The Quality of Service Provided by the Accounting Department - Essay Example

The idea that non-managerial employees should not be involved in the interviews and instead limit the interview to the list of managers whom he or she perceived to be useful to the interview is inimical to the research because the exact identification of respondents is tantamount to pre-selecting the subjects that would represent the population. It is important to point out that the internal customers of the accounting department that perceives them include all employees in the company and that includes both the rank and file and managers.

Limiting the samples that are supposed to represent the entire organization in the study among managers would make the study anecdotal in evidence because the small sample does not represent the entire organization. Hoeken and Hustinx stressed that anecdotal evidence is never superior to statistical evidence in any study. Statistical evidence is also far more persuasive than cherry picking the samples (Hoeken and Hustinx, 2008). In addition, the professor would also like to be present during the interviews of the members of the accounting department under the pretext that this will be an ideal opportunity to understand the operations of that department.

The intent to study the operations of the accounting department is a terrific initiative given the issue that besets the accounting department. It is not however advisable in the context of a study because studying its operation by a third party is not part of the objective of the research and therefore does not contribute to the purpose of the study. I would beg the professor for us to discuss our methodology first that would allow me an opportunity to air my concern about his presence during the interview and to air my disagreement about the inadequacy of the focus group discussion that will be limited among pre-selected managers.

I would suggest that he can instead have the transcript of the interview and to include rank and file staff in the focus group discussion where the selection is random. I will also include a survey to have a wider sampling since the population of study is too large (the whole company) to be represented by a mere focus group discussion. 2. What are the likely outcomes if the research goes ahead as suggested by your professor? Having anecdotal evidences as primary data will result to an invalid study because it cannot answer the intent of the research which is to determine the extent of the match of perceptions between accounting department and internal customers.

It only has the perceptions of the managers as input which does not compose the entire internal customers of the company. In addition, the professor’s insistence to be present during interview of the staff of the accounting department may also have distorted the outcome of the study due to the Hawthorne Effect. Hawthorne Effect is “the tendency for people to behave differently when they know they are being studied.’ (Davis & Shackleton, p. 55 cited in Chiesa and Hobbs, 2008 pg. 69)”. There is a chance that the presence of the professor may influence the answer of the staff of accounting department during the interview that could distort the outcome of the interview. 3. Negative impact on people can occur in research.

What is the prospect of this kind of consequential impact on participants in this case? Participants may be tagged as trouble makers