Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad

PGDM (F/T), 2021-2023

Term-IV: End-Term Exam
Business Research Methods
Time: 90 Minutes
Maximum Marks: 40
Note:
A. Please write in clear handwriting.
B. This is closed-book, and closed-notes exam.
C. Bullet points with minimal but crisp explanation would be rewarded over general
description. Therefore, think before you write!
D. Attempt any four out of five questions.

Q.1. The Tata Group regained control of Air India on 28 th January 2022, 69 years after the
Mumbai-based conglomerate relinquished its stake in the airline to the Central government.
Ahead of the final handing-over formalities at Airlines House in New Delhi, Tata Sons Chairman
N Chandrasekaran called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a press release, Tata Sons said: “We philosophically agree with the Prime Minister’s vision for
the aviation sector, of making it affordable and ensuring it contributes to boosting ‘Ease of
Living’ for citizens.” The Tata Group, in a Twitter post, tagged Air India and said: “Your arrival
was much awaited.” It also posted a photo saying “Welcome back, Air India!”.

And in an internal letter to Air India employees after the handing over, Chandrasekaran wrote:
“My first flight was with Air India in December 1986, and I will never forget how special it felt
to be on-board, or the exhilaration as we soared into the sky… today is the beginning of a new
chapter. The nation’s eyes are on us, waiting to see what we achieve together.

How can Tata build an airline that our country prefers? In order to find an answer, imagine
that Tata hires a market research agency. Tata likes to know ‘passengers’ needs and
expectations’ from Tata-led national airline. You are the research manager at the agency.

a) State the management and research problem for this context? (1.5*2)
b) Please provide your thought about the research design that you would follow toaddress
the above problems? (4)
c) What type of information you would propose to collect for this research? (3)

2.
a) Recently one of the research conducted by IMT has identified three contrasting styles of
managers. One set of managers want to control their employees and depends on punishment in
case, they do not perform. The second set of managers remains indifferent to the growth of their
employees and employees' progress on their own efforts. The third set of managers take care of
their employees and enables the employees to achieve more. To see the impact of these three
contrasting style of managers, the dependent variable is taken as employees’ achievement of
target (in %). Using one-way Anova, please test the below hypotheses and explain your findings.
 Enabling employees results in better target achievement than either controlling or
being indifferent (3)
 Indifference would lead to significantly better employee performance than
controlling. (2)
b. Describe the four different types of measures with examples of each. Also indicate the
kinds of statistical analyses that each type of measure (scale) is amenable to. (5)

3. Identify the type of error in each of the question/responses below, and frame a correct
question and/or response (5*2)
 a) Should concerned parents use infant car seats?
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree Agree

b) Where do you enjoy drinking beer?

- Bar
- Home
- Friend’s place
- Beach
c) Do you always eat breakfast?
-Yes
-No
d) Do you think women who smoke make bad moms?
Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly
disagree Agree

e) Do you think people’s lack of financial knowledge makes them mistrust

insurance plans?
-Strongly disagree – disagree –neutral – agree – strongly agree

4. Post-Covid, a medium-sized FMCG company with interests in soap and sanitizer

is contemplating its market entry in some Tier II and Tier III cities of India. You
are working with the marketing head of the company as part of your summer
internship. She is a strong believer of business research. She has asked you to
choose a sample of retail outlets, pharmacy stores and households that represent
the population and conduct a research on buying habits of the sample. You have
three months to complete the research.
a. What exploratory research techniques would you choose for your research? Why?
(3)
b. For a survey, what kind of sample design would you choose for each of the three
types of buyers? Why? (1.5*3)
 c. Highlight the factors that would decide the size of the overall sample for survey
research? (2.5)

5. XYZ Biscuits Company started its operation in Ghaziabad in 2015. The company
was growing aggressively at an annual rate of 20 percent, much above the
industry average till 2018. However last two years the growth has only been to the
tune of 5 to 6 percent. This has been a cause of concern for the Head of
Marketing, it was also highlighted in the last two board meetings. The senior
managers suspect that Covid-19 might have changed consumer behaviour in
buying biscuits and bakery products.
During one of the review meetings, it was suggested to identify factors that
influence the preference for biscuits.
You have joined the company as a management consultant after your MBA and
you are assigned this task. You have collected data from a large number of
customers of your brand on the impact of packaging, taste, nutrition value on
consumer preference. You have also presented the following output as a part of
your presentation.

Model Summary

Adjusted R
Model R R Square Square Std. Error of the Estimate

1 .928a .860 .849 .69921

a. Predictors: (Constant), Packaging, Nutrition Value, Taste

ANOVAa

Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 108.375 3 36.125 73.891 .000b

Residual 17.600 36 .489

Total 125.975 39

a. Dependent Variable: Preference

b. Predictors: (Constant), Packaging, Nutrition Value, Taste

 Coefficientsa

Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients

Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.

1 (Constant) .733 .301 2.436 .020

Packaging .295 .103 .284 2.865 .007

Nutrition Value .170 .103 .198 1.655 .107

Taste .548 .118 .522 4.660 .000

a. Dependent Variable: Preference

The senior managers are very impressed with your work. As a next step, please help the
management with the below queries.

a) Which factor is most important for deciding the preference? What advice you would
provide to the management based on the result with three factors? (5)
b) Develop the regression equation for this scenario. Comment on the quality of the
regression model. (5)