DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 1
1. Why should a manager know about research when the job entails managing people, products,
events, environments, and the like?
2. For what specific purposes is basic research important?
When is applied research, as distinct from basic research, useful?
Why is it important to be adept in handling the manager-researcher relationship?
5. Explain, giving reasons, which is more important, applied or basic research.
6. Give two specific instances where an external research team would be useful and two other
scenarios when an internal research team would be deployed, with adequate explanations as to
why each scenario is justified for an external or internal team.
7. Describe a situation where research will help you as a manager to make a good decision.
8. Given the situations below:
a. discuss, with reasons, whether they fall into the category of applied or basic research,
b. for Scenario 1, explain, with reasons, who will conduct the research.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 02
1. Describe the hallmarks of scientific research.
2. What are the steps in hypothetico-deductive research? Explain them, using your own
example.
3. One hears the word research being
mentioned by several groups such as research organizations, college and university professors,
doctoral students, graduate assistants working for faculty, graduate and undergraduate students
doing their term papers, research departments in industries, newspaper reporters, journalists,
lawyers, doctors, and many other professionals and nonprofessionals. In the light of what you
have learned in this chapter, which among the aforementioned groups of people do
you think may be doing "scientific" investigations in the areas of basic or applied research?
Why?
Explain the processes of deduction and induction, giving an example of each.
5. If research in the management area cannot be 100% scientific, why bother to do it at all?
Comment on this question.
6. What is epistemology and why is it
important to know about different perspectives on research and how it should be done?
7. Discuss the most important differences between positivism and constructionism.
8. Is there a specific perspective on research that appeals to you? Why?
9. Critique the following research done in a service industry as to the extent to which it meets
the hallmarks of scientific investigation discussed in this chapter
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 03
1. Explain the preliminary data collection methods .
2. Why is it important to gather information on the background of the organization ?
3. Should a researcher always obtain information on the structural aspects and job characteristics
from those interviewed ? Give reasons for your answer with examples .
4. " The problem definition stage is perhaps more critical in the research process than the
problem solu tion stage . " Discuss this statement .
5. Why should one get hung up on problem definition if one already knows the broad problem
area to be studied ?
6. Offer a clearly focused problem statement in the broad area of corporate culture ..
7. Below is the gist of an article from Business Week . After reading it :
a . identify the broad problem area
b . explain how you would proceed further .
While Chrysler's minivans , pickups , and sport utility vehicles take a big share of the truck
market , its cars trail behind those of GM , Ford , Honda , and Toyota . Quality problems include
, among other things , water leaks and defective parts .
8. Define the problem statement ( the why and the what ) in the following situation :
Employee loyalty
Companies benefit through employee loyalty . Crude downsizing in organizations during the
recession crushed the loyalty of millions . The economic benefits of loyalty embrace lower
recruitment and training costs , higher productivity of workers , customer satisfaction , and the
boost to morale of fresh recruits . In order that these benefits are not lost , some companies ,
while downsizing , try various gimmicks . Flex leave , for instance , is one . This helps
employees receive 20 % of their salary , plus employer - provided benefits , while they take a 6-
to 12 - month sabbatical , with a call option on their services . Others try alternatives like more
communication , hand holding , and the like .
9. How would you define the broad problem in the following case ?
Accounting gets radical
The GAAP ( Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ) do an unacceptable job of accounting
for the principal activities of information age companies . Today , investors are in the dark
because the account ing is irrelevant . The basic purpose of accounting is to provide useful
information to help investors make rational investment ; credit , and similar decisions , but
today's most important assets and activities intellectual capital
and work knowledge - are totally ignored .
Professor Robert A. Howell wants to reform the accounting system with the goal of making
clear the measurement of how companies produce cash and create value .
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 04
1. What is the purpose of a critical literature review ?
2. How would you go about doing a literature review in the area of corporate social
responsibility ?
3 . Why is appropriate citation important ? What are the consequences of not giving credit to the
source from which materials are extracted ?
4. After studying and extracting information from all the relevant work
done previously , how does the researcher know which particular references , articles , and
information should be given prominence in the literature review ?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 05
1. " Because literature review is a time - consuming exercise , a good , in - depth interview
should suffice to develop a theoretical framework " Discuss this statement .
2. " Good models are complex . What's more , a good model should include both moderating and
mediating variables . " Discuss this statement .
3. " Academic researchers usually develop more complex and elaborate models than applied
research ers . " Discuss this statement .
4 . "In an applied research context you do not need to explain the relationships between the
variables in your conceptual model . " Discuss this statement .
5. There is an advantage in stating the hypothesis both in the null and in the alternate ; it adds
clarity to our thinking of what we are testing . Explain .
6 . It is advantageous to develop a directional hypothesis whenever we are sure of the predicted
direc tion . How will you justify this statement ?
7 . In recent decades , many service markets have been liberalized . For this reason , incumbent
ser ice firms are facing new competitors and must address customer switching . You are
discussing . the determinants of customer switching with a service firm manager . She believes
that product quality , relationship quality , and switching costs are important determinants of
customer switch ing . You agree with the contention that product quality and relationship quality
are important determinants of switching . However , you believe that switching costs moderate
the relationships between product quality , relationship quality , and customer switching .
Provide arguments for this contention .
8. For the following case entitled " Sleepless nights at Holiday Inn " ( published in Business
Week and adapted here ) :
a . Identify the problem
b . Develop a conceptual model
c . Develop at least four hypotheses .
Sleepless nights at Holiday Inn
Just a few years ago , Tom Oliver , the Chief Executive of Holiday Hospitality Corp. , was
struggling to dif ferentiate among the variety of facilities offered to clients under the Holiday
flag - the Holiday Inn Select designed for business travelers , the Holiday Inn Express used by
penny pinchers , and the Crowne Plaza Hotels , the luxurious hotels meant for the big spenders .
Oliver felt that revenues could be quadrupled if only clients could differentiate among these .
Keen on developing a viable strategy for Holiday Hospitality, which suffered from brand
confusion, Tom Oliver conducted a customer survey of those who had used each type of facility,
and found the following. The consumers didn't have a cue as to the differences among the three
dijferent types, Many complained that the buildings were old and not properly maintained, and
the quality ratings of service and other factors were also poor. Furthermore, when word spread
that one of the contemnplated strategies of Oliver was a name change to diferentiate the three
facilities, irate franchises balked. Their mixed messages did nothelp consumers to understand
the differences, either.
Oliver thought that he first needed to understand how the different classifications would be
imnportant to the several classes of client, and then he could market the heck 0ut of them and
greatly enhance the revenues. Simultaneously, he recognized that unless the franchise owners
fully cooperated with him in all his plans, mere face-lifting and improvement of customer
service would not bring added revenues.
9. Develop a conceptual model for the scenario below.
Incidence of smoking in movies has started to increase again, after having declined for several
decades. According to the National Cancer Institute, smoking is seen in at least three out of four
contemporary box-office hits. What's more, identifiable cigarette brands appeared in about one-
third of all movies in 2008. Exposure to smoking in movies is an inmportant predictor of
adolescent smoking initiation: smoking in movies has been shown to afect adolescents'
intentions to start smoking. In turr, the intentions to start smoking are determined by a more
positive attitude toward smoking after seeing a film character smoke. Recent research has
revealed that the relationship between seeing a film character smoke and the attitude toward
smoking is stronger when a person's identification with a film character increases. These
findings are consistent with social learning theory which predicts that attitudes and behaviors are
modeled by observing the behaviors of others.
10. Develop a conceptual model for the following case.
Once given, perks are extraordinarily hard to take away without sapping employee morale. The
adverse effects of these cuts far outweigh the anticipated savings in dollars. Research has shown
that when the reason behind the cuts is explained to employees, morale does not drop.
11. Product placement is a form of advertising in which a company's products and name are
intentionally positioned in motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts, and the like.
Product placement can take many forms: verbal mentions in dialogue; actual use by a character;
or visual displays (for instance, a company logo on a vehicle or billboard). Develop a theoretical
framework on this issue, based on a review of the current literature. This framework should
include:
a. a specification and definition of an appropriate dependent variable;
b. a conceptual model that describes the relationships between the dependent variable, at least
one independent variable, and either a moderating or a mediating variable;
C. a theory on why you would expect these relationships to exist,
d. an appropriate number of testable hypotheses.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 06
1.What are the basic research design issuès? Describe them in some detail.
2. Why is it important to consider basic design issues before conducting the study and even as
earh as at the time of formulating the research question?
3. Is a field study totally out of the question if one is trying to establish cause-and-effect
relationships?
4. "An exploratory study is just as useful as a causal study." Discuss this statement.
5. Why is the unit of analysis an integral part of the research design
6. Discuss the interrelationships among noncontrived setting, the purpose of the study,
researcher interference, research strategy, and time horizon of study.
7. Below are three scenarios. Indicate how the researcher should proceed in each case; that is,
determine the following, giving reasons:
a. The purpose of the study
b. The extent of researcher interference
C. The study setting
d. The research strategy
e. The time horizon for the study
f. The unit of analysis.
Scenario 1
A specific department within an organization has a high turnover rate; employees of this
department have a shorter average tenure than those of other departments in the company.
Skilled workers are leaving and the worker
population contains a high percentage of novice workers. Ms Joyce Lynn has no idea what is
going on and wants to know more about what is happening.
Scenario2
Mr Paul Hodge, the owner of several restaurants on the East Coast, is concerned about the wide
differences in their profit margins. He would like to try sone incentive plans for increasing the
efficiency leveis of those restaurants that lag behind. But before he actually does this, he would
like to be assured that the idea will work. He asks a researcher to help him on this issue.
Scenario 3
A manager is intrigued as to why some people seem to derive joy from work and get energizea
by it, while others find it troublesome and frustrating.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 07
1. Describe the different data sources, explaining their usefulness and disadvantages.
2. As a manager, you have invited a research team to come in, study, and ofter suggestions on
how to improve the performance of your staf. What steps will you take to relieve staff
apprehensions and worries even before the research team sets foot in your department?
3. What is bias, and how can it be reduced during interviews?
4. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of personal and telephone interviews.
5.What are projective techniques and how can they be used profitably?
6. How has the advancement in technology helped data gathering via interviewing?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 08
1. Describe the key purpose of observation.
2. Discuss tour dimensions that distinguish various approaches to observation.
3. Under which circumstances would you prefer observation as a method to collect data over
other methods of data collection such as interviews and questionnaires
4. How does participant observation difer from structured observation?
5. Discuss how ethnography and participant observation are related.
6. How does moderate participation differ from complete participation
7. Although participant observation
combines the processes of participation and observation it should be distinguished from both
pure observation and pure participation. Explain.
8. What is rapport and how is rapport established in participant observation?
9 Field notes are often regarded as being simultaneously data and data analysis. Why?
10. Is it possible to test hypotheses with structured observation? Why (not)?
11. How does a simple checklist differ from a sequence record on time-scale?
12. One of the main advantages of observation is its directness. Discuss.
13. What is reactivity?
14. A disadvantage of observation is observer bias. Discuss at least two ways of minimizing
observer bias.
15. Discuss the ethics of concealed observation.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 09
1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of personally administered, questionnaires, mail
questionnaires, and electronic questionnaires.
2. Explain the principles of wording, stating how these are important in questionnaire design,
citing examples not in the book.
3. How are multiple methods of data collection and from multiple sources related to the
reliability and validity of the measures?
4. "Every data collection method has its own built-in biases. Therefore, resorting to
multimethods of data collection is only going to compound the biases. How would you critique
this statement?
5. "One way to deal with discrepancies found, in the data obtained from multiple sources is to
average the figures and take the mean as the value of the variable. What is your reaction to this?
6. How has the advancement in technology helped data gathering via questionnaires?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 10
1. What aré the differences between causal and correlational studies?
2. In what ways do lab experiments differ from field experiments?
3. Define the terms control and manipulation. Describe a possible lab experiment where you
would need to control a variable. Include also a variable over which you would have no control
but which could affect your experiment.
4. Explain the possible ways in which you can control nuisance variables.
5. What is internal validity and what are the threats it stands exposed to?
6. Explain the concept of "trade-off between internal validity and external validity
7. Explain how the selection of participants may affect both the internal and external validity of
tour experiments.
8. Explain the difference between main and interactive testing effects. Why 1s this difference
important?
9. History is a key problem in a time series design. Other problems are main and interactive
testing effects, mortality, and maturation. Explain.
10. Explain why mortality remains a problem even when a Solomon four-group design is used
11. fa control group is a part of an experimental design, one need not worry about controlling
other exogenous variables. Discuss this statement.
12. The Solomon four-group design is the answer to all our research questions pertaining to
cause
and-efect relationships because it guards against all the threats to internal validity Comment
13. Below is an adapted note from Business Week published some time ago. After reading it,
apply what you have learned in this chapter, and design a study after sketching the theoretical
framework
The vital role of self-esteem
Why do some people earn more than others? Economists focused on the importance of
education, basic skills, and
work experience-what they called human capital - on increased productivity, and said these were
reflected in greater earning power. Researchers also found that self-esteem was instrumental in
acquiring human capital.
14. Design a study to examine the following situation.
An organization would like to introduce one of fwo types of new manufacturing process to
increase the productivity of workers, and both involve heavy investment in expensive
technology. The company wants to test the eficacy of each process in one of its small plants.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 11
1. Define measurement.
2. Explain why it is impossible to measure an object.
3 Provide (relevant) measurable attributes for the following objects:
a.a restaurant
b. a businessperson
C. a consumeT
d. a car
e. a tennis racket
f. a strategic business unit
4. Why is it wrong to use correlates of a concept to measure that concept?
5, What is meant by operational definition, when is it necessary, and why is it necessary?
6 Operationalize the following
a. customer loyalty
b. price consciousness
c. Career success.
7. 1s it useful to draw on existing measures to measure abstract and subjective constructs such as
Customer loyalty? Why (not)?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 12
1. Describe the four types of scales.
2. How is the interval scale more sophisticated than the nominal and ordinal scales?
3. Why is the ratio scale considered to be the most powerful of the four scales
4 Briefly describe the difference between attitude rating scales and ranking scales and indicate
whep the two are used.
5. Why is it important to establish the goodness of measures and how is this done?
6. Describe the difference between formative and reflective scales.
7. Explain why it does not make sense to assess the internal consistency of a formative scale
8. "The job involvement measure described in the appendix is reflective in nature." Comment on
this statement.
9. Construct a semantic differential scale to assess the properties of a particular brand of coffee
or tea
10, Whenever possible it is advisable to use instruments that have already been developed and
repeatedly used in published studies, rather than developing our own instruments for our studies.
Do you agree? Discuss the reasons for your answer.
11. Avalid instrument is always reliable, but a reliable instrument may not always be valid"
Comment on this statement.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 13
1. ldentity the relevant population for the following research foci, and suggest the appropriate
sampling design to investigate the issues, explaining why they are appropriate. Wherever
necessary, identify the sampling frame as well.
a. A company wants to investigate the initial reactions of heavy soft-drink users to a new all
natural soft drink.
b. A hospital administrator wants to find out if the single parents working in the hospital have a
higher rate of absenteeism than parents who are not single.
C. A researcher would like to assess the extent of pilferage in the materials storage warehouses
of
manufacturing firms.
d. The director of human resources wants to investigate the relationship between drug abuse and
dysfunctional behavior of blue-collar workers in a particular plant.
e. A marketer wants to generate some ideas on how women differ from men in acquiring product
knowledge about cars.
2. a. Explain why cluster sampling is a probability sampling design.
b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of cluster sampling?
c. Describe a situation where you would consider the use of cluster sampling.
3. a. Explain what precision and confidence are and how they influence sample size.
b. Discuss what is meant by the statement: "there is a trade-off between precision and
confidence under certain conditions."
The use of a convenience sample used in organizational research is correct because all members
share the same organizational stimuli and go through almost the same kinds of experience in
their organizational life. Comment.
5. Use of a sample of 5000 is not necessarily better than one of 500." How would you react to
this statement?
6. Nonprobability sampling designs ought to be preferred to probability sampling designs in
some cases. Explain with an example.
7. Because there seems to be a trade-off between accuracy and confidence for any given sample
size accuracy should always be considered more important than precision. Explain with reasons
why you do or do not agree
8. Overgeneralizations give rise to much confusion and other problems for researchers who try
to replicate the findings. Explain what is meant by this
9. Double sampling is probably the least used of all sampling designs in organizational research
Do you agree? Provide reasons for your answer.
10. Why do you think the sampling design should feature in a research proposal?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 14
1. what activities are involved in getting the data ready for analysis?
2. What does coding the data involve?
3.Data editing deals with detecting and correcting illogical, inconsistent, or illegal data in the
information returned by the participants of the study. Explain the difference between illogical,
inconsistent, and illegal data.
4. How would you deal with missing data?
5. What is reverse scoring and when is reverse scoring necessary?
6. There are three measures of central tendency: the mean, the median, and the mode. Measures
of dispersion include the range, the standard deviation, and the variance (where the measure of
central tendency is the mean), and the interquartile range (where the measure of central tendency
is the median). Describe these measures and explain which of these measures you would use to
provide an Overview of (a) nominal, (b) ordinal, and (c) interval data?
7.A researcher wants to provide an overview of the gender of the respondents in his sample. The
gender is measured like this: What is your gender? LI Male L Female. What is the best way to
providean overview of the gender of the respondents
8. Consider the following reliability analysis for the variable customer differentiation. What
could you conclude from it?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 15
1. What kinds of biases do you think could be minimized or avoided during the data analysis
stage of research?
2. When we collect data on the effects of treatment in experimental designs, which statistical test
is most apPpropriate to test the treatment effects?
3.A tax consultant wonders whether he should be more selective about the class of clients he
serves so as to maximize his income. He usually deals with four categories of clients: the very
rich, rich, upper middle class, and middle class. He has records of each and every client served,
the taxes paid by them, and how much he has charged them. Since many particulars in respect of
the clients vary (number or dependants, business deductibles, etc.), irrespective of the category
they belong to, he would like an
appropriate analysis to be done to see which among the four categories of dlientele he should
choose to continue to serve in the future. What kind of analysis should be done in this case and
why?
4.What is bootstrapping and why do you think that this method is becoming more and more
popular as a method of testing for moderation and mediation?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 16
1. What is qualitative data? How do qualitative data differ from quantitative data?
2. Describe the main steps in qualitative data analysis.
3. Defne reliability and validity in the context of qualitative research.
4. How can you assess the reliability and validity of qualitative research?
5. What is grounded theory?
6. How does narrative analysis differ from content analysis?
7. Why is analytic induction inductive (rather than deductive) in nature?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Chapter 17
1. Discuss the purpose and contents of the executive summary.
2. What are the similarities and differences between basic and applied research reports
3. How have technological advancements helped in writing and presenting research reports?
4. Why is it necessary to specify the limitations of the study in the research report?
5. What aspects of a class research project would be stressed by you in the written report and in
the oral presentation?
