Research Proposal

Nature of the Marketing Problem

Starting from the 2005-2006 academic school year, every graduate of Kalamazoo Public Schools that has been in the school system for at least the four years of high school is being provided up to four years of full tuition at any public college or university in Michigan. The Kalamazoo Public Schools are interested in measuring whether or not this program has led to greater satisfaction of the public with the school system. The general purpose of this study is to determine whether or not there is greater satisfaction of the public since the introduction of the Kalamazoo Promise. Additional background information may be necessary when determining the results.

Research Objectives

The proposed study is designed to provide information helpful to the Kalamazoo Public Schools to discover the overall level of satisfaction with The Kalamazoo Promise. More specifically, the study will attempt to identify the component and overall levels of satisfaction by providing answers to the following research questions:

1. What is the state of awareness among the public about the Kalamazoo Promise, what are their attitudes and opinions towards the program?

2. To determine public’s experience with the Kalamazoo Promise.

3. To what extent to they agree with the nature of the program?

4. What aspects of the program are most disliked and what should be done to elevate the overall satisfaction of the Kalamazoo Promise?

These research questions are broadly stated and will simply serve as a guide to the specific kinds of information to be sought.

Proposed Methodology

The study will be conducted in two parts: (1) a distributor survey and (2) a survey of the general public. The geographic area to be considered will be the area of Kalamazoo that is considered the Kalamazoo Public School District and qualifies for the Kalamazoo Promise.

Distributor Survey. The study of the distributors will be conducted as a telephone survey of a random sample of people within the Kalamazoo Public School District. The specific questionnaire will be conducted once the project is approved Information will be obtained to answer research question 1. This phase of the study will serve the additional role of being a situation analysis and informal investigation for the consumer survey. It is felt that a sample size of 25 for each school within the district will be sufficient.

Consumer Survey. This phase of the study will be conducted as a mail questionnaire survey. At first thought, it would appear that since prejudice is somewhat fluid and won’t change rapidly, the use of the telephone to collect data would be most appropriate. However, in this case it is felt that the nature of the prejudice involved is not something that can easily be changed. Also, views of the program do not change rapidly, unless one has had a bad experience with the program or someone affiliated with the program. Another reason for choosing the mail survey approach is that some of