North Campus

Midterm Exam (Hourly-II) Spring - 2021

Subject: Research Method and Skills Submission Day/Date: 6 th May, 2021

Class Timing: 10:30-12:30

Instructor: Ms. Nida Shah Submission Duration: 2 Hours

Program: BBA (H) Max. Marks: 13

Department of Business Administration

Please follow the instructions carefully:

1. Write your answers in a Word file and upload the file before the due time on BlackBoard.

2. Write your name and registration ID on the first page of your Word file.

3. Answer scripts can be uploaded on BlackBoard within or before its deadline.

Therefore, do not wait for the last hour to avoid any unforeseen problems.

4. Submission of answer copy(ies) will be considered acceptable through BlackBoard

only. Therefore, do not submit your document through email or any other medium.

5. Use 12 pt. font size and Times New Roman font style along with 1-inch page margins.

6. Follow the requirements of the word limit and the marking criteria while writing your
answers.

7. Provide relevant, original and conceptual answers, as this exam aims to test your ability to
examine, explain, modify or develop concepts discussed in class.

8. Do not copy answers from the internet or other sources. The plagiarism of your answers
may be checked through Turnitin.
9. Recheck your answers before the submission on BlackBoard to correct any content or
language related errors.

10. Double check your word file before uploading it on BlackBoard to ensure that you have
uploaded the correct file with your answers.

Q1: Below mentioned is the abstract of the study. (5 Marks)

 reports on a study for which the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT
This article) served as a theoretical framework. The purpose of the research was to gain an
understanding of students’ perceptions of the adoption of social media, namely Facebook and
Twitter, in an academic library setting. The study applied the constructs as described by the
UTAUT, namely, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating
conditions, to explore students’ perceived behavioral intentions to use social media. A sample
of 30 students were selected from two universities, one in Belgium (University of Antwerp) and
one in South Africa (University of Limpopo), to gain better insight of the students’ perceptions
regarding the adoption and use of social media, in particular Facebook and Twitter, by the
academic libraries at these two universities. The study showed that the adoption of social
media is positively influenced by effort expectancy, performance expectancy and social
influence. A major challenge reported by most respondents at the University of Limpopo was
poor internet access and the non-adoption of Facebook and Twitter, whilst respondents at the
University of Antwerp had mixed feelings about the adoption of Facebook and Twitter for
scholarly communication.

By using the above information, answer the following questions.

i. Identity the theory used in the study.

ii. Identify the dependent and independent variables of the study.
iii. Identify whether it is qualitative research or quantitative research. Also, justify your
answer.
iv. Suggest an appropriate research approach and research design of the study. Also, justify
your answer.
v. How can the researcher ensure ethical consideration?
ANS#1
ANSWER 1
The Unified Theory of Acceptance attempts to clarify user intentions to use an information network and
subsequent usage behaviour..

ANSWER 2

Independent variables -

Use of Technology

Dependent variable -

An understanding of students' perceptions of the adoption of social media.

The study's goal was to gain an understanding of students' perceptions of social media adoption in an
educational library setting. To analyse students' perceived behavioural expectations to use social media,
we used achievement expectancy, action expectancy, social impact, and promoting circumstances..

ANSWER 3

It is classified as qualitative research because it is primarily an exploratory study. It is used to gain

knowledge of underlying explanations and points of view. Qualitative research is also used to uncover
trends in feelings and viewpoints and to delve deeper into a situation. We use this study, which includes
30 students from two different universities, two focus groups, and participation/observations, to gain a
reasonable understanding of the students’ perceptions of the adoption and use of social media.
Typically, the sample size is small, and respondents are assigned to fill out a given ratio.

ANSWER 4

A Research Design is a broad framework, summary, or pattern of a research strategy, whereas a

Research Approach integrates multiple methods, procedures, strategies, or techniques used to collect or
study data or information..

The study's appropriate study approach and research design are - This is an experimental design
because the experimenter uses two groups to analyse performance and understanding differences.

The research method is observation and analysis. This is an example of explanatory research. This
method attempts to find an answer to a question. Explanatory studies are designed to investigate the
origin-cause-effect relationships. The experimenter is looking for a difference between the two groups
( effects of social media, perception and). comprehension

ANSWER 5
A researcher should keep ethical considerations in mind. Ethical considerations are one of the most
important aspects of research. Participants in research (students) should not be subjected to any form
of physical or psychological harm. Priority should be given to the trust of research participants. Before
the research can begin, the participants must give their full consent..

Q2: Mr. A wants to study the salient factors that may influence the adoption of Social
Networking Sites (SNS) for educational purposes. For this, he identifies the variables such as
trust (TR), emotional attachment (EA), resource and material sharing (RA), communication
(COM), and collaboration (COL) that may affect the adoption of the Social Networking Sites
(SNS). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was employed to perform reliability and validity
checks, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was employed to test the proposed
conceptual model. This study could help instructors and managements at higher educational
institutions to formulate strategies to encourage the students to use social networking sites for
academic purposes.

Based on the above information, answer the following questions. (6 Marks)

i. Develop the conceptual model of the study.

ii. Develop the alternative hypothesis of the study.
iii. Develop the research objective of the study.
iv. Suggest the target of the study.

 There is a significant relationship between trust (TR) and adoption of social networking
sites (SNS).
 There is a significant relationship between emotional attachment (EA) and adoption of
social networking sites (SNS).
 There is a significant relationship between resource and material sharing (RA) and
adoption of social networking sites (SNS).
  There is a significant relationship between communication (COM) and adoption of social
networking sites (SNS).
 There is a significant relationship between collaboration (COL) and adoption of social
networking sites (SNS).

Q3: Rectify the error, if any, in the following in-text citation based on APA guidelines. (2 Marks)

Knowledge sharing between students is important for practitioners and academics. (Ghabban,
Selamat & Ibrahim 2018) state that useful knowledge improves the performance. Also, they
indicated that computer-mediated communication and knowledge share via Information
Technologies significantly enhance productivity. So, researchers indicated that ICT and
knowledge sharing are associated. Many factors increase the use of ICT in knowledge sharing
(Omer, Yassin and Khan, 2016). Social media and other web tools have become a means of
communication and knowledge sharing (Cevik et al., 2016). Social media can be seen as a
platform created on the internet, with contents created by the users. Ali et al. (2020) mention
that social media can be used to manage the flow of information in teams, thereby
strengthening knowledge management that can be associated with innovation. Social media
tools enable people to create knowledge sharing channels. Users can find individuals who are
interested in similar fields, and they can share their thoughts with them (Bilgihan et al. 2016).
Recently, social media tools usage is beyond personal use. And they are increasingly being
adopted by organizations as knowledge sharing and communication tools in different ways
(Ahmed et al. 2019). Omer, Yassin & Khan (2016) investigated whether there is a relationship
between social media usage and knowledge sharing behavior among employees in the oil and
gas organization, and they found that there is a relationship between that factors. Cevik et al.
(2016) state that social media resources play a very important role in promoting knowledge
sharing in medical education with limited resources. Khan & Khan (2019) suggest that local
governments can strengthen the awareness of leaders and employees by encouraging them to
use a learning environment that enables them to share information and processes that they
carry out, and help identify new solutions for the employee’s work.
 
ANS#3
Knowledge sharing between students is important for practitioners and academics. (Ghabban, Selamat
& Ibrahim 2018) state that useful knowledge improves performance. Also, they indicated that
computer-mediated communication and knowledge share via Information Technologies significantly
enhance productivity. So, researchers indicated that ICT and knowledge sharing are associated. Many
factors increase ICT use in knowledge sharing (Omer, Yassin, and Khan, 2016). Social media and other
web tools have become a means of communication and knowledge sharing (Cevik et al., 2016). Social
media can be seen as a platform created on the internet, with content created by the users. Ali et al.
(2020) mention that social media can be used to manage the flow of information in teams, thereby
strengthening knowledge management that can be associated with innovation. Social media tools
enable people to create knowledge-sharing channels. Users can find individuals interested in similar
fields and share their thoughts with them (Bilgihan et al. 2016). Recently, social media tool usage is
beyond personal use. And they are increasingly being adopted by organizations as knowledge sharing
and communication tools in different ways (Ahmed et al. 2019). Omer, Yassin & Khan (2016)
investigated whether there is a relationship between social media usage and knowledge sharing
behavior among employees in the oil and gas organization. They found a relationship between those
factors. Cevik et al. (2016) state that social media resources play a very important role in promoting
knowledge sharing in medical education with limited resources. Khan & Khan (2019) suggest that local
governments can strengthen the awareness of leaders and employees by encouraging them to use a
learning environment that enables them to share information and processes that they carry out, and
help identify new solutions for the employee’s work.