Registration No.

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JUNE 2018 EXAMINATION

DGM 08

ESSENTIALS OF RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

Time: Three Hours Maximum Marks: 100

Note:

1. The paper is divided in to TWO Sections: SECTION-A and SECTION-B.

2. There are five questions in SECTION-A. Students are required to attempt ANY THREE.
3. All the questions of SECTION-B (Case Study) are compulsory.

SECTION-A (20 Marks each)

1. Social media giant Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are at the center of an ongoing
controversy over the alleged harvesting and use of personal data. In the light of the same,
discuss the ethical issues involved in business research.

2. Discuss in detail the relative advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal and cross sectional
research designs.

3. Describe the classification of communication techniques used in obtaining primary data.

4. What are the primary scales of measurement? Using suitable example, describe the construction
and use of Stapel Scale.

5. Type of interviewing method plays an important role in deciding on the nature of questions in a
questionnaire. Do you agree? Discuss giving suitable examples.

SECTION-B (40 Marks)

Case Study (Compulsory)

It took nearly a decade of talking, three years of operational groundwork and even a rare Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommendation that government actually agreed with. Yet the
rollout of Indian television's new rating system in the month of April (2015) could not overcome the
curse of the sarkari file. In fact, the first set of new ratings came out on April 29 and triumphalist news
channels were still tom-tomming their renewed dominance - whether the nation wanted to know or not
- when just in its second week of operational data-reporting, the new agency, Broadcast Audience
Research Council (BARC), was served notice to desist by the ministry of information and broadcasting till
its registration formalities were cleared.

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For India's television channels, still dealing with the uncertainty of regime-change in the foundational
bedrock that defines their entire business, this raised the specter of more confusion and the prospect of
renewed 'ratings darkness'. Finally, in the grand tradition of the great Indian wedding, the proverbial last-
minute hiccup was cleared, BARC resolved it issues with the ministry, and the new ratings are here to
stay.

For the world's second largest and fastest growing television market, the new BARC system, with the
stakeholders being Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and the
Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), is nothing short of an earthquake, meant to clean up its
dirty stables and to create greater rigour in the only currency that really matters in the Rs 474.9 billion
TV industry: the altar of weekly ratings. BARC has been projected as an alternate TV viewership
measurement system to the incumbent, TAM Media Research. TAM, a 50:50 joint venture between
Nielsen and Kantar Media, was then responsible for the ratings that decide the fate of the 22,000 crore
spending on TV advertising. It enjoyed a virtual monopoly, but its job left a lot to be desired. How big is
the change and what does it mean for you and me?

For confused TV-watchers, trying to make sense of the cacophony of the past month with many news
channels trying to claim victory in the new system by selectively cutting and slicing the data as per their
convenience, BARC was a new term that entered the wider public lexicon. "So, has the Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre been given charge of our TV ratings?" tweeted one cynical journalist, summing up the
popular consternation with the tribe and the ratings system in general. Yet, with over Rs 280 crore spent
since 2012, three major industry bodies joining together and the adoption of new measuring
technologies that were only adopted in France in 2007 and in the US in 2013, BARC represents a genuine
generational shift. Under revamped TRP system, sample will cover all platforms and technologies such as
terrestrial TV, digital and analog cable, DTH and IPTV.

First, its initial reporting sample of 10,760 meters is based on 2011 census data. This is important
because a state like Kerala, for example, had only 1 million-plus population towns in the 2001 census, the
earlier baseline. By 2011, Kerala had 7 million-plus population towns as the new baseline.

Second, when BARC eventually enters its second phase with 20,000 meters, TV ratings will, for the first
time, report what rural India is watching too. The absence of rural India in TV ratings so far is basically
why villages and farmers mostly feature on our screens only when there is a crisis, or as the proverbial
'Other'.

When TV ratings begin reflecting the actual urban-rural television mix of India (about 77.5 million urban
and 76 million rural TV households), that's when channels will have a business incentive to start
changing.

Third, BARC has adopted a new consumer classification system for advertisers in which TV-watching
households are classified based on education of the chief wage-earner and number of consumer items in
the house like air-conditioners, cars and washing machines. This should reflect their actual-purchasing
power better than the older system. Overall, it definitely appears to be a more robust system.

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There have been two kinds of responses to BARC so far. The big entertainment networks have largely
been optimistic but cautious, declining to declare definitive victory in these early stages. Many news
channels, on the other hand, have been doing the victory dance already.

While Times Now's viewership dominance has been re-confirmed, other channels who have drastically
shifted positions have been doing much hand-wringing or clapping, depending on which side of the
fence they find themselves on. However, seeing too much in the early trends may be premature.

This is especially true for a miniscule genre like TV news. English TV news has actually shrunk from 0.07%
of the overall TV watching universe in India to 0.04% in the new system. Even within English TV watching
households, as wizened industry veteran points out, English TV news seems to have reduced worryingly
to just about 2% in metros like Delhi and about 5% in Mumbai, flowering only in South India.
In such small niche-viewing genres, ratings can often be misleading at the best of times, as the error-
margin can often be bigger than the difference with the next channel. Statistically speaking, a longer
sample is needed over time for the ratings to accurately reflect reality. It may be better for English news
channels ratings to be released on a monthly basis, rather than the current weekly tyranny of the ratings
exam.

Ratings matter, because unlike other developed TV markets like the United States and Europe where
channels earn roughly 70% of revenues from subscriptions and only about 30% from advertising, in
India, this equation is the exact reserve. Advertising depends on ratings which decide whether channels
live or die.

Even Baba Ramdev looks at ratings, as he once memorably told TAM head LV Krishnan. High ratings for
his yoga TV show meant his hundi was filling up with donations. When he mulled over extending its
repeat telecast times, the guru reasoned that he "should be able to get better returns on the slots".
Ramdev's keen eye on the popularity needle of his programme is no different from the daily anxieties of
any other television producer.

The change in the system offers new possibilities. But it may not be as smooth a ride as many expect.
Like any upheaval, this one too will create new winners and new losers.

6. Case Questions:

In the light of the above, answer the following questions:

i. From the point of view of coverage of the population of interest, and sampling
methodology that was being followed, discuss the drawbacks of the earlier TV audience
measurement regime that necessitated the shift to BARC system. (20)

ii. Which sampling methodology should BARC adopt so that we get closer to the ‘true’
picture vis-à-vis TV viewership in India? Discuss. (20)

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