Business Research Methods Discussion

Questionnaire CHAPTERWhat is the best question sequence?
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Order bias
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Funnel technique
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Asking general questions before specific questions in order to obtain unbiased
responses.
Filter question
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Bias caused by the influence of earlier questions in a questionnaire or by an
answer’s position in a set of answers.
A question that screens out respondents who are not qualified to answer a
second question.
Pivot question

A filter question used to determine which version of a second question will be
asked.
What Is the Best Layout?

Traditional Questionnaires
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Multiple-grid question
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Several similar questions arranged in a grid format.
The title of a questionnaire should be phrased carefully:

To capture the respondent’s interest, underline the importance of the research
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Emphasize the interesting nature of the study

Appeal to the respondent’s ego
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Emphasize the confidential nature of the study
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To not bias the respondent in the same way that a leading question might
Internet Questionnaires
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Graphical User Interface (GUI) Software
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The researcher can control the background, colors, fonts, and other features displayed
on the screen so as to create an attractive and easy-to-use interface between the user
and the Internet survey.
Layout Issues
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Paging layout – going from screen to screen.
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Scrolling layout – entire questionnaire appears on one page and respondent has the
ability to scroll down.
Push Button
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A small outlined area, such as a rectangle or an arrow, that the respondent clicks on to
select an option or perform a function, such as submit.
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Status Bar
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Radio Button
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Small graphic boxes, next to an answers, that a respondent clicks on to choose an
answer; typically, a check mark or an X appears in the box when the respondent clicks
on it.
Open-ended Boxes
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
A space saving device that reveals responses when they are needed but otherwise hides
them from view.
Check Boxes
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A circular icon, resembling a button, that activates one response choice and deactivates
others when a respondent clicks on it.
Drop-down Box
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
A visual indicator that tells the respondent what portion of the survey he or she has
completed.
Boxes where respondents can type in their own answers to open-ended questions.
Pop-up Boxes
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Boxes that appear at selected points and contain information or instructions for
respondents.
Internet Questionnaire Layout (cont’d)
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Software That Makes Questionnaires Interactive
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Variable piping software
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Error trapping
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Controls the flow of an Internet questionnaire.
Forced answering software
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Allows variables to be inserted into an Internet questionnaire as a respondent is
completing it.
Prevents respondents from continuing with an Internet questionnaire if they fail
to answer a question.
Interactive help desk

A live, real-time support feature that solves problems or answers questions
respondents may encounter in completing the questionnaire.
CHAPTER 6
Probability versus Nonprobability
 Probability Samples: each member of the population has a known non-zero probability of being
selected
⚫ Methods include random sampling, systematic sampling, and stratified sampling.
 Nonprobability Samples: members are selected from the population in some nonrandom
manner
⚫ Methods include convenience sampling, judgment sampling, quota sampling, and
snowball sampling
Random sampling is the purest form of probability sampling.
 Each member of the population has an equal and known chance of being selected.
 When there are very large populations, it is often ‘difficult’ to identify every member of the
population, so the pool of available subjects becomes biased.
⚫ You can use software, such as minitab to generate random numbers or to draw directly
from the columns
 Example—A teachers puts students’ names in a hat and chooses without looking to get a sample
of students.
 Why it’s good: Random samples are usually fairly representative since they don’t favor certain
members.
Systematic sampling is often used instead of random sampling. It is also called an Nth name selection
technique.
 After the required sample size has been calculated, every Nth record is selected from a list of
population members.
 As long as the list does not contain any hidden order, this sampling method is as good as the
random sampling method.
 Its only advantage over the random sampling technique is simplicity (and possibly cost
effectiveness).
Stratified sampling is commonly used probability method that is superior to random sampling because it
reduces sampling error.
 A stratum is a subset of the population that share at least one common characteristic; such as
males and females.
⚫ Identify relevant stratums and their actual representation in the population.
⚫ Random sampling is then used to select a sufficient number of subjects from each
stratum.
⚫ Stratified sampling is often used when one or more of the stratums in the population
have a low incidence relative to the other stratums.
Cluster Sampling
 The population is first split into groups. The overall sample consists of every member from some
of the groups. The groups are selected at random.
 Example—An airline company wants to survey its customers one day, so they randomly
select 555 flights that day and survey every passenger on those flights.
 Why it’s good: A cluster sample gets every member from some of the groups, so it’s good when
each group reflects the population as a whole.
Cluster Sample: a probability sample in which each sampling unit is a collection of elements.
 Effective under the following conditions:
 A good sampling frame is not available or costly, while a frame listing clusters is easily
obtained
 The cost of obtaining observations increases as the distance separating the elements
increases
 Examples of clusters:
 City blocks – political or geographical
 Housing units – college students
 Hospitals – illnesses
 Automobile – set of four tires
Convenience sampling
 The researcher chooses a sample that is readily available in some non-random way.
 Example—A researcher polls people as they walk by on the street.
 Why it’s probably biased: The location and time of day and other factors may produce a biased
sample of people.
 It is a nonprobability method.
 Often used during preliminary research efforts to get an estimate without incurring the
cost or time required to select a random sample
Voluntary response sample: The researcher puts out a request for members of a population to join the
sample, and people decide whether or not to be in the sample.
 Example—A TV show host asks his viewers to visit his website and respond to an online poll.
 Why it’s probably biased: People who take the time to respond tend to have similarly strong
opinions compared to the rest of the population.
Judgment sampling is a common nonprobability method.
 The sample is selected based upon judgment.
⚫ an extension of convenience sampling
When using this method, the researcher must be confident that the chosen sample is truly
representative of the entire population
Quota sampling is the nonprobability equivalent of stratified sampling.
⚫ First identify the stratums and their proportions as they are represented in the
population
⚫ Then convenience or judgment sampling is used to select the required number of
subjects from each stratum.
Snowball sampling is a special nonprobability method used when the desired sample characteristic is
rare.
 It may be extremely difficult or cost prohibitive to locate respondents in these situations.
 This technique relies on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects.
It lowers search costs; however, it introduces bias because the technique itself reduces the likelihood
that the sample will represent a good cross section from the population
CHAPTER 7
Uses of Qualitative Research
➢ Qualitative research is useful when:
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It is difficult to develop specific and actionable decision statements or research
objectives.
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The research objective is to develop a detailed and in-depth understanding of some
phenomena.
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The research objective is to learn how a phenomenon occurs in its natural setting or to
learn how to express some concept in colloquial terms.
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The behavior the researcher is studying is particularly context-dependent.
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A fresh approach to studying the problem is needed.
Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Research
Focus Group Interview
➢ An unstructured, free-flowing interview with a small group (6-10 people) led by a moderator
who encourages dialogue among respondents.
➢ Advantages:
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Relatively fast
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Easy to execute
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Allow respondents to piggyback off each other’s ideas
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Provide multiple perspectives
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Flexibility to allow more detailed descriptions
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High degree of scrutiny
Depth Interviews
➢ Depth interview
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A one-on-one interview between a professional researcher and a research respondent
conducted about some relevant business or social topic.
➢ Laddering
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A particular approach to probing asking respondents to compare differences between
brands at different levels.
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Produces distinctions at the:
─ attribute level
─ benefit level
─ value or motivation level
What is different between reliability and validity in research?
Reliability and validity are both about how well a method measures something: Reliability refers
to the consistency of a measure (whether the results can be reproduced under the same
conditions). Validity refers to the accuracy of a measure (whether the results really do represent
what they are supposed to measure).