Business Research Questions

1. Ch. 6 - 7 -- You are the administrative assistant for a division chief in a large holding company that owns several hotels and theme parks. You and the division chief have just come from the CEO's office, where you were informed that the guest complaints related to housekeeping and employee attitude are increasing. Your on-site managers have mentioned some tension among workers, but have not considered it unusual. The CEO and your division chief instruct you to investigate. Suggest at least three different types of research that might be appropriate to the situation.

There are many different types of research that could be utilized in this situation. Three types of research that can be used to study guest complaints in relations to housekeeping and employee attitude are as follows:

* Descriptive study would help the division chief develop a hypothesis of which employees are receiving complaints and what kind of complaints are guest generally submitting about housekeeping. The information gathered from monitoring staff behavior while performing tasks in the areas where guest are complaining. This can help pin point how often guest complaints are occurring as well as tell which locations has the largest concentration of complaints.

* Causal research study research, the research will assist with determining why the complaints were received. The division chief can determine if the variable of employee attitude causes guest complaints. The importance of this relationship is to determine whether the attitudes of the workers are the real cause of complaints or some other variable. This study should give some answers as to why complaints are increasing.

* Qualitative and Quantitative research: qualitative research techniques facilitate data collection and data analysis. This includes an array of interpretive techniques which seek to describe, decode, translate or and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain more or less naturally occurring phenomena. Quantitative research will measure behavior, knowledge, opinions and attitudes that affect or color the situation. This is an attempt to collect a precise measurement of any potential factors or trends in connection with the situation. Including these types of research in studying this situation would be important in an attempt to accurately assess the correlation between the guest complaints, employee attitude and tension among workers.

2. Ch. 6 - 10 -- Use the eight design descriptors in Exhibit 6-3 to profile the research described in the Chapter Snapshots.

Cheskin Knows Teens Smith Barney's Benchmark Job Environment Research The Ohio Lottery Initiates a Two-Stage Study

Formal Exploratory Two-Stage: Exploratory; Formal

Communication Communication Communication

Ex Post Facto Ex Post Facto Ex Post Facto

Descriptive Reporting Reporting; Descriptive

Longitudinal Longitudinal Cross-sectional; Longitudinal

Case Statistical Case

Field Setting Field Setting Field Setting

Actual Routine Actual Routine Actual Routine

3. Ch. 7 - 5 -- Assume you are a manufacturer of small kitchen electrics, like Hamilton Beach/Proctor Silex, and you want to determine if some innovative designs with unusual shapes and colors developed for the European market could be successfully marketed in the U.S. market. What qualitative research would you recommend, and why?

We would recommend a focus group to see if a new design would be marketable in the U.S. market comparable to its counterpart of a European market. Various focus groups could be utilized to effectively do qualitative research. One could be use of a heterogeneous nonexpert focus group. In this type of focus group, the opportunity to get more information and to get a deeper understanding from a mixed group of participants stems from the small size of the group. With a smaller group, the turn around time is much quicker in the data collection process. This allows management to make quick decisions without signaling to the competition the current research. The focus group format will allow for participants to interact and possibly come up with new styles, colors, and shapes in which management can develop for a more versatile line of small kitchen electrics that attract both European and American consumers. Having a mixed focus group could be representative of the mix in both U. S. and European markets. Further, excluding experts will give the moderator room to find out if the participants drawn to the products based on sensory stimulation instead of preconceived knowledge. Another group could be an online focus group of U.S. buyers could put images of the designs and have chat rooms to use in discovering if the designs are well received or could be a potential failure in the market. The online capability enables the markets to capture a large audience and still keep the cost of having a focus group relatively low.

4. Ch.7 - 8 -- Use Exhibit 7-7 to develop the recruitment screener for the research you described in your answer to question 5.

Merchandise Location Feedback Study

Requirements Do you shop for small appliances at least once per year?

Identity Name: Address: Phone: E-mail:

Introduction In an effort to further our research, we have developed the following survey:

Security Have you participated in a similar survey? Do you (a relative or anyone else you may know) work for a small appliance company or for any industry competitors?

Demographics Age: Gender: Ethnicity/Race: Income: Country: Employed: Job Title:

Use/Purchase How often do you purchase or use small appliances?

Lifestyle How often do you use your small appliances?

Attitudinal & Knowledge What improvements have you seen lately in small appliance?

Articulation/Creative What could you do with can opener?

Offer/Termination Would you be willing to participate in our research and test a few items in preparation for our study?

5. Ch. 8 -9 -- Develop the investigative questions that should have guided