INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, NIRMA UNIVERSITY

Integrated BBA-MBA Programme [Batch 2017-2022]

Class Test- I [Semester 6 ]
Course: Principles Research Methodology (PRM)

Maximum Marks: 50 Date: 25-03-2020

Duration: 50 Mins Open Book Exam

Name of the student: SHIRAZ NAGARIA Roll No.: 177149

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Instructions:
· Read carefully and answer all the questions.
· There is no negative marking
· All questions are compulsory.
· Answer the questions in the given order only.
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Q.1 The diet drink manufacturer in the study finds that young women are more health
conscious and are looking at low calorie options. Thus, any communication or
advertisement for the product has to emphasize the health aspect. The purchase
probability is also influenced by their education level and the nature of their profession.
Other factors such as available brands, celebrity endorsement and dieticians'
recommendations also have an impact on them.
(a) Identify the research problem and hypotheses.
(b) Identify and classify the variables under study.
(c) Is it possible to generate a theoretical framework for the study? (10)

Q.2 Explain the difference between Cross-Sectional Studies and Longitudinal Studies with an
example. (5)

Q.3 Aqua Seven is a regional brand of water whose share of the market has remained fairly
stable for the past few years. The management wants to increase the brand's market share
through the use of more effective advertising theme. For the last two years, Aqua's advertising
has featured a well-known Bollywood actress who presents a ‘safe and secure, always' message
in all the commercials. The company knows that it needs to make the brand more progressive
and needs to reposition it. Thus they wish to carry out a short study to know the perception about
Aqua as compared with the new brands available today. They are not sure whether a structured
or unstructured approach would be better. Thus you are required to:
(a) Design an unstructured and concealed questionnaire
(b) Design a formalized and unconcealed questionnaire
Which approach according to you is better and why? (10)

Q.4 There is a residential locality where the residents comprise Hindus, Sikhs, Muslim, Jains and
Christians. A survey is conducted to understand the food habits of the residents. Every 7 th house
is selected as the sample. Critically examine the sampling scheme and explain (8)

Q5. What is the need of sampling? Discuss various probability sample techniques by giving their
merits and demerits. (7)

Q.6 What is a questionnaire? Can it be used in all situations? Why/why not? Support your
answer with suitable examples. (10)
SOLUTIONS

Ans 1. (a) Identify the research problem and hypotheses.

Research Problem: How to make the diet drink advertisements sound more health centric as
women are becoming more and more health conscious and how to position the drink in
customers' minds which leads to greater sales.

Hypothesis:
H0: Low calorie in diet drinks advertisement do affect the purchase decision in young women
since they are health conscious. (Null Hypothesis)
H1: Low calorie diet drinks in advertisement will not attract young women.
H2: Young women don't prefer low calorie drinks over high calorie drinks as they are not health
conscious.
H3: Health consciousness is not the major affecting variable.

(b) Identify and classify the variables under study.

Dependent Variable: Purchase decision and behaviour
Independent Variable: Health centric advertisements
Moderating variable: Educational level and profession by nature
Extraneous variable: Available brands, celebrity endorsement and dieticians’ recommendations

(c) Is it possible to generate a theoretical framework for the study?

Yes, we can generate a theoretical framework as the theoretical components like research
problem and hypothesis are known and the variables are systematically listed. Therefore, a
proper theoretical framework can be prepared
 Ans 2. Descriptive design is type of research designs that provides a comprehensive and
detailed explanation of the phenomena under study. However, it lacks precision and accuracy of
experimental designs, yet it lends itself to a wide spectrum of situations and is more frequently
used in business research. It is more structured and formal in nature and is a framework used for
a conclusive research. Descriptive design is further divided into two categories: cross sectional
studies and longitudinal studies.
The following table shows the differences between the cross sectional and longitudinal studies.

Parameters Cross Sectional Studies Longitudinal Studies

Definition A cross-sectional study investigates aLongitudinal study involves a single
specific chunk of the population underpopulation of the identified population
study. It is scientific in nature. is studied over a stretched period of
time.

Characteristic The study is carried out at a single moment A mandatory feature of the design is
in time and thus the applicability is most that once the sample is selected, it
relevant for a specific period. needs to stay constant over the period
of the study.

Advantage of the study
Cross sectional studies provide goodLongitudinal studies make it easier to
controls over the measurement process.find long-term patterns. They offer high
And it also provides better precision in thevalidity levels through the collected
sampling process. data. And it uses observational methods
for data collection.

Disadvantage of the study
It requires a larger sample size to provide While undertaking this study, time is
accuracy. It allows bias to affect results. Italways an issue. Also, it can be difficult
offers no control over choice or purpose. to locate willing participants. Thus,
leading to sample sizes change over
time.

Type(s) of the study Sample Survey Continuous Panel and Discontinuous

Panel
Example of the study A cross sectional study on the attitude ofA panel of consumers specifically
Americans towards Asian-Americans, prechosen to study their grocery purchase
and post 9/11 was vastly different. pattern.

Ans 3. (a) Unstructured and Concealed questionnaire is less structured and

ambiguous. Its purpose is to uncover socially unacceptable desires. The weakness of such
questionnaire is that since it is low on structure, the interpretation required is highly skilled so
that the result is meaningful.
Questionnaire:
Why do you think people shop online?
Do you think that everything can be shopped online?
Your views on the declining physical retail business in India?
What do you think is the impact of Amazon and Flipkart on small businesses?

(b) Formalized and Unconcealed questionnaire is the most commonly and frequently
used by management researchers. The questions are self-explanatory and the answer categories
are well defined. Therefore, it makes the entire process of administering the questionnaire on
large number of people very easy and convenient.
Questionnaire:
Which mode of buying do you prefer to buy clothes? Online / Offline
From which online aggregator do you shop the most? Amazon / Flipkart / Myntra
Which brand of clothes do you trust the most? USPA / UCB / LP
What factors motivate you to buy online? Price / Convenience / Discounts
Are you satisfied with quality? Yes / No
Income, age and gender
Ans 4. The sampling scheme used in this particular case is a type of probability sampling
design known as systematic sampling. Probability sampling designs are used in conclusive
research. In a probability sampling design, each and every element of the population has a
known chance of being selected in the sample. In systematic sampling, the entire population is
arranged in a particular order according to a design. The order could be the calendar dates or the
elements of a population arranged in an ascending or a descending order of the magnitude which
maybe assumed as random. It takes care of the limitation of the simple random sampling that the
sample may not be a representative one. The following steps are followed in the systematic
sampling design:
· First of all, a sampling interval given by K = N/n is calculated, where N = the size of the
population and n= the size of the sample. It is seen that the sampling interval K should be
an integer. If it is not, it is rounded off to make it integer.
· A random number is selected from 1 to K. Let us call it C.
· The first element to be selected from the ordered population would be C, the next element
would be C + K and subsequent one would be C + 2K and so on till a sample of size n is
selected.

It is noted that in a systematic sampling the first unit of the sample is selected at random
(probability sampling design) and having chosen this, we have no control over the subsequent
units of sample (non-probability sampling). Because of this, this design at times is called mixed
sampling.

Advantages of the systematic sampling design are:

· Sample easy to select

· Suitable sampling frame can be identified easily
· Sample evenly spread over entire reference population
· Cost effective

Disadvantages of the systematic sampling design are:

· Sample may be biased if hidden periodicity in population coincides with that of selection.
· Each element does not get equal chance
Example: Let's assume there are 1000 grocery shops in a small town. These shops could be
arranged in an ascending order of their sales, with the first shop having the smallest sales and the
last shop having the highest sales. If it is decided to take a sample of 50 shops, then our sampling
interval K will be equal to 1000/50=20. Now we select a random number from 1 to 20. Suppose
the chosen number is 10, that means that the shop number 10 will be selected first and then shop
number 10+20=30 and subsequent one would be 10+(2*20) =50 and so on till all the 50 shops
are selected. This way we can get a representative sample in the sense that it will contain small,
medium and large shops.

In this above given case, where, there is a residential locality where the residents comprise
Hindus, Sikhs, Muslim, Jains and Christians and survey are conducted to understand the food
habits of the residents. Let's assume that there are 343 houses in the residential locality. These
houses are arranged in an ascending order of their number of members in the house, with the first
house having the lowest number of members and last house having the highest. If it is decided to
take a sample of 49 houses, then our sampling interval K will be equal to 343/49= 7. Every 7 th
house is selected as the sample.
Ans 5. Sampling is a process of selecting an adequate number of elements from the
population in such a way that it includes all the heterogeneity of the population and helps to
understand the various characteristics of the population in a generalized way.
We need sampling because:
· Sampling saves time and cost. For instance, if we want to measure the household
income in the city of Ahmedabad, firstly we must know the population of Ahmedabad is
close to 60 lakhs. Supposing that every household has 5 members, then there are 12 lakh
households which we will have to approach and this will take a lot of time and will be
very costly process as well. Instead we can select 500 households from every part of the
city to make the sample representative and study the income levels of these households.
This will not only save a lot of time but costs as well.
· Sampling is very helpful when immediate action or decision has to be taken. In other
words, when the researcher does not have enough time to wait for the all the information
to become available, sampling can prove to be a rescue for him.
· Sampling can be very useful where collecting a sample is the only option. An example
can be that if we want to test the quality of photographic film, then we need to expose it
and once it is exposed, it gets destroyed. Hence, collecting a sample is only option.
· Sampling can at ties lead to better and accurate results because it leads to lesser
fatigue and lesser sampling errors which ultimately add to valid results.

Probability sampling is a technique in which each and every element of the population has a
known chance of being selected in the sample.
Various probability sampling techniques are:
· Simple random sampling with replacement:
In this every element has an equal chance of being selected in the sample.
· Simple random sampling without replacement:
In this every next element has a higher chance of being selected in the sample.
· Systematic sampling:
In this the entire population is arranged in a particular order and elements are then chosen
in a fixed pattern.
· Stratified Sampling:
 In this the entire population is divided into strata on the basis of income, gender etc. and
the elements in each strata are homogeneous. The strata may be proportionate or
disproportionate.
· Cluster Sampling:
In this, entire population is divided into clusters in such a way that elements within the
cluster are heterogeneous and there is homogeneity in the clusters.

Merits of Probabilistic Sampling:

· There is absence of sampling error and sampling bias. Every element of population has a
known chance of being selected.
· The research findings are highly reliable since they are free from bias.
· Increased accuracy of sampling error estimation.
· The possibilities to make inferences about the population are very high because the
heterogeneity of the population is covered.
· Suitable sampling frame can be selected easily.

Demerits of Probabilistic Sampling:

· It is very complex as compared to non-probabilistic sampling techniques.
· It is more time consuming.
· It is usually more expensive than the non-probabilistic sampling.
· Each element might not get equal chance all the time.
· Biasness might come in the case of selecting the very first element.

Ans 6. Questionnaire is the most simple and the most common mode of primary data
collection method. In this, there is pre-determined set of questions in a sequential format and is
designed to suit the respondent's understanding and language command. It can be very useful
tool to collect useful data from a large population in a short span of time.
Even when questionnaire is such a convenient method, it cannot be used in all the situations.
Following examples justify why it cannot be used in all the situations:
(i) Questionnaire might not prove to be very useful where the results of the research are highly
dependent on the reliability of the responses. For instance, if we want to collect information
about the per capita income of people in a region and if we know that the answers might not be
reliable enough through a questionnaire, it would defeat the purpose of research.
(ii) Questionnaire should not be used in situations that require collection of some confidential
data. In such cases personal face to face interviews are the best.
(iii) Questionnaire are not very useful when the researcher wants to gather personal information
of the respondents. Reason being, people at times are reluctant to fill in their personal
information and this might become a reason for them to not fill the questionnaire.
(iv) Questionnaire might not prove to be helpful in case the target population is not literate
enough to answer by themselves. For instance, if the target population is illiterate labor class,
then getting a questionnaire might not be a very good option. A schedule might be a better
option.
(v) In case the researcher feels that there might be ambiguity in the answers, he might not go
with the option of floating a questionnaire. For example, if a person aged 45 years writes his age
to be 38 years, then the results of the research will get hampered and the researcher would
definitely not want this to happen.
(vi) Questionnaire won't be very useful when there is unwillingness to answer among the target
respondents. For instance, if the researcher feels that he won't get the intended number of
responses, he would probably go with some personal method of data collection instead of
questionnaire.