The Relationships Between Variable and Conceptual Models - Assignment Example

Marketing Research MKTG 466 Final Examination MCQs Question No Answer c 2 a 3 a 4 b 5 d 6 a 7 b 8 a 9 d 10 c 11 b 12 a 13 d 14 c 15 a 16 e 17 d 18e 19 a 20 d 21 c 22 c 23 a 24 e 25 b 26 a 27 a 28 c 29 a 30 d 31 a 32 a 33 b 34 d 35 a 36 b 37 c 38 c 39 c 40 d 41 c 42 d 43 d 44 a 45 b 46 b 47 d 48 e 49 a 50 c Q 51 Describe the terms variable, construct, relationships and conceptual model and give examples. How are these terms related? Ans A test model can be conceptualized with the help of three elements namely; construct variables and relationships. Variable is a measure which is used by researchers in questionnaires. Variables are tangible, observable elements which can be directly measured and have concrete properties. For example, in a study variables may include employee number, gender, No of children, No of people with a certain disability or gender. Some variables are dependent on the others whereas, some can be measured independently. Therefore, mostly variables are categorized into dependant and independent variables. An independent variable is an assumed causal variable whereas, a dependent variable is an assumed effect variable. The primary or key term in these definitions is the assumed as researchers are always in doubt whether a particular variable has caused another variable to change. In a research, it is assumed that it does but cannot be stated with certainty. For example, in a research if lack of sleep predicts increase usage of coffee, then lack of sleep is independent whereas, increased coffee consumption is dependent variable. Construct on the other hand is intangible, abstract and unobservable perception which is directly gauged with a set of related variables. For example customer satisfaction, service quality and brand appeal are some of the constructs. Some of the constructs which depict the respondents’ personality or uniqueness can also be measured. For example creativity, helpfulness, effects of various deals offered by various brands and so on. Relationships in a causal study depict the connection between two or more variables. Relationships between variables may be positive or negative. Positive relationships means than the variable are in direct proportion with each other and increase or decrease simultaneously. For example the more educated a person, the more likely he is to adopt technological advancements. On the other hand, negative relationship refers to a state where variables are inversely proportional to each other. Senior citizens are less likely to adopt to technological advancements. In order to efficiently convey the relationships and variables, researchers go through a process known as conceptualization. This process involves three primary steps; identification of variables, hypothesis statement and relationships and drawing a conceptual model. A conceptual model is primarily a diagram which a researcher uses to depict the relationships between variables and the hypothesis constructed during conceptualization. Q 52 Explain how the questions in a questionnaire should be organized and why should they be organized in a specific way? Ans A document designed to collect primary data in a research through a set of questions is known as questionnaire. A nicely structured questionnaire enables the researchers to gather the required data in a befitting manner. With the advances in computer technology and increasing use of internet, the design and record of questions have greatly changed however, the fundamental structure of the questionnaire has remained same. The format of the questions is decided by the researcher which includes the wording, scales and instructions for the respondents. The question structures depend on the type of survey being carried out e.g. online survey, door to door survey etc. There are mainly two types of questions; unstructured and structured. Unstructured Questions are primarily the ones which enable the respondents to reply in their own words. These are open ended questions and are more difficult to answer as there are very less guidelines provided for the respondents. The respondents usually skip these questions unless they are appeal to them. On the other hand, Structured Questions allow the respondents to opt from different options in answering the questions. These are primarily close ended questions. This format reduces the thinking time of the respondents and therefore is more likely to be answered than unstructured questions. Wordings of the questions must be chosen very carefully so that the respondents are able to fully understand the questions and are also able to reply appropriately. Unclear, ambiguous and highly technical terms should be avoided at all costs so that the participants of the survey concisely reply what the researchers are looking for. Some topics are considered sensitive in nature and should be avoided at all costs unless they are absolutely necessary for the completion of research. Therefore, a researcher must avoid sensitive questions regarding sex, alcohol drinking, income etc. If the research necessitates asking of sensitive questions, the researcher must first take the participant in confidence and assure him somehow that such a behavior is being done by many other in a society. Some questions can be labeled as bad questions because they tend to shatter the confidence and disrupt communication between the respondent and participant. Bad questions may be leading, unanswerable or double barreled. Leading questions tend to lead the participants to a particular reply. Unanswerable questions are ones which cannot be answered by the participants because may be the answer options do not include the relevant answer or the participant does not have the complete information to answer the questions. Double barreled questions are ones which require the participants to answer regarding more than one issue in a question. Sometimes researchers use skip questions in questionnaires. Skip questions are ones which require the respondents to skip a particular set of questions if a certain condition is previously met in the questionnaire. This technique is used to choose participants with proper knowledge to answer certain type of questions. Q 53. What are internal and external validity? Why are they important in research design? Ans. In research design, it is very important for the researchers to determine whether their results obtained as a result of experimentation are valid or not. There are a number of controllable and uncontrollable variables which might affect the outcome of a research. Researchers must therefore understand the importance of validity in a research and take measures to ensure that results have been achieved keeping in view the validity of the exercise. Therefore, validity plays an important role in determining the experimentation research design. Internal validity means how aptly a researcher is able to identify a fundamental relationship and rule out a competing relationship which may also cause the phenomenon. It can also be stated that when a researcher rules out a competing hypothesis in a situation, internal validity is said to exist. For example, a company decides to add more color to a beverage which according to hypothesis would be liked by the consumers. However, in doing so, the sweetness of the beverage also increases as the color contains sugar. Although the idea is a success, the researchers must determine that the beverage was liked due to change in color or increased sweetness. In this case sweetness is an irrelevant variable. External validity refers to the fact that the result of an experiment conducted on a target population may be generalized or becomes valid for all the population. For instance, an ice cream company decides to conduct a study on people aged 14-35 years regarding a new flavor of ice cream about to be introduced in the market. As the whole population of the city or country could not be included in the study due to high cost, the company decides to test the new flavor on 200 randomly chosen participants between the ages 14-35 years. The result of the study showed that about 75% of the target population liked the new flavor as a result of which the company introduced the flavor in the market and 75% of the targeted population did in fact buy the ice cream flavor. It can be said the results of the research are externally valid. Q 54. Describe observational research design. What are the advantages and disadvantages of observational data? Ans. Observation is a method used by the scientists to record human behavior or attitude under different circumstances. The Observation research design is a research methodology which is used to record behavior pattern of objects and people involved in the study. In surveys, people often provide inaccurate responses which in turn may report an inaccurate behavior pattern however, in an observation research design; the actual behavior pattern of the participants is observed and recorded. These methods require recording of the behavior patterns as accurately as possible. For this purpose trained professional observers and / or video cameras are used by researchers. Moreover, observations can also be recorded with the help of handwritten notes, computers or audio tapes. Sometimes, researchers prefer to use electronic or mechanical devices for observation purposes. This is called Technology mediation observation. In this method video cameras, optical scanners, eye tracking monitors, traffic counters or audio voice pitch analyzers are mostly used to record human behavior. Scientists often prefer such kind of observation methods as these are generally more accurate and reduce the overall cost of study. Scanner technology is another kind of observation method which uses Scanner based panels to observe human behavior. This method involves providing the participating households with bar coded cards for identification purpose. Through this method, researchers are able to observe the purchase behavior of the participating households and thus formulate a complete customer profile. There are various advantages and disadvantages of Observation methods. The advantages of Observation method include enabling the researcher to accurately record the human behavior, reduction in response errors and refusal to participation, and provision of detailed behavioral data in less time and cost. On the other hand, the disadvantages of Observation method include hindrances in recording the human behavior accurately, inability of the researchers to explain human behavior independently and difficulty in generalizing the behavior pattern. Q55. Discuss the importance of pretesting a questionnaire. Ans. Pretesting a questionnaire is basically a process in which the representatives of the actual respondents are asked to fill the questionnaire completely and highlight any anomalies, observations or ambiguities in the questionnaire. This is done to ensure that when the questionnaire is given to the population for response, the participants are able to understand the questions well and are not confused in giving the right answer. This practice helps the researchers in saving valuable time, effort and cost in the research. If the questionnaire is published to the population without any pretesting, the respondents might not be able to provide the required answers expected by the researchers and therefore the required amount of data may not be obtained at the end of this exercise. It is widely believed that rarely after a pretest does a questionnaire is not required to be modified. Another importance of pretesting is that it provides the initial slice of information needed by the researchers by the representative participants before the actual participants can be tested. Therefore, through pretesting the researchers may have just an idea how the targeted population would respond to the questions. Q57. Define the term research design. Explain the three different types of research designs and when they should be used. Ans Research design is a general plan which includes the data collection and analysis methodology. The information required by the researchers and research objectives primarily determines the research design. Many elements are considered by the researcher in order to formulate a research design e.g. data collection methodology, data analysis tools, finances required and timelines to be met. The research design is further categorized into exploratory, descriptive, and causal research. A single research design may use any of the research approach or use a mix of exploratory, descriptive and causal techniques. There are two primary objectives of Exploratory research; developing an insight into the situation which would aid the researcher in defining the problem at hand and expanding the knowledge of the researcher regarding customer attitudes and behaviors which are otherwise not easy to analyze. For example, exploratory research may be conducted through review of already available literature or through qualitative methods e.g. in-depth interviews. A researcher uses Descriptive research in order to collect quantitative data. The researcher is basically trying to answer research questions through gathering the data of who, when and where questions. This data may be gathered in order to get information about purchase behavior or customer attitudes. The third type of research design is Causal research through which research try to find cause and effect relationship between the variables. This kind of research approach is particularly helpful in determining which variable in the study can cause another dependent variable to fluctuate. For example, a particular cell phone company may predict that by increasing the advertising budget by 10%, it can enhance its sales by 25%. Read More