Research Methods and Report Writing-1

Part – A

Q1: “It is necessary for researchers to understand the research methods & also the research methodology.” Elaborate with suitable explanations.

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Q2: The researcher’s problem & the management problem are not always one and the same. Thus it is necessary for the researcher’s to understand the research methods and also the research methodology. Elaborate with suitable examples.

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Q3: The following table lists the jobs of a network with their estimates

Job (i-j)	Optimistic time	Most likely time	Pessimistic time
(1-2)	3	6	15
(1-6)	2	5	14
(2-3)	6	12	30
(2-4)	2	5	8
(3-5)	5	11	17
(4-5)	3	6	15
(6-7)	3	9	27
(5-8)	1	4	7
(7-8)	4	19	28

(i) Draw the project network.

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(ii) Calculate the length & variance of the critical path.

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(iii) What is the approximate probability that the jobs on the critical path will be completed in 41 days?

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Q4: A fast moving consumer product company’s marketing manager realizes that there is a strong link between the advertising expenditure & sales in the following week. He collects the following data from his company records on sales, and advertising expenditure for the State of Uttar Pradesh of his company.

Week no.	Sales in a week (units in thousands)	Advertising expenditure in previous week (Rs.) (in thousands)
1	110	15
2	120	25
3	140	20
4	150	20
5	125	15
6	130	15
7	115	20
8	127	20
9	118	20
10	121	10

The marketing manager would like you to perform a regression analysis on the data and advise him on how to use the regression model to predict sales based on advertising & promotional expenditure.

a. State the regression equation and use the Least Square method to estimate the regression coefficients.

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b. Calculate regression coefficient r2 and state its significance.

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c. Plot the trend lines estimated and actual values.

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d. Predict the sales when advertising expenditure in previous week was Rs. 10,000.

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e. Forecast sales for the next two weeks.

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Q5: Critically evaluate the following statements:

a. Interviews introduce more bias than does the use of questionnaires.

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b. It is never safe to take published data at its face value without knowing its meaning and limitations.

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Part – B

Q1: Explain the key difference between

a. Cluster Sampling & Stratified Sampling

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b. Single & Multiple Cross Sectional Sampling

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Q2: Answer the following for Business Reports

a. Explain the difference between Synopsis and Executive Summary.

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b. Describe the characteristics & contents of the following sections of a report:

Problem Definition, Data Analysis, Conclusions & Recommendations

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Q3: State the researcher’s problem for each of the following management decision problem:

a. Should a new product be introduced?

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b. Should advertising campaign which has run for three years be changed?

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c. What pricing strategy should be adopted for a new product?
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d. Should the compensation package be changed to motivate the sales force?

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Case study:

 

The automobile manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra came out with a new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) SCORPIO. This was at a time when the company was financially drained out and the market was saturated withSUMO SAFARI AND TOYOTA QUALIS. Due to these reasons the manufacturers were skeptical about investing in new production facilities, although the distributors urged the manufacturers to build more vehicles. The other reason was also the price of the vehicle when it first came out on the market which ranged from Rs. 6, 60,000 to Rs. 8,50,0000.

The bad years of Mahindra had taught the management to be more risk averse than risk prone. The manufacturers are performing well again and investing in new ventures.

 

Would the demand follow in the long term or would customers stop demanding Scorpio when the next fad comes along? The lack of diversification and the high cost base had affected the company adversely in the past. Thus the management was afraid that the decision to invest was too early. On the other hand, investing would help Mahindra & Mahindra to expand and become the market leader in this particular segment.

 

A study was conducted in 2 metros of the income group of the customers who bought SCORPIO which is as follows:

 

METRO (CITIES)	INCOME-GROUPS			TOTAL
	RICH	MIDDLE	POOR
DELHI	10	30	160	200
MUMBAI	40	120	140	300
TOTAL	50	150	300	500

 

 

In light of theses developments of Mahindra & Mahindra answer the following:

a. Define the Management Decision Problem and the Researcher’s Problem Respectively.

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b. State the research question and formulate the associate hypothesis.

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c. What type of research has been conducted by the researcher by the management to come up with a decision? Justify your answer.

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d. Critically evaluate reasons for collecting the income of the customers and the type of sampling design used by Mahindra & Mahindra.

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e. Provide your recommendations for Mahindra & Mahindra and justify the research methodology you will undertake in light of the above developments?

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Part – C

 

 

S.no	Question	Option (a)	Option (b)	Option (c)	Option (d)
1	Research comprises of defining problems	& not suggesting solutions	& manipulation of existing data & symbols	& suggesting solutions	& manipulation of existing data
2	Research objective determines	the frequency with which something does not occurs	the frequency with which something occurs	it has nothing to do with frequency	it is associated with something else
3	Analytical Research has to	use facts already available	doesn’t use facts already available	use facts which are obsolete	has to survey the facts
4	Which of the following is an example of fundamental research	does not concerns the study of human behavior	concerns the study of human behavior	not aimed at certain conclusions	is mainly hypothesis testing
5	Qualitative research aims at	not finding out how people feel or think about a particular subject	finding out how people feel or think about a particular subject	finding out how people feel but doesn’t think about a particular subject	finding out how people think but doesn’t feel about a particular subject
6	Empirical research	is purely database research	is not a database research	doesn’t require any proof	doesn’t have any control over variables
7	Research in the social sciences is	conclusive	hypothesis testing	applied	descriptive
8	Research problem has to be evaluated	not in light of financial resources & time available	in light of financial resources but not time available	in light of time available but not financial resources	in light of financial resources & time available
9	Research is	necessary for collecting information for economic & social structure	not necessary for collecting information for economic & social structure	necessary for collecting information for economic but not social structure	necessary for collecting information for social but not economic structure
10	While selecting a research problem, one has to consider	non availability of the data	the availability of the data	the non ethical issues	the format
11	Research objective has to made after considering	research design	research question	research proposal	sample design
12	Research objective should	not be ambiguous but can be incomplete	not be ambiguous & incomplete	be ambiguous & incomplete	be ambiguous & not incomplete
13	A good research should	be non reproducible	give us the same result	should not have the same characteristics	be reproducible
14	Descriptive Research means	has nothing to do with facts	do with formulations	fact finding research	do with conclusions
15	Survey research incorporates	study of census	study of population & sample	neither the study of population nor the sample	not the study of population
16	All the methods which are used by the researcher are known as	research design	research methods	sample design	data processing
17	Research methodoly	does not enables consumers to make choices	enables consumers not to evaluate situations	enables consumers to make choices	is inadequate
18	Formulation of research problem	should not follow sequential pattern	should not be specific	should not be a theory only	must follow a sequential pattern
19	Study of the market potential is the type of	quantitative research	qualitative research	descriptive research	exploratory research
20	To define a problem correctly, it is necessary for a researcher	should not look at internet or journals	to not to look at previous studies	not to know what the problem is	to know what the problem is
21	The objective of Exploratory research	is to describe	is to explore	is to diagnose	is to conclude
22	Major sources of references are	internet but not websites	not internet & websites	internet & websites	websites but not internet
23	Research design	constitutes the guidelines for collection of data	doesn’t include the guidelines for collection of data	collection of data is not necessary	doesn’t include the guidelines for study
24	Research design	should not be explicit	data is not necessary	should have the final analysis of data	should not have the final analysis of data
25	A good research Design should be	time consuming	economical	uneconomical	inefficient
26	Good Research Design is	not related to the objective of the research problem	related to the objective but not the research problem	related to the research problem but not objective	related to the objective of the research problem
27	Qualitative attributes	are not quantified on the basis the concerned attributes of the study	can not be quantified on the basis of concerned attributes of the study	are quantified on the basis of concerned attributes of the study	can be a secondary data
28	Height depends on age, thus height is a	not a variable	dependent variable	a number	independent variable
29	Purchase of designer clothes by a lady is dependent upon	her purchasing power	only taste	only preference	Friend’s decision
30	Research hypothesis must contain at least	one dependent and no independent	no dependent and no independent	one dependent and one independent	one independent and no dependent
31	The main purpose of the exploratory research study is the	the formulation of the problem	the solution of the problem	identification of the problem	investigation of the problem
32	Hypothesis stated by earlier researchers	shouldn’t be reviewed	should be reviewed	is irrelevant	should be tested
33	The object of a survey is to obtain	look at the old ideas	already proven ideas	only qualitative data	new ideas relating to the research problem
34	Descriptive Research	is concerned with describing a particular group	is concerned with describing a particular phenomenon	is concerned with exploring a particular phenomenon	is not concerned with exploring a particular phenomenon
35	Diagnostic research studies	the industries	the markets	doesn’t study society as whole	the society as a whole
36	Diagnostic research studies	requires a clear cut definition of the population	requires a clear cut definition of the sample	requires a clear cut definition of the census	requires a clear cut definition of the sampling unit
37	The best instrument for collecting primary data is	interviews	structured questionnaire	unstructured questionnaires	case study
38	Research plan is a	book	brochure	document	agreement
39	hypothesis simply means	not a supposition	supposition	a brief	a fact
40	To determine validity, hypothesis has	not to be tested	has to be surveyed	has to be described	to be tested