Allgemeine Inhalte / Course Description

How do humans make decisions? Do we make decisions consciously or is it sometimes out of our control? Once we make a decision, do we stick to it or do we change our mind in other situations? The fact that we unconsciously adapt to situations can be seen in ourselves: If you resolve to eat healthy in the evening at the gym, later you reach for a bag of chips on the comfortable couch while watching an exciting movie, and your good intentions are thrown overboard.

Therefore, it is important for marketing and consumer protection to consider the situational context (e.g. influence of location, time of day) on decision-making. This is the only way to make realistic predictions about actual behavior. In this seminar, we aim to understand the human brain and how we are influenced by our environment in decision-making.

Traditional market research falls short here. This is why at our Chair of Marketing and Innovation, we have developed an app that makes it possible to include location and time in our studies. In this seminar, we want to test an innovative market research technique and understand our situational decision-making. Based on socially relevant topics, e.g. unhealthy nutrition, organic food labels, travel choices, excessive alcohol consumption or unsustainable consumption, we want to identify approaches how to gain information in real time and intervene if necessary. Own, additional topic ideas can be discussed.

Using this innovative app, you will learn how humans unconsciously make decisions and why our decisions deviate depending on the situation. 

Lernziel:
Based on relevant literature, this seminar allows students to gain hands-on experience in mobile market research in conjunction with an innovative app. Students will perform a study and find study participants. Further, students have the opportunity to perform guided statistical procedures on their collected data and to learn and develop skills in this area. This course is primarily aimed at students who have a high degree of initiative and enthusiasm for experimental research.  

Literatur:
Information on relevant literature will be provided at the beginning of the seminar.

Zusätzliche Hinweise zu Prüfungen:
In order to pass the seminar, the following partial performances are required:

regular and active participation in the seminar: 20%

Paper (~8 pages per student): 60%

presentation (~15 mins) in the end of the lecture period: 20%