Name: - Shivendra Singh

Roll No-1208005653

MB 0050 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Q1. Research is a sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit or explicit objective. Describe in detail the steps to be carried out in a typical research study. Meaning of Research Research is a scientific undertaking which, by means of logical and systematic techniques, aims to: Discover new facts or verify and test old facts Analyze their sequences, interrelationships and casual explanations Develop new scientific tools, concepts and theories Listing the steps

STEP 1: Formulate the question STEP 2: Get background information STEP 3: Refine the search topic STEP 4: Consider the resource options STEP 5: Select the appropriate tool STEP 6: Use the tool STEP 7: Locate the materials STEP 8: Analyze the materials STEP 9: Organize and write STEP 10: Compose the bibliography

Explanation of the steps in a research study

Q2. Exploratory research designs are the simplest and most loosely structured research designs. Explain the methods that can be used in an exploratory research design. Meaning of Exploratory research design Exploratory research is used to gain a deeper understanding of the issue or problem that is troubling the decision maker. The idea is to provide direction to subsequent and more structured and rigorous research. The following are some examples of the exploratory research: Let us say a diet food company wants to find out what kinds of snacks customer like to eat and where they generally buy health food from. A reality show producer wants to make a show for children. He would like to know what kind of shows children like to watch. Methods and techniques -- Study of Secondary Data -- Survey of Individuals -- Analysis of Selected Cases -- Design of Conclusive Research Explanation of the methods and techniques Study of Secondary Data This method saves time, money, and efforts, as already stated. Such data are available from professional research organizations, directories, newspapers, magazines, journals of the government, web sites of Internet, electronic data libraries, company libraries, trade associations, and firm such as ORG, MARG, McKinsey, Neilson, etc. Survey of Individuals Some people move ahead of their times. They are a great source of creative data. But it is difficult to locate imaginative people in a sea of humans. Thus, the researcher has to be intelligent enough to weed out the paean and meet the right kind of person who could shake his own thoughts. Analysis of Selected Cases This is also called Case Method. It involves the study of one or a few situations. It is devoted to complex situations and problems; such situations arise when the interrelations

of several individuals are important." In this method, some units are examined; each unit is called Case. Study of relations among various factors of each case is more important and not the number. Design of Conclusive Research This type of research gives information to the manager and helps him make a logical decision. The manager has to select a decision out of a plethora of alternative decisions. In some cases, the number of decisions could be very few. The research can either specify an alternative, or it may explain the situation, albeit with some subtle insinuations, to the manager. Q3. The choice of the measurement scale has implications for the statistical technique to be used for data analysis. Discuss the types of measurement scales with examples. Meaning of Measurement scales The assignment of numbers to objects to represent amounts or degrees of a property possessed by all of the objects. The term measurement means assigning numbers or some other symbols to the characteristics of certain objects. Types of Measurement scales There are four measurement scales (or types of data): nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. These are simply ways to categorize different types of variables. Nominal Lets start with the easiest one to understand. Nominal scales are used for labeling variables, without any quantitative value. Nominal scales could simply be called labels. Here are some examples, below. Notices that all of these scales are mutually exclusive (no overlap) and none of them have any numerical significance. Ordinal With ordinal scales, it is the order of the values is whats important and significant, but the differences between each one is not really known. Take a look at the example below. In each case, we know that#4 is better than#3 or #2, but we dont knowand cannot quantifyhow much better it is. Interval Interval scales are numeric scales in which we know not only the order, but also the exact differences between the values. The classic example of an interval scale is Celsius temperature because the difference between each value is the same. Ratio Ratio scales are the ultimate nirvana when it comes to measurement scales because they tell us about the order, they tell us the exact value between units, AND they also have an

absolute zerowhich allows for a wide range of both descriptive and inferential statics to be applied. Examples

Q4. Explain the following: Meaning of Questionnaire The questionnaire is a research technique that contains a series of questions asked to respondents to obtain useful information about a topic. This is the most cost effective and widely used method, apart from being extremely user friendly. The questionnaire is flexible enough to reveal data that is in the respondents own words and language. There are two types of questionnaire -- Structured/Standardized Questionnaire -- Unstructured Questionnaire Explanation of Formalized and unconcealed questionnaire This is the one that is the most frequently used by all management researchers. For example, if a new brokerage firm wants to understand the investment behavior of people, they would structure the questions and answers as follows: i) Do you carry out any investment? Yes ___ No ___ If yes, continue, else terminate. ii) Where do you invest? Metals ___ Real Estate ___ Stocks ___ Mutual Funds ___ Any Other ____ This kind of structured Questionnaire is easy to administer. Explanation of Formalized and concealed questionnaire

These questionnaires have a formal method of questioning; however the purpose is not clear to the respondents. The research studies which are trying to find out the latent causes of behavior and cannot rely on direct questions use these. For example, young people cannot be asked the direct question on whether they are likely to indulge in corruption in work. Thus the respondent has to be given a set of questions that can give an indication of what are his basic values, opinion and beliefs, as these would influence how he would react to issues. Explanation of Non-formalized and unconcealed questionnaire Some researchers argue that rather than giving the respondents pre designed response categories, it is better to give them unstructured questions where they have the freedom of expressing themselves the way that want to. Explanation of Non-formalized and concealed questionnaire If the objective of the research study is to uncover socially unacceptable desires and unconscious motivations, the investigator makes use of questions of low structure and disguised purpose. However, these require interpretation that is highly skilled. Cost, time and effort are also much higher than others. Q5. a) Briefly explain the steps in Hypothesis testing. Setting up of a Hypotheses The first step is to establish the hypothesis to be tested. As it is known, these statistical hypotheses are generally assumptions about the value of the population parameter; the hypothesis specifies a single value or a range of value for two different hypotheses rather than constructing a single hypotheses. Null hypotheses Alternative hypotheses Setting up of a Suitable Significance Level The next step is to choose Suitable level of significance, denoted by alpha, chosen before drawing any sample. The level of significance denotes the probability of rejecting the null Hypotheses when it is true. Determination of a test statistic: The next step is to determine test statistics and its distribution. As would be seen later, the test statistics could be t, z, f or x2, depending upon various assumptions. Determination of critical region: It is very important to specify the values of test statistics that will lead to rejection or acceptance of the null hypotheses. The one that leads to the rejection of the null

hypotheses is called the critical region. The optimal critical region of two tailed consist of that a/2 percent area in the right hand tail and a/2 in left hand tail. Computing the value of test statistic: It is based upon the random sample of the size n. Once the value of the test statistic is computed, one needs to examine whether the sample results fall in the critical region. Making decision: The hypotheses may be rejected or accepted depending upon whether the value of the test statistic falls in the rejection or the acceptance region. Q5. b). It is known form past studies that the monthly average household expenditure on the food items in a locality is Rs. 2700 with a standard deviation of Rs. 160. An economist took a random sample of 25 households from the locality and found their monthly household expenditure on food item to be Rs. 2790. At 0.01level of significance, can we conclude that the average household expenditure on the food items is greater than Rs. 2700? P value= average value for testing / (st. deviation/sqroot of sample length) = (2700 2790)/ (160/ sqroot 25) = -90/32 Q6. Explain the Structure of the Research Report. What are the guidelines for effective report writing? Explanation of the Structure of the Research Report Preliminary Section -- Title Page -- Letter of authorization -- Executive Summary -- Acknowledgement -- Table of Contents Background Section -- Problem Statement -- Study Introduction and Background -- Scope and Objectives of the Study -- Review the Literature Methodology Section -- Research Design -- Sampling Design -- Data Collection -- Data Analysis

Finding section -- Results -- Interpretation of Results Conclusion Section -- Conclusion Recommendations -- Limitations of the Study Appendices Glossary of Terms Bibliography Guidelines for effective report writing Clear report mandate While writing the research problem statement and study background, the writer needs to be absolutely clear. Clearly designed Methodology Research report must be specific and customized research design, sampling and data collection program. Representative ness of study finding A good research report is also explicit in terms of extent and scope of the results obtained, and in terms of the applicability of findings. Report formatting and presentations In terms of paper quality, page margins and font style and size, a professional standard should be maintained.