Downtown Texarkana is undergoing a transformation through assistance from the federally funded Main Street programs in both states and increased success in gaining assistance from grants and private foundations.  For example, the city hall on the Arkansas side is on its way to being transformed into a facility that will be able to host entertainment events and business conferences.  One downtown building owner is receiving grant assistance and is considering use of the building as a small business incubator.  In any event, we could eventually gain facilities for the conduct of marketing research in Texarkana.  Since it is likely that private foundation and government grant monies would be used to help fund the startup of such a facility, it is possible that we could enjoy substantially lower usage fees than would be possible from research facilities located in larger cities.  It might also be possible to get grant assistance for our business school to partner with such ventures, allowing decreased fees for the conduct of student and professor assisted research.

Along with lower salary costs in Texarkana, we can perhaps assume initial fees of $400 per day for IDI/focus group facility rental and $15 per qualified respondent for recruiting fees.  Using grant assisted university resources, we could perhaps offer services involving a professor at billable rates of $500 per day or $75 per hour, and student interns at billable rates of $20 to $30 per hour.  Note that even when providing not-for-profit, grant-subsidized services through the university, we would still want to build in a twenty percent margin to cover unexpected events and overhead to ensure that a project does not go below break-even.

If our IRS client was willing to pay a reasonable fee to our school for the conduct of a focus group study, what would we promise with regard to deliverables, what would be the timeline that we would provide, and what would be a reasonable fee for our services?  Below is a proposal that could be sent to our IRS clients. 

1. Complete the parts entitled "Costs and Deliverables" and "Project Timeline."  Submit your formal copy of the entire letter which includes your addition of these two sections.  An example of a proposal is here.

2. Attach a copy of a Gantt table and Gantt chart that would be used internally to guide these activities and ensure that the project stays on time and on budget. 

3. Attach a copy of your budget worksheet that would be used internally to estimate the billables in your proposal.  In working out the budget, we need to receive $75 per hour when a Ph.D. professor meets with a client or conducts research.  For work that is conducted behind closed door by you as a student intern, we need to receive an hourly rate that equals your raw score on Quiz 1.  (E.g, if you earned 26 questions correct our of 30 on Quiz 1, then we need to bill at a rate of $26 to cover our costs of employing you inclusive of wages [half of this fee], benefits, taxes, tuition reimbursements, and such.)  Our client has told me that they paid a $75 honorarium to focus group participants in a past study, so we should assume that they would be willing to pay the same for this study.  On your internal budget worksheet, be sure that you CLEARLY indicate your assumptions regarding what work would be conducted by a Ph.D. professor and what work would be conducted by a student intern.

Although you are only submitting two sections of the proposal, note that your proposed timeline and budget is for the entire project from start to finish.  Note that this is an individual assignment.

Dear Ms. Ieress,

Thank you for considering our consulting services.  This letter serves as an initial proposal for the conduct of the focus group research that we had discussed. 

Project Background and Objectives

IRS offers free tax preparation services to people of low income, people who have disabilities, the elderly, and non-English speaking people.  Of concern is the effectiveness of posters that are used to promote this free service. 

The present study would be an initial exploration into the effectiveness of the advertising posters that you have given to us.  We are interested in answering questions regarding whether or not either of these posters is effective with the targeted audience and in exploring what kind of message would be most effective on an advertising poster.

Methodology

Our proposal is to randomly recruit Texarkana area residents, limiting respondents to a quota sample that includes people within the confines of Texarkana and some people who live in outlying areas (e.g., Ashdown, AR).  The prospective recruit's location (i.e., zip code) and qualifications to participate in the program would be determined during telephone recruiting.  We would like a sample of at least 48 Texarkana-area residents (six focus groups of eight people), with 36 from the local Texarkana area and 12 from outlying areas.  We would over-recruit to ensure that we achieve this number of shows for the focus group sessions; our total number of participants could therefore be as high as 56.  Each session would include at least one person who is of low income, at least one who is elderly, and at least one who is disabled.

Focus Group Topic Areas

Recommended discussion flow is as follows:

1. Initial questions regarding whether the people prepare their own taxes or use someone else.  Why.

2. Questions regarding where someone might go to find information about the availability of free tax preparation assistance. 

3. Participant reactions to each of the advertising posters that you gave us.

4. Questions about what someone would want to know before using such assistance.

5. Probes regarding what would make someone hesitant to use a free service.  (E.g., fear of confidentiality, fear of privacy, issues of competence.)

Costs and Deliverables

We will provide you with a topline report summarizing the results of and conclusions from these sessions.  We will also provide you with a presentation of results and conclusions at our local research facility.

--COMPLETE THIS SECTION--

Project Timeline

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Ms. Ieress, I think that about sums up our initial thoughts about your research project.  We appreciate your consideration and want you to feel free to contact us if this proposal needs any modifications in order to best suit your needs.

Cordially,

Mark Etingclass