Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Q1:- Briefly describe the different steps involved in a research process. Distinguish between
descriptive and causal research studies?
Ans. (a) Meaning of research.
Research is a tool, of special significance in all areas of management. It can be defined as
an unbiased, structured, and sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit
or explicit business objective.
(b) Steps involved in research process.
Each year, organization spend enormous amounts of money on research and development
in order to maintain their competitive edge, thus we process a broad framework that can be
easily be followed in most researches. The process or steps of research is interlinked at
every stage:
Management dilemma basic vs. applied
Defining the research problem.
Formulating the research hypothesis.
Developing the research proposal.
The research framework research design.
Data collection plan
plan
sampling
Instrument design
Pilot testing
Data collection
Data refining and preparation
Data analysis and interpretation
Research reporting
Management/research decision
Q2:- Distingush between primary and secondary methods of data collection. Explain the
Interview method of data collection?
Ans. Differences
Primary Data: The name suggests, is original, problem-or project-specific and collected for the
specific objective and needs spelt out by the researcher. The accuracy and relevance is
reasonably high. The time and money required for this are quite high and sometimes a
researcher might not have the resources or the time or both to go ahead with this method.
Secondary Data: The name implies is that information which is not topical or research-specific and
has been collected and complied by some other researcher or investigative body. This type
of data is recorded and published in a structured format, and is quicker to access and
manage. One must remember that this is a little low on accuracy as what is primary and
original for one research would essentially become secondary and historical for someone
else.
Primary Data
Secondary Data
Collection purpose
For the problem at hand
For other problems
Collection process
Very involved
Rapid & easy
Collection cost
High
Relatively low
Collection time
Long
Short
Accuracy
As desired
Not Known
Period
Up to date
Dated
Control
Complete
No Control
Explanation of Interview method of data collection
Personal interview is a one-to-one interaction between the investigator/interviewer and the
interviewee. The purpose of the dialogue is research specific and ranges from completely
unstructured to highly structured.
Uses of the interview method
Problem definition: The interview method can be used right in the beginning of the study. Here,
the researcher uses the method to get a better clarity about the topic under study.
Exploratory research: Here because the structure is loose this method can be actively used.
Primary data collection: There are situations when the method is used as a primary method of
data collection, this is generally the case when the area to be investigated is high in emotional
responses.
Telephone Method:-The telephone method replaces the face-to-face interaction between the
interviewer and interviewee by calling up the subject and asking them a set of questions. This
method can be explain by two types:
i) Tracitional telephone interviews ii) Computerassisted telephone interviewing.
3) Ratio scale: This is the highest level of measurement and takes care of the limitations of the
interval scale measurement, where the ratio of the measurements on the scale does not have a
meaningful interpretation. The mathematical form of the ratio scale data is given by Y=bX.
Examples of the ratio scale data are weight, distance travelled, income and sales of a company,
to mention a few.
B) Explanation of the concepts of reliability, validity and sensitivity.
Reliability: It is concerned with consistency, accuracy & predictability of the scale. It refers to the
extent to which a measurement process is free from random errors. The reliability of a scale can
be measured using the following methods:
Test-retest reliability: In this method, repeated measurements of the same person or group using
the same scale under similar conditions are taken. The research has to be careful in deciding the
time difference between two observations. If the time difference between two obsevation is very
small it is very likely that the respondent would give same answer which could result in higher
correlation.
Split-half reliability method- This method is used in the case of multiple item scales. Here the
number of items is randomly divided into two parts and a correlation coefficient between the two
is obtained.
Validity: The validity of a scale refers to the question whether we are measuring what we want to
measure. Validity of the scale refers to the extent to which the measurement process is free from
both systematic and random errors. For example: A set of 15 items is proposed. These items
when combined in an index measure the perception of Kingfisher Airlines. In order to judge the
content validity of these 15 items. The items covered may be lacking in the content validity if we
have omitted behaviour of the crew, food, quality, & food quality etc.
Content validity: This is also called face validity. It involves subjective judgement by an expert for
assessing the appropriateness of the construct.
Predicitive validity: This involves the ability of a measured phenomena at one point of time to
predict another phenomenon at a future point of time. If the correlation coefficient between the
two is high, the initial measure is said to have a high predicitive ability.
Sensitivity: Sensitivity refers to an instruments ability to accurately measure the variability in a
concept. A dichotomous response category such as agree or disagree does not allow the
recording of any attitude changes. A more sensitive measure with numerous categories on the
scale may be required. For example, adding strong agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree,
disagree and strongly disagree categories will increase the sensitivity of the scale. The
sensitivity of scale based on a single question or a single item can be increased by adding
questions or items.
Q4:- a) Distinguish between:
i)
Schedules and Questionnaires
ii)
Open ended and closed ended questions
b) What are the different modes of administering a questionnaire? What are the
conditions that merit the use of one over the other? Discuss by using suitable
examples.
Ans. Schedule- Questionnaire with a face to face interaction in which the interviewer reads
out each question and makes a note of the respondents answers. It might have a mix of
the questionnaire type or might have some structured and some unstructured questions.
Questionnaire- A research tool that consists of a series of questions asked to
respondents, in order statistically useful information about a given topic. It is one of the
most cost-effective methods of collecting primary data, which can be used with
considerable ease by most individual & business researchers.
carried out by considering two populations at a time. This would be a very cumbersome
procedure. One easy way out could be to use the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique.
The technique helps in performing this test in one go and therefore, is considered to be
important technique of analysis for the researcher. Through this technique it is possible to
draw inference whether the samples have been drawn from populations having the same
mean. The technique has found applications in the field of economics, psychology,
sociology, business and industry. It becomes handy in situations where we want to
compare the means of more than two populations. Some example could be to compare:
- The means cholesterol content of various diet foods.
- The average mileage of, say, five automobiles
- The average telephone bill of households belonging to four different income groups and
so on.
In ANOVA, it is assumed that each of the samples is drawn from a normal population and
each of these populations has an equal variance. Another assumption that all the factor
expect the one being tested are controlled (kept constant). Basically, two estimates of the
population variance are made. One estimated is based upon between the samples and the
other one is based upon within the samples. The two estimates of variance can be
compared for their equality using F statistics.
b. The following data represent the number of units produced by four operators during three
different shifts:
Shifts
Operators
A
B
C
D
I
10
8
12
13
II
10
12
14
15
III
12
10
11
14
Perform a two-way analysis of variance and interpret the result.
Ans- T will be two hypotheses to be tested in this case; one corresponding to the treatment
(diet food) and the other corresponding to laboratories(blocks). These are listed below:
I(Diet Food)
H0 : ua = uB =uc = ud (Average cholesterol content of the four diet foods is same)
H1 : At least two means are not same.
II(Blocks or labs)
H0 : v1 = v2 = v3 (Average cholesterol content in the three labs is same)
H1 : At least two means are not same.
SSE = TSS TrSS SSB
The reqired computation fot the two way ANOVA are as under:
T.1 = 10 + 10 + 12 = 32
T.2 = 8 + 12 + 10 = 30
T.3 = 12 +14 + 15 = 41
T.4 = 13 + 15 + 14 = 42
SSB = I/4 [ 322 + 302 + 412 + 422]-1/12 (1452)
SSB = 1342.25 - 1752.08
= -409.83
TSS = 1.18, TrSS = 0.54
SSE = TSS- TrSS- SSB
= 1.18-0.54-(-409.83)
= 409.19
Q6:- Explain the three basic principles of professional ethics that any research must
follow. How do you follow an ethical practice while collecting information from the
respondents?
Ans. Besides ensuring that specific protocols and codes be followed for the two benefactors
(clients) and contributors respondents) there are some basic tenets that the researcher must
not forego. These are significant not only for the body of knowledge that the researcher is
contributing to but also for the society in which we exist.
Professional Creed- It refers to the overall conduct of the researchers, who has to be
truthful during all phases of the study, whether in the conceptualization, conduction or
presentation of the research study.
- At no stage should the researcher exaggerate or underplay the expenses or efforts
incurred in the conduct of the study. Thus, sometimes the investigator might over claim
the expenses incurred in travel or field visit.
- The respondent group being studied should be a true representative of the identified
respondent population studied and not a skewed and biased sample.
- The data and the questionnaire completed should be on authentic, real-time conduction,
with actual respondents representation of the population under study and not fake
completion done by the field investigators themselves.
- The finding and results should be presented as those were found based on actual
conduction and under no circumstances must the researcher attempt to fudge or
manipulate the result of the study.
Professional Confidentiality- The research must bear the responsibility to maintain the
confidentiality of the research findings and not making public any aspects of the study, in an
apparent or camouflaged manner. The code of ethics applies both to the sponsoring client,
as well as the respondent. The anonymity and privacy of the respondent is to be respected
and not violated.
Professional Objectivity- As a true researcher and contributor to the existing body of
knowledge, the researcher must maintain the objectivity of an absolutely neutral reporter of
facts. Designing the research objective which must be based on facts and sound analysis
rather than simply opinion. Collecting information by using a standard and not differential set
of instructions. Interpretation and presenting the findings as they are and not in a particular
direction based on the researchers own gut feel or liking.
Ethical Codes Related to Respondents- The most important and vulnerable person in the
research study is the respondent from whom the data is to be collected. Every association
and organization that is directly or indirectly involved with research has made clear and
detailed guidelines for ensuring that an unethical treatment does not happen.
The American Association for Public Opinion research has formulated the following code of
ethics for survey researchers, with reference to the respondent:
- We shall strive to avoid the use of practices or method that may harm, humiliate or
seriously mislead respondents.
- Unless the respondent waives confidentiality for specific uses, we shall hold as
privileged and confidential all information that might identify a respondent with his or hr
responses. We shall also not disclose or use the names of respondents for nonresearch purposes unless the respondent grants us permission to do so.