research (e.g., survey, focus groups, etc.). This stage will likely involve a much larger team to implement the research plan, who must be properly supported to minimize data-collection errors.
4. Analyze and Report Findings: This is where data is organized, reviewed, modelled, and interpreted with the goal of finding insights and supporting decision making. The findings might include customer trends, attributes, and behaviours. The entire project will be presented in a report that addresses the research questions asked, describes the plan and process, and presents the insights and conclusions.
5. Take Action: If your research is properly done, and relevant findings are discovered, you will use marketing research to guide your marketing investment (and perhaps organizational strategy!). Actional insights will validate or alter your strategies, guide the implementation of your tactics, and prioritize the allocation of your resources.

What perspectives do bank managers have on critical factors that should be implemented in ethics training for employees to ensure there is consistency in staff engagement?

Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive research study is to explore from the perspectives of bank managers on how ethics training procedures and methods for employees can potentially be applied consistently with high quality that are transformational in nature for bank managers located in Southern California. The study will be achieved by interviewing employees, questionnaires, and document analysis to identify the bank’s current ethics training guidelines and whether they are being implemented within the Southern California area. The study uses a qualitative approach with descriptive research design. The proposed study’s research design is used to identify trends with accuracy by use of systematic data collection with participant perspectives.
Research Questions
The purpose of this qualitative descriptive research study is to explore the perspectives of bank managers on how ethics training procedures and methods for employees can potentially be applied consistently with high quality that are transformational in nature for bank managers located in Southern California. The knowledge will be developed by questionnaires, document analysis, and interviewing participants employed at a financial institution in the Southern California area who have undergone ethics training. The related research questions below are developed to aid the researcher with an adequate assessment of the banking sectors ethics training program. Accordingly, the following research questions are fundamental in guiding the researcher through the process of knowledge development.
RQ1: What perspectives do bank managers have on critical factors that should be implemented in ethics training for employees to ensure there is consistency in staff engagement?
RQ2: What perspectives do bank managers have on critical factors that should be implemented in ethics training for employees to ensure there is quality in staff engagement?
RQ3: What perspectives do bank managers have on critical factors that should be implemented in ethics training for employees to ensure there is transformation in staff engagement?

How and why have divisions persisted in the project of defining the French “nation” during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?

For this class, you will be taking two, out-of-class exams that will ostensibly be argumentative essays responding to different prompts. The purpose of the exams is to assess your ability (1) to explain how the concept of the French “nation” was created and transformed over the last two centuries, (2) to effectively employ primary and secondary sources as evidence in an historical arguments, and (3) to demonstrate that you sufficiently completed the assigned readings and participated in class sessions.

Exam essays should be 2000-2500 words in length. Essays must include a proper introduction, a fully formed argument (with a specific thesis) grounded in the analysis of evidence, a conclusion that clearly highlights the main points of the essay, and a works cited list. You must use and cite all the various types of materials that you have been presented in this class (e.g. primary sources, books, articles, lectures). Do not do outside research for these exams. The exams are designed for you to respond in a compelling way using only the materials from the course.

Here are the prompts for the two exams:

Exam #2
Though the founders of the Third Republic claimed to have brought unity and consensus to France, the reality is that conflicts remained at the heart of French political, social, and cultural life. How and why have divisions persisted in the project of defining the French “nation” during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?

In addition to formulating responses to these prompts, you must also abide by the following guidelines:

1. Course Materials: Part of the purpose of this assignment is to ensure that you have completed the readings and understood the material presented in class. It is imperative that you show your mastery of the material by working in specific examples, anecdotes, and evidence from these sources. You must include evidence from primary sources, class lectures, monographs (a.k.a. the books that you’re reading for class), and journal articles. More specifically, you must use examples from numerous primary sources, numerous lectures, all of the books that you read for that unit of the class, and at least two articles.

2. Citations: Whenever you use a source, you must cite it. Citations must be included in footnotes and correctly formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. If you do not know how to cite something using the Chicago Manual of Style, consult this quick guide. I have also provided examples of citations from course materials below. Remember to cite every specific example that you pull from another source.

3. Works Cited: At the end of the exam, you must include a works cited page that lists all of the sources that you used in the paper. You must organize and format the works cited list according to the Chicago Manual of Style (again, see above for more information).

Writing: Your exam is a formal, argumentative essay, so you must use formal English with correct grammar. It cannot include typos or significant grammatical mistakes. Although the main purpose of this assignment is not to test your writing ability, strong written communication is a prerequisite for effective argumentative writing.

critique the current state of private prisons in America and present a clear argument on how to fix the system.

OVERVIEW
In the Article Critique Assignments, you will systematically and objectively critique criminal justice-related research articles to understand published research. You will critique the strengths and weaknesses of peer-reviewed journal articles and carefully analyze arguments and points in the article. You will develop the technical writing skill of critiquing while furthering critical thinking application and knowledge of the topics investigated. You will incorporate and apply a Christian worldview perspective to each topic and Article Critique Assignment.
INSTRUCTIONS
• 4-7 pages excluding the title page, abstract, and reference pages.
• Current APA format.
• Minimum of two (2) peer-reviewed journal articles from Liberty University library.
• Acceptable sources (peer-reviewed articles published within the last 5-10 years only).
• Include a critique of least two (2) strengths and two (2) weaknesses from each article.
• Include a Christian and Biblical Worldview perspective.
This Article Critique Assignment requires that you follow a template. Please review and follow the template carefully. Include a running header, title page, abstract (between 120-250 words), proper APA headings/subheadings, and a reference page. Please note that you are asked not to change or omit any of the bold headings that are already in the template. You are only asked to insert your written content into the appropriate sections of the template.

Article Critique: Correctional Goals and Prison Privatization Assignment
Locate two (2) peer-reviewed articles no older than 5-10 years that discuss American prison privatization. One article must present arguments advocating for American prison privatization and the second article must present arguments against American prison privatization. Provide a critique of each author’s position on the privatization of prisons. Review the video titled: “Correctional Goals and Prison Privatization” found in the attachments. From a Christian and Biblical worldview, critique the current state of private prisons in America and present a clear argument on how to fix the system.

What strategies work for managing projects?

The basic goal is to synthesize learning from the individual sessions. Students will evaluate correlation graphs based on the date from all scenarios. In addition, they will revisit advice in each of the topic areas mentioned in the analysis section of the guide (i.e. Project Planning, Basic project Management Advice, managing people factors, Managing Risk and Uncertainty, and making Tough Tradeoffs). The correlation graphs may be used earlier, but they are perhaps best used after a significant amount of data (a large number of students runs) has been accumulated. It’s a good idea for the instructor to carefully identify the correlation graphs that have something to offer (not all will). Note that graphs don’t capture all the subtleties of the simulation – for example, graphing the number of hours in meetings against a project outcome measure does not take into account when during the project (early or late) most meeting hours occurred (and that does matter in the simulation).
Instructions
After playing the simulation, students will generate a short debrief summary that responds to the following assignment questions:
1. Let’s revisit your ideas about how decision parameters (target scope, team size, team skill level, amount of outsourcing, target completion data, overtime allowed, time in meetings, number of prototypes) affect project outcomes (task completed, cost incurred, productivity, new problems discovered, project completion date) and team attributes (morale, stress level, rates of mistakes). How have your ideas about these causal relationships changed? How confident are you now in your hypotheses about them?
2. What strategies work for managing projects? What strategies work when uncertainty is low or high? What strategies work when objectives are realistic or not?

Discuss the implications of your research and identify the possible ethical concerns of the research.

The learning objective of this course is to develop complete understanding of research methods and apply the learning in real world problems. Hence the assignment involves developing a detailed research proposal related to an area of student’s interest.
Based on the given instructions, formulate a research proposal of about 3000 words.
Total marks for the research report is 90.
1. The field of Human Resource includes four basic realms: starting with employee acquisition, training and development, performance management and finally compensation management. Depending on your interest area, identify a research concern from the above-mentioned broad topics. Also formulate the broad research objectives of your research.
2. Based on the learnings from the session, clearly indicate the research problem and frame 3-4 research questions related to the topic.
3. Conduct review of literature related to your topic to understand the phenomenon better and design the conceptual map relating different factors of your study.
4. As discussed in the session, identify the independent and dependent variables of your study from the knowledge gained through literature review and also formulate the hypothesis.
5. Based on the type of research proposed, discuss in detail the research methodology to be adopted for the purpose of your study and its rationale.
6. Suggest the reasons for choosing a particular kind of scale used in the research.
7. Design an appropriate questionnaire keeping research objectives in mind and discuss the factors considered while designing the questionnaire.
8. There is no data collection required, however, the student can decide the analysis that will help examine the data derived from the proposed questionnaire. Identify the statistics used for the purpose of analyzing the data.
9. Describe the possible limitations of your study.
10. Discuss the implications of your research and identify the possible ethical concerns of the research.
11. Explain the importance of your research for your organization and its contribution to the knowledge domain.
12. Cite the full bibliographic references that you have cited in your research proposal using APA 6th edition and order them alphabetically.
13. Include a table of contents.

Elaborate, in detail, on the comorbidities associated with myocardial infarction.

Case study:

A 67-year-old woman sought emergency medical care due to prolonged chest pain. She had complained of prolonged chest pain previously she sought medical care. During this recent hospital admission, she was diagnosed with myocardial infarction. Upon coronary angiography examination, there was the presence of lesions with 70% obstruction in the right coronary, anterior descending and circumflex arteries.

At the physical examination, the heart rate (HR) was 100 beats per minute, blood pressure was 100/60 mmHg. Pulmonary assessment was normal. The heart examination disclosed a ++/ 6+ systolic murmur in the mitral area.

Chest x-ray disclosed the presence of a large pleural effusion in the right hemithorax.
The patient had hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidaemia and was a smoker.
The laboratory tests showed total cholesterol 228 mg/dL, HDL-cholesterol 35 mg / dL, LDL-cholesterol 162 mg/dL, triglycerides 157 mg/dL, sodium 137 mEq/L, and potassium 3.4 mEq/L.
The patient had two episodes of cardiac arrest 20 min interval, which was reversed. After half an hour, a new episode of cardiac arrest occurred, which was irreversible, and the patient died.

Discuss the risk factors that predispose her to myocardial infarction. Elaborate, in detail, on the comorbidities associated with myocardial infarction. In you answer, consider the consequences of cholesterol on cardiovascular diseases and highlight the strategies that could prevent this condition.

Critically interpret and evaluate the data given in this case

Question:

Peter visited his GP as he was feeling ‘unwell’. The GP was concerned that his kidney function might be impaired and collected a blood sample to measure his serum creatinine concentration (see table below). Peter is 44 years old and his left leg was amputated above the knee when he was a child.

Analyte Patient sample Reference Range Units
Serum creatinine 90 50-120 μmol/L
eGFR (CKD-EPI creatinine) 89 >60 ml/min/1.73m2

Critically interpret and evaluate the data given in this case. Your answer should include an explanation of what serum creatinine and eGFR are and how they are used in assessing renal function.

Discuss the theoretical underpinnings in (i) Yu and Yuan (2011) and Wang (2018a), and (ii) Wang (2018b) and Wang and Duxbury (2021)

Individual Assessed Coursework Brief
The work should not exceed 3,500 words. Excessive assignments will be penalised according to section 9.13 of Regulation 9 Regulation Governing Postgraduate Taught Awards: “Assessed work which exceeds a specified maximum permitted length will be subject to a penalty deduction of marks equivalent to the percentage of additional words over the limit. The limit excludes bibliographies, diagrams and tables, footnotes, tables of contents and appendices of data.”

Introduction
The mean-variance relationship has long been a focus in finance literature. Traditional financial theories propose a positive mean-variance relationship, or risk-return tradeoff (Merton, 1973), i.e. bearing high (low) risk should be rewarded by high (low) returns, empirical studies document at best inconclusive evidence with three mainstreams due to different economic settings and volatility model selection. French et al. (1987), Scruggs (1998), Ghysels et al. (2005), Lundblad (2007), Pástor et al. (2008), Brandt and Wang (2010), and Rossi and Timmermann (2015), among others find the risk-return tradeoff despite being less significant in some cases. On the other hand, Nelson (1991), Brandt and Kang (2004), Baker et al. (2011), Fiore and Saha (2015), and Booth et al. (2016), among others, document a negative mean-variance relationship. Turner et al. (1989), Glosten et al. (1993), Sun et al. (2017), and Wang et al. (2017), among others, report both positive and negative relationship between risk and returns.
A wide range of theories are proposed to explain the weak risk-return tradeoff, such as investor sentiment (Yu and Yuan, 2011; Wang, 2018a&b; Wang and Duxbury, 2021) and differences in overnight and intraday returns (Wang, 2021).
In line with the above, answer the following requirements:
Required:
1. Discuss the theoretical underpinnings in (i) Yu and Yuan (2011) and Wang (2018a), and (ii) Wang (2018b) and Wang and Duxbury (2021) [20 marks]
2. Critically review literature, and summarise and evaluate approaches to construct proxies for investor sentiment. [12 marks]
3. Suppose that you decide to extend the US evidence from Wang (2021) to an emerging market. Select the market and justify your selection. [8 marks]
4. For the selected market, present and interpret descriptive statistics of (i) overnight returns, (ii) intraday returns, and (iii) total returns. [15 marks]
5. Select one method to filter conditional volatility. Present and interpret descriptive statistics of conditional volatility of (i) overnight returns, (ii) intraday returns, and (iii) total returns. [20 marks]
6. Examine the mean-variance relation for (i) overnight returns, (ii) intraday returns, and (iii) total returns. Interpret. [25 marks]

While attempting requirements you should follow academic writing style format relying on journal articles. Failing to do so leads to a 30-mark deduction.

Guideline coverage of issues/answers expectations:
Requirement 1:
1. Provide theoretical underpinnings of empirical findings in Yu and Yuan (2011) and Wang (2018b).
2. Provide theoretical underpinnings of empirical findings in Wang (2018b) and Wang and Duxbury (2021).
3. Make comparison between (i) and (ii).

Requirement 2:
1. Provide reasons why proxies are needed for investor sentiment.
2. Summarise main types of proxies for investor sentiment
3. Critically evaluate each type.

Requirement 3:
1. Select an emerging market.
2. Justify your choice from at least two main perspectives: (i) Provide criteria used to label the selected market as an emerging market; (ii) Explain reasons why the research question as in Wang (2021) is of particular interest in your selected market.

Requirement 4:
1. Present descriptive statistics of three returns.
2. Interpret.

Requirement 5:
1. Select the method to filter conditional volatility.
2. Present descriptive statistics of conditional volatility of three returns.
3. Interpret.

Requirement 6:
1. Examine the mean-variance relation for three returns.
2. Interpret.

Relevant References (You may use these references to help to produce your work)
Baker, M., Wurgler, J., 2006. Investor sentiment and the cross-section of stock returns. Journal of Finance 61 (4), 1645−1680.
Baker, M., Wurgler, J., 2007. Investor sentiment in the stock market. Journal of Economic Perspectives 21 (2), 129−151.
Brown, G.W., Cliff, M.T., 2005. Investor sentiment and asset valuation. Journal of Business 78 (2), 405−440.
Daniel, K., Hirshleifer, D., Subrahmanyam, A., 1998. Investor psychology and security market under- and overreactions. Journal of Finance 53 (6), 1839−1886.
French, K.R., Schwert, G.W., Stambaugh, R.F., 1987. Expected stock returns and volatility. Journal of Financial Economics 19 (1), 3−29.
Hendershott, T., Livdan, D., Rösch D., 2020. Asset pricing: A tale of night and day. Journal of Financial Economics 138 (3), 635–662.
Lou, D., Polk, C., Skouras, S., A tug of war: Overnight versus intraday expected returns. Journal of Financial Economics 134 (1), 192–213.
Qiu, L., Welch, I., 2006. Investor sentiment measures. Working paper, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Schmeling, M., 2009. Investor sentiment and stock returns: Some international evidence. Journal of Empirical Finance 16 (3), 394−408.
Tetlock, P.C., 2007. Giving content to investor sentiment: The role of media in the stock market. Journal of Finance 62 (3), 1139−1168.
Wang, W., 2018a. Investor sentiment and the mean-variance relationship: European evidence. Research in International Business and Finance 46, 227–239.
Wang, W., 2018b. The mean–variance relation and the role of institutional investor sentiment. Economics Letters 168, 61–64.
Wang, W., 2020. Institutional investor sentiment, beta, and stock returns. Finance Research Letters 37, 1–7.
Wang, W., 2021. The mean–variance relation: A 24-hour story. Economics Letters 208, 1–3.
Wang, W., Duxbury, D., 2021. Institutional investor sentiment and the mean-variance relationship: Global evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization 191, 415–441.
Wang, Y.H., Keswani, A., Taylor, S.J., 2006. The relationships between sentiment, returns and volatility. International Journal of Forecasting 22 (1), 109−123.
Yu, J., Yuan, Y., 2011. Investor sentiment and the mean-variance relation. Journal of Financial Economics 100 (2), 367−381.

Briefly describe and discuss the knowledge benefits associated with an Algorithm growth rate:

1. Briefly describe and discuss the knowledge benefits associated with an Algorithm growth rate:
2. What does best, worst, and average case refer to?
3. Why doesn’t a faster computer always solve large data processing problems?
4. About Asymptotic Analysis:
4.1. What does asymptotic analysis refer to and why is it helpful to know (i.e. why use big-O notation)?
4.2. What does Big-Oh refer to and what is it good for?
4.3. What does Big-Omega refer to and what is it good for?
4.4. What does big-theta refer to and what is it good for?
5. What are Space/time trade-offs and what should be considered when making determinations about them? 
6. Given multiple algorithms that perform the same process but with different time equations, what are your considerations, technical and otherwise, in selecting the one to use.
7. What is the benefit gained from hashing?
8. What performance implementation does Java invoke to counteract massive collisions?






Figure 1

9. Draw the adjacency matrix representation for the above graph (Figure 1).

10. Draw the adjacency list representation for the above graph (Figure 1)..

11.



Figure 2

12. Draw the DFS (Depth First Search) tree for the above graph (Figure 2).


13. Draw the BFS (Breadth First Search) tree for the above graph (Figure 2).



 
14. Show each of the shortest paths generated by running Dijkstra’s shortest-paths algorithm on the graph above beginning at Vertex 4 (Figure 2).