Research Methods for Business A Skill Building Approach 6th edition Uma Sekaran, Roger Bougie - Solutions

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Sears, JC Penney, and Walmart tried hard in recent years to upgrade their images and appeal to higher class consumers. In fact, JC Penney even hired the head of Apple’s stores as its new CEO. How successful have these efforts been? Do you believe this strategy is wise?
What are some of the obstacles to measuring social class in today’s society?
What consumption differences might you expect to observe between families characterized as underprivileged versus those whose income is average for its social class?
How do you assign people to social classes, or do you at all? What consumption cues do you use (e.g., clothing, speech, cars, etc.) to determine social standing?
In today’s economy, it has become somewhat vulgar to flaunt your money – if you have any left. Do you think this means that status symbols like luxury products are passé? Why or why not?
Thorstein Veblen argued that men often used women as “trophy wives” to display their wealth. Is this argument still valid today?
Status symbols are products, such as Rolex watches or expensive sports cars, that we value because they show others how much money or prestige we have. Do you believe that your peer group values status symbols? Why or why not? If yes, what are the products that you think are regarded as status
Wireless devices have quickly become an indispensable part of many consumers’ lifestyles. How do you view this rapid transition to a situation where many of us are lost without our “Crack Berrys” or iPhones? What impact on other lifestyle activities do you predict as a result?
Use the status index presented in Figure 11.3 to compute a social class score for people you know, including their parents if possible. Ask several friends (preferably from different places) to compile similar information for people they know. How closely do your answers compare? If you find
Compile a list of occupations and ask a sample of students in a variety of majors (both business and non-business) to rank the prestige of these jobs. Can you detect any differences in these rankings as a function of students’ majors?
How does consumer confidence influence consumer behavior?
Compile a collection of ads that depict consumers of different social classes. What generalizations can you make about the reality of these ads and about the media in which they appear?
Using media targeted to the group, construct a consumption constellation for the social role of college students. What set of products, activities, and interests tend to appear in advertisements depicting “typical” college students? How realistic is this constellation?
Extreme sports. YouTube. Blogging. Veganism. Can you predict what will be “hot” in the near future? Identify a lifestyle trend that is just surfacing in your universe. Describe this trend in detail and justify your prediction. What specific styles and/or products are parts of this trend?
What is a pecking order?
What is social class? Is it different from income and if so how?
Define social mobility and describe the different forms it takes.
What one variable is the best indicator of social class? What are some other important indicators?
Why might a person’s social class not change when he or she earns more money?
What are some of the problems we encounter when we try to measure social class?
How can Jimmy Buffett fans be considered as members of a reference group? A brand community? This case spotlights the phenomenon of Jimmy Buffett fans and their fanatical behavior. Known as Parrot Heads, fans travel long distances to see the artist perform and tailgate for hours before an
Boots with six-inch heels were a fashion rage among young Japanese women a few years ago. Several teens died after they tripped over their shoes and fractured their skulls. However, followers of the style claimed they are willing to risk twisted ankles, broken bones, bruised faces, and other
Although social networking is red-hot, could its days be numbered? Many people have concerns about privacy issues. Others feel platforms like Facebook are too overwhelming. As one media executive comments, “Nobody has 5,000 real friends. At the end of the day it just becomes one big cauldron of
The average American teenager spends well over 8 hours a day in front of a screen, whether smartphone, PC, TV or tablet. One study reported increasing physical isolation among Internet users; it created a controversy and drew angry complaints from some users who insisted that time they spent
The Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association recently announced a new set of rules and guidelines for word-of-mouth advertising. The trade group maintains that marketers must make sure that people talking up products or services disclose for whom they are working. They also must use real consumers, not
Walmart contended with a widespread text-messaging hoax that warned women to stay away from its stores or risk death. The digital rumor apparently originated in an urban myth (an unsubstantiated “fact” that many people accept as true) that circulated via email several years ago. As a reflection
Identify fashion opinion leaders on your campus. Do they fit the profile the chapter describes?
Conduct a sociometric analysis within your dormitory or neighborhood. For a product category such as music or cars, ask each individual to identify other individuals with whom they share information. Systematically trace all of these avenues of communication, and identify opinion leaders by
Describe some ways in which marketers are using the Internet to encourage positive WOM.
What is viral marketing? Guerrilla marketing? Give an example of each.
What is an opinion leader? Give three reasons why they are powerful influences on consumers’ opinions. What are some characteristics of opinion leaders?
Is there such a thing as a generalized opinion leader? Why or why not?
What is the relationship between an opinion leader and an opinion seeker?
What is the difference between a market maven and a surrogate consumer?
1. What steps do you recommend a hotel take when dealing with a negative online review? 2. Do you use online reviews when choosing a hotel or restaurant? Do you tend to write online reviews? Trip Advisor offers a review system for major travel partners and other travel-related businesses. Its
Why should a manager know about research when the job entails managing people, products, events, environments and the like?
Why is it important to be adept in handling the manager-researcher relationship?
Explain giving reasons which is more important – applied or basic research.
Give two specific instances where an external research team would be useful and two other scenarios where an internal research team will be deployed, with adequate explanations as to why each scenario is justified for an external or internal team.
One hears the word research being mentioned by several groups such as research organizations, college and university professors, doctoral students, graduate assistants working for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students doing their term papers, research departments in industries, newspaper
Explain the processes of deduction and induction, giving an example of each.
If research in the management area cannot be 100 percent scientific, why bother to do it at all? Comment on this question.
What is epistemology and why is it important to know about different perspectives on research and how it should be done?
Discuss the most important differences between positivism and constructionism.
Critique the following research done in a service industry as to the extent to which it meets the hallmarks of scientific investigation discussed in this chapter.The Mobile Phone Company the Mobile Phone Company has been named as the most complained‐about mobile phone company, narrowly beating
Explain the preliminary data collection methods.
Why is it important to gather information on the background of the organization?
Should a researcher always find information on structural and job characteristics from those interviewed? Give reasons for your answer with examples.
Why should one get hung up on problem definition if one already knows the broad problem area to be studied?
Below is the gist of an article from Business Week. After reading it(a) Identify the broad problem area(b) Define the problem(c) Explain how you would proceed further.
What is the problem statement in the following situation?
How would you define the problem in the following case?
Why is appropriate citation important? What are the consequences of not giving credit to the source from which materials are extracted?
After studying and extracting information from all the relevant work done previously, how does the researcher know which references, articles, and information should be given prominence in the literature survey?
Because literature survey is a time-consuming exercise, a good, in-depth interview should suffice to develop a theoretical framework. Discuss this statement.
Develop a theoretical framework for the following case.
Good models are complex. What’s more, a good model should include both moderating and mediating variables. Discuss this statement.
Academic researchers usually develop more complex and elaborate models than applied researchers. Discuss this statement.
In an applied research context you do not need to explain the relationships between the variables in your conceptual model. Discuss this statement.
There is an advantage to stating the hypothesis both in the null and the alternate; it adds clarity to our thinking about what we are testing. Explain.
It is advantageous to develop a directional hypothesis whenever we are sure of the predicted direction. How will you justify this statement?
In recent decades, many service markets have been liberalized. For this reason, incumbent service firms are facing new competitors and must address customer switching. You are discussing the determinants of customer switching with a service firm manager. She believes that product quality,
For the following case titled Sleepless Nights at Holiday Inn (published in Business Week and adapted here):a. Identify the problemb. Develop a theoretical frameworkc. Develop at least four hypotheses.
Develop a conceptual model for the scenario below. Incidence of smoking in movies has started to increase again, after having declined for several decades. According to the National Cancer Institute smoking is seen in at least three out of four contemporary box-office hits. What’s more,
What are the benefits of using avatars as company representatives on commercial Web sites?
Can cancer patients’ successful recovery be improved through quick and correct diagnosis, carefully following the doctor’s instructions, and keeping the patients in peaceful and quiet surroundings?
How can the job performance (output) of the employees be increased through enriched jobs and rewards?
How can minority women be retained in organizations?
A school administrator is interested in finding how the threatened teachers’ strike can be averted. He knows that pay demands and the classroom’s physical environment are the two main issues in the situation. He, however, feels that these two are not major concerns for the teachers who are
Factors that Account for the Variance in Bad Debts
What are the most important factors that influence the profits of a firm?
Critical Factors that Influence the Value of a Company’s Stock.
A factory foreman is concerned about the high rate of absenteeism of his workers every Monday morning. His hunch is that the workers drink too much during the weekend, have a hangover on Monday mornings and cannot attend work. He also feels that the high rate of pay they receive allows them to
With the following variables, develop a theoretical framework, using one of the variables (appropriately) as an intervening variable, and one as a moderating variable.1) Job level (i.e., managerial versus non-managerial levels);2) Loyalty (extent of loyalty felt for the organization in which the
Develop a theoretical framework and three hypotheses for the following statement. People high in their Need for Achievement (N.Ach) and who have high Protestant Work Ethic values, will be highly motivated to work. When they get motivated, they also slowly become involved in their jobs.
Here are eight variables:1) Understanding Student Needs (by teacher);2) Developing appropriate teaching strategies (by teacher);3) In-class examples and exercises;4) Student entry level skills;5) Student understanding;6) Student exam performance;7) Difficulty of exam;8) Stress.With these eight
Factors Influencing Decision to Purchase?
Factors Affecting Coupon Redemption Rates
Factors Influencing the Selection of Auditors by Companies.
What are the basic research design issues? Describe them in some detail.
Why is it important to consider basic research design issues before conducting the study and even as early as at the time of formulating the research question?
Is a field study totally out of the question if one is trying to establish cause and effect relationships?
“An exploratory study is just as useful as a predictive study”. Discuss this statement.
Why is the unit of analysis an integral part of the research design?
Discuss the inter-relationships among: non-contrived setting, the purpose of the study, type of investigation, researcher interference, and time horizon of the study.
Below are three scenarios. For each, indicate how the researcher should proceed with the following, giving reasons:a.The purpose of the studyb.The type of investigationc.The extent of researcher interferenced.The study settinge.The time horizon for the studyf.The unit of analysis.a. Ms. Joyce Lynn,
A foreman thinks that the low efficiency of the machine tool operators is directly linked to the high level of fumes emitted in the workshop. He would like to prove this to his supervisor through a research study.1. Would this be a causal or a correlational study? Why?2. Is this an exploratory,
You want to examine how exposure to thin or heavy models in advertisements influences a person’s self-esteem. You believe that the effect of exposure to models in advertisements depends on the extremity of the model's thinness or heaviness.Discuss the design decisions that you as a researcher
You want to investigate the specific effects of specific emotions on customers' behavioral responses to failed service encounters across industries. Discuss the design decisions that you as a researcher will make to investigate this issue, giving reasons for your choices.
Dr. Larry Norton of MemorialSloan-KetteringCancerCenter predicts that cancer treatment will undergo major changes. Several drugs are being developed to battle cancer without harming healthy tissues. It is a question of discovering which of these drugs does the job best. Design a study that would
A researcher wants to test the theory that low levels of oxygen in the mines is the single most important factor that tires the miners easily.a. What would be the nature of the study that would be designed - Exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing?b. Give reasons for your answer to (a)
An Auditor is interested in knowing the relationship among the three variables – depreciation, assets accounting, and taxes paid.a. What would be the nature of the study that would be designed - Exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing?b. Give reasons for your answer to (a) above.c. Would
The head-nurse in a hospital would like to have a profile of the patients that come to her ward.a. What would be the nature of the study that would be designed - Exploratory, descriptive, or hypothesis-testing?b. Give reasons for your answer to (a) above.c. Would it be a Field study, Comparative
A basic researcher wants to engage in a research project which will enable her to establish the relationship between certain personality characteristics and the risk taking tendencies of stock brokers.a. What would be the nature of the study that would be designed - Exploratory, descriptive, or
Bob’s Nissan and Toyota dealership is suffering from a severe decline in the number of car sales. Bob decides to test two approaches to sales. He randomly assigns his 12 salesmen to two groups. He then trains one group to use the “hard sell” approach and the other to use the “soft sell”
A production manager wants to see if by providing enhanced automation technology, the productivity of the workers in the plants can be raised. However, before trying this with all the five plants, she would like to try this with a group of apprentices who work in one plant.a. What would be the
Describe different data sources, explaining their usefulness and disadvantages.
As a manager, you have invited a research team to come in, study, and offer suggestions on how to improve the performance of your staff. What steps would you take to allay their apprehensions even before the research team sets foot in your department?
What is bias and how can it be reduced while interviewing?
What are projective techniques and how can they be profitably used?

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Research Methods for Business A Skill Building Approach 6th edition Uma Sekaran, Roger Bougie - Solutions

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