...Understanding Business Research Cherise Tholmer RES/351 June 20, 2015 Dr. Linda Wright Understanding Business Research Business research is “a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide managerial decisions” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 4). When making business decisions, it is imperative that the researcher is clear on the terms that are being used. There are different methods that are applied to conduct the research that vary from topic to topic. Many researchers sometimes use the wrong research method to when conducting business research because they do not understand what method and variables to use. This paper will explore two different articles, one using quantitative research methods and one using qualitative research methods, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and how they can be used more effectively when combined. Quantitative research “attempts precise measurement of something”(Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 146) that in business research “methodologies usually measure consumer behavior, knowledge, opinions or attitudes” ” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p. 146). Article one titled Assessing the Effectiveness of Mental Health Courts: A Quantitative Review is a study where meta-analytic techniques are used to answer the main objective which is “to provide a clearer picture as to whether mental health courts are an empirically efficacious intervention for a significant health and criminological problem” (Sarteschi, Vaughn, & Kim, 2011, para...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts Elizabeth Hardy May 3, 2016 RES/351 Jennie Wagner Quantitative data collection instruments and sampling methods Surveys are one of the dominant instruments that can be used to obtain quantitative research. It certainly answers the questions how much, how often, how many, when and who. Another instrument quantitative researcher’s use are tests. Quantitative test evaluate the characteristics of research. Sampling size is generally small for this type of research. Probability or non-probability sampling can be used. Probability sampling method randomly selects from the target population, while non-probability does not. Descriptive Statistical Method The fast food giants Burger King and McDonalds participated in a self –regulation programs that was aimed to promote healthy food and limit emphasis on premiums. To make this research possible, the fast food chains, gathered one hundred children between ages three and seven years old. These children were then shown McDonald’s and Burger King ads for kids and adult that were previously aired from 2010-2011. Immediately after viewing the ad the children were interviewed and asked to recall what they remembered (Bernhardt, a. m., 2015) . Summary of Article The design of this research is qualitative. The companies want to decode or translate what children take away from these commercial ads. Using interviews to collect data for the research in this case would be better...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 4 Que McMannis Res 351 03/17/2015 Mark Robinson Abstract The three most commonly used research instruments in quantitative research Studies include Questionnaire, Tests, and Surveys. Validity is the degree to which an instrument measure what it is purports to measure. Imprecise information collection can influence the outcome of a study and eventually lead to unacceptable results. Reliability is the internal consistency or stability of the measuring device over time (Gay, 1996). The collection data of Quantitative methods depend on random sampling and organized data collection instruments that fit different involvement into fixed response groups (www.mbaisherebyravali.com). An important aspect of the quantitative research design is the non-probability method. Through the non-probability method, there are many sampling designs such as convenience sampling, purposive sampling and model instance sampling (www.wilderdom.com). Listed below are two Quantitative strength approaches. The first quantitative strength approach is offering vivid data; for example, permitting us to take pictures of an employer population (www.library.pinpoint.com). Another strength is quantitative research have the ability to translate numbers and data in quantifying graphs and charts. (www.library.pinpoint.com) The first weakness of the quantitative approach is large samples are needed thus causing the study to be more expensive, time-...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Par RES/351 2/1/2016 University of Phoenix Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 How can we embrace understanding business research terms and concepts by comparing Lender evaluations of start-up business prospects and understanding the effect of a web-based tutorial on problem formulation ability by using qualitative and quantitative research designs? The business of rental cars can benefit from both quantitative and qualitative research designs by combining both designs for maximum effect. Lender evaluations of start-up business prospects The study was collected in 2003 and 2005 from the data bases in Finnvera, a state-owned financial institution. The data collected allows the qualitative ways authors can examine the information based on personal history and firm-specific characteristics of business prospects, and market position impact firm performance. The weakness of using the qualitative design for lender evaluations is the understanding parts of the data because it can be misunderstood because of personal opinions of the researchers. By using the quantitative design, the researchers can begin to explain the data results and come to a more itemized way of using the data. Lenders struggle with the data results as stated Iselin (1988), “Some studies state that inconsistency in previous findings could result from improper measurement of information loads as well as failure to rule...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 RES/351 January 12, 2015 Amy Ginsburg Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 The research designs of quantitative or qualitative are methodologies used to measure information that is collected through various means of questioning. In the peer reviewed research articles summarized below, each methodology is utilized to collect the required data in similar business problems. Quantitative is used to help understand the attitudes of the employees at a company in India, while the qualitative methodology is used to obtain an in-depth understanding of employee business awareness. In the research article entitled, “What makes employees stay?: Exploring the dimensions in context of urban-centric business process outsourcing industry in India”, the author attempts to show why the current employees of the company choose to stay, helping overall retention. The author explains that the approach being used to collect the data will consist of a questionnaire or survey, by a large group of employees. This questionnaire measured the employees’ attitudes towards the “importance of the factors responsible for their sustenance in the organization” (Santoshi, 2013). While a questionnaire would be utilized to aid in the main data analysis, a telephonic interview would also be incorporated to help substantiate the data gathered. During this questionnaire process, simple random sampling would be used to gather...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 Business research is the key to understanding how to promote sales and increase company efficiency. It helps managers to be successful, and prepares them to make smart business decisions to help the business grow. Companies may choose from a variety of approaches to conduct their research. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are reliable in aiding to achieve success. But, no matter the approach or method of research taken, there will always be key points to look out for when doing business research. Such as, the importance in learning what makes your product or service stand out against other competitors in the industry and how to market it in that manner to consumers. Brands and Consumer Behavior Marketing to the appropriate target is the goal in which to be achieved for almost every business. When a business puts its focus on the needs and wants of their proposed consumers, the chances of reaching that consumer is more likely. In this research, a questionnaire was developed to explore the correlation of brand image and brand equity with consumer purchase intention. Meenaghan (1995) defines brand image as product knowledge that enables consumers to identify a specific brand. Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2005) describe how brand image has both tangible and intangible associations for consumers. Bhat and Reddy (1998) define brand image as an information prompt. When it comes to brand equity;...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 RES/351 May 31, 2015 Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 To comprehend business research specifications and hypotheses there must be an informative awareness of by what means to differentiate among qualitative and quantitative approaches of research. To set apart the research and utilize the qualitative approaches it provides the framework opposed to completely identifying with the results and findings that are found in quantitative approach. Clark (2010) “Engaging with qualitative research as a participant, respondent, subject, or informant is non-compulsory” (para. 2). The research captures what individuals allow to express in their own words and communicate his or her involvements and experiences profundity. Qualitative information offers the quality of genuine existence in addition to its differences; the data provides an insight partial to the rational and the emotional state that stimulates individuals to take action. To be concise, the quantitative approaches are reliable, standardized, logically acquiring to the point replications from numerous credible clients. Often clarifying sound and significant qualitative research strategies and quantitative research proposals taking part in particular organization circumstances it requires informative research types that could be dependable or conceptual. Informative research focuses on what is the motive and purpose. For instance...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1 RES/351 April 13, 2015 The methodology used in a business study depends on the type of business research being conducted. Business researchers utilize numerous approaches to obtain information and decipher data. Two popular approaches used in business research are the qualitative research approach and the quantitative research approach. Both of these approaches to business research can be beneficial or may cause inconclusive results because of unforeseen variables. Qualitative Approach The qualitative approach or interpretive research approach main purpose is to build a theory or gain an understanding of the issue that is researched (Cooper, 2014). Using the qualitative approach can require the researcher to have debt involved with the research process typically as a participant in the study (Cooper, 2014). The qualitative approach draws data are many sources such as; people, organizations and institutions, settings or environment, published text, objects, and events (Cooper, 2014). This approach has a small sample size (Cooper, 2014). This methodology has less planning; therefore, the results may vary (Cooper, 2014). Research studies using this method are not always consistent and may be modified during the study (Cooper, 2014). An advantage to the qualitative approach is the small sample sizes because of the small sizes; the time for data analysis can also be shortened (Cooper, 2014). According to Vaivio...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Justin Wilson RES 351 Business Research 31 Mar 2015 Biman Ghosh Descriptive statistics is the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show or summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data. Descriptive statistics do not, however, allow us to make conclusions beyond the data we have analysed or reach conclusions regarding any hypotheses we might have made. They are simply a way to describe our data. Descriptive statistics are very important because if we simply presented our raw data it would be hard to visulize what the data was showing, especially if there was a lot of it. Descriptive statistics therefore enables us to present the data in a more meaningful way, which allows simpler interpretation of the data. For example, if we had the results of 100 pieces of students' coursework, we may be interested in the overall performance of those students. We would also be interested in the distribution or spread of the marks. Descriptive statistics allow us to do this. How to properly describe data through statistics and graphs is an important topic and discussed in other Laerd Statistics guides. Typically, there are two general types of statistic that are used to describe data: * Measures of central tendency: these are ways of describing the central position of a frequency distribution for a group of data. In this case, the frequency distribution...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Ming D. Lee RES/351 April 18, 2016 Dr. Linda F Florence Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics suggests a straightforward quantitative outline of a data-set which has been gathered. It helps us comprehend the experimentation or data-set in-detail and tells people concerning the mandatory details that help show the data perceptively. Descriptive statistics, we just convey exactly what the data reveals and tell us. Most of the statistical averages and numbers we estimate are essentially illustrative averages. For instance the Dow Jones Industrial tells us about the typical performance of select firms. The grade-point avg. tells us about the typical performance of a pupil in school. The GDP growth rate tells us about the typical performance of a state. Therefore illustrative statistics attempts to catch a sizable group of observations and offers us some concept concerning the data-set. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data set information with summary graphs and tables (Linda Hollis, n.d.). Inferential Statistics Inferential statistics includes drawing the correct conclusions from your statistical evaluation that's been performed using descriptive data. Ultimately, it really is the inferences that make studies significant and this element is dealt with-in inferential data. Most forecasts of the potential and generalizations of a population...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 2 Rodney Goudy RES/351 July 6, 2015 Tracy Sipma Descriptive statistics Descriptive statistics suggests a straightforward quantitative outline of a data-set which has been gathered. It helps us comprehend the experimentation or data-set in-detail and tells people concerning the mandatory details that help show the data perceptively. Descriptive statistics, we just convey exactly what the data reveals and tell us. Most of the statistical averages and numbers we estimate are essentially illustrative averages. For instance the Dow Jones Industrial tells us about the typical performance of select firms. The grade-point avg. tells us about the typical performance of a pupil in school. The GDP growth rate tells us about the typical performance of a state. Therefore illustrative statistics attempts to catch a sizable group of observations and offers us some concept concerning the data-set. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data set information with summary graphs and tables (Linda Hollis, n.d.). Inferential Statistics Inferential statistics includes drawing the correct conclusions from your statistical evaluation that's been performed using descriptive data. Ultimately, it really is the inferences that make studies significant and this element is dealt with-in inferential data. Most forecasts of the potential and generalizations of a population by analyzing a smaller sample come under the scope of inferential statistics...
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...Understanding Business Research Terms & Concepts: Part 2 Scott Allen RES 351 08/18/2014 Kim Gravelle Understanding Business Research Terms & Concepts: Part 2 “The research design is the blueprint for fulfilling objectives and answering questions. Selecting a design may be complicated by the availability of a large variety of methods, techniques, procedures, protocols, and sampling plans. (Cooper & Schindler 2014 p. 82). Next, the details of the study must be positioned in place. For example, will the researcher use primary or secondary data, surveys, experiments, or a combination of methods. Next, what will be the types of questions will be posed, open-ended or closed? If surveys and questionnaires are used what type of a scale will be used to measure the results; a rating scale, semantic differential, or a Likert scale? Also, the researcher must decide on whether to do sampling or perform a census. It is easy to see that the design method is what pulls the entire research process together; if the research question is the foundation, then the design processes utilized are the walls used to support the process itself. Descriptive statistics is the analysis of data that helps to describe the data in such a way to give relevance or show patterns, much like a census does. The researcher presents the data in a meaningful way like in statistical or graph form making it simple to understand. A census is an examination of all components that make up a population...
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...University of Phoenix Material Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 3 Determine which level of measurement— nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio—is used in the following examples. • The Association of Accountants is conducting a survey to determine the ranking of the top 100 accounting firms in the world. Ratio • How many years did it take you to earn your college degree? Ordinal • On a questionnaire which asks for gender, males are coded as 1 and females are coded as 2. Nominal • Respondents are asked to rate a list of high-tech companies as excellent, good, fair, or poor in terms of their service delivery. Ordinal • Cereal brands are arranged in an ordered sequence in which an equal interval exists between each point. Interval • LeBron James wears the number 23 on his jersey. Nominal • The length of time it takes the winner of a marathon to cross the finish line. Ordinal • Students are asked to rank computer manufacturers. Ordinal • The brand of charge card used by a customer. Nominal • The pin number used to access your checking account. Ordinal Which sampling method—simple random, systematic, stratified, cluster, convenience, judgment, quota, or snowball—is most appropriate for the following examples? • The unemployment rate is calculated each month by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey consists of 50,000 households in about 2,000 counties and cities in all...
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...Qualitative data collection instruments try to throw an exact measurement of something, “In business research, quantitative methodologies usually measure consumer behavior, knowledge, opinions, or attitudes. Such methodologies answer questions related to how much, how often, how many, when, and who” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014), one main quantitative data collection instrument is survey which is considered a major among other ones because it throws exact measures of opinions and consumer behavior. The nature of sampling is “that by selecting some of the elements in a population, we may draw conclusions about the entire population” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). Some examples of sampling methods available to researchers include: “Purposive sampling where Researchers choose participants arbitrarily for their unique characteristics or their experiences, attitudes, or perceptions; as conceptual or theoretical categories of participants develop during the interviewing process, researchers seek new participants to challenge emerging patterns, Snowball sampling where Participants refer researchers to others who have characteristics, experiences, or attitudes similar to or different from their own and finally Convenience sampling where Researchers select any readily available individuals as participants. Descriptive statistical methods are used to “display characteristics of the location, spread, and shape of a data array, it attempts to describe or define a subject ,often by creating...
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...Preparing to Conduct Business Research Part Three Dena Lebo, Kyla Guerrero and Mario Johnson RES 351 Jan. 26, 2015 Professor Arnella Trent Through the past three weeks, we have decided as a team that our business problem could primarily be solved using a qualitative research design. We have come to this conclusion because as a company utilizing a call center experiencing high volumes of misdirected and dropped calls, the upmost concern within our organization deals with our customer service. Customer service concerns can exclusively be addressed through qualitative means, simply by changing the directed procedures on how customer service agents deal with dropped calls, and related issues. For example, if a customer service agent was handling a call with a client who is dealing with a very detailed issue and the call abruptly drops, there must be simple to follow instructions on how to get that client back on the phone, and continue to solve the issues the client is facing. Solving this problem for our clients is currently our number one goal for this very sensitive and frustrating issue that our clients deal with daily. Although keeping our customers happy is of course our primary objective, however we also must consider what our customer service agents are dealing with as well. Once again, we know that utilizing some of these qualitative methods will fix this issue, and allow both, our clients and customer service agents to benefit. Regarding the finding of solutions...
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