Problems Encountered by BSBA Marketing Management Students in Conducting Feasibility Studies: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

This study examined the problems encountered by Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management students in conducting feasibility studies. A qualitative descriptive design with an inductive-analytic orientation was used to stay close to participants' accounts of their research experience. Written reflections were collected from one representative per group across eight research groups, each of which had completed a feasibility study under CHED Memorandum Order No. 17, s. 2017. The reflections were analyzed in five sequential phases that produced four analytic outputs: a prevalence profile of reported problems, a causal map linking the dominant problems across the stages of the research process, an attribution analysis of the most- cited difficulty, and a convergence analysis of student-proposed interventions. Three problem areas were raised by most groups: validation delays and inconsistent feedback, time pressure and delay cascade, and difficulty with financial statement preparation. The causal map showed that these difficulties tended to compound one another, as preparation difficulties generated repeated trial- and-error work, validation operated as a procedural bottleneck, differing feedback extended revision cycles, and repeated revisions intensified time and budget pressure. Students who raised the financial-statement difficulty generally attributed it to limited preparation for the applied financial demands of the feasibility study rather than to personal weakness or lack of effort. Their proposed interventions converged on two priorities: more guided financial-statement preparation and a more coordinated validation process. The findings suggest that targeted preparation and process improvements can strengthen the feasibility study experience while preserving the rigor of the requirement.