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PENILAIAN SUMATIF DIPLOMA PENGURUSAN

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT FOR THE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT

KAJIAN KES
CASE STUDY

UDE 19

UDE 2012 PENYELIDIKAN PERNIAGAAN

UDE 2012: BUSINESS RESEARCH

ARAHAN KEPADA CALON:

INSTRUCTION TO CANDIDATES:

Sila hantar tugasan individu (Kajian kes) yang telah disiapkan selewat-lewatnya pada 19 Mei
2021 (Rabu) sebelum jam 6.00 petang melalui sistem UMSeLF. Sebarang kelewatan
tanpa kelulusan tidak akan diterima.
Kindly submit your completed individual work at the latest by 19 May 2021 (Wednesday)
before 6.00 pm through the system of UMSeLF. Any delay without approval will not be
accepted.

PERHATIAN/ATTENTION:

 Pelajar diminta untuk menjawab semua soalan dan simpan jawapan dalam format PDF.
Students are required to answer all the questions and save the answers in PDF format.

 Pelajar juga tidak dibenarkan MENIRU ATAU PLAGIAT sama ada melalui kawan, slaid, buku
atau carian web dan sebagainya. Penalti akan dikenakan sekiranya pelajar didapati terlibat
dalam plagiarisme.
Students are not allowed to COPY OR PLAGIARISE from friends/ slide/ books/ web and etc.
There shall be a penalty for the act of plagiarism.

 Tugasan hendaklah ditaip komputer menggunakan jarak 1.5 pada templat yang diberikan
menggunakan jenis huruf ‘Arial’, ukuran 11 untuk 3 muka surat tidak termasuk muka depan.
Assignment should be computer typed using 1.5 spacing on the template given using font type
‘Arial’, size 11 for 3 pages excluding cover page.

NAME MATRIX NO.

ATHIRAH BINTI JAMALUDIN UDE190161

CLASS: UDE19 (SECTION 3)

Kertas soalan ini mengandungi tiga (3) soalan, dalam tiga (3) halaman bercetak.
This question paper consists of three (3) questions in three (3) printed pages.
No. Pendaftaran / Registration No. : ___________________________ 2

UDE 2012
PENYELIDIKAN PERNIAGAAN / BUSINESS RESEARCH

Arahan/Instruction:

Baca kes di bawah dan jawab soalan yang diberikan.

Read the case below and answer the question given.

Barton Boomer, Manager of Marketing Research for a large research firm, has a
Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing from Michigan State University. He joined the firm
nine years ago after a one-year stint as a marketing research trainee at the corporate
headquarters of a western packing corporation. Barton has a wife and two children. He
earns $60,000 a year and owns a home in the suburbs. He is typical of a marketing
research analyst. He is asked to interview an executive with a local restaurant chain,
Eats-R-Wee. Eats-R-Wee is expanding internationally. The logical two choices for
expansion are either to expand first to other nations that have values similar to those
in the market area of Eats-R-Wee or to expand to the nearest geographical neighbor.
During the initial interviews, Mr. Big, Vice President of Operations for Eats-R-Wee,
makes several points to Barton.

 “Barton, we are all set to move across the border to Ontario and begin our
international expansion with our neighbor to the north, Canada. Can you provide
some research that will support this position?”
 “Barton, we are in a hurry. We can’t sit on our hands for weeks waiting to make
this decision. We need a comprehensive research project completed by the end of
the month.”
 “We are interested in how our competitors will react. Have you ever done research
for them?”
 “Don’t worry about the fee; we’ll pay you top money for a “good” report” Marla
Madam, Barton’s Director of Marketing Research, encourages Barton to get back
in touch with Mr. Big and tell him that the project will get underway right away.

Sumber/Source: Zikmund, Babin, Carr & Griffin (2013). Business Research Method (9th ed.).Pg;103,
South Western, United Kingdom.
No. Pendaftaran / Registration No. : ___________________________ 3

Kritik situasi ini berkenaan dengan pekerjaan Borton. Apakah cadangan yang akan anda
sarankan kepadanya untuk memastikan bahawa standard etika dalam melakukan
penyelidikan dipatuhi. Adakah syarikat perlu meneruskan penyelidikan? Terangkan jawapan
anda.
Critique this situation with respect to Borton’s job. What suggestions would you recommend
to him to ensure that ethical standards in conducting research are adhered to. Does the
company need to continue the research? Explain your answers.

It is important to follow ethical standards when conducting and publishing research in

order to determine the reliability of one’s findings. However, based on the case study given,
we can clearly see that Barton has involved in conflict of interest in performing his duties as
a marketing research analyst. A conflict of interest in research occurs where an individual
has interests in the results of the research that could contribute to a personal gain and as a
result, may undermine the credibility of the research in nature or appearance. In relating to
this, while Barton’s job is to gather reliable data on consumers, competitors, and market
conditions, he might be tempted to carry out his job arbitrarily by misrepresenting his
credentials and competence into the research study for his personal financial benefit as the
Director of Marketing Research, Marla Madam, mentions that they will provide a substantial
sum of money if he gives a good research study. This situation may influence, or be
considered to affect, Barton's objectivity and judgement, eroding trust in his research.
Therefore, it is clear indeed that Barton’s obligation to his client, Mr. Big who is Vice
President of Operations for Eats-R-Wee has the potential to be compromised by his
personal interests.

Besides that, Barton may also would twist his findings for his client or fabricate data for
his personal advantage as Mr. Big wanted a comprehensive research study that has been
completed in a short period of time. This could cause Barton to feel overwhelmed with the
amount of work he has to do and therefore, he would generate the data without having
performed the relevant research. Such actions also known as research misconduct which
can be the result of criminal behavior. Not to mention that he would also minimize the value
of data management because the information can be time intensive, and he believes he will
"work it out" as he progresses. This means that believing that problems associated with data
processing would resolve themselves on their own is ineffective research practice. Instead,
at the beginning of the study, a transparent, accountable, ethically correct, and carefully
outlined framework for data management is suggested to prevent any sorts of contradictions
and incorrect research methods.

Aside from that, Barton also faces another ethical dilemma such that if he agrees to
conduct research for the Eats-R-Wee business field, he must include findings from research
he performed for other related rivals in order to formulate a study and recommendation for
No. Pendaftaran / Registration No. : ___________________________ 4

Eats-R-Wee. This situation violates the client confidentiality principle. Although the study
could be a good way of collecting competitive information, such behavior may be unethical.

Next, in ensuring Barton complies with ethical standards in conducting his research, I
would advise him to do his research with honesty and integrity as this may ensure that
his findings are accurate, credible, and relevant. Thus, problem statements must be properly
constructed and specified, the research methods must be precisely defined, and the
statistical models or qualitative techniques to be used must be relevant to the research
objectives. Apart from this, he should not fabricate any evidence, even extrapolating
unreasonably from any of his findings, or do something that could be seen as an attempt to
deceive someone. It is best to undersell the results than to exaggerate them.

Other than that, I would suggest him to take great caution in carrying out his
research. In this sense, he should closely and objectively study his analysis to ensure that
his conclusions are reliable. By doing this, he could avoid prejudice in any area of his
studies, including research design, data management and interpretation. This also implies
that he must report any personal or financial interests that could have an effect on his
research. Generally, the marketing researcher is always required to maintain the secrecy of
the research sponsor. In reality, business clients respect the anonymity of marketing
researchers more than any other characteristic of a research company. Either made to a
research subject or a research client, Barton must respect both implicit and expressed
guarantees of confidentiality. Understanding what constitutes a violation of confidentiality
can assist his business in avoiding ethical problems when it comes to his market research.
The value of ethics of marketing research is to assist businesses in avoiding the illegal
sharing of customer data, whether that knowledge is shared with affiliates or sold to outside
firms. From that perspective, it appears that Barton should be more cautious and pay closer
attention to any step he takes in order to avoid harming the participants in his study.

In conclusion, the company does not need to continue the research as Mr. Big, the Vice
President of Operations for Eats-R-Wee, seems to be looking for research to back up a
decision that has already been taken. If the findings of the test-market oppose the decision,
the Vice President would almost definitely reject the analysis. This does not seem like a
reliable research as it is known as pseudo-research since it is done to strengthen a
perspective and fulfil other desires rather than to collect facts for marketing decisions. The
Vice President may appear to demand a research study on purpose, with no intention of
paying consideration to the conclusions and recommendations. Thus, researchers must
uphold the highest level of honesty in their research. Not to mention that research users
must adhere to sound ethical ethics when interacting with researchers and research findings.
 No. Pendaftaran / Registration No. : ___________________________
GRADING CRITERIA:
4 3
LEVEL OF CONTENT
Content indicates synthesis
Content indicates original
of ideas, in-depth analysis
thinking and develops
and evidences original
ideas with sufficient and
thought and support for
firm evidence.
the topic.
DEVELOPMENT
Main points well Main points well
developed with high developed with quality
quality and quantity supporting details and
support. Reveals high quantity. Critical thinking
degree of critical thinking is weaved into points.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Effective Effective
recommendations, recommendations and/or
solutions, and/or plans of plans of action were
action were provided and partially provided and
relevant. relevant.
ORGANIZATION
3 2
Excellent grammar,
spelling, punctuation,
professional writing, and
syntax.
TOTAL
5
2 1 MA
Shows some thinking
Content indicates
and reasoning but
thinking and reasoning
most ideas are
applied with original
underdeveloped and
thought on a few ideas.
unoriginal.
Main points are present Main points lack
with limited detail and detailed development.
development. Some Ideas are vague with
critical thinking is little evidence of
present. critical thinking.
Effective
Poor of effective
recommendations
and/or plans of action recommendations
inadequate. and/or plans of action
1
Grammar, spelling,
Adequate grammar,
punctuation,
spelling, punctuation,
professional writing,
professional writing,
and syntax needs
and syntax.
improvement.
/15 /5%