Research Methods For Business Students 6th Edition Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, Adrian Thornhill - Solutions

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How disappointed would you feel if you did not reach the goals you had set for yourself?
To what extent do you engage yourself in hobbies?
How frequently do you think of your work when you are at home?
How often do you neglect personal matters because you are preoccupied with your job?
How difficult do you find it to continue to do your work in the face of initial failure or discouraging results?
To what extent would you say you push yourself to get the job done on time?
Below are three scenarios. Indicate how the researcher should proceed in each case; that is, determine the following, giving reasons:a. The purpose of the studyb. The type of investigationc. The extent of researcher interferenced. The study setting
Discuss the interrelationships among noncontrived setting, the purpose of the study, type of investigation, researcher interference, and time horizon of study.
Is a field study totally out of the question if one is trying to establish cause-and-effect relationships?
Why is it important to consider basic design issues before conducting the study and even as early as at the time of formulating the research question?
Product placement is a form of advertising in which a company's products and name are intentionally positioned in motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts, and the like. Product placement can take many forms: verbal mentions in dialogue, actual use by a character, or visual displays
Develop a conceptual model for the following case.
Develop a conceptual model for the scenario below.
For the following case entitled “Sleepless nights at Holiday Inn” (published in Business Week and adapted here):a. Identify the problemb. Develop a conceptual modelc. Develop at least four hypotheses
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,
There is an advantage in stating the hypothesis both in the null and in the alternate; it adds clarity to our thinking of what we are testing. Explain.
“Because literature review is a time-consuming exercise, a good, in-depth interview should suffice to develop a theoretical framework.” Discuss this statement.
Below is the gist of an article from Business Week. After reading it:a. identify the broad problem areab. define the problemc. explain how you would proceed further.
After studying and extracting information from all the relevant work done previously, how does the researcher know which particular references, articles, and information should be given prominence in the literature review?
Offer a clearly focused problem statement in the broad area of corporate culture.
What is the purpose of a literature review?
How would you go about doing a literature review in the area of customer satisfaction?
Should a researcher always obtain information on the structural aspects and job characteristics from those interviewed? Give reasons for your answer with examples.
Comment on the following situation.
What is action research? Describe a specific situation where action research would be warranted.
Strictly speaking, would the use of case studies be considered scientific research? Why or why not?
Critique the following research done in a service industry as to the extent to which it meets the hallmarks of scientific
If research in the management area cannot be 100% scientific, why bother to do it at all? Comment on this statement.
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
What are the steps in hypothetico-deductive research? Explain them, using an example not in the book.
Describe the hallmarks of scientific research.
Given the situations below:a. discuss, with reasons, whether they fall into the category of applied or basic researchb. for Scenario 1, explain, with reasons, who will conduct the research
Give two specific instances where an external research team would be useful and two other scenarios when an internal research team would be deployed, with adequate explanations as to why each scenario is justified for an external or internal team.
For what specific purposes is basic research important?
14.4 The ‘road map’ you announced in the introduction may not now be correct. The previews and summaries at the beginning and end of the relevant chapters may need changing. A more serious potential problem is that the storyline may be altered. This should not be the case. Nonetheless, it would
14.3 Academic writing is often difficult to understand. This is not usually because the subject matter is complex or the thoughts profound. It is because the writer thinks it necessary to write in an ‘academic’ way.
14.2 It will demonstrate good practice in two respects. First it will demonstrate that you have evaluated your research design. Second it will help you to evaluate how you would alter this design if you were going to repeat your research, or if you were going to undertake further research. Remember
14.1 This is easier said than done. Start by going through your results chapter, continually asking yourself ‘Did I find this out?’ You will probably weed out a lot of things that you have thought about that are related to points you found out. These belong in the conclusions (or discussion)
4 Even if you think you aren’t nervous, why is practising a presentation in front of a critical friend a good idea?
3 In what ways might ‘telling them what you’re going to say, saying it, and then telling them what you’ve just said’ have helped Clare’s audience?
2 What advice would you give Clare in relation to interacting with her audience more effectively?
1 In what way did starting with the eight boxes limit or help Clare’s planning of her presentation?
• being rigorous in your use of the procedures that are advocated in order to be able to produce a research report that contains findings that are sufficiently ‘grounded’ to substantiate the analysis or theory that you are seeking to advance.
• recognising the relationships between the principal categories that have emerged from this grounded approach in order to develop an explanatory theory;
• understanding how negative cases broaden (or threaten) your emerging explanation;
• seeking to verify apparent relationships against the actual data that you have collected;
• recognising the relationships between categories and rearranging these into a hierarchical form, with the emergence of subcategories;
• recognising significant themes and issues during early analysis to help you to consider where data collection should be focused in the future;
• working with smaller rather than larger units of data;
13.5 The main implications of using an inductive analytical approach for the process of qualitative analysis are likely to be related to: • managing and categorising a large number of code labels, which will probably emerge from the data that you collect;
• The use of literature and the theory within it will shape the data collection questions that you wish to ask those who participate in your research project. • You will be able to commence data collection with an initial set of categories derived from your theoretical propositions/hypotheses
13.4 There are a number of implications of using a deductive analytical approach for the way in which you conduct the process of qualitative analysis: • You will be in a position to commence your data collection with a well-defined research question and objectives and a clear framework and
13.3 A deductive analytical approach is one where you will seek to use existing theory to shape the approach that you adopt to the qualitative research process and to aspects of data analysis. An inductive analytical approach is one where you will seek to build up a theory that is adequately
13.2 You will generate three broad types of data that you will need to retain and file as the result of undertaking qualitative research. The first of these may be referred to as raw data files. These are your original notes and audio-recordings made during the conduct of interviews or
13.1 There are a number of reasons why we may describe qualitative analysis as an ‘interactive process’. Analysis needs to occur during the collection of data as well as after it. This helps to shape the direction of data collection, especially where you are following a grounded theory
3 What methods of data analysis could Jessica use for each of these types of data you have identified?
2 Undertake your own search using online databases discussed in Chapter 8 and search engines such as Google or Bing for possible data to answer Jessica’s research question. Make notes about each secondary data source you find. Don’t forget to include the full reference including the URL and
1 Jessica has already obtained statistical, visual and textual material including visual images of employees, and recruitment adverts (combining text and imagery). What other secondary data could she use for her research?’
12.8 a These quantitative data are of different magnitudes. Therefore, the most appropriate technique to compare these data is index numbers. The index numbers for the two companies are: EJ Investment Holdings AE Financial Services Price 6 months ago 100 100.0 Price 4 months ago 120 104.4 Price 2
examples for regression illustrate a dependent and one or more independent variables.
12.7 Your answer needs to emphasise that correlation analysis is used to establish whether a change in one variable is accompanied by a change in another. In contrast, regression analysis is used to establish whether a change in a dependent variable is caused by changes in one or more independent
12.6 The probability of a chi square value of 2.845 with 9 degrees of freedom occurring by chance alone for these data is 0.970. This means that statistically the association between students’ degree programmes and their opinion of the quality of feedback from project tutors is extremely likely
12.5 a The first thing you need to do is to establish the data type. As it is numerical, you could theoretically use all three measures of central tendency and both the standard deviation and inter-quartile range. However, you would probably calculate the mean and perhaps the median as measures of
12.4 a You would probably use a scatter graph in which number of donations would be the dependent variable and number of viewers reached by the advertisement the independent variable. b This would enable you to see whether there was any relationship between number of viewers reached and number of
12.3 a Park Trading Company – Income and Expenditure 2004–12. b Your diagram (it is hoped) emphasises the upward trends of expenditure and (to a lesser extent) income. It also highlights the conjunction where income falls below expenditure in 2010. c To emphasise the years with the lowest and
12.2 a There is no one correct answer to this question as the number of variables will depend on the method used to code these descriptive data. If you choose the multiple-response method, five variables will be generated. If the multiple- dichotomy method is used, the number of variables will
12.1 a The variables are ‘income’, ‘expenditure’ and ‘year’. There is no real need for a separate case identifier as the variable ‘year’ can also fulfil this function. Each case (year) is represented by one row of data. b When the data are entered into a spreadsheet the first column
4 What data would Rebecca need and what sort of analysis could Rebecca do in order to take her research further as her project tutor suggests such as seeing how different aspects of the supply chain affect total carbon emissions for different products within that supply chain?
3 Comment on Rebecca’s analysis and the assumptions she has made. What are the implications of this for the validity and reliability of her findings?
2 With regard to Rebecca’s research question, what would you conclude from these results about the importance of distance travelled as opposed to type of vehicle used?
1 Explain what the t -test results in Figures. C12.4 and C12.5 mean, stating an appropriate hypothesis and null hypothesis for each.
• identify the main issues that you need to consider when preparing quantitative data for analysis and when analysing these data by computer; • recognise different types of data and understand the implications of data type for subsequent analyses;
• to ensure that you have the same understanding of the wording of individual questions as the respondents; • to check that respondents have no problems in answering questions; for example: • all possible answers are covered in list questions; • whether there are any questions that
11.8 Despite the time constraints, pilot testing is essential to your methodology for the following reasons: • to find out how long the questionnaire takes to complete; • to check that respondents understand and can follow the instructions on the questionnaire (including filter questions);
11.7 Although the precise wording of your answer is likely to differ, it would probably be something like the letter below.
lifestyles, opinions and likely future purchases of adult consumers. Your telephone number has been selected at random. The questions I need to ask you will take about 15 minutes. If you have any queries I shall be happy to answer them [ pause]. Before I continue please can you confirm that this
11.6 Although the precise wording of your answer is likely to differ, it would probably be something like this: Good morning/afternoon/evening. My name is ____ from JJ Consumer Research. We are doing an important national survey covering
11.5 When translating your questionnaire you will need to ensure that: • the precise meaning of individual words is kept (lexical equivalence); • the meanings of groups of words and phrases that are natural to a native speaker but cannot be translated literally are kept (idiomatic equivalence);
11.4 a Please complete the following statement by ticking the phrase that matches your feelings most closely . . . I feel children’s book clubs are . . . . . . a very good idea 5 . . . a good idea 4 . . . neither a good nor a bad idea 3 . . . a bad idea 2 . . . a very bad idea 1 b
11.3 Although your answer is unlikely to be precisely the same, the completed table of data requirements below should enable you to check you are on the right lines.
11.2 a i Opinion data: the question is asking how the respondent feels about the use of nil hours contracts by employees. ii Behaviour data: the question is asking about the concrete experience of being employed on a nil hours contract. iii Attribute data: the question is asking about the
11.1 When you: • wanted to check that the person whom you wished to answer the questions had actually answered the questions; • have sufficient resources to devote to delivery and collection and the geographical area over which the questionnaire is delivered is small; • can use field workers
5 How could Thomas have redesigned his research to increase his questionnaire response rate?
4 What possible factors should Thomas consider as reasons for non-completion of his online questionnaire?
3 What are the possible disadvantages of using an online questionnaire sent to students’ university email address?
2 What mistake might Thomas have made in his assumption that because students were more technologically orientated now than in the past they would be willing to complete his questionnaire online?
1 Would the data Thomas collected from the third-year students have enabled him to test his four hypotheses?
10.6 There are several areas where you need to develop and demonstrate competence in relation to the conduct of semi-structured and in-depth research interviews. These areas are: • opening the interview; • using appropriate language; • questioning; • listening; • testing and summarising
10.5 Key issues to consider include the following: • planning to minimise the occurrence of forms of bias where these are within your control, related to interviewer bias, interviewee bias and sampling bias; • considering your aim in requesting the research interview and how you can seek to
10.4 Perhaps it will be wise to say that you understand his position. You realise that any approach to research calls for particular types of competence. Your previous answer touching on interviewee bias has highlighted the need to establish credibility and to gain the interviewee’s confidence.
10.3 Certainly politely! Your response needs to show that you are aware of the issues relating to reliability, bias and generalisability that might arise. It would be useful to discuss how these might be overcome through the following: the design of the research; the keeping of records or a diary
10.2 Reasons that suggest the use of interviews include: • the exploratory or explanatory nature of your research; • situations where it will be significant to establish personal contact, in relation to interviewee sensitivity about the nature of the information to be provided and the use to
10.1 The type of interview that is likely to be used in each of these situations is as follows: A standardised and structured interview where the aim is to develop response patterns from the views of people. The interview schedule might be designed to combine styles so that comments made by
4 Do you think Anthony is right to be concerned about ‘talking too much’ in his interview? Give reasons for your answer.
3 What does the interpretive research paradigm have to say about truth and subjectivity in research?
2 What is the difference between bias and subjectivity?
1 Why do you think Anthony’s supervisor thought the interview went very well?
9.4 Clearly, there are some question marks about the coding schedule in Figure 9.2 . There does appear to be some overlap in the behavioural categories covered in the schedule. For example, it could be difficult to distinguish between what is ‘offering directions’ (taking initiative) and
9.3 This is a difficult one. The question of status may be a factor. However, this would depend on your relationship with the staff. If you are, say, of similar age and have an open, friendly, ‘one of the team’ relationship with them, then it may not be too difficult. The element of threat
9.2 The research question is very broad. It allows you plenty of scope to discover a host of interesting things about the world of the trainee accountant. Without doubt, one of the things you will emerge with a clear understanding of is what they like about their work and what they do not like.

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Research Methods For Business Students 6th Edition Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis, Adrian Thornhill - Solutions

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