The research process - project management and research planning. The role of academic research and published material in the process of advancing marketing thought and knowledge. How to read, critique and prepare research proposals. Asking meaningful research questions: inductive and deductive approaches. Conjectures, propositions and hypotheses. Questions of proof, validity, reliability, robustness, representativeness, generalisability, scope, meta-analysis and marketing knowledge. The role of mediating and moderator variables. Preparing research designs to minimise error and bias. Formal research processes in specific analytical areas (such as Marketing Science, Economics Theory, and Consumer Psychology). The art of the solvable. Using this knowledge to write viable research plans.