| Course | GB532 Marketing Research |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Research proposal |
| Length | About 1,090 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MBA |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GB532 Unit 4
Twelve Interviews, Then 2,177 Questionnaires: A Unit 4 Research Proposal for a Propane Distributor
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
GB532: Marketing Research
Unit 4 Research Proposal
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The propane distributor, the design and every cost are composite and illustrative; the methods and sources cited are real.
Background
Otter Creek Propane must decide by August 1 whether to create an offer for customers who now run a heat pump and hold propane in reserve. The secondary data review in Unit 3 found that about a quarter of last winter's lost gallons came from accounts whose propane use per degree day fell sharply, the pattern heat pumps would produce, and that most of the rest was weather.
Research Objectives
The five objectives come from the Unit 2 memo, restated here in short form: the share of automatic customers using a heat pump, measured to within 4.5 points; the pattern of propane use in hybrid homes across the winter; hybrid customers' interest in a backup-heat plan and its features; the changes to delivery schedules these homes need; and interest in heat pump services from the company.
Design
The study uses an exploratory sequential design: qualitative interviews first, then a survey shaped by what the interviews learn (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018).
# Stage 1: Twelve Telephone Interviews
Twelve households will be recruited from the 1,140 accounts flagged in the secondary review, chosen to include different towns, home sizes and lengths of time with Otter Creek. Semi-structured interviews of about thirty minutes will ask how the home is heated now, when propane is used, how heating decisions are made in the household, what customers like and dislike about delivery, and what they would want from a supplier now that propane is a backup. Each participant will receive a $50 gift card.
The interviews have two purposes: to learn the words customers use for their equipment and habits, so that survey questions make sense to them, and to identify features of a backup-heat plan that the company has not thought of.
# Stage 2: A Mailed Survey With a Web Option
The survey will be mailed to 2,177 automatic-delivery households drawn from two strata: 960 from the flagged accounts and 1,217 from the rest. The sampling plan in Unit 5 explains the sizes. Following the tailored design method of Dillman et al. (2014), contact will proceed in four steps: a prenotice letter, the questionnaire with a $1 token incentive and a return envelope, a reminder postcard a week later, and a replacement questionnaire to households that have not responded after three weeks. Each mailing will include a web address for those who prefer to answer online.
A survey can show that hybrid households like the idea of a backup-heat plan; it cannot show that the plan would keep them buying propane.
Why Mail Rather Than Email
Otter Creek has a mailing address for every account but email addresses for only about 40 percent, and those skew toward younger customers and those who pay online. Many customers live in rural areas where internet service is limited. A survey sent only by email would miss many older, rural households, who may be the most loyal and the least likely to have installed heat pumps. Mail with a web option reaches everyone on the frame while letting those who prefer online answer that way.
Expected Response and Precision
Mailed surveys to customers of a local business, with a token incentive and follow-up contacts, often achieve response rates around 30 percent. At that rate, the study would yield about 290 completed surveys from the flagged stratum and about 350 from the other, enough to estimate the heat pump share across the whole base within about 4.5 percentage points and to compare hybrid and other households with reasonable precision. If response falls below about 25 percent, the replacement mailing can be extended to a second wave.
What the Study Cannot Show
The company's real question is whether a backup-heat plan would keep hybrid customers. The survey can measure stated interest in such a plan, but stated interest is a weak guide to behavior. Customers asked about a hypothetical plan tend to overstate how likely they are to use it, and the survey cannot observe what they will do when a competitor offers a lower price or when a mild winter makes propane seem unnecessary.
Nor can the survey compare customers who received a plan with similar customers who did not, because no one has received one. Without that comparison, any link between interest and retention would be a guess.
The proposal therefore recommends that the survey's findings be used to design a plan and that the plan then be tested in a pilot. If the survey shows enough interest, the plan should be offered in a few towns while similar towns continue as usual, and retention compared over the following winter. That design, not the survey, would answer whether the plan keeps customers.
Measures
The survey will measure heating equipment in the home, the share of winter heat from each source, use of propane in the coldest weeks, satisfaction with delivery, rated interest in a backup-heat plan and its features, preferred delivery schedules and interest in heat pump services. Demographic and home characteristics will allow comparison with the frame.
Analysis Plan
Estimates for the whole automatic-delivery base will be weighted by stratum. Comparisons between hybrid and other households will report both statistical significance and the size of differences, since a statistically significant difference may be too small to matter for a business decision. Open-ended answers will be coded into themes.
Budget
Interview incentives: 12 at $50, $600.
Prenotice letters: about $1,900 for printing and postage.
Questionnaire mailing: about $4,800 for printing, outgoing and return postage.
Token incentives: 2,177 at $1, about $2,200.
Reminder postcards: about $1,500.
Replacement questionnaires: to about 1,550 nonrespondents, about $3,400.
Analysis software and supplies: about $200.
Total: about $14,600. Staff time for interviews, data entry and analysis is not included.
Timeline
March: interviews and questionnaire drafting. Early April: pretest. Mid-April: prenotice and first mailing. May: reminders and replacement questionnaires. June: data entry and analysis. Mid-July: report, two weeks before the August decision.
Ethics and Confidentiality
Participation is voluntary. The cover letter will state that answers will not affect any customer's delivery or price, and results will be reported only in summary. Malhotra (2019) emphasizes that respondents' trust depends on clear assurances about how their information will be used, and for a supplier surveying its own customers that assurance is especially important.
References
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.
Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (4th ed.). Wiley.
Malhotra, N. K. (2019). Marketing research: An applied orientation (7th ed.). Pearson.
GB532 Unit 4 instructions, in plain terms
GB532 Unit 4 asks you to write a research proposal. Restate the decision and the objectives briefly. Describe the design stage by stage, including how qualitative work will inform any survey, and explain the choice of survey mode for your population. Explain what the design can and cannot show, especially any causal claim it cannot support, and what would answer that claim. Describe the measures and the analysis plan, including how differences will be judged. Give a budget with labeled estimates, a timeline that meets the decision date, and the ethical commitments made to respondents. Expect about eight pages under standard proposal headings, citing research design and survey sources in APA 7.
Inside the GB532 Unit 4 example
Background restates the August decision and the review's finding. The objectives are summarized. Stage 1 describes twelve interviews with a $50 incentive and their two purposes, citing Creswell and Plano Clark. Stage 2 describes the mailing in four contacts after Dillman, Smyth and Christian. Sections explain why mail fits customers with few email addresses and project responses near 30 percent. The highlighted sentence separates stated interest from retention, and a section explains why only a pilot can measure retention. Measures, an analysis plan reporting significance and size, a budget near $14,600, a timeline to mid-July and confidentiality commitments citing Malhotra complete it, with a plain promise that no customer's answers will change their service.
Where the points sit in the GB532 Unit 4 rubric
A GB532 proposal earns credit for a design that fits the decision's timeline and admits what it cannot prove. Restating the decision and objectives briefly earns early credit. A staged design in which interviews shape the survey shows methodological understanding. Justifying the survey mode by the population's reachability shows care. Explaining the causal claim the design cannot support, and proposing a pilot instead, carries significant weight. A budget with labeled estimates and a timeline that meets the deadline show feasibility. Ethical commitments suited to a firm surveying its own customers complete it. Creswell and Plano Clark, Dillman and colleagues and Malhotra are the proposal's APA 7 references.
Common GB532 Unit 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Many GB532 Unit 4 proposals promise that a survey will show whether a new offer will succeed, which no survey of stated interest can do. Others choose an email survey without asking who would be missed. A frequent gap is the budget: feasibility is part of the grade, and a proposal without costs cannot be judged. Some writers paste the questionnaire in early. Restate the decision, describe each stage and how they connect, justify the mode, state the design's limits and the test that would overcome them, plan the analysis, cost the study and set a timeline. Assuring customers that answers will not affect their price addresses the fear most likely to depress response.
Get a GB532 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Paste in the objectives your Unit 2 memo settled on, the Unit 4 prompt and the rubric for your GB532 section, plus any budget or timeline the case imposes. Returned within 24-48h, the proposal matches a design to each objective and states plainly what that design cannot conclude. The first custom sample is on us. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GB532 papers and MBA samples
- GB532 Unit 1: Discussion Board Post
- GB532 Unit 2: Problem Definition Memo
- GB532 Unit 3: Secondary Data Review
- GB532 Unit 5: Sampling Plan
- GB532 Unit 6: Questionnaire Draft
- GB532 Unit 7: Seminar Reflection
- GB532 Unit 8: Data Analysis Report
- GB532 Unit 9: Findings Interpretation
- GB532 Unit 10: Research Report
- GB531 Unit 4: Audience Profile
- GB530 Unit 4: Segmentation and Targeting Analysis
- GB528 Unit 4: Entry Mode Comparison
- GB527 Unit 4: Quality Improvement Memo
GB532 Unit 4 questions, answered
Does the proposal need a budget if the case gives no figures?
Often yes, because feasibility is usually graded and cost is part of it. Estimate plainly and label the estimates: postage rates, printing, a modest incentive, analyst hours at a stated rate. Graders are not checking whether your prices match a vendor quote; they are checking whether the design could be carried out with the money and time the case describes.
How do I justify choosing a descriptive design over a causal one?
By connecting the choice to the decision and the timeline. A causal design such as a field experiment answers a stronger question but takes longer and costs more. If the manager needs an estimate of how common something is before a deadline, a descriptive design fits. Say what the causal design would add and when it might follow.
Should the proposal include the questionnaire itself?
Usually not yet. Most GB532 sections build the instrument in a later unit, so the proposal describes what the survey will measure and how it will be administered. A short list of the constructs, linked to objectives, shows the plan is concrete. Check the prompt, since a few sections ask for draft items in an appendix.
Where can I find a free GB532 Unit 4 sample paper?
This page carries a full GB532 Unit 4 research proposal for a propane distributor, with a two-stage design, the survey's limits, an analysis plan, a budget near $14,600, a timeline and APA 7 references.
Why use mail rather than email?
The company has mailing addresses for every account but email for only about 40 percent, and many customers are older and rural. Mail with a web option reaches the whole frame.