II Semester M.

Com (IB) Degree Examination May 2017

Choice-based Credit System
Commerce
Subject: Business Research Methods
Code: CBS452
Time: 3 Hours Max.Marks:70
SECTION-A
Answer any Four questions out of Seven, each carries 10 marks, answer to each
question should not exceed 4 pages. (10*4=40)
1. Briefly describe the different steps involved in a research process.
2. Why is it important to define research problem appropriately?
3. Differentiate between exploratory and descriptive research.
4. For any research to be successful it must be well designed. Justify this statement.
5. What is primary data? Explain the various sources of primary data
collection.
6. Write a short note on Statistical software packages.
7. Differentiate between observation and interview techniques of data collection.
8. What do you mean by analysis of data? Explain the simple statistical techniques used in
analysis of data.
9. Why probability sampling is generally preferred in comparison to non
probability sampling?

10. From the following table first determine the degree of linear correlation
(find and interpret the correlation coefficient and coefficient of
determination) and find the line that best fit the data.
y 10.4 16.5 22.9 26.6 33.8 42.8
x 11.8 12.5 15.7 19.2 21.9 23.3

11. A business owner had been working to improve employee relations in his
company. He predicted that he met his goal of increasing employee
satisfaction from 65% to 80%. Employees from four departments were asked
if they were satisfied with the working conditions of the company. The
results are shown in the following table:

Finance Sales Human Resources Technology

 Satisfied 12 38 5 8
Dissatisfied 7 19 3 1
Total 19 57 8 9
Use chi square and determine whether the results support or reject the
business owner's prediction.
SECTION-B
Answer any Two questions out of Three, each carries 15 marks, answer to each
question should not exceed 7 pages. (15*2=30)
12. Empirical research in India in particular creates so many problems for researchers.
State the problems that are usually faced by such researchers.
13. What are sampling techniques? Explain various sampling techniques in
detail.
14. Write a short note on:
a. Pilot Study
b. SPSS
c. Factor Analysis
15. What is data? Explain the important data collection methods in research.
16. Citrus clean is a new all-purpose cleaner being test-marketed by placing
displays in three different locations within various supermarkets. The
number of 12-ounce bottles sold from each location within the supermarket
is reported below.
Near bread 18 14 19 17
Near beer 12 18 10 16
Other 26 28 30 32
cleaners
At the 0.5 significance level, is there a difference in the mean number of
bottles sold at the three locations?
a. State the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis.
b. What is the decision rule?
c. Compute SST, SSE and SS total.
d. Develop an ANOVA table.
e. What is your decision regarding the null hypothesis?