DATA LINK INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

END OF SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATION (ONLINE)
COURSE TITLE: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
COURSE CODE: ADMIN 349
LEVEL: 300
CAMPUS: TEMA
SESSION: WEEKEND
DATE: MAY 3RD, 2020
TIME: 9AM
DURATION: 24 HOURS
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2019/2020
EXAMINER: DR. DEREK OPPONG
OFFICIAL E-MAIL ADDRESS: derek.oppong@datalink.edu.gh
READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE STARTING WORK
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer All Questions. All Questions Must Be Answered in The
Standard Font; Times New Roman Font Size 12 Double Line Spacing. Work That Is Copied
from Other Sources Including Handouts etc Shall Be Penalized. All Work Must Be
Submitted Before the Deadline. Work Submitted Late Shall Not Be Accepted .
1. Maame esi has been working in the same organization for the pat five years and during her
time in the organization she has become less of a church goer. She has observed how the
organization has morning worship before work starts and the CEO even organizes retreats,
yet she sees her co-workers being selfish and vindictive at work. This prompted her to enter
the university to get a degree so she can rise above the competition. She enjoyed herself in
the first and second years but in the third year she noticed her grades begin to drop. A
debate sprung among her friends as to whether the last two years were tougher than the
first two or years or it was the lecturers who had become more evil. Dr. Oppong wants to
supervise her to do a study around family upbringing and how it influences the age at which
one will enter the university. She has personally become fascinated with the issue of lay-offs
and how other potential recruiters are influenced by a potential employee who was
previously laid off from work. Her best friend however thinks they should be should be doing
some deeper investigation into challenges of rising entrepreneurs in Ghana.

i. Identify five potential research areas from the passage above

ii. Derive a research topic for each of these areas
iii. State any two potential hypothesis for each topic

2. Adzo works in a company that manufactures pineapple juice for the Ghanaian market. Her
new boss decides that he wants to introduce concentrate into the juice so as to reduce the
per unit cost of the drink and increase profits. He has also introduced two other products;
orange juice and guava juice. He is however unsure as to whether people will enjoy the two
new products that he is about to introduce. He also does not know whether his new
pineapple juice concentrate will lead to an increase or decline in sales
i. develop a research topic for Adzo
ii. write an abstract of not less than 200 words for this topic
iii. generate at least three statements of hypothesis
iv. write out a research design to investigate your hypotheses

3. the following conversation took place among some friends

a. Fiifi: So have you guys decided on your research project topics?
b. Ekow: I want to do a study on ‘the impact of national development on human resource
management’. It sounds like a powerful topic
c. Sarah: Ekow I don’t think your topic is a good one. I have decided to do a study on ‘the
role of gender, religion, nationality and ethnicity on human relations, productivity and
performance in the Ghanaian textile, fashion and entertainment industry’
d. Fiifi: You guys are working too hard. My big brother finished school two years ago. I’ll
just take his topic, update the references, collect a little more data and add it to what he
did and voila, I have my research project done
e. Ekow: Isn’t that plagiarism?
f. Fiifi: Oh no. since I’ll be adding more references the work has technically changed. In
addition to that I’ll also be collecting more date to add.
g. Ekow: Why don’t you just pay someone to do a new topic for you? After all, you have
the money.
i. What is wrong with Ekow’s proposed topic in (b)
ii. Rewrite it into a more researchable topic
iii. What is wrong with Sarah’s topic
iv. Rewrite it into three or more researchable topics
v. Do you think what Fiifi proposes to do is plagiarism? Give reasons for your answer
vi. What do you think about Ekow’s proposal in (g)