The research environment in the case is a primary method of collecting data. The method is not interviews but a participate and observational study. The people are not given a questionnaire or not asked some set questions to be answered; there is a free flowing conversation and people share their ideas and listen to what the representatives too have to say. Hence, it also has a tinge of informal interview style.

The perceptions for this research activity will be that people will not be very formal of the entire thing. Being a part of the interview and being asked some specific questions will not make them feel awkward. Moreover, the interaction will be a two way conversation where representatives will too be telling about McDonald's and the representatives share their ideas in the field they are comfortable in or are related to.

A wildcat survey is executed when business managers bypass their internal research departments and, using online survey software, launch their own survey. This is a growing phenomenon, according to Ruth Stanat, president and CEO of SIS International Research, and is most frequently done to control costs and gain immediate feedback.

But there are drawbacks, most notably loss of control of internal sample panels; duplication of contact and sample fatigue; and insufficient training in question development and data analysis, leading to poor data quality and weak data insights. If [sample respondents] feel bombarded by our surveys, shared Sharon Starr, director of market research for IPC Inc., they will start to ignore surveys at best, or resent the company for wasting their time at worst. The companys image will suffer if the company looks disunified and out of control.

The availability of seemingly simple survey solutions from firms like Zoomerang and SurveyMonkey has magnified the problem. Jeffrey C. Adler, president of Centrac DC Marketing Research, likens it to trying to fix a broken switch on his own furnace. I could have gone to Home Depot and purchased the switch myself, theoretically saving a lot of money. However, I was smart enough to recognize that changing the switch was not my area of expertise. How big would the savings have been if I wired the thing myself and caused damage to the furnace or burned down the house? Adler argues that when end-users work through research departments or specialists, they are paying for expertise in using the tools. He laments that managers recognize this easily with an electrician or a surgeon; but fail to recognize this with research specialists.

Some in the industry think research specialists have, in part, created the problem by not providing knowledge and insights to the manager about the practice of research itself. By not educating that manager about how research is done, that manager is less able to distinguish greater from lesser quality research. If research buyers or sponsors understood the real challenges of research in a specific project, it is argued, they would have a greater appreciation for the art and science of research.

There is an opportunity for research departments to extend an olive branch to other parts of the business by providing best practices, templates, and even resources for self-executed projects, suggests Josh Mendelsohn, vice president of Chadwick Martin Bailey Inc. I certainly wish everyone had the time/budget to do full-fledged research projects in every case, but sometimes the business need doesnt justify the cost/time it takes to do something the right way. By providing assistance, the validity issues are likely to go away and redundancies are going to be less. And research [divisions] then become more of a business partner to be consulted than an internal vendor to be battled with.

Question one what is the ; research environment?

Question two The participants perceptions of research activity