SPRING Masters of Business Administration SEMESTER-III. SUBJECT CODE & NAME-MBA301 & Research Methodology SET- 1

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1 SPRING 2018 Masters of Business Administration SEMESTER-III SUBJECT CODE & NAME-MBA301 & Research Methodology SET- 1 Q1. Elaborate Research Applications in Social and Business Sciences. Answer. Research is a crucial element in the area of business. It helps the decision maker to identify new opportunities for business growth. Research provides information about various aspects of business, like product life cycle, consumer behavior, market opportunities and threats, technological changes, social changes, economic changes, environmental changes, and so on, which are important for any decision maker to run the business smoothly. Research is crucial in the following areas of business: Marketing function - Research is the lifeline in the field of marketing, where it is carried out on a vast array of topics and is conducted both in house by the organization itself and outsourced to external agencies. This could be related to the 4 Ps- product, price, place and promotions. Personnel and human resource management - Human resources (HR) and organizational behavior is an area which involves basic or fundamental research as a lot of academic, macro-level research may be adapted and implemented by organizations into their policies and programmes. [Type text] Page 1

2 Financial and accounting research - The area of financial and accounting research is quite vast and includes asset pricing, corporate finance and capital markets, marketbased accounting research, modelling and forecasting in volatility, risk, etc. Production and operations management - This area of management is one in which research results are implemented, taking on huge cost and process implications. Research in this area relates to operation planning, demand forecasting, process planning, project management, supply chain management, quality assurance and management. Research in social science includes an in-depth study and evaluation of human behavior by using scientific methods in either quantitative or qualitative manner. As social science is concerned with the study of society and human behavior, it is important for a business organization in terms of understanding their customers, their taste, needs, preferences, lifestyle and their behavior. New products or services are unlikely to succeed without proper consumer studies and survey. Q2.Elaborate Descriptive Research Designs. Answer. As the name implies, the objective of descriptive research studies is to provide a comprehensive and detailed explanation of the phenomena under study. The intended objective might be to give a detailed sketch or profile of the respondent population being studied. For example, to design an advertising and sales promotion campaign for high-end watches, a marketer would require a holistic profile of the population that buys such luxury products. Thus a descriptive study, (which generates data on who, what, when, where, why and how of luxury accessory brand purchase) would be the design necessary to fulfill the research objectives. Descriptive research thus is conclusive studies. However, they lack the precision and accuracy of experimental designs, yet it lends itself to a wide range of situations and is more frequently [Type text] Page 2

3 used in business research. Based on the time period of the collection of the research information, descriptive research is further subdivided into two categories: cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies. Cross-sectional Studies As the name suggests, cross-sectional studies involve a slice of the population. Just as in scientific experiments one takes a cross-section of the leaf or the cheek cells to study the cell structure under the microscope, similarly one takes a current subdivision of the population and studies the nature of the relevant variables being investigated. There are two essential characteristics of cross-sectional studies: The cross-sectional study is carried out at a single moment in time and thus the applicability is most relevant for a specific period. For example, one cross-sectional study was conducted in 2002 to study the attitude of Americans towards Asian-Americans, after the 9/11 terrorist attack. This revealed the mistrust towards Asians. Another cross-sectional study conducted in 2012 to study the attitude of Americans towards Asian- Americans revealed more acceptances and less mistrust. Thus the cross-sectional studies cannot be used interchangeably.. Secondly, these studies are carried out on a section of respondents from the population units under study (e.g., organizational employees, voters, consumers, industry sectors). This sample is under consideration and under investigation only for the time coordinate of the study Longitudinal Studies A single sample of the identified population that is studied over a longer period of time is termed as a longitudinal study design. A panel of consumers specifically chosen to study their grocery purchase pattern is an example of a longitudinal design. There are certain distinguishing features of the same: The study involves the selection of a representative panel, or a group of individuals that typically represent the population under study. The second feature involves the repeated measurement of the group over fixed intervals of time. This measurement is specifically made for the variables under study. A distinguishing and mandatory feature of the design is that once the sample is selected, it needs to stay constant over the period of the study. [Type text] Page 3

4 That means the number of panel members has to be the same. Thus, in case a panel member due to some reason leaves the panel, it is critical to replace him/her with a representative member from the population under study. Q3. Describe four types of Measurement Scales. Answer. There are four types of measurement scales nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. We will discuss each one of them in detail. The choice of the measurement scale has implications for the statistical technique to be used for data analysis. Nominal scale: This is the lowest level of measurement. Here, numbers are assigned for the purpose of identification of the objects. Any object which is assigned a higher number is in no way superior to the one which is assigned a lower number. Each number is assigned to only one object and each object has only one number assigned to it. It may be noted that the objects are divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories. Example: What is your religion? (a) Hinduism (b) Sikhism (c) Christianity (d) Islam (e) Any other, (please specify) A Hindu may be assigned a number 1, a Sikh may be assigned a number 2, a Christian may be assigned a number 3 and so on. Any religion which is assigned a higher number is in no way superior to the one which is assigned a lower number. The assignment of numbers is only for the purpose of identification. [Type text] Page 4

5 Nominal scale measurements are used for identifying food habits (vegetarian or nonvegetarian), gender (male/female), caste, respondents, marital status, brands, attributes, stores, the players of a hockey team and so on. The assigned numbers cannot be added, subtracted, multiplied or divided. The only arithmetic operations that can be carried out are the count of each category. Therefore, a frequency distribution table can be prepared for the nominal scale variables and mode of the distribution can be worked out. One can also use chi-square test and compute contingency coefficient using nominal scale variables. Ordinal scale: This is the next higher level of measurement than the nominal scale measurement. One of the limitations of the nominal scale measurements is that we cannot say whether the assigned number to an object is higher or lower than the one assigned to another option. The ordinal scale measurement takes care of this limitation. An ordinal scale measurement tells whether an object has more or less of characteristics than some other objects. However, it cannot answer how much more or how much less. Example: Rank the following attributes while choosing a restaurant for dinner. The most important attribute may be ranked one, the next important may be assigned a rank of 2 and so on. Attribute Food quality Prices Menu variety Ambience Service Rank [Type text] Page 5

6 Interval scale: The interval scale measurement is the next higher level of measurement. It takes care of the limitation of the ordinal scale measurement where the difference between the score on the ordinal scale does not have any meaningful interpretation. In the interval scale the difference of the score on the scale has meaningful interpretation. It is assumed that the respondent is able to answer the questions on a continuum scale. The mathematical form of the data on the interval scale may be written as Y = a + b X Where a 0 In the interval scale, the difference in score has a meaningful interpretation while the ratio of the score on this scale does not have a meaningful interpretation. This can be seen from the following interval scale question: How likely are you to buy a new designer carpet in the next six months? Suppose a respondent ticks the response category likely and another respondent ticks the category unlikely. If we use any of the scales A, B or C, we note that the difference between the scores in each case is 2. Whereas, when the ratio of the scores is taken, it is 2, 3 and 1 for the scales A, B and C respectively. Therefore, the ratio of the scores on the scale does not have a meaningful interpretation. 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 ratio scale measurement can be converted into interval, ordinal and nominal scale. SET-2 Q.1 Elaborate all the types of Probability Sampling Design. [Type text] Page 6

7 Q2. What is Central Tendency? Elaborate measures of Central Tendency. Q.3 Define Chi-square Test for the Goodness of Fit & Remaining Answers are available in Paid Assignments.. Contact us for complete assignments.. NAVEEN KUMAR: / smuassignment2014@gmail.com Website: Now you can Pay Online on our Website. To pay online go to Payment Details Page of our Website ALL OF OUR ASSIGNMENTS ARE IN WORD FORMAT, WITHOUT ANY WATERMARK, READY TO UPLOAD AND AS PER NEW GUIDELINES OF SMU [Type text] Page 7