Questions and Answers of Business Research Methods

Develop the management-research question hierarchy (Exhibits 3-2) citing the management question, research questions, and investigative questions for each management dilemma below:a. A home health
Victoria’s Secret was originally conceived in the 1970s as a lingerie store where men could be comfortable buying for women, most notably their wives. When it was purchased in 1982 by L Brands, its
Distinguish between:a. Statistic and parameter.b. Sample frame and target population.c. Case and target population.d. Simple random and complex random sampling.e. Convenience and purposive
You plan to conduct a study using unrestricted sampling. What subjective decisions must you make?
As populations age and young workers reject work requiring repetitive operations, factories around the world are turning to robots. China has made the largest investment, with almost 1 million
How might you use exploration using internal sources if you were a human resources officer or a supervising manager trying to increase compliance with safety policies?
Loyalty programs are in the headlines frequently. Hotels, like Hilton and Marriott, or coffee powerhouses, like Starbucks, are constantly revamping their programs to keep their customers as connected
Distinguish between synchronous interviews and asynchronous interviews and when each might be used.
What is data saturation, and how does it influence qualitative research?
The milk market has been disrupted by upstarts like almond- and soy-based alternatives. Milk sales have fallen for eight consecutive years. Some people have defected to avoid lactose; others, to
Airlines around the world grounded their fleet of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft following two crashes in which 346 people lost their lives. A problem with the plane's anti-stall mechanism, believed
Based on present or past work experience, suggest management problems that could be resolved by using observation-based data.
Distinguish between the following:a. Nonverbal, linguistic, and extralinguistic analysis.b. Factual and inferential observation.c. Memory decay and selective filtering.
HR.com’s latest HR Trends Report, The DNA of Human Capital, concludes workplace “hierarchies are largely being replaced by networked structures,” as technology has changed the flow of
What ethical problems do you see in conducting experiments with human participants?
Dolby, the company that provides advanced sound and light systems in movie theaters, is operating in an environment where theater ticket sales are dropping 5 to 10 percent per year due to a better
Natura Cosmeticos SA, Brazil’s all natural, ethically-sourced, sustainable beauty products company, recently purchased Avon Products Inc. as a way to enter the U.S., Europe, and Chinese cosmetics
Describe the issues related to privacy.
GM’s Cadillac in the United States is a declining brand that appeals mostly to consumers over the age of 60, which makes the success of its crossovers and SUVs in China among 30-something
Fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 just declared bankruptcy. It grew to leadership by making merchandise for immediate consumption, not long-term wear, and rapidly opening new stores. It interpreted
Discount department store Kohl’s recently announced its customers would “have a new easy, secure and private way to pay in stores with the rollout of Apple Pay, as well as the ability to use
All the new media streaming services have had a negative effect on movie ticket sales. To make it even worse, some streaming competition is coming from the same firms that provide theaters with
What would you say are four major faults of measurement instrument design? Justify your choices.
One design problem in the development of measurement instruments concerns the sequence of questions. What suggestions would you give to a novice researcher designing his or her first questionnaire?
A recent study of Ivy League college students showed 20 percent had tried performance-enhancing drugs to improve their academic performance. A Royal Society study found senior employees find the
Assume the American Society of Training Directors is studying its membership in order to enhance member benefits and attract new members. Below is a copy of a cover letter and mail questionnaire
Most advertisers opt out of sensitive topic material when choosing where to place advertising on YouTube. Online video gaming, a relative new area for advertisers, has not been high on advertisers’
How should the researcher handle missing data?
You study the attrition of entering college freshmen (those students who enter college as freshmen but don’t stay to graduate). You find the following relationships among attrition, financial aid,
The following information was reported in the Globalforce MoodTracker employee engagement survey. For those employed by their company less than one year: 58% considered themselves highly engaged,
Using the following data,a. Create a scatterplot.b. Find the least-squares line.c. Plot the line on the diagram.d. Predict: Y if X is 10. Y if X is 17. X 3 6 9 12 15 18 Y 6 10 15 24 21 20
It is well known in country music that new or emerging artists are often subjected to sexual harassment by radio studio program directors when pitching their songs for radio play. Female artists
Distinguish between the following:a. Technical report and management report.b. The motivated sequence and the cause/effect/solution pattern of organization.c. Jargon and language level.d. Audience
What are the three types of learners, and how does each type influence the research report.
Use Exhibit 16-5 and the sample infographic to plan an infographic of your course project or of a research study you have read about in one of the cases in this text.Exhibit 16-5 Report
Develop the recruitment screener for the focus groups used during exploration.
What factors might influence individuals to agree to participate in the survey?
Why might VI have chosen a web-based self-administered survey rather than a phone survey?
What are the possible sources of error in this project?
During the focus groups, what issues will VI need to manage?
How did VI use expert interviews during exploration? What were some of the likely questions on VI’s interview discussion guides?
What types of management questions are involved in this project?
Your research study of Gen Z (born 1995-2012) spending arrived at these insights. Gen Z (1) sees technology as an extension of themselves, not a tool, thus it affects everything they do, (2) reject
Evaluate the topline management report in the Close Up.
Explain how each of the five evaluation factors for a secondary source influences its management decision-making value.a. Purposeb. Scopec. Authorityd. Audiencee. Format
A-list actress Sandra Bullock and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres filed law suits today in LA Superior Court against John Doe #1 through #100. They are fighting back against businesses using their names,
According to study by the Pew Research Center, 6 in 10 Americans believe it is impossible NOT to have their personal data collected by the government and business. Most (81%) believe the potential
Below are some terms commonly found in a management setting. Are they concepts or constructs? Give two different operational definitions for each.a. Employee morale.b. Assembly line.c. Overdue
Distinguish among the following sets of items, and suggest the significance of each in a research context:a. Data, information, and insightb. Concept and construct.c. Deduction and induction.d.
Using Exhibit 2-2 and case examples from some research company’s website, discover if favored-technique approaches to research design dominate a firms’ activities.Exhibit 2-2 Exploration Clarify
Distinguish between the following and identify the research use of each.a. Primary and secondary datab. Finding and insightc. Census and sampled. Management dilemma and research questione. Finding
Definea. Business researchb. Data siloc. Strategic inflection point
Describe how you would conduct an audience analysis of your business research class.
Evaluate the sampling design decisions, excluding the decision to use a systematic probability sample.
Why did VI insist on a custom-designed measurement question for the survey questionnaire?
What supports the use of a multiple rating listscale for the development of the survey measurement instrument?
Describe logos, ethos, and pathos and how each should influence the research report.
Distinguish between:a. Coding scheme and recodingb. Bar chart and histogramc. DK response and missing data.d. Listwise deletion and pairwise deletione. Thematic units and referential units
Using Exhibit 12-7, develop a skip logic diagram for the instrument you design in the next question.
What invalid assumptions might a researcher make in instrument design? How would each affect the instrument?
Summarize the instrument design decisions that would result in decreased participant rapport.
What is the function of the skip logic diagram.
Distinguish between the following:a. Administrative and classification questionsb. Screen and buffer questions.c. Introduction and transition.d. Rapport and social desirability bias.e. Measurement
The third generation iPad disappointed many who had expected not only a higher resolution screen (delivered) but Siri, Apple’s much ballyhooed speak-and-it-responds app developed for the iPhone 4S
Walmart recently asked Mondelez, owner of Oreos, to bring back a new-and-improved version of its 1990s cereal Oreo O’s. By studying social media comments, Walmart discovered a preference for cereal
Mercedes-Benz has a self-driving car capable of 80 miles-per-hour speeds. You have to keep your hands on the wheel in this E-class sedan to operate the self-driving feature, but the car reads and
Distinguish between social desirability bias and acquiescence bias.
What essential characteristics distinguish a true experiment from other research designs?
In May 2017, LAX, the world’s fourth-largest airport, relocated 15 airlines in a three-night (5 hours per night) period in order to accommodate Delta’s expansion. During the period, Delta
Lately, airlines have been having a rough time, in terms of legal actions and PR issues, with consumers openly expressing outrage at being bumped from—or forcibly removed from— flights. Design a
What is the nature of data collected in qualitative research?
As populations age and young workers reject work requiring repetitive operations, factories around the world are turning to robots. It is estimated that the US has 176 robots for every 10,000
You plan to conduct a survey using unrestricted sampling. What subjective decisions must you make?
UBER is facing a large number of law suits, among them a charge of technology theft from Google, installation of software that blanks out the availability of UBER rides near government buildings or
Using the eight design descriptors (Exhibit 4-2), describe a study to determine why enrollment in your major at your university is increasing (decreasing).
At a BMW staff meeting, employees were told “We’re in the midst of an electric assault,” referring to electric cars introduced by Mercedes, Porsche, Jaguar, and most notably, Tesla. A fund
As area sales manager for a company manufacturing and marketing outboard engines, you have been assigned the responsibility of conducting a research study to estimate the sales potential of your
SupplyCo is a supplier to a number of firms in an industry. Several companies are involved in the manufacturing process—from processed parts to creation of the final product—with each firm adding
Kathy Lee Berggren, a professor of oral communication at Cornell University, indicates “a lot of my students really [only] scratch the surface with the type of researchthey’re doing.” According
Distinguish between the following and identify the research use of each.a. Primary and secondary datab. Finding and insight c. Census and sampled. Management dilemma and research question
Chipotle Mexican Grill continues to suffer from perception issues after a string of outbreaks including E.coli worried customers about the safety of eating at the fast casual chain. Their strategy