Online Submission of Mid-Term Assignment-I

Subject: Business Research Methods

Paper Code : MBA (Exec) CP- 205

BY ABDUL KHALIQ
ROLL NO 19MBE002
2nd SEM
Q. No -1 .What is a Business research? As an area sales manager for a company
Manufacturing and marketing outboard motor engines, you have been
assigned the responsibility of conducting a research study to estimate the
sales potential of your product in the domestic market. Discuss the key
issues and concerns related to it.

Ans-
Business research is a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide
managerial decisions. More specifically, it is a process of planning, acquiring,
analyzing, and disseminating relevant data, information, and insights to decision
makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take appropriate actions that, in
turn, maximize performance.

A manager conducting research that will predict sales for their products can produce
an ethical dilemma.

1. Senior level management can set unreasonable sales expectations that the
manager is compelled to find research to support. If the sales findings
influence the future employment or financial status of the manager, the
manager is placed in an unfortunate predicament.

2. The manager may interpret the data in a manner that is most beneficial
for his/her position in the company. The manager may also set exaggerated
goals for the sales team based on their optimistic interpretation of the data.

3. The manager/researcher may not acknowledge problems with internal or

external validity because of competing personal interests. In addition,
interpretation errors of the data can occur due to the manager’s stake in the
findings.
 4. Researcher bias would also be a concern. As manager, the researcher can
unknowingly introduce bias by directing questions in a manner that elicits the
response desired. Depending on the research method chosen, the
researcher/manager soliciting responses may skew study participant answers.
Study participants may want to please the researcher as their response may
affect future business transactions.

5. The manager can unintentionally introduce sampling bias by only seeking

data from clients that are perceived as important and ignoring those with less
current sales volume or predicted sales.

6. Sample size would also be a concern for the sales manager conducting
research. Does the sales manager have contacts within the industry with
buyers that are not currently buying the boat engines? A research company
would have contacts with potential clients the outboard motor company is not
currently servicing. Using an outside research company would widen the
potential respondents or participant data available to evaluate.

7. As a manager, only collecting data from current clients would not provide a
complete picture for estimating sales in the entire market. In summary, this
situation would cause concern due to the manager’s ability to obtain an
appropriate sample, obtain unbiased data, acknowledge limitations,
appropriately justify conclusions, and potential lack of experience with
research.

Q. No -2 An automobile manufacturer observes the demand for its brand

increasing asper capita income increases. Sales increases also follow low
interest rates which eases credit conditions. Buyer purchase behaviour is seen
to be dependent on age and gender. Other factors influencing sales fluctuate
randomly (competitor advertising, competitor dealer discounts).

a. If sales and per capita income are positively related, classify all
variables as dependent, independent, moderating, extraneous or
intervening.

b. Frame a hypothesis and a model.

Ans-
While classifying all of the different variables of this scenario, it’s important to first
identify the independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DV). It is also safe
to assume since it is a car manufacture, the discussion is concerning new car sales.
As Prieto states, “We can observe a positive correlation between income and demand
for luxury segments, new as well as used” (While car sales are directly related to per
capita income and will go up and down depending on this factor, car sales themselves
have no direct effect on income levels. In this case the dependent variable is car
sales and the independent variable is per capita income. The moderating (MV)
variables in this situation is the interest rates used to finance the vehicles and
the introductions of new competitive models.

While interest rates are also an independent variable, it does not carry the direct
influence on car sales that per capital income does. It definitely affects car sales but
only after the necessary income levels are present which is why it’s best categorized
as a moderating variable. After credit approval has been established, based off of
income ofcorse interest rates are determined and in many cases negotiated. As Carter
points out, “During periods of easy credit, lenders are so tightly interwoven into the
car-buying process that dealers make money just by getting loans approved” (Carter,
2015, p. 198). Because of this the base interest rates are not as significant as the
negations of the overall purchase of the vehicle. With the introduction of new
competitive models, the same stands true as with interest rates in regards to the need
for sufficient income to be present first but this v
ariable can be extremely disruptive or be a great benefit to sales depending on
whether your introducing the new model or dealing with a competitors introduction
of a new model.

In this case there are also several extraneous variables (EV’s). These would include
competitor advertising and competitor dealer discounts. It could also be argued that
the introduction of new models could be an EV instead of an MV depending on the
perceived affect it could have on a particular market segment sales. Competitor
advertising and discounts are extraneous variables because these are assumed to be
constant or happening all the time making them part of the industry competitive
structure lacking any significant effect on either the independent or dependent
variables.
B. Hypothesis Model-

INDEPENDENT VARIALES DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Per capita income MODERATE VARIABLES

Car Sales

Interest rates of cars

Competitor advertising
Competitor dealer discounts

Concerning the utility of the model I believe it is structured in a way that will
produce significant and actionable data. Establishing the core model of the structure
being the independent and dependent variables as the key to making it relevant. The
effect of the chosen DV and ID could be easily seen by comparing the amount of
new car dealerships in our country’s poorest counties vs it’s richest. As with every
product or service, companies market and sell their product to those that have first
been financially qualified to buy them. I also believe the additional variables have
been accurately categorized according to their impact and effect on the DV and ID.

Q. No -5 Distinguish between quantitative and qualitative research. Why do

senior executives rely on quantitative data? How might qualitative research
lessen the senior executives concerns?

Ans- Quantitative and qualitative research are complementary methods that we can
combine in your surveys to get results that are both wide-reaching and deep.

Simply put, quantitative data gets us the numbers to prove the broad general points
in our research. Qualitative data brings us the details and the depth to understand
their full implications.

Quantitative research - Quantitative data is designed to collect cold, hard facts.

Numbers. Quantitative data is structured and statistical. It provides support when
you need to draw general conclusions from your research.
Qualitative research - Qualitative data collects information that seeks to describe
a topic more than measure it. Think of impressions, opinions, and views. A
qualitative survey is less structured: It seeks to delve deep into the topic at hand to
gain information about people’s motivations, thinking, and attitudes. While this
brings depth of understanding to your research questions, it also makes the results
harder to analyze.

Senior executives rely on quantitative data more because it provide measurements

to confirm each problem or opportunity and understand it in a detailed manner.
Quantitative data is structured and statistical. It provides support when you need to
draw general conclusions from your research. . It generally involves surveying a
large group of people (usually at least several hundred and often thousands), using
a structured questionnaire that contains predominantly closed-ended, or forced-
choice, questions.

Quantitative research can help you answer questions such as “how many” and
“how often” and is invaluable when putting together a business case for any new
product or service, or proposing changes to existing ones.
The statistically robust results that can be derived from quantitative research are
good for estimating the probability of success.

As well as helping you validate the marketplace and demand for your particular
product or service, quant surveys can be used to shape your market proposition and
gain understanding of how to market to your target audience.

Qualitative research concerns –

Numerical (quantitative) research can measure behaviours, but it can’t necessarily
tell you why customers behave as they do (or how to change that behaviour).
That’s where qualitative research comes in; providing brands a more in-depth look
into their customers’ psyches, with feedback right from the horse’s mouth. It helps
to answer ‘why?’

It’s best used for more deeply exploring a topic or idea, when you want
unprompted and unbound input rather than set answers to structured questions.
Qualitative research is a primarily inductive process used to formulate theory
rather than test existing ones. It helps brands to gain an insight into a target
audience’s lifestyle, culture, preferences and motivations.
Like quantitative research, it can help identify customer needs. The results will be
much more subjective but can be used to shape quantitative surveys that will
validate the findings.

For example you may ask an open ended question ‘what is most important to you
when it comes to dining out?,’ and then take the most common free-text answers,
and validate them with a larger number of consumers using a quantitative survey,
with fixed choice options based on the answers you got in your preliminary qual
research.

You can also employ the two methods in the opposite direction – using quantitative
research to gain statistics on behavior or beliefs, and then qualitative to discover
the reasons behind those behaviors or beliefs. It helps brands to better understand
the context of the data.

Qualitative research can be very useful when it comes to developing brand image
and marketing campaigns, since you can capture the language and imagery
customers use to describe and relate to products and services in their own words.

Q. No -4 What is the difference between sample and sampling frame? The

axial length of pistons produced follows normal distribution with a variance of
81 mm. Determine the sample size such that the mean length of pistons is
within plus or minus 2.5 mm with a confidence level of 95%.

Ans-

Sample - In statistics and quantitative research methodology, a sample is a set of

individuals or objects collected or selected from a statistical population by a
defined procedure. The elements of a sample are known as sample points,
sampling units or observations.
Example of a sample is a small subset of society who is surveyed in order to get
an idea of the opinion of society as a whole.

Sampling Frame- In statistics, a sampling frame is the source material or device

from which a sample is drawn. It is a list of all those within a population who can
be sampled, and may include individuals, households or institutions.

Example of a sampling Frame- you might have a sampling frame of names of

people in a certain town for a survey you're going to be conducting on family size
NUMERICAL

The axial length of pistons produced follows normal distribution with a

variance of 81 mm. Determine the sample size such that the mean length of
pistons is
within plus or minus 2.5 mm with a confidence level of 95%.