Encouraging Asia's future marketers to use observation for consumer behaviour information

The argument postulated in this paper is that assigning students to practice observations and then, to interpret meaning about consumers’ behaviors are likely to inform the future marketers’ understanding of real-world consumer activities. Learning takes place as students connect marketing theory to real-world situations. This paper reviews the content of three student projects about consumers and mobile phones which were completed for one consumer behavior course at a Hong Kong university. The findings suggest that observations do contribute to students’ learning more than rote activities that typify survey data collection. However, the depth of learning achieved from observations may differ because curiosity intensity will inevitably vary across individuals and groups.