Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Problem Definition:
The Foundation of
Business Research
6-2
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
63
Fords Edsel:
Styling;
Poor workmanship;
failed to understand
consumer;
The name, Edsel, was never
tested
Smokeless cigarettes:
Smokeless and smoke never
compared
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
6-4
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
65
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
6-6
EXHIBIT 6.2
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
67
Interview process
68
EXHIBIT 6.3
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
69
Firms Situation
Symptoms
22-year-old
neighborhood
swimming
association seeks
research help
Manufacturer of
palm-sized
computer with
wireless Internet
access believes
that B2B sales are
too low
A new
microbrewery is
trying to establish
itself
Likely Problem(s)
Decision
Statement
How can we
encourage more
consumers to come
to the microbrew
and try our
products?
Should we redesign
the brewery to be
more inviting?
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
610
Hypotheses
Statements that can be empirically tested.
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
611
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
612
Decision Statements
Research Objectives
Research
Questions
Research Hypotheses
Do situational
factors (such as
time of day, food
pairings, or
environmental
factors) relate to
taste perceptions
in beer?
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
113
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
614
What is a Constant?
Something that does not change; is not useful
in addressing research questions.
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
615
Types of Variables
Continuous variable
Can take on a range
of quantitative
values.
Categorical variable
Indicates
membership in some
group/category.
Independent variable
(X)
A variable that is
expected to influence the
dependent variable in
some way.
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
616
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
617
618
Dummy Tables
Tables placed in research proposals that
represent actual tables that will show results in
the final report
List expected/hypothesized results
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
619
Increase cents/mile
Number of long-haul
routes (per mount)
Vehicle quality
Benefits provided
2013 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
120