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Research Methods For Business: A Skill Building Approach, 7th Edition Solution Manual

Research Methods For Business: A Skill Building Approach, 7th Edition Solution Manual is an essential guide for reviewing key textbook topics efficiently.

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    C HAPTER 1 I NTRODUCTION T O R ESEARCH Instructional Goals 1. To generate interest in research for the students by driving home the point that successful managerial problem solving is nothing other than understanding and analyzing the situation at hand, which is what research is all about. 2. To help students differentiate between research - based problem solving and “going by gut - feeling”, the latter of which might sometimes help to solve problems in the short run, but might lead to systemic long - term adverse consequences. 3. To create an appreciation in students that research is useful for solving problems in ALL areas of business. 4. To help students develop an appreciation of the role of the manager in facilitating the researcher or the consultant’s work. 5. To stress the importance of skill development in research, as opposed to mere gathering of knowledge about research. 6. To emphasize that research and knowledge about research enhance managerial effectiveness. 7. To sensitize students to ethical conduct in business research. Discussion Questions 1. Describe a situation where you used research in order to inform thinking, decisions, and/or actions in relation to a personal issue of interest such as buying a new mobile phone or going to the movies. Provide information about the purpose of your research, the problem, the information you collected, how you collected this information, the role of theory, and the solution to the problem.

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    Answers will vary. Example: going to the movies. The problem: I wanted to go the movies last weekend with a friend. I did have enough information on which movies were playing. Purpose: I wanted to have a good time with my friend. Information: I collected information via my iPhone. I collected information about current movies playing, and other relevant info via the websites of two different cinemas. I watched trailers of three movies via the website of these cinemas. I also looked up information about the movies via the IMDB site. Finally, my brother provided me with a few suggestions. Theory: I usually don’t like the movies my brother suggests. He has a completely different taste. He usually prefers movies that contain violence. He also has a completely different sense of humor. That’s is why we didn’t go to the movie he suggested. Solution: based on the trailers and the information via IMDB we decided to go to Spy. 2. Why should a manager know about research when the job entails managing people, products, events, environments and the like? The manager, while managing people, products, events, and environments will invariably face problems, big and small, and will have to seek ways to find long lasting effective solutions. This can be achieved only through knowledge of research even if consultants are engaged to solve problems. 3. For what specific purpose is Basic Research important? Basic research is important for generating and building upon the existing knowledge in the areas of interest. It offers the foundation for applied research by which one can circumvent reinventing the wheel. 4. When is applied research, as distinct from basic research, useful? Applied research is useful in solving specific problems in particular situations where early action might be needed to solve problems in organizations. 5. Why is it important to be adept in handling the manager - researcher relationship? The manager who knows how to relate to researchers

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    facilitates the problem solving process and benefits the research team as well as the organization. The one who is not adept at this will frustrate and be frustrated during the research process and thereafter. Being capable of handling the manager - researcher relationship is thus a big advantage and some of the nuances of handling research teams are: (i) knowing how much and what information to give to the team; (ii) meaningful and purposeful interactions with the team members; (iii) stating up front what records of the company will and will not be accessible to the team members and expressing the core values of the system. 6. Explain giving reasons which is more important – applied or basic research. Both are equally important. Without basic research, applied research cannot work as well, and if the results of basic research are not applied, such research would be futile. Whereas basic research is the foundation of knowledge, applied research is its practical application and helps to provide the additional information base for theory building and further generation of knowledge. 7. Give two specific instances where an external research team would be useful and two other scenarios where an internal research team will be deployed, with adequate explanations as to why each scenario is justified for an external or internal team. The answers will vary. For the external team, the suggestions could be: a. to help non - tech companies to build up sophisticated technology in their environment; (only those with specialized knowledge of technology can help non - tech companies) b. to evaluate the successful and deficient operations of the company (to avoid bias of internal team members). For the internal team, it could be: a. to figure out how the companies affected by the September 11th disaster can rebuild themselves; (internal team would be more knowledgeable about the company and could rebuild faster); b. to solve the problem of consistent losses of a small division of a large company (only a small pocket of a large company is

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    involved and the situation can be rectified by the internal team). 8. Describe a situation where research will help you as a manager to make a good decision. Again, the answers will vary. One scenario is that a work team fails to deliver results time and again. 9. Given the situations below, (a) discuss with reasons, whether they will fall into the category of Applied or Basic research, and (b) for scenario 1 explain with reasons, who will conduct the research. Scenario 1 Companies are very interested in acquiring other firms even when the latter operate in totally unrelated realms of business. For example, Coca - Cola has announced that it wants to buy China Huiyuan Juice Group in an effort to expand its activities in one of the world’s fastest - growing beverage markets. Such acquisitions are claimed to “work miracles.” However, given the volatility of the stock market and the slowing down of business, many companies are not sure whether such acquisitions involve too much risk. At the same time, they also wonder if they are missing out on a great business opportunity if they fail to take such risk. Some research is needed here! This is a general issue that relates to all or most companies contemplating acquisitions. Of course, the results of the study are likely to be useful to, and applied by all the concerned companies. This could fall into the realm of basic or applied research, depending on who sponsors the study. If one company or a consortium of companies investigates the issue to find an answer for immediate application, then it will be applied research On the other hand, if a Finance professor in a university undertakes the study as a matter of academic interest, it will be basic research. Either an individual such as a professor or a finance expert can do this basic research, or a company or consortium of companies can undertake the applied research. Scenario 2 Reasons for Absenteeism A university professor wanted to analyze in depth the reasons for absenteeism of employees in organizations. Fortunately, a company within 20 miles of the campus employed her as a consultant to study that very issue. The basic research aspiration of the professor has taken the form of applied research in this particular system, where they would apply the findings of her research to solve the problem. No doubt, the professor would continue her research in a variety of organizations to add to the

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    existing base of knowledge on absenteeism and continue the topic as a basic research project. Scenario 3 Effects of Service Recovery on Customer Satisfaction A research scientist wants to investigate the question: What is the most effective way for an organization to recover from a service failure? Her objective is to provide guidelines for establishing the proper "fit" between service failure and service recovery that will generalize across a variety of service industries. This will be a case of basic research, the purpose of which was to study the efficacy of different service recovery strategies and add to the body of existing marketing knowledge.

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    C HAPTER 2 T HE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INVESTIGATION Instructional Goals 1 To help participants comprehend that scientific research offers assurance to the manager that the results of a study can be relied upon and further action can be taken at low risk. 2. To impress on the students that business research, however rigorously conducted, cannot produce 100 percent scientific results in terms of precise solutions. 3. To sensitize participants to being watchful about observing the different cues in the environment which offer some idea of a gap in the desired and actual state of affairs. 4. To help students understand that applied research, though limited in generalizability, still has to be “scientific”. Discussion Questions The first two questions are straightforward and the answers may be extracted from the text. 3. One hears the word research being mentioned by several groups such as research organizations, college and university professors, doctoral students, graduate assistants working for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students doing their term papers, research departments in industries, newspaper reporters, journalists, lawyers, doctors, and

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    several other professionals and nonprofessionals. In the light of what you have learned in this unit, how would you rank the aforementioned groups of people in terms of the extent to which they might be doing “scientific” investigations. Why? To the extent that any of the above groups conforms to the hallmarks of science, they would be doing scientific investigation. It is quite possible that poor research is done by research agencies, and excellent research is conducted by a graduate assistant. The ultimate test is the rigor of the research which would lend itself to testability, replicability, accuracy and precision, generalizability, objectivity, and parsimony. Research organizations and research departments in industries engage themselves in both basic and applied research and usually have the resources required to conduct scientific investigations using rigorous data collection methods, sampling designs, and data analysis. Most professors in colleges and universities are well trained to conduct scientific investigations, though their resources may not, in most cases, be as plentiful as that made available in research organizations and research departments. Because of restricted resources, professors may have to compromise somewhat on methodological rigor (e.g. use a small sample) which might restrict the generalizability of their findings. However, their research might otherwise be scientific. Applied researchers doing action - oriented research, are somewhat restricted in even disseminating information about their findings due to the localized nature of their inquiry which may not pass many of the criteria of the hallmarks of science. Doctoral dissertations conducted under able guidance and supervision quite frequently make valuable contributions to the body of existing knowledge. Much of this research is later published as journal articles, and some get published as books because of their contributions to knowledge. Students’ term papers are meant to be exercises in skill development for integrating materials and communicating ideas in written form. Exceptional research papers, when refined and published, could qualify for being termed as scientific investigations. Newspaper reporters and journalists may obtain extensive primary and secondary data but their investigations are confined to a narrow range of current incidents, events, or individuals, which are of passing interest with little generalizability to other time s, events or individuals. Hence, they cannot

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    ordinarily be termed scientific investigations. Some newspaper articles, however – as for instance, economic and environmental investigations – provide data, analysis of these data, and valid conclusions drawn therefrom, which might later be used as secondary data by other researchers. These would be categorized as more scientific in contrast to articles or editorials in the paper. Academic journals usually publish articles that are scientific and some of the practitioner - oriented articles are probably somewhat less scientific than the academic articles in terms of rigor and generalizability. To the extent that lawyers, doctors, professionals and nonprofessionals present their findings that have wide testability, replicability, generalizability, accuracy and precision, objectivity, and parsimony, they will be scientific. However, if these investigations are confined to single cases, incidents, or individuals, they cannot be called scientific investigations despite the fact that they may be found useful. 4. Explain the processes of deduction and induction, giving an example of each. The hypothetico - deductive method of research helps the researcher to deduce or infer from the results of data analysis and hence is the deductive process. For example, if as a result of analysis of data collected, one infers that the problem of turnover can be minimized by three important factors: (i) flexible work hours; (ii) recognition of superior performance of workers through suitable merit pay raises; and (iii) enriching certain types of jobs, this is the deductive approach. Induction is a process of drawing inferences from observed phenomena which may subsequently be put to the test through hypothetico - deductive method of research. For instance, if a manager observes that people residing at distances beyond 50 miles from the workplace remain absent more frequently than those he knows to reside close by, and infers thereby that distance is a factor in absenteeism, this is an inductive process. 5. Discuss the following statement: Good research is deductive in nature. Whether people will agree or disagree with this statement will depend on their viewpoint on what makes good research. In

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    general, the positivist will agree with this statement. Constructionists will disagree. The research methods of the constructionist are often qualitative in nature. The pragmatist does not take a particular standpoint on what makes good research: They feel that research on both objective, observable phenomena and subjective meanings can produce useful knowledge, depending on the research questions of the study. The focus of pragmatism is on practical, applied research where different viewpoints on research and the subject under study are helpful in solving a (business) problem. So the particular ideas that people have about this statement will tell them a lot about their ideas of what makes good research. 6. Discuss the following statement: The hallmarks of scientific research do not/cannot apply to inductive research. Many of the hallmarks of scientific research do and probably should apply to inductive research. For instance, the hallmarks purposiveness, replicability, objectivity, generalizability, rigour (a sound design) apply do apply to inductive research. Obviously, since one does not develop hypotheses in inductive research, testability does not apply. 7. If research in the management area cannot be 100 percent scientific, why bother to do it at all? Comment on this question. Research in the management area dealing with human behavior cannot be 100 percent scientific. However, such research is necessary and useful for detecting problems and coming up with solutions as also to ensure that problems do not get out of control. Management research makes a valuable contribution inasmuch as it can help organizations function smoothly and effectively and help managers and individuals at all levels in organizations experience and enjoy a better quality of life. 8. What is epistemology and why is it important to know about different perspectives on research and how it should be done?

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    Epistemology questions the nature of knowledge or how we come to know. Knowledge of epistemology may help students to relate to and understand the research of others and the choices that were made in this research. Different researchers have different ideas about the nature of knowledge or on how we come to know. These different ideas translate into different approaches that are taken to research, into different research designs, and into different choices regarding the research methods used. Another answer to the question “Why do I need to know this?” is that students will probably have noticed that they prefer one research perspective over the other perspectives. Understanding your personal ideas on research and how it should be done allows you to determine which kinds of research questions are important to them and what methods for collecting and analyzing data will give you the best answer to these questions. It will also help students to make informed decisions during the research process, to have a clear understanding about what the findings of their study (do and do not) mean, and to understand the type of conclusions that a particular research approach allows one to draw. Like this, it helps to put research and research findings in perspective. 9. Discuss the most important differences between positivism and constructionism. Constructionism criticizes the positivist belief that there is an objective truth. Constructionists hold the opposite view, namely that the world (as we know it!) is fundamentally mental or mentally constructed. For this reason, constructionists do not search for the objective truth. Instead, they aim to understand the rules people use to make sense of the world by investigating what happens in people’s minds. The research methods of constructionist researchers are often qualitative whereas research methods of the positivist are often quantitative in nature. Constructionists are often more concerned with understanding a specific case than with the generalization of their findings which is important for the positivist. 10. Is there a specific perspective on research that appeals to you? Why? Answers will vary. Make sure that students provide arguments. Do they have particular ideas about whether the truth is objective or not? 11. Some people think that you should choose a particular research perspective based on the research questions of your study. Others feel that a particular research perspective “chooses” you. That is, they believe that you will have a rather

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    strong preference for one particular research perspective; in turn, this will have an influence on the type of questions you ask. How do you feel about this matter? Answers will vary. 12. Critique the following research done in a service industry as to the extent to which it meets the hallmarks of scientific investigation discussed in this chapter. The Mobile Phone Company The Mobile Phone Company has been named as the most complained about mobile phone company, narrowly beating 3G, which has shot to the top of the table as the worst landline provider. According to the latest figures from the regulator, Ofcom, the Mobile Phone Company was the most complained - about mobile provider – with 0.15 complaints per 1,000 – in the last three months of 2014. It saw its complaint figures rise substantially in the last quarter of 2014. The company wanted to pinpoint the specific problems and take corrective action. Researchers were called in, and they spoke to a number of customers, noting the nature of the specific problems they faced. Because the problem had to be attended to very quickly, they developed a theoretical base, collected relevant detailed information from a sample of 100 customers, and analyzed the data. The results promise to be fairly accurate with at least an 85% chance of success in problem solving. The researchers will make recommendations to the company based on the results of data analysis. The hallmarks of science are purposiveness, rigor, testability, replicability, precision and confidence, objectivity, generalizability, and parsimony. This study meets the basic criterion of purposiveness. It cannot be called a rigorous study inasmuch as a theoretical framework seems to have been formulated merely on the basis of conversation with a number of customers and no scientific data seem to have been collected thereafter. For this reason, the replicability and generalizability criteria also

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    suffer. With customer complaints mounting, an 85% confidence level may not suffice. Unless we know the theoretical base, we cannot be sure that the criterion of parsimony is met. All in all, this is a good example of a non - scientific investigation.

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    C HAPTER 3 D EFINING AND R EFINING THE P ROBLEM Instructional Goals 1 To clarify to the students that though the Research Process has distinct phases, some of the steps follow an iterative, rather than a linear process. For example, the problem statement could be redefined after the theoretical framework is conceptualized, after data analysis, and in fact, at any of the stages in the process. 2. To illustrate that identifying the Broad Problem Area sets the stage for focusing on literature search and subsequently clearly defining and refining the problem. 3. To emphasize that preliminary data collection through interviews offers a great opportunity to narrow down the problem. 4. To develop interviewing and problem identification skills in students. 5. To create a mindset in students of viewing a problem as a gap between desired and actual state of things in a system, and a solution as narrowing this gap. 6. To encourage students to develop bibliographies by accessing available on - line data bases. Discussion Questions 1. Define ‘problem’ and provide an example of a problem you have encountered in your daily life. Discuss how you have used research to solve this problem. Answer will vary. Discuss: was there a gap between an actual and a desired situation? What was the actual situation? What

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    was the desired situation? How have the students used information to solve the problem? What type of information have they collected? How? Have they talked to people? Have they used theory (argumentation, claims?)? How? Is it possible to identify certain stages in the process? 2. Why do we still have transform the following problem statement into a researchable topic for i nvestigation? The introduction of flexible work hours has created more problems than it has solved. Because it lacks the specificity and focus needed to investigate it. We need to transform the broad problem into a feasible topic for research by a) making it more specific and precise and by b) setting clear boundaries. Finally, we need to select a c) perspective from which we investigate the subject (Machi and McEvoy, 2012). 3. Use the Internet to find more information about the ‘five times why’ approach. Discuss this approach using an example provided on the Internet. Answers will vary. 4. Describe the functions of preliminary data gathering. Preliminary data gathering helps the researcher to: ‒ benefit from what is already known about the subject ‒ narrow down the problem ‒ ask the right (research)questions ‒ be able to adequately formulate a specific and clear problem statement (research objective/questions) ‒ determine whether and how your study is relevant ‒ avoid the risk of reinventing the wheel (in basic research)

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    5 Why is it important to gather information on the background of the organization? Whys is it important to review the literature on your topic? The background information of the company is likely to offer the researcher several clues on when the problems that are currently experienced by the company could have started and how they could have originated. One can also assess how the other companies operating in similar types of environment in the industry might be different and in what way. Since multiple factors can influence the problem, the possibility that some of the background features of the company are influencing the situational problem cannot be ruled out. Additionally, the background factors offer the researcher a good idea of how the philosophy and culture of the company are shaped, and to what extent they can be changed, if necessary. Collecting background information also helps to focus on critical issues and raise appropriate questions during the interview process. Examples of this are provided in the book. It is important to review literature on the topic because this will allow you to benefit from what is already known about the subject, to ask the right (research) questions, to adequately formulate your research objective and research questions, and in basic research to avoid the risk of reinventing the wheel. 6. Should a researcher always find information on structural and job characteristics from those interviewed? Give reasons for your answer with examples. It is almost always advisable for the researcher to gather some information on the structure and job characteristics even though it may appear that the problem may not be related to either of these factors. For example, the problem of not meeting the production deadlines may be directly related to the delayed deliveries of the raw materials by the suppliers. In such a case, the tendency might be to focus the data collection mainly as they relate to suppliers. However, interviewing the employees and ascertaining their reactions to their job, work - flow interdependencies, structure, and the like, might offer the solution that deadlines can be met even with delayed raw material supplies by changing the workflow patterns, or other structural aspects. It is for such reasons that some time should be spent on finding the job and structure - related information. There is also another way of looking at this. Human beings operating in organizations face a multitude of factors surrounding them, many of which, directly or indirectly influence their operating effectiveness. The structural factors such as policies and procedures and reward systems and job factors do play a critical part in how outcomes for the organization are achieved.

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