Statistics for Management and Economics - Assignment Example

BUSINESS RESEARCH METHOD of Chapter 4 Question The critical literature review seeks to address two issues: How anchoring effects influence the long term stock return expectations of market participants To what extent do expertise reduce these anchoring effects Question 2 Three Different Data Sources That Could Be Used Newspaper stock news These usually give the latest stock news as they traded in the stock market. it keeps the researcher updated with the latest changes in the stock markets. Government economics websites These are the most reliable and accurate result resource centre. It is reliable because it is compiled by economic experts. Books and journals on stocks These help with synthesis of the information since they usually contain information that has been collected over a period of time and analysed. They give expert opinion and trends in the stocks in the market. Chapter 5 Question 1: There are three basic features that should be present in any theoretical framework. Discuss whether Jesse has included these. Features of A Theoretical Framework Creation of an inventory of variables relevant to the study. Different variables have been created right from the introductory part. From the basis of being named at the abstract levels, the social networking sites, the online brand communities are the variables that do exist. Stating how the variables relate to each other There are the social networking sites as related to online branding. Categorizations of the online brand communities as related variably to customer attraction and retention is also another secondary relationship that occurs in the piece of work. Theorizing the nature of relationships that exist based on previous research to indicate whether the relationship is positive or negative based on previous research There has largely been a relationship between the development of the social networks and the way it influences the spread of information to the different stakeholders. Based on the previous research, the writer has indicated that there is a positive relationship according to the given references between online marketing and customer loyalty. Clarified explanation as to why the relationship should exist Customers as stated in the literature do participate in online branding and this helps them develop the knowledge of the product more than they would have done. Therefore there is a relationship clarified as to why the stated relationship should exist. Schematic diagram to clarify the observed continuity This has been followed and the relationships shown clearly where all the values identified lead to the members satisfaction and eventual loyalty Question 2: Conceptual models can be made by a collection of other approaches apart from the one used by Jesse. These are: event driven process chain, the Joint Application Development, the place/ transition Net and state transition modeling. Question 3 A literature review undertakes a collection of uses hence the advantages; first, it helps the researcher to see the full picture as seen from the perspective of other researchers. Secondly, it uncovers new evidence. Once undertaken, it helps review the areas that need further research. This is in line with a review of the existing literature and leaving room for further research. Thirdly, it encourages thinking that is very objective. By relating all the researches by other people, one is able to objectively think about many other issues related to the same matters under research. Question 4 The joint application procedure is important in that it covers a wide range of other methods and therefore the information collected becomes very comprehensive. Its disadvantage however is that it is so wide that it cannot give very specific information needed for a given section of the piece of work. Question 5 5. Label the variables of Jesse’s conceptual model in terms of independent, dependent, moderating, and/or mediating variables. Independent variable- the social sites (like Facebook) Dependent variable-customer satisfaction and loyalty Moderating variable- satisfaction of the customers (it links the values to loyalty) Chapter 6 Moderating variables are the qualitative or quantitative variables that affect the relationship and direction in existence between the independent and dependent variables. On the other hand, mediating variables are those that account for all the relationships between the criterion and the predictors. Question 7 The different values attached to a product are responsible for customer satisfaction, which in the long run creates brand loyalty. Question 8 Many people interact online through the online community services provided by social networks. Others just involve in entertainment online through other methods such as playing games while others usually solve online challenges. The greatest idea is solution to the boredom where people seek for ways of entertainment through various ways. It is perceived that a company creating an online entertainment brand will attract more customers to its business products and services. Question 9 Customers are people who cannot do without entertainment. They would get the entertainment through any other method even if it does not involve use of the company site. Creation of the site would therefore make a link between them through the products that they purchase or the services they use from the company. Question 10 The social site products Question 11 The social network acting as the input (independent variable) and customer satisfaction as the output, the moderator would be the company social site products. If a game would be created and affiliated to the company, more customers would access it, get access to the products and then get the satisfaction required. Question 12 When customers go online to get entertained, they will be attracted by the company online products leading them to access the company products. Chapter 6 Question 1 This is an exploratory study. Starting from a hypothetical perspective, it explores different responses of the different people from different perspectives. There are no particular results that verify any hypothesis. Question 2 A correlational research is that which tells who is responsible for a given phenomenon but does not explain why such happens. It is just a general statistical relationship existing between two variables. A causal study is that which makes an attempt to reveal a link between two variables and the relationship in existence. Question 3 This is a correlational relationship Question 4 The interference is minimal Question 5 A field study is the information collection outside the laboratory, library of away from a confined setting like a work place. A field experiment is application of scientific methods and then involves examination of the interventions by randomizing the subjects into groups and collecting information. A lab experiment is a test that is carried out under very controlled conditions to verify a truth that is already known. Question 6 This is a field experiment. It involves grouping the subjects into different small groups so that the different responses can be obtained and compared in the field. Question 7 Unit of analysis is Muesli/granola bar with the different levels of analysis Question 8 This is a cross sectional study Question 9 The purpose of the study was to establish how peoples’ experience of hunger is influenced by calorie information on healthy foods. There is a need to establish whether the calorie content has a bearing on the hunger of the subjects. This being a correlational study, there is search for the end information without putting into focus the real cause and why the results should be the way they are. The field experiment involves grouping the same students into different groups and assigning each different experimental task. The level of interference is partly obtrusive because by telling the students (reading) the expectations, they are bound to change their characteristics. Chapter 7 Question 1 The structured interviews would be important since it would ensure that the information would be provided in a sequential manner as opposed to the unstructured that would not have a sequential order. In this case, the structured questions would capture introductory information and sequentially reach the required level. This interviewer may also meet people too busy to follow the structure and the unstructured questions would cater for the missing information. Question 2 One advantage of face to face interview is that there will be an opportunity to seek for clarification from the interviewee in case there is information not well understood. Secondly, first-hand information is obtained and is bound to be very accurate as well as facial expressions being realised. The disadvantage would be language barrier especially when there are different people from different lingual backgrounds. Moreover, sometimes the interviewee may just try to be kind to the interviewer hence giving out wrong information. Question 3 Avoiding biased information can be made by having selecting recall. This is where the interviewer would want the interviewee to give information with the highest magnitude of information. Secondly, there has to be a well calculated social desirability. This is where the presentation of the person sharing the information is friendly and appealing as to make the interviewee give reliable information. Question 4 Given that she has been in the neighbourhood for a longer period of time, she can identify the customers that have frequented the place or learn about some and choose them. These are bound to share the trends as they have been witnessing them over the years. Chapter 8 Question 1 Observation refers to event description of events, artefacts and issues that is systematic in the chosen setting of the study. There are two observations here; the lag in good production and that one observed two months later. Both are descriptive of situations. Question 2 a. Controlled versus uncontrolled observation A controlled observation is observed when there are objectives set and there are expected results. The shoppers are asked about the type of service received and they give their responses. In the uncontrolled observation, some shoppers are asked to return goods to the store and without the knowledge of the staff collect information for use. b. Participant versus non-participant observation. Participant observation is where the concerned parties, the management took part in sending shoppers to collect information whereas non participant observation is where there was information collection without the actual participation of the researcher Dawson. Question 3 If I was Koch, I would not inform them so that the information obtained can be as natural and original as possible. When told, they would disguise the actual traits. Question 4 The coding scheme would help the mystery shoppers to get the actual message as it is as accurate as possible. In any case, it would improve their service reception. Question 5 In interviews, the information obtained is purely obtrusive and therefore may not be as accurate as the mystery information. When information is collected unobtrusively, it becomes more accurate. Question 6 One of the disadvantages is that it is usually not easy to get the right person for the specific role that is expected. There may be exaggerations in the message obtained. To the workers in the company, if they know of the mystery project, before or after, they may get uneasy at work as they may feel being spies on. QUESTION 7 There can be a balanced research programme that would see the participation of both the shoppers and the workers included for a wide collection of information. There would be mystery shoppers and buyers as well. CHAPTER 10 Question 1 Replication: This is where there are measurements repeated and changed so that the required variation is obtained. Blocking: This is the arrangement of the variables in blocks or groups so that irrelevant sources of variation are eliminated among the factors in the experiment Orthogonality: This refers to the comparisons that can be legitimately done in an experiment. It helps create contrasts that are uncorrelated and distributed independently. Randomization: Information is collected, the variables arranged and the variables are also randomly compared. Question 2 The manipulation check has been included to serve the purpose of a control experiment. Question 3 Gender would affect the study to the effect that most of the females are seen to consume a given commodity more than males. Therefore there would be no balanced results for the experiment in reality. Question 4 Xavier can put an equal number of students of both sexes in the experiment for even results. Secondly, he can take a 70% male, 30% female or related percentages and reverse the percentages that are 30% male and 70% female. He can have any number of both sexes but vary the level of involvement in the experiment like variation of the videos they are watching. Question 5 Two groups, Random Selection, Pre-test, Post-test: In this design, the difference that appears in the post test is the actual result of the experimental variable as opposed to the differences between the two groups that have been created. Question 6 Due to randomization, the characteristics of the subjects may differ to a very huge extent. Secondly, the validity is usually affected by the external validity where the external factors affect its operations as well as the response of the subjects. Question 7 The external validity of the results can be said to be very efficient in that the results are very applicable. The same settings can very well be used for any form of research and get efficient results. Case chapter 14 Question 1 Description of the sample to be used in the analysis This will aim to define how the sample was obtained for the analysis Key sources of data This reveals which surveys were done and the methods used as it would influence the actual analysis procedure used. Consideration of the hypothesis used This would determine the expected results and the analysis method to be used How construction of the variables will be done. This is important especially when there are missing variables in the piece of work and how that will be handled. Expected variations and results There are several models that are used in the research. These are to be pre-planned before the actual work begins. Question 2 a. The most important measure of central tendency would be the mean. This will allows for knowledge on how many of the interviewees on average liked a given modality. The mode is also important to show the number clusters that will be very important. The measure of dispersion in use would be range. Range is important to ascertain the disparity between the lowly based (totally disagree) and highly based responses (totally agree). b. To show sample characteristics, the standard deviation would be most ideal. It has several characteristics of a given piece of data revealed. Question 3 The problem is that the participants do not represent a unified characteristic of the required end result. The high deviation would reveal a much diversified result if carried out at once. Question 4 A histogram is a representation of data in graphical form. A histogram is not the best way to represent the data as the graphs would occupy a lot of space and is also very involving in its construction which would be uneconomical. A box and whisker plot is a way of representing data where rectangles are drawn in representation of the second and third quartiles with a vertical line drawn in the rectangle to represent the median value. These, like the histograms would take a lot of time especially if a lot of information is to be represented. CHAPTER 15 Question 1 Determination of the variable to consider dependent or independent has always been a tough issue. Data is usually affected by so many informational variables that are of importance and influence to the required results making it very hard for determination of which variables to use as dependent or independent. Since these are used in the regression equations, it becomes part of the problem in including it or excluding it. Question 2 Yes, I like the model since Song found out the differences inexistence between china and New York, the model from a hypothetical perspective seeks to unify motivation and employee attraction. Question 3 A simple regression refers to the relationship between some selected values of a given variable X and the corresponding values of Y. values of x are usually predicted from values of y. Multiple regression analysis refers to a statistical approach that predicts the values of one variable X in relation to a collection of two or more other variables Y and Z. Question 4 Timothy cannot run a simple regression because of the collection of information he has to relate. If he runs a simple one, he may not relate all the required information. This will require a collection of many simple regressions creating room for a lot of errors. Question 5 Yes I agree because there is always the change that is associated with a transition period and in this case, the change is the variable ‘excitement’. Question 6 The first conclusion is that the managerial system is progressive as the management initiates a collection of variables that would oversee development of the company in employee attraction. Secondly, it gets to cause of the current situation meaning that it is out to look at the cause and reason for every happening. Question 7 He can carry put the same experiment as he did with gender as one of the independent variables. Then he can evaluate the changes in the dependent variable (attraction) due to this. Question 8 Regression only addresses the relationship between a section of the variables and another. It shows the relationship between the variables and not the cause of the relationship. Chapter 16 Question 1 It is qualitative because the findings as stated cannot be used in making conclusive remarks efficiently about the data presented. It also just indicates a small of cases that are non-representative. Question2 Interview is where the researcher approaches the expected correspondent and asks a collection of questions about a given subject issue. Observation is also used to collect qualitative data where the subject is observed either directly or unobtrusively and conclusions made about the observations Questionnaire is where a set of questions are send to a correspondent and the answers given determine the conclusions that would be made. Question 3 In Jack’s case, purposeful sampling as indicated by a sample being used to represent the whole population, the information collected from the 100 people by the professional researchers would represent the whole market. Question 4 I would still prefer convenience sampling because it allows the researchers to get information from the general population. In this case, very concise conclusions are made and accuracy increased. Question 5 Data reduction is the arrangement of data into ordered and simplified form. In Jack’s case, the table presented represents reduced data as seen in table 1. The act of arranging it is the reduction. Data display is the representation of data in terms of tabular form, the table 1 represents dis played data. Drawing of conclusions involves making final submissions about a given piece of work. In this case, the submissions as made in the negative service experiences and experienced emotions represent the drawn conclusions. Question 6 a. Yes they are important in the research b. Reliability is the extent to which the results are consistent over time and the accuracy they represent. Validity on the other hand determines the extent to which the research measures that which it was intended to measure. c. Jack would have measured reliability by carrying out pre-study analysis and making sure the hypothetical lineation is as accurate as possible. The validity can be ascertained by use of a post study field sample analysis to ascertain the already found data. Question 7 The first can be categorised as third strongest emotion. In the second case, it can be categorised as the 4th strongest emotion The third case has an average emotion which is second strongest Chapter 17 This is a piece of work that starts with an introduction that puts into context the flow of the remaining piece of work. In the chapter 3 section, there is the research project introduced. This is the ideal formation of a research paper and the subsequent topics and subtopics are in line with the flow as expressed in the introduction. Therefore, in terms of organization, there is a coherent flow of information from the introduction to the conclusion. The clarity and coherence of the information is possibly limited by the length as written. There should however be use of more models and examples that should be used to explain the examples as indicated in the different chapters and sections. The major strength of the piece of work as indicated is that it has systematically given the research as was done. This has been backed up by the logical arrangement of the piece of work systematically with each piece of information following each other to the very end (Keller, 2012). References Keller. (2012). Statistics for Management and Economics (9th Edition ed.). Stamford: Cengage Learning. http://www.coursesmart.com/9781119942252/firstsection Read More