IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106

Semester II Terminal Examinations (Class of 2007) IBS557 Business Research Methods Part A
Q. During a focus group discussion, the moderator specifically mentioned that the views and opinions of every participant will be treated respectfully and be considered in the up-coming research. This code of conduct of the moderator reflects a. b. c. d. e. Assurance Guarantee Friendliness Politeness Ethics

Q.

-------- is very essential before the study of the status of slum-dwellers in a remote place at Bhubaneshwar. a. b. c. d. e. Data collection Regression Analysis Pilot test Ramsey Test Probability test

Q.

A research is done to a. b. c. d. e. Assess theories Probe into the history of an event Do clinical experiments Critically evaluate the concepts used Answer queries or expand the realm of knowledge

Q.

Which study explores the relationship between salary of the employee and his/her job performance? a. b. c. d. e. Descriptive study Causal study Cross-Sectional study Experimental study Time series study.

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. Data on money supply collected from the Handbook of Statistics of Indian Economy, RBI for research, is known as a. b. c. d. e. Q. Primary Data Secondary Data Cross-Sectional Data Ordinal Data Only (a) and (c) above.

Semantic differential scale is used for a. b. c. d. e. Coding data Forecasting demand Representing categories Noting demographic data like, gender, age-group and marital status Assessing attitudinal and behavioral measurements

Q.

In a personal interview special emphasis should be paid to a. b. c. d. e. Psychographic profile of the respondent Demographic profile of the respondent Responses and comments of the respondent Indifferent attitude displayed by the respondent Abusive language used by the respondent

Q.

A questionnaire method of data collection does not gather a. b. c. d. e. Secondary data Primary data Psychographic data Demographic data Attitude data

Q.

The following enlists the components of the Service Record of an employee. Which of the following is not a categorical data? a. b. c. d. e. Name Joining date Date of birth Designation Years of service

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. A students mark sheet includes the registration number (R) and the marks in all the subjects (M). R and M are respectively instances of a. b. c. d. e. Q. Interval Scale and Nominal Scale Nominal Scale and Ratio Scale Ratio Scale and Interval Scale Nominal Scale and Interval Scale Ratio Scale and Nominal Scale

The categorization of information on gender into male and female pertains to a. b. c. d. e. Nominal data Ordinal data Interval data Ratio Data Only (b) and (d) above.

Q.

When numbers are used exclusively, the code is ____________ a. b. c. d. e. Alphanumeric. Numeric Semi-Numeric Only (a) and (b) above. All (a), and (c) above.

Q.

Projective technique is a data collection method for a. b. c. d. e. Qualitative data Rating data Numerical data Ratio scale data Sales data

Q.

The list of chapters in a research report is called the a. b. c. d. e. Index Contents Reference Chapter scheme Salient points in the research

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. A Likert scale has a. b. c. d. e. Q. Ranking data Uni-polar label end Comparative scaling Rating information Categorical information

Which of the following option(s) one will put while preparing the question in order to know the martial status of the respondent? a. b. c. d. e. Married Widow(er) Divorced Separated. All (a) (b), (c) and (d) above.

Q.

Which analysis measures the what aspect of a message? a. b. c. d. e. Factor analysis Content analysis Regression analysis Cointegration analysis Cluster analysis

Q.

Constant Sum is a ________ method. a. b. c. d. e. Validating Computing Non-comparative Scaling Editing

Q.

From the Business section of a newspaper, the stock market data (the closing value of index) of some companies were noted down. This is a. b. c. d. e. Primary data in Interval scale form Secondary data in Interval scale form Primary data in Ratio scale form Secondary data in Ratio scale form Secondary data in Nominal scale form

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. Y=a+b1X1+b2X2+ e. In this function, b1 & b2 are known as a. b. c. d. e. Q. Constants. Variables. Coefficients. Dummy variables Proxy variables

The question, Do you like and appreciate the name Indian for our airlines? is a question of ______ type a. b. c. d. e. Double-barreled Fixed-alternative Open-ended Offending Probing

Q.

Hypothesis testing does not comprise of a. b. c. d. e. Alternative hypothesis Null hypothesis Critical value of the test statistic Calculated (observed) value of the test statistic Qualitative data

Q.

The situation where two or more of the independent variables are highly correlated is known as a. b. c. d. e. Autocorrelation Multicollinearity Heteroscedasticity Specification Bias Variance

Q.

Effect as in a cause-effect relationship is the a. b. c. d. e. Independent variable Predictor variable Explanatory variable Dependent variable Variable that can not be used in a Regression analysis

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. The linear combination of X i s namely D = a1 X1 + a2 X2 + .. + a Discriminant Analysis. The symbols D and the X i s are the a. b. c. d. e. Q. Discriminant score and effect variables Discriminant equation and independent variables Discriminant function and dependent variables Discriminant score and dependant variables Discriminant score and independent variables
n

is used in a

In a Regression analysis, R2 = 0.286. One may conclude that the Regression model a. b. c. d. e. Is superficial Can not be improved Is a poor model Is non-mathematical Should have been essentially non-linear

Q.

Which statistical analysis studies the relationship between or among groups? a. b. c. d. e. Regression Analysis Discriminant analysis Factor analysis Multiple regression analysis Cluster analysis

Q.

Factor analysis is basically done a. b. c. d. e. To add new factors to the factor matrix To correlate some uncorrelated variables To delete some of the of the factors obtained in the factor matrix To reduce the number of original variables to a smaller number of factors To improve the interpretation of the correlation matrix

Q.

Organisations have different work cultures, employee profiles and policies. Grouping these organisations on similarity or dissimilarity measures of these attributes is done using a. b. c. d. e. Discriminant analysis Regression analysis Cluster analysis Factor analysis correlation

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Q. The correlation coefficient between two variables is 0.0862. One may conclude that between the two variables a. b. c. d. e. There is no association Explanatory power is extremely poor There is spurious correlation There must be a non-linear association The strength of linear association is poor

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106

Part B
Problems, Conceptual Understanding, Analytical Ability and Situational Analysis
1. A major social organisation provides one of the most comprehensive emergency medical services in a city. Operating in a multiple hospital system with twenty mobile medical units, the service goal is to respond to medical emergencies with utmost efficiency. The proprietor of this organisation wants to introduce this noble service in other cities and especially in villages. She sets herself two goals (1) assess the extent of use of this mobile medical service in the city it is presently operating in and (2) know if the present medical facilities she is offering is adequate or not. a. For goal (1) she has designed a set of questions for the citizens. State six questions, one of each of following types - probing, free-response, multiple choice, double-barreled, rating and ranking, that will help her to assess this usage. Whom should she select as respondents to attain goal (2)? Should she take recourse to personal interviews or a focus group discussion involving the respondents she has selected for goal (2)? Justify your answer. (6 + 1 + 3 = 10 marks) Suggested Answer: a. probing Can you suggest ways in which this mobile medical service may be further improved? free-response What do you feel about the extent of use of the mobile medical service in this city? multiple choice if you were to choose among a first aid unit, a para-medic unit and an intensive care unit, which would you recommend to be included in this mobile medical service? double-barreled - Is the mobile medical service in this city efficient in its work and dedicated to the service? rating rate each of the following on the given agreement scale: Strongly disagree There must always be a cardiac surgeon in the mobile medical service. The mobile medical service must always have life-saving drugs well-stocked. ranking rank each of the following, from 1 to 4 (1- most preferred, 4 - least preferred) there should be 4 mobile medical units running for 24 hours there should be 20 mobile medical units running for 18 hours there should be 10 mobile medical units running for 20 hours 8 Strongly agree

b. c.

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 there should be 10 mobile medical units running for 24 hours For goal 2 she should select doctors, para-medics and nurses. She should initially do a focus group discussion involving the respondents and later do some personal interviews with the doctors. An FGD will help to Identify special requirements Reveal hidden 1. 2. 3. critical requirements needs, wants, preferences perceptions, opinions

Generate new ideas Discover new requirements of patients and patient-families Understand sudden changes Get some suggestions for improving the medical facilities A personal interview will help in - getting deeper insights into and know more intricately about the points thus emerged from the FGD. 2. Dairy-Tess, a large and very popular ice cream company, with more than four hundred retail outlets throughout our country, was keen on expanding its customer base. The objective was to identify potential consumer segments that could generate additional sales. It was decided that a primary research should be conducted - to get a clear demographic profile of this consumers and also get an assessment of their life style and attitude towards consumption of ice cream. a. b. c. Design a questionnaire (with adequate psychographic and demographic questions, using proper measuring and scaling techniques) that will help you to fulfill the task. Mention one error that a field-worker doing this primary research must essentially avoid? Explain the meaning of the following with respect to experimental designs. EG: R O1 X O2 CG: R O3 EG: R CG: R Suggested Answer: a. Questionnaire (with adequate psychographic and demographic questions, using proper measuring and scaling techniques) that will help you to fulfill the task. QUESTIONNAIRE NO. ______ Sir / Madam, WE SEEK YOUR VALUED OPINION ON SOME ASPECTS OF CONSUMPTION OF ICE CREAM WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND ASSURE YOU COMPLETE CONFIDENTIALITY OF ALL THE INFORMATION YOU WILL SO KINDLY SHARE WITH US. O4 X O5 O6 (6 + 1 + 3 = 10 marks)

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 IN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS PLEASE MARK THE ALTERNATIVE(S) THAT APPLY TO YOU: 1. I GET TO KNOW ABOUT ICE CREAM BRANDS FROM TELEVISION MALLS 2. CHILDREN COLLEAGUES 3. LOCAL GROCER COMPANY OUTLET NEWSPAPERS MAGAZINES BILL BOARDS SUPER
MARKETS

MY BRAND OF ICE CREAM IS / ARE DECIDED BY SPOUSE RELATIVES FRIENDS

STORE PERSONNEL SUPERMARKET VENDORS ICE CREAM PARLOURS

I WOULD LIKE TO MY ICE CREAM FROM

The following table lists the different reasons for buying an ice cream. Please grade the importance of each as per your opinion on the given scale of 1 to 7. (1 I certainly do not believe this, 7 I definitely support this) 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Ice cream is a spontaneous purchase I like to have ice creams while partying with friends Ice creams give a feeling of happier times I associate ice creams with eating out I would always make it a point to store ice creams as a ready-to-eat dessert at home Ice cream is a much superior dessert as compared to other traditional ones

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

10. Ice cream is a dessert associated with upper strata society 11. I would contemplate a lot before purchasing ice creams Personal Information 12. Gender 13. Marital status / Divorced (4) 14. Occupation force (3) Female (1) Married (1) Home maker (1) Male (2) Unmarried (2)

Widow / Widower (3)

Separated

Service Private (2)

Service army, navy, air Retired (6)

Service public other than above (4) Student (7)

Self-employed (5)

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 14. Age _____ (years) 15. Household size ____ 16. No. of children (below 18 years of age) in the family ___ 17. Family income per month (Rs.) ___________

Thank you Sincerely yours, __________________ Date: ________________ b. Errors that a field-worker doing this primary research must essentially avoid: altering the language of the question that is written in the questionnaire recording only a part of the responses in case of the absence or unavailability of the correct respondent, conveniently choosing a respondent to replace the actual one answering data on behalf of the respondent c. 3. Text book Page 153, Solomon four group designs

Gillette conducted a comprehensive research on customer satisfaction of its shaving products, mainly razors. A large amount of data was from a variety of respondents were collected and analysed, leading to several results The following is a part of one such result. Rotated Component Matrix Component 1 The Gillette company gives quality products I hardly ever scratch myself while using Gillette razors I would never shift to any other brand of shaving products ever Gillette razors may be costly, but they last for weeks The brand name Gillette itself is enough for me Shaving with Gillette gives me a smooth feeling Gillette razors are soft on my skin a. b. c. d. -.145 -.708 .389 -.092 -.008 .972 .972 2 .851 .097 -.053 -.039 .916 -.034 -.034 3 .125 .518 .209 .960 -.127 .020 .020 4 -.321 .076 .852 .124 .210 .141 .141

If you were to do a secondary research on the usage of Gillette razors in other countries, what would be your source of information? What Statistical technique has the above result emerged from? What do you understand by Rotated Component Matrix? Write a brief report on the result displayed above. (1 + 1 + 3 + 5 = 10 marks) 11

IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Suggested Answer: a. Source for a secondary research on the usage of Gillette razors in other countries internet, web sites relating to the Gillette Company. Statistical technique Factor analysis Rotated Component Matrix: This is matrix of correlation coefficients between individual factors and each original variable. The basic reason for rotating factors is to improve the interpretation of the factors obtained through unrotated methods. Rotation is simply a mathematical procedure, which allows new axes to be chosen so that the positions of the points can be described as simply as possible - so that loadings of some variables are maximised and the loadings of others are minimised. d. Report on the result of Rotated Component Matrix Component 1 The Gillette company gives quality products I hardly ever scratch myself while using Gillette razors I would never shift to any other brand of shaving products ever Gillette razors may be costly, but they last for weeks The brand name Gillette itself is enough for me Shaving with Gillette gives me a smooth feeling Gillette razors are soft on my skin Naming the Components Component 1 I hardly ever scratch myself while using Gillette razors, Shaving with Gillette gives me a smooth feeling, Gillette razors are soft on my skin Satisfaction Brand that speaks of quality Value for money Brand loyalty Component 2 The Gillette Company gives quality products, The brand name Gillette itself is enough for me Component 3 Gillette razors may be costly, but they last for weeks Component 4 I would never shift to any other brand of shaving products ever -.145 -.708 .389 -.092 -.008 .972 .972 2 .851 .097 -.053 -.039 .916 -.034 -.034 3 .125 .518 .209 .960 -.127 .020 .020 4 -.321 .076 .852 .124 .210 .141 .141

b. c.

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Customers put first priority to satisfaction while selecting their brand of shaving accessories. Then follow Brand that speaks of quality, Value for money and Brand loyalty in decreasing order of importance in the selection and purchasing procedure. 4. If you have to make a sales forecast on a new type of product which is yet to be launched, what type of forecasting method you would apply and why? Describe the method in detail. (2 + 2 + 6 = 10 marks) Suggested Answer: Qualitative method. Due to absence of historical data quantitative techniques like time series analysis or causal methods like regression analysis is not possible. Description of Delphi or Nominal Group Technique is expected from the students 5. Give two points of difference for each of the following pairs: a. b. c. Comparative scaling and non-comparative scaling, Focus group discussion and in-depth interview, Regression analysis and Discriminant analysis. (4 + 3 + 3 = 10 marks) Suggested Answer: Give two points of difference for each of the following pairs: Comparative scaling and non-comparative scaling, Focus group discussion and in-depth interview, Regression analysis and Discriminant analysis. Give two points of difference for each of the following pairs: a. Comparative scaling and non-comparative scaling

Comparative scales

Noncomparative scales

Paired comparison

Rank order

Constant sum

Q-sort and procedures

other

Continuous rating

Itemised rating

Likert

Semantic differential

Stapel

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Comparative scales deals with direct comparison of objects or individuals data collected is interpreted in relative terms data have only ordinal or rank characteristics Non comparative scales respondents are asked to rate each variable separately a supporting scale with numbers or grades is provided to facilitate the answering by the respondent b. c. Focus group discussion and in-depth interview - Text book pages 27, 101 Regression analysis and Discriminant analysis Regression analysis dependent variable interval scale or ratio scale in nature independent variables interval scale or ratio scale or categorical in nature Categorical variables are represented in the analysis using Dummy variables Discriminant analysis dependent variable categorical in nature independent variables interval scale or ratio scale in nature

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106

Part C
Case Analysis / Applied Theory
6. Read the case and answer the following questions: The customer is our mission Centurion Bank is a large international bank that prides itself on achieving healthy profits every year. The shareholders are obviously very happy. It operates in several countries across the globe and has a phenomenally large number of customers. Of late, the bank has found that, the growth in the number of new customers has not improved as expected and has sometimes also remained stagnated. Discussion among the members of the management led to the conclusion that Centurion was finding it hard to compete with other large banks, especially its toughest competitor, The Bank of London. A research was conducted to study the differences between these two banks with respect to customer satisfaction. A two group Discrimiant analysis (customer satisfaction of Centurion Bank versus The Bank of London) was done, the partial result of which is shown below. Summary of Canonical Discriminant Functions Function 1 Structure Matrix Function 1 Promptness in customer service Resolve problems quickly Extra facilities like e-banking and phone banking Warm attitude of bank personnel Easiness in paper work Questions: a. b. c. d. How good is the discriminating power displayed by the Discrimiant analysis? Which independent variable contributes most to difference between the two banks? Give reasons for your answer. If you were to do a stratified random sampling for assessing customer satisfaction of the two banks, what are the different strata that you would use? Mention any two limitations of this research. (3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10 marks) .609 .330 .133 -.022 .018 Eigenvalue .259 % of Variance 100.0 Cumulative % 100.0 Canonical Correlation .454

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 Suggested Answer: a. Canonical Correlation = 0.454. In a two group Discriminant analysis, Wilks Lambda = 1- (canonical correlation)2, 0< < 1 Here, Wilks Lambda = 1- (canonical correlation)2 = 1 (0.454)2 = 0.703884 Large values of (0.703884) indicate that group means do not seem to differ. Thus the discriminating power displayed by the Discrimiant analysis is not good. As this seems to be quite low, we may conclude that the discriminating power displayed by the Discrimiant analysis is not strong. b. Structure matrix displays the simple correlation coefficients between individual predictor variables and the Discriminat scores. The variable Promptness in customer service has the maximum correlation coefficient (0.609) Hence, this variable contributes most to difference between the two banks. c. d. The different strata would be based on profession, age, marital status, gender. Limitations may be: The research may be fragmentary in nature and thus pose difficulties to have an overall and focused perspective for assessing customer satisfaction of the bank(s). Suggestions and recommendations given by the research may turn out to be too expensive for implementation.by the bank. Attitude is a latent variable. Measuring it is difficult. This research may deal with some ambiguous and unfathomable altitudinal variables related to customer satisfaction. 7. Read the case and answer the following questions: A solution for all your problems A renowned consulting company wanted to determine if loyalty of its employees was related to the years of service in the company, salary and the designation of the person. It was also desired to structure a mathematical model for loyalty based on this finding. Loyalty was measured on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being the least loyal and 7 the most). The relevant information was collected from the data base of the company. Surprisingly it was found that the data on years of service were entered in the database in order of magnitude from the longest tenure in service to the least. The individual employees were also ranked as first, second, third, so on and so forth according to their respective service-tenure. Questions: a. b. c. What technique would you suggest for structuring the mathematical model? Justify your answer. How would you judge the goodness of your mathematical model? Mention the dependent and explanatory variables in this study?

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IBS557 BRM (A) / 0106 d. What are the different scales of measurement used for different variables that are considered here? (2 + 1 + 3 + 4 = 10 marks) Suggested Answer: a. Multiple Regression analysis, as it is used: for estimating and developing a statistical relationship between two types of variables dependent and independent when the purpose is to determine what independent variable(s) contribute to the explanation of the dependent variable and to what degree for the purpose of predicting the values of the dependent variable for some given values of the independent variable(s) b. The goodness of the mathematical model is judged by Coefficient of multiple determination, R2, which is the proportion of the total variation in Y, which is accounted for by the regression model (that is, the independent variables Xs). 0 R2 1 As a thumb rule, R2 0.65 the model is a good one. c. Dependent variable - loyalty of employees Explanatory variables (1) years of service in the company, (2) salary, (3) designation d. loyalty of employees - loyalty was measured on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being the least loyal and 7 the most). - ratio scale years of service in the company years of service were entered in the database in order of magnitude - from the longest tenure in service to the least ordinal scale salary Rupees - ratio scale designation categories nominal scale

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