>business research methods
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>business research methods
Donald R. Cooper
Florida Atlantic University
Pamela S. Schindler
Wittenberg University
eleventhedition
www.mhhe.com
BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
Published by McGraw-Hill/Irwin, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10020. Copyright © 2011, 2008, 2006, 2003, 2001, 1998, 1995, 1991 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cooper, Donald R.
Business research methods / Donald R. Cooper, Pamela S. Schindler.—11th ed.
p. cm.—(The McGraw-Hill/Irwin series in operations and decision sciences) Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-337370-6 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-07-337370-2 (alk. paper)
1. Industrial management—Research. I. Schindler, Pamela S. II. Title.
HD30.4.E47 2011 658.0072—dc22
2010019201
To my sons, Ryan and Paul Cooper, and to Qian who encourages me in the journey of life.
Donald R. Cooper
To my husband, Bill, for his unwavering support, intuitive counsel, and enthusiasm for every challenge I tackle.
Pamela S. Schindler
vi
walkthrough
Bringing Research to Life reveals research in the trenches.
Much of research activity isn’t obvious or visible. These opening vignettes are designed to take the student behind the door marked RESEARCH. Through the activities of the principals at Henry & Associates, students learn about research projects, many that were revealed to the authors off the record . The characters and names of companies are fi ctional, but the research activities they describe are real–and happening behind the scenes in hundreds of fi rms every day.
Learning Objectives serve as memory flags.
Learning objectives serve as a road map as stu dents start their journey into the chapter. Read fi rst, these objectives subconsciously encourage students to seek relevant material, defi nitions, and exhibits.
Jason Henry and Sara Arens, partners in Henry & Associates, are just wrapping up a Web- based briefi ng on the MindWriter project. Jason and Sara are in Boca Raton, Florida. Myra Wines, MindWriter’s director of consumer affairs is participating from Atlanta, as are others, including Jean-Claude Malraison, MindWriter’s general manager, who joined from Delhi, India, and Gracie Uhura, MindWriter’s marketing manager, and her staff, who joined from a conference room in their Austin, Texas, facility.
>bringingresearchtolife
“Based on the poll results that are on your screen, you have reached a strong consensus on your fi rst priority.
The research strongly supports that you should be negotiating stronger courier contracts to address the in-transit damage issues. Congratulations,” concluded Jason.
“That wraps up our briefi ng, today. Sara and I are happy to respond to any e-mail questions any of you might have after reading the summary report that has been delivered to your e-mail. Our e-mail address is on screen, and it is also on the cover of the report. Myra, I’m handing control of the meeting back to you.”
As Myra started to conclude the meeting, Sara was holding up a sign in front of Jason that read. “Turn off your microphone.” Jason gave a thumbs-up sign and clicked off his mic.
“Thank you, Jason,” stated Myra. “The research has clarifi ed some critical issues for us and you have helped us focus on some probable solutions. This concludes the meeting. I’ll be following up soon with an e-mail that contains a link to the recorded archive of this presentation, allowing you to share it with your staff. You will also be asked to participate in a brief survey when you close the Web-presentation window.
I’d really appreciate your taking the three minutes it will take to complete the survey. Thank you all for attending.”
As soon as the audience audio was disconnected, Myra indicated, “That went well, Jason. The use of the Q&A tool to obtain their pre-report ideas for action was a stroke of genius. When you posted the results as a poll and had them indicate their fi rst priority, they were all over the board. It helped them understand that
one purpose of the research and today’s meeting was to bring them all together.”
“Sara gets the credit for that stroke of genius,”
claimed Jason after removing his microphone and clicking on his speakerphone. “She is a strong proponent of interaction in our briefi ngs. And she continually invents new ways to get people involved and keep them engaged.”
“Kudos, Sara,” exclaimed Myra. “Who gets the credit for simplifying the monthly comparison chart?”
“Those honors actually go to our intern, Sammye Grayson,” shared Sara. “I told her while it was a suitable graph for the written report; it was much too complex a visual for the presentation. She did a great job. I’ll pass on your praise.”
“Well,” asked Myra, “where do we go from here?”
“Jason and I will fi eld any questions for the next week from you or your staff,” explained Sara. “Then we will consider this project complete—until you contact us again.”
“About that,” Myra paused, “I’ve just received an e-mail from Jean-Claude. He wants to meet with you both about a new project he has in mind. He asks if he could pick you up at the Boca airport on Friday, about 2:30 P.M. He says his fl ying offi ce will have you back in time for an early dinner.”
Sara looked at her BlackBerry and indicated she was available. Jason looked at his own calendar and smiled across the desk at Sara. “Tell Jean-Claude we’ll meet him at the airport. Any idea what this new project is about?”
“Not a clue!”
1 The link forged between the management dilemma and the communication instrument by the management-research question hierarchy.
2 The infl uence of the communication method on instrument design.
3 The three general classes of information and what each contributes to the instrument.
4 The infl uence of question content, question wording, response strategy, and preliminary analysis planning on question construction.
5 Each of the numerous question design issues infl uencing instrument quality, reliability, and validity.
6 Sources for measurement questions.
7 The importance of pretesting questions and instruments.
After reading this chapter, you should understand . . .
>learningobjectives
Questionnaires and Instruments
>chapter 13
Special tools for today’s visual learner.
A transformation is taking place in many of our classrooms. During the last decade, more and more of our students have become visual—not verbal—learners. Verbal learners learn primarily from reading text. Visual learners need pictures, diagrams, and graphs to clarify and reinforce what the text relates.
Integrated research process exhibits reveal a rich and complex process in an understandable way.
Every textbook has exhibits. We use these tables and line drawings to bring key concepts to life and make complex concepts more understandable.
Within our array of exhibits is a very special series of 32 fully integrated research process exhibits. Each exhibit in this series shares symbols, shapes, and colors with others in the series.
Exhibit 1-4 is the overview exhibit of the research process, to which all other exhibits related to the process will link.
Research Proposal Discover the Management Dilemma
Define the Management Question Define the Research Question(s)
Refine the Research Question(s)
(type, purpose, time frame, scope, environment)
Research Reporting
Exploration Exploration
Data Analysis & Interpretation Research Design
Strategy Clarifying the Research Question
Management Decision Data Collection & Preparation Data Collection
Design
Sampling Design
Instrument Development
& Pilot Testing
Chapters 2–5
Chapters 6–14
Chapter 15
Chapters 16–19
Chapters 20-21 Appendix A
> Exhibit 1-4 The Research Process
Subsequent exhibits (like this one for survey design) show more detail in a part of this process.
Another exhibit in the series might layer the main process exhibit with additional information (like this exhibit from the ethics chapter).
>Exhibit 13-4 Flowchart for Instrument Design: Phase 2
Pretest Individual Questions Measurement
Questions
Interview Conditions Interview Location Interviewer ID Participant ID
Geographic Sociological Economic Demographic
Topic D Topic C Topic B Topic A Administrative
Questions
Target Questions
Classification Questions
Instrument Development
• Sponsor’s right to quality research
• Sponsor’s right of purpose nondisclosure
• Researcher’s right to absence of sponsor coercion
• Researcher's right to absence of sponsor deception
• Sponsor’s right to quality research
• Participant’s right of informed consent
• Participant’s right to privacy (refusal)
• Sponsor’s right to quality research
• Researcher’s right to absence of sponsor coercion
• Participant’s right to privacy
• Participant deception
• Sponsor’s right to sponsor nondisclosure
• Researcher’s right to safety
• Sponsor’s right to findings nondisclosure
• Participant’s right to confidentiality
• Sponsor’s right to quality research
• Researcher’s right to absence of sponsor coercion
• Participant deception
• Sponsor’s right to quality research
• Sponsor nondisclosure
Research Proposal Discover the Management Dilemma
Define the Management Question Define the Research Question(s)
Refine the Research Question(s)
(type, purpose, time frame, scope, environment)
Research Reporting
Exploration Exploration
Data Analysis & Interpretation Research Design
Strategy
Management Decision Data Collection & Preparation Data Collection
Design
Sampling Design
Instrument Development Clarifying the Research Question
>Exhibit 2-1 Ethical Issues and the Research Process
Some topics deserve more
attention—with their own chapter!
An emphasis on presentation.
Increasingly, researchers are making oral presentations of their fi ndings though Web-driven technologies. We address this and other oral presentation formats and issues with a new chapter.
Qualitative research is mainstream.
Researchers increasingly admit that quantitative research can’t reveal all they need to know to make smart business decisions. We capture the best of the current qualitative methods and reveal where and how they are used.
Help in moving from
management dilemma to research design.
This is where talented people can steer research in the wrong or right direction. We devote a chapter to providing students with a methodology for making the right decisions more often.
Ethical issues get the attention they deserve.
Ethical issues abound in business research but may go unnoticed by students who need a framework to discuss and understand these issues. We devote a chapter to building that framework.
Presenting Insights and Findings:
Oral Presentations
“
1 How the oral research presentation differs from and is similar to traditional public speaking.
2 Why historical rhetorical theory has practical infl uence on business presentation skills in the 21st century.
3 How to plan for the research presentation.
4 The frameworks and patterns of organizing a presentation.
5 The uses and differences between the types of materials designed to support your points.
6 How profi ciency in research presentations requires designing good visuals and knowing how use them effectively.
7 The importance of delivery to getting and holding the audience’s attention.
8 Why practice is an essential ingredient to success and how to do it; and, what needs to be assembled and checked to be certain that arrangements for the occasion and venue are ready.
After reading this chapter, you should understand . . .
>learningobjectives
>chapter 21
Thanks to the vast improvements in technology, the time is right for companies to include completely virtual meeting options as part of their overall meetings strategy.
Chris Gaia, vice president of marketing-travel division, Maritz
”
After reading this chapter, you should understand . . .
>learningobjectives
1 How qualitative methods differ from quantitative methods.
2 The controversy surrounding qualitative research.
3 The types of decisions that use qualitative methods.
4 The variety of qualitative research methods.
It is better to think of the Web . . . as the sounds of independent voices, just like the street corner soapbox preacher or that friend of yours who always recommends the best books.
David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author, The New Rules of Marketing and PR
“
”
Qualitative Research
>chapter 7
Companies are certainly aware of data mining, but most companies are not making effective use of the data collected. They are not so good at analyzing it or applying these insights to the business.
Gregory Piatetsky-Shapiro, president of Kdnuggets
“
”
After reading this chapter, you should understand . . .
> learningobjectives
1 The purposes and process of exploratory research.
2 Two types and three levels of management decision-related secondary sources.
3 Five types of external information and the fi ve critical factors for evaluating the value of a source and its content.
4 The process of using exploratory research to understand the management dilemma and work through the stages of analysis necessary to formulate the research question (and, ultimately, investigative questions and measurement questions).
5 What is involved in internal data mining and how internal data-mining techniques differ from literature searches.
Clarifying the Research Question through Secondary Data and Exploration
>chapter 5
After reading this chapter, you should understand . . .
>learningobjectives
1 What issues are covered in research ethics.
2 The goal of “no harm” for all research activities and what constitutes “no harm” for participant, researcher, and research sponsor.
3 The differing ethical dilemmas and responsibilities of researchers, sponsors, and research assistants.
4 The role of ethical codes of conduct in professional associations.
Ethics in Business Research
>chapter 2
“
”
[Privacy pragmatists are] often willing to allow people to have access to, and to use, their personal information where they understand the reasons for its use, where they see tangible benefi ts for so doing, and when they believe care is taken to prevent the misuse of this information.
Humphrey Taylor, chairman of The Harris Poll®, Harris Interactive
Students learn by and
deserve the best examples.
Snapshots are
research examples from the researcher’s perspective.
Snapshots are like mini-cases: They help a student understand a concept in the text by giving a current example. As mini-cases they are perfect for lively class discussion.
Each one focuses on a particular application of the research process as it applies to a particular fi rm and project. You’ll fi nd more than
60 of these timely research examples throughout the text.
Web addresses speed secondary data searches on companies involved with the example.
Human resources —American Society for Public Administration; Society for Human Resource Management.
Insurance —American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters; American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters and Chartered Financial Consultants.
Management —Academy of Management; The Business Roundtable.
Real estate —National Association of Realtors.
Other professional associations’ codes have detailed research sections: the American Marketing Association, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the American Psychological Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals. These associations update their codes frequently.
Is Your Research Project Leaving the Country?
>snapshot
Offshoring is defi ned as the movement of a process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in a different country. These processes in research often include IT (information technology), business, or knowledge processes.
The primary reason to offshore research services is to lower the cost of the research. Offshoring tends to be more prevalent at larger research fi rms.
There are signifi cant risks associated with offshoring re- search services, as Gordon Morris, global insights manager for Sony Ericsson (London, UK) discovered. During a global research project for the Experia X10 Android phone, sensitive business plans were shared with the contracted researchers.
As a result of offshoring of some research services, information about the 2010 phone launch leaked several months early. “We estimate the potential damage caused by the leak at approxi- mately £100 mil lion,” shared Morris. Leaks may be more likely to occur when offshoring is used because intellectual property standards, safe computing standards, and
contract laws vary from country to country.
Also, high employee turnover in some de- veloping countries can also add to this risk.
In 2009 a new trade group was formed to encourage transparency in offshoring of research services: the Foundation for Transparency in Offshoring (FTO). A sur- vey fi elded to 850 U.S. and international research buyers and providers indicated that clients were more likely to think their projects did not involve offshoring than was actually true. Clients also were much more likely than research services suppli- ers to think clients should be told about offshoring. “Very few buyers have suffi cient information to assess the relative strengths and risks associated with offshoring,” said
Tom H. C. Anderson, FTO founder and chairman, and managing partner of the research consultancy Anderson Analytics. While not taking a stand for or against offshoring, the FTO encourages research companies to register their project practices and earn one of two seals: one seal certifi es that the research organiza- tions that do offshore research services comply with the FTO disclosure standards, which are modeled after the EU’s Safe Harbour Compliance Framework; the second seal identifi es re- search organizations that do not offshore services at all.
FTO hopes that research buyers will look for the certifi ca- tion seals when purchasing research services. As Sonia Baldia, partner at Mayer Brown LLP and a legal expert on offshoring explained, “Clients absolutely need to know about any offshore subcontracting and the location in order to gauge risks and pro- tect themselves.”
www.offshoringtransparency.org
Suppliers 31 69 100%
Q. Regardless of what your stance is on offshoring, do you believe research suppliers have an obligation to tell their clients that they offshore?
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Non- offshoring
Supplier 38 62
8 92
26 74
Offshoring Supplier
Clients
Yes No
Icons help students link parts of a richer, more complex example, told over a series of chapters.
Some examples are so rich in detail that one Snapshot or exhibit just isn’t suffi cient. MindWriter is a computer laptop manufacturer that prides itself on customer service, especially when it comes to laptop repair at its CompleteCare center. Each time you see this icon in the text, you’ll be learning more about the customer satisfaction research that Henry & Associates is doing.
MindWriter
The Closeup offers a more in-depth examination of a key example.
Sometimes you just need more time and space to showcase all the detail of an example. This glimpse of the Closeup from Chapter 20 reveals two pages from a complete annotated client research report.
>closeupcont’d
Question 1a. Call Center’s Responsiveness. This question has the lowest mean score of the survey. Using a top-box method of reporting (combining the top two categories), 11 percent of the respondents felt that the Call Center met or exceeded their expectations for service responsiveness. This has improved only mar- ginally since November and has significant implications for program targets. Based on our visit and recent results, we recommend that you begin immediately the contin- gency programs we discussed: additional training for Call Center operators and imple- mentation of the proposed staffing plan.
45%
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
24%
Call Center’s Responsiveness
Met few Met some Met most Expectations
Mean score: 1.98 Standard deviation: 1.09 Valid cases: 159 Met all Exceeded 21%
8%
3%
The fi rst individual item is reported with mean scores, percentages, and recommendations for improvement.
This chart conveys the message of low responsiveness rather well but does not have a label for the vertical axis. It is easy to confuse percentages with the number of respondents (which it is supposed to represent).
Similar reporting formats are skipped.
PicProfile offers a memory visual to enhance an
example.
In research, as in life, sometimes a picture is worth more than words. Sometimes you need to see what is being described to fully understand the
foundation research principle.
>closeupcont’d
Question 6 shows the respondents’
overall impression of CompleteCare. It would be an ideal dependent variable for a regression study in which questions 1 through 5 were the independent variables (see Chapters 18 and 19).
Question 8a is another question for more detailed research. It allows the researcher to connect the variables that describe the service/
repair experience with repurchase intentions.
Question 6. Overall Impression of CompleteCare’s Effectiveness.
CompleteCare has increased the number of truly satisfied respondents with 46 per- cent (versus 43 percent in November) in the exceeded expectations category. The top-box score has increased to 75 percent of respondents (against 70 percent in November).
Question 8a. Likelihood of Repurchasing MindWriter Based on Service/Repair Experience. Respondents’ average scores (4.02) for this likeli- hood scale are the highest this month since measurement began. Improvement of the courier service’s arrangements with customers and the resolution of the problem that prompted service appear to be the best predictors of repurchase at this time.
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Met few Met some Met most Expectations
Mean score: 4.14 Standard deviation: 0.98 Valid cases: 169 Met all Exceeded Overall Impression of CompleteCare’s Effectiveness
46%
29%
17%
6%
2%
Psychological and Physical Foundations 41
In his book Clear and to the Point , author Stephen Kosslyn argues that audience members of any pre- sentation “should not have to search through a visual or conceptual haystack to fi nd the needle you are talking about.” Thus the process of visualization involves developing and organizing support materials that help the audience share in your understanding of the data. The composition and knowledge of the audience, the venue, and amount of time all infl uence choices in visualization.
Several psychological principles infl uence your audience’s understanding of your fi ndings. The principle of relevance infers that only information critical to understanding should be presented. In- formation that is presented verbally along with visual support will be perceived as more relevant than that mentioned only verbally without visual support. But the principle also indicates that we do not want to overwhelm the audience with too much information.
In the process of exploring your data, prior to developing a research presentation, you developed numerous tables, graphs, and textual summaries. Not all of these support materials, whether you use handouts, fl ip charts, or slides, can or should be used in most presentations due to time constraints. Any limitations in your audience’s knowledge level ( principle of appropriate knowledge) or their inabil- ity to process large amounts of information at one time ( principle of capacity limitations) reduces the complexity of your support. In your attempt to share an understanding of the data, some support materi- als—for example, graphing techniques like box plots with which your audience may be unfamiliar—
may instead create confusion or obscure the points you are trying to convey. A familiar visualization technique—a bar or column chart or table—would always convey information more quickly than an unfamiliar one. However, you can design even appropriate and familiar techniques in too complex a fashion by including unnecessary information. Your audience, after all, has only moments to digest visually what you may have been studying for days or weeks. Exhibit 21-9 summarizes data graphing techniques that are appropriate for oral presentations.
Because research fi ndings are often presented orally to the research sponsor, bar charts composed of graphics that depict the subject of the fi nding are frequently used. In this sample slide from the research presentation, Marcus Thomas and MRSI depict the relatively low win-value necessary to encourage people to play a lottery game by using rolled currency to represent the horizontal bars. To read more about this research, download the case “Ohio Lottery: Innovative Research Design Drives Winning ” from our text website, www.marcusthomasllc.com; www.mrsi.com; www.ohiolottery.com
>picprofi le
Learning aids cement the concepts.
Discussion questions that go one step further.
Five types of discussion questions reveal differing levels of understanding—from knowing a defi nition to applying a concept.
Terms in Review
1 Distinguish among the following sets of items, and suggest the signifi cance of each in a research context:
a Concept and construct.
b Deduction and induction.
c Operational defi nition and dictionary defi nition.
d Concept and variable.
e Hypothesis and proposition.
f Theory and model.
g Scientifi c method and scientifi c attitude.
2 Describe the characteristics of the scientifi c method.
3 Below are some terms commonly found in a management setting. Are they concepts or constructs? Give two differ- ent operational defi nitions for each.
a First-line supervisor.
b Employee morale.
c Assembly line.
d Overdue account.
e Line management.
f Leadership.
g Union democracy.
h Ethical standards.
4 In your company’s management development program, there was a heated discussion between some people who claimed, “Theory is impractical and thus no good,” and others who claimed, “Good theory is the most practical approach to problems.” What position would you take and why?
5 An automobile manufacturer observes the demand for its brand increasing as per capita income increases. Sales increases also follow low interest rates, which ease credit conditions. Buyer purchase behavior is seen to be dependent on age and gender. Other factors infl uencing sales appear to fl uctuate almost randomly (competitor advertising, competitor dealer discounts, introductions of new competitive models).
a If sales and per capita income are positively related, classify all variables as dependent, independent, mod- erating, extraneous, or intervening.
b Comment on the utility of a model based on the hypothesis.
Making Research Decisions
6 You observe the following condition: “Our female sales rep- resentatives have lower customer defections than do our male sales representatives.”
a Propose the concepts and constructs you might use to study this phenomenon.
b How might any of these concepts and/or constructs be related to explanatory hypotheses?
7 You are the offi ce manager of a large fi rm. Your company prides itself on its high-quality customer service. Lately complaints have surfaced that an increased number of incoming calls are being misrouted or dropped. Yesterday, when passing by the main reception area, you noticed the receptionist fi ddling with his hearing aid. In the process, a call came in and would have gone unanswered if not for your intervention. This particular receptionist had earned an unsatisfactory review three months earlier for tardiness.
Your inclination is to urge this 20-year employee to retire or to fi re him, if retirement is rejected, but you know the indi- vidual is well liked and seen as a fi xture in the company.
a Pose several hypotheses that might account for dropped or misrouted incoming calls.
b Using the double movement of refl ective thought, show how you would test these hypotheses.
Bringing Research to Life
8 Identify and classify all the variables in the Army’s dud shell research.
9 What was Myra’s hypothesis for the Army’s dud shell re- search? What was the Army’s hypothesis?
From Concept to Practice
10 Using Exhibits 3-1 and 3-9 as your guides, graph the inductions and deductions in the following statements.
If there are gaps, supply what is needed to make them complete arguments.
a Repeated studies indicate that economic conditions vary with—and lag 6 to 12 months behind—the changes in the national money supply. Therefore, we may conclude the money supply is the basic economic variable.
b Research studies show that heavy smokers have a higher rate of lung cancer than do nonsmokers; there- fore, heavy smoking causes lung cancer.
c Show me a person who goes to church regularly, and I will show you a reliable worker.
From the Headlines
11 That investment manager Bernard Madoff’s hedge fund Ascot Partners was a giant scam will likely be the fi nance story remembered from the last decade. It is estimated that Madoff stole an estimated $50 billion from noteworthy indi- viduals and institutional investors, and he covered the crime by creating fi ctional fi nancial statements for each investor.
If you were an institutional investor, how might employing scientifi c attitude and scientifi c method have protected your organization from this Ponzi scheme?
>discussionquestions
action research 182 case study (case history) 181 computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) 173
content analysis 181 focus groups 177
online 180 telephone 179 videoconferencing 181 group interview 175
expert group 175 heterogeneous group 175 homogeneous group 175 nonexpert group 175 individual depth interview (IDI) 172
convergent interviewing 174 critical incident technique 174 cultural interviews 174 ethnography 174
individual depth interview (IDI)— Cont.
grounded theory 174 life histories 174 oral history (narrative) 174 sequential interviewing (chronologic interviewing) 174 interview 168
semistructured 168 structured 169 unstructured 168 interview guide (discussion guide) 169 metaphor elicitation technique 172 moderator 168 nonprobability sampling 167 pretasking 164 projective techniques 171
cartoons or empty balloons 171 component sorts 171
projective techniques— Cont.
imagination exercises 172 ambiguities and paradoxes 172 authority fi gure 172 imaginary universe 172 personifi cation 172 visitor from another planet 172 laddering or benefi t chain 172 semantic mapping 172
brand mapping 172 sensory sorts 171 sentence completion 171 Thematic Apperception Test 171 word or picture association 171 qualitative research 160 quantitative research 161 recruitment screener 170 triangulation 182
> keyterms
Terms in Review
1 How does qualitative research differ from quantitative research?
2 How do data from qualitative research differ from data in quantitative research?
3 Why do senior executives feel more comfortable relying on quantitative data than qualitative data? How might a quali- tative research company lessen the senior-level executive’s skepticism?
4 Distinguish between structured, semistructured, and un- structured interviews.
Making Research Decisions
5 Assume you are a manufacturer of small kitchen electrics, like Hamilton Beach/Proctor Silex, and you want to de- termine if some innovative designs with unusual shapes and colors developed for the European market could be successfully marketed in the U.S. market. What qualitative research would you recommend, and why?
6 Assume you are Hallmark. (See the Snapshot on page 179.) You have identifi ed four new themes for your Hispanic- targeted cards, Sinceramente Hallmark. You now need research to help your card designers create cards that correctly e xecute those themes. What research should you do now?
Bringing Research to Life
7 What dilemma does HealthPlus face, and why has the company turned to focus groups for insights?
From Concept to Practice
8 Use Exhibit 7-7 to develop the recruitment screener for the research you described in your answer to question 5.
9 Conduct a focus group among students in your class on one of the following topics:
a our department’s problems offering requirements and electives essential for meeting your graduation expectations.
b Entertainment sponsored by your university to bring the community on campus.
> discussionquestions
intercept (b 0 ) one of two regression coeffi cients; the value for the linear function when it crosses the Y axis or the estimate of Y when X is zero.
intercept interview a face-to-face communication that targets participants in a centralized location.
interdependency techniques techniques in which criterion or dependent variables and predictor or independent variables are not present (e.g., factor analysis, cluster analysis, multi- dimensional scaling).
internal consistency characteristic of an instrument in which the items are homogeneous; measure of reliability.
internal database collection of data stored by an organization.
internal validity the ability of a research instrument to measure what it is purported to measure; occurs when the conclusion(s) drawn about a demonstrated experimental relationship truly implies cause.
interquartile range (IQR) measures the distance between the fi rst and third quartiles of a data distribution; a.k.a. mid- spread ; the distance between the hinges in a boxplot.
interval estimate range of values within which the true popula- tion parameter is expected to fall.
interval scale scale with the properties of order and equal dis- tance between points and with mutually exclusive and ex- haustive categories; data that incorporate equality of interval (the distance between one measure and the next measure);
e.g., temperature scale.
intervening variable (IVV) a factor that affects the observed phenomenon but cannot be seen, measured, or manipu- lated; thus its effect must be inferred from the effects of the independent and moderating variables on the dependent variable.
interview phone, in-person, or videoconference communica- tion approach to collecting data.
interview guide see discussion guide . interview schedule question list used to guide a structured in-
terview; a.k.a. questionnaire .
interviewer error error that results from interviewer infl u- ence of the participant; includes problems with motivation, instructions, voice infl ections, body language, question or response order, or cheating via falsifi cation of one or more responses.
intranet a private network that is contained within an enter- prise; access is restricted to authorized audiences; usually behind a security firewall
k -independent-samples tests signifi cance tests in which mea- surements are taken from three or more samples (ANOVA for interval or ratio measures, Kruskal-Wallis for ordinal measures, chi-square for nominal measures).
k -related-samples tests compares measurements from more than two groups from the same sample or more than two measures from the same subject or participant (ANOVA for interval or ratio measures, Friedman for ordinal measures, Cochran Q for nominal measures).
kinesics the study of the use of body motion communication.
kinesthetic learners people who learn by doing, moving, and touching.
kurtosis measure of a data distribution’s peakedness or fl atness ( ku ); a neutral distribution has a ku of 0, a fl at distribution is negative, and a peaked distribution is positive.
laboratory conditions studies that occur under conditions that do not simulate actual environmental conditions.
laddering (benefi t chain) a projective technique in which par- ticipants are asked to link functional features to their physical and psychological benefi ts, both real and ideal.
lambda (l) a measure of how well the frequencies of one nomi- nal variable predict the frequencies of another variable; val- ues (vary between zero and 1.0) show the direction of the association.
leading question a measurement question whose wording sug- gests to the participant the desired answer (nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio data).
leniency (error of) a participant, within a series of evaluations, consistently expresses judgments at one end of a scale; an error that results when the participant is consistently an easy or hard rater.
letter of transmittal the element of the fi nal report that pro- vides the purpose of, scope of, authorization for, and limita- tions of the study; not necessary for internal projects.
level of signifi cance the probability of rejecting a true null hypothesis.
life history an IDI technique that extracts from a single partici- pant memories and experiences from childhood to the present day regarding a product or service category, brand, or fi rm.
Likert scale a variation of the summated rating scale, this scale asks a rater to agree or disagree with statements that express either favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward the object
Key terms indexed at the end of the chapter and defi ned in the
Glossary reinforce the importance of learning the language of research.
Supplements offer the tools students and faculty ask for . . . and more.
On the book’s Online Learning Center (www.mhhe.com/
cooper11e), students will fi nd cases and data sets, a research proposal, a sample student project, and supplemental material for several chapters, including templates for charting data. You’ll also fi nd 33 cases, nine of which are full video cases. Also, several written cases have video components included.
xii
For undergraduate students just learning about research methods or graduate students advancing their research knowledge, with each new edition Business Research Methods promises—and has repeatedly delivered—not only a teachable textbook but a valued reference for the future. As a mark of its worldwide acceptance as an indus- try standard, Business Research Methods is now published in nine international editions and in four languages.
When you are creating an 11th edition, you don’t want to tinker too much with what has made instructors want to teach with your textbook or researchers use it as a valu- able shelf reference. But to ignore environmental changes would be irresponsible. We’ve tried to respond with clar- ity and purpose to changes in the business and government environments.
Leading
In this edition, you’ll fi nd a new chapter on oral presenta- tions. Since the development of the data warehouse, iden- tifying patterns and drawing meaningful conclusions from data has been as important as collecting primary data ad- dressing specifi c problems. But business managers today are not always schooled in data analysis and interpretation.
Thus, it becomes the job of the researcher to present data processes and conclusions in an understandable way. Also, advances in technology for presenting over the Web have made it possible to gather all the individuals who need to understand the research fi ndings, often without leaving their offi ces, to hear the researcher explain the fi ndings and conclusions. So, while presenting research fi ndings in writ- ten reports is still the norm, the oral presentation of fi ndings has taken on new signifi cance—thus, the new chapter.
Responsive . . . to Students and Faculty
Snapshots, PicProfi les, and Closeups are the way we re- veal what is timely and current in research. We wait until such issues are more mainstream before giving the topic a permanent place within the text. You’ll fi nd several of these new examples in this edition, dealing with Internet research, cloud computing, using Excel in data analysis and presentation, smartphone research, dirty data, gut hunches, wildcat surveys, and more. And you’ll fi nd re- search stories that relate to such organizations or brands as the Army, Netfl ix, Snausages, Best Buy, Blackstone Wines, Rypple, Twitter, Facebook, Ford, and Match.com, among numerous others.
Our process series of exhibits has expanded with the addition of Chapter 21 and the revision of Chapter 20. And
you’ll fi nd new and revamped exhibits in other chapters as well. Each is designed to make the process more under- standable for students.
Chapter 19 got a fresh pair of eyes this edition. We hope you will fi nd the enhanced clarity of concepts to your liking.
We’ve added a new type of discussion question—
“From the Headlines”—to demonstrate to students that research is applicable to all types of scenarios. They are designed for faculty who enjoy using discussion examples in teaching research methods.
We’ve added research examples to the Instructor’s Manual, for use in class discussion or testing. We continue to use chapter and end-of-text appendices for important information that, given the skills and knowledge of their students, an instructor might not always use. You’ll fi nd appendices related to a sample proposal, advanced search techniques, question development, the research industry, and more.
Fine-Tuned
Process Series of Exhibits The core pedagogy of Business Research Methods is based on an understanding that student learners are of three types: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. These exhibits offer a detailed, graphical map of the research process or a more detailed breakout of each subprocess, perfect for hands-on projects. Each of these exhibits is linked to others in the series with a consistent use of shape and color. You’ll fi nd 32 of these exhibits throughout the text.
Written Cases Cases offer an opportunity to tell re- search stories in more depth and detail. You’ll fi nd cases about hospital services, lotteries, data mining, fundraising, new promotions, and website design, among other topics, featuring organizations like Akron Children’s Hospital, Kelly Blue Book, Starbucks, Yahoo!, the American Red Cross, and more.
Video Cases We are pleased to offer a fi rst in video supplements, several short segments drawn from a two- hour metaphor elicitation technique (MET) interview.
These segments should be invaluable in teaching students to conduct almost any type of individual depth interview and to explain the concept of researcher–participant rap- port. Four of our video cases were written and produced especially to match the research process model in this text and feature noted companies: Lexus, Starbucks, Wirthlin Worldwide (now Harris Interactive), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, GMMB, Visa, Bank One, Team One
>preface
>preface xiii
Advertising, U.S. Tennis Association, Vigilante New York, and the Taylor Group. You can download video cases and video supplements from the Online Learning Center.
Web Exercises It is appropriate to do Web searches as part of a research methods course, so each chapter offers one or more exercises to stimulate your students to hone their searching skills. Due to the ever-changing nature of Web URLs, however, we offer these exercises in the in- structor’s manual, downloadable from the text website.
Sample Student Project Visualization of the fi n- ished deliverable is key to creating a strong research re- port. This detailed project sample is downloadable from the Online Learning Resource Center.
Collaborative
When we revise an edition, many individuals and compa- nies contribute. Here are some who deserve special recog- nition and our gratitude.
• We would like to acknowledge the changes in Chapter 19, “Multivariate Analysis: An Overview,”
by Edye Cleary, a doctoral student in the School of Public Administration, Florida Atlantic Univer- sity. She simplifi ed numerous explanations and elaborated on others to make the material more student-friendly.
• To all those researchers who shared their projects, ideas, perspectives, and the love of what they do through e-mails and interviews and who helped us develop cases, Snapshots, PicProfi les, or Closeups, or provided new visuals: Andy Peytchev, Research Triangle Institute (RTI International); Jeffrey C.
Adler, Centrac DC Marketing Research; Josh Mendelsohn, Chadwick Martin Bailey, Inc.; Ruth Stanat, SIS International Research; Sharon Starr, IPC, Inc.; Tom Anderson, Anderson Analytics;
Jennifer Hirt-Marchand, Marcus Thomas LLC;
Lance Jones, Keynote Systems; Keith Crosley, Proofpoint; Christopher Schultheiss, SuperLetter.
com; Ryan Cooper, Lifetime TV; Hy Mariampolski, QualiData Research Inc; Julie Grabarkewitz and Paul Herrera, American Heart Association; Holly Ripans, American Red Cross; Mike Bordner and Ajay Gupta, Bank One; Laurie Laurant Smith, Arielle Burgess, Jill Grech, David Lockwood, and Arthur Miller, Campbell-Ewald; Francie Turk, Consumer Connections; Tom Krouse, Donatos Pizza; Annie Burns and Aimee Seagal, GMMB; Laura Light and Steve Struhl, Harris Interactive; Emil Vicale, Herobuilders.com; Adrian Chiu, NetConversions;
Eric Lipp, Open Doors Organization; Stuart Schear, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Elaine Arkin,
consultant to RWJF; Colette Courtion, Starbucks;
Mark Miller, Team One Advertising; Rebecca Conway, The Taylor Research Group; Scott Staniar, United States Tennis Association; Danny Robinson, Vigilante; Maury Giles, Wirthlin Worldwide; and Ken Mallon, Yahoo!; and numerous colleagues at IBM and Lenovo.
• To Rebecca Mann, our Developmental Editor, who facilitated the complex process and to our Execu- tive Editor, Dick Hercher, who felt strongly enough about us as successful authors to support this revision.
• To the remainder of our McGraw-Hill team, for making the book a priority:
• Project Manager: Harvey Yep • Marketing Manager: Jaime Halteman • Media Producer: Cathy Tepper • Production Supervisor: Carol Bielski • Designer: JoAnne Schopler
• Photo Researcher: Keri Johnson • Photo Coordinator: Lori Kramer
• To our faculty reviewers for their insights, sugges- tions, disagreements, and challenges that encour- aged us to look at our content in different ways:
Scott Baker, Champlain College; Scott Bailey, Troy University; Robert Balik, Western Michigan University–Kalamazoo; John A. Ballard, College of Mount St. Joseph; Jayanta Bandyopadhyay, Central Michigan University; Larry Banks, University of Phoenix; Caroll M. Belew, New Mexico Highlands University; Jim Brodzinski, College of Mount St. Joseph; Taggert Brooks, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse; L. Jay Burks, Lincoln University; Marcia Carter, University of Southern New Hampshire; Raul Chavez, Eastern Mennonite University; Darrell Cousert, University of Indianapolis; David Dorsett, Florida Institute of Technology; Michael P. Dumler, Illinois State University; Kathy Dye, Thomas More College;
Don English, Texas A&M University–Commerce;
Antonnia Espiritu, Hawaii Pacifi c University;
Hamid Falatoon, University of Redlands; Judson Faurer, Metropolitan State College of Denver;
Eve Fogarty, New Hampshire College; Bob Folden, Texas A&M University–Commerce; Gary Grudintski, San Diego State University; John Hanke, Eastern Washington University; Alan G.
Heffner, Silver Lake College; Lee H. Igel, New York University; Burt Kaliski, New Hampshire College; Jane Legacy, Southern New Hampshire University; Andrew Luna, State University of West Georgia; Andrew Lynch, Southern New Hampshire University; Iraj Mahdvi, National University;
Judith McKnew, Clemson University; Rosemarie
xiv >preface
Reynolds, Embry Riddle Aero University–Daytona;
Randi L. Sims, Nova Southeastern University; Gary Stark, Northern Michigan University; Bruce Strom, University of Indianapolis; Cecelia Tempomi, Southwest Texas State University; Charles Warren, Salem State College; Dennis G. Weis, Alliant International University; Bill Wresch, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; and Robert Wright, University of Illinois at Springfi eld.
We are also indebted to dozens of students who identi- fi ed areas of confusion so that we could make concepts more understandable, who participated in search tests,
who worked on numerous research projects demonstrat- ing where we needed to place more emphasis, and who reminded us with their questions and actions that many aspects of the research process operate below their learn- ing radar.
Through this 11th edition, we hope you and your stu- dents discover, or rediscover, how stimulating, challeng- ing, fascinating, and sometimes frustrating this world of research-supported decision making can be.
Pamela Schindler Donald Cooper
xv Preface xii
>part I
Introduction to Business Research
11 Research in Business 2
Appendix 1a: How the Research Industry Works 23
2 Ethics in Business Research 30 3 Thinking Like a Researcher 52
4 The Research Process: An Overview 78 5 Clarifying the Research Question through
Secondary Data and Exploration 96 Appendix 5a: Bibliographic Database Searches 125
Appendix 5b: Advanced Searches 132
>part II
The Design of Business Research
1356 Research Design: An Overview 136 7 Qualitative Research 158
8 Observation Studies 186 9 Experiments 206
Appendix 9a: Complex Experimental Designs 229 Appendix 9b: Test Markets 232
10 Surveys 238
>part III
The Sources and Collection of Data
26711 Measurement 268 12 Measurement Scales 290
13 Questionnaires and Instruments 318
Appendix 13a: Crafting Effective Measurement Questions 351
Appendix 13b: Pretesting Options and Discoveries 358
14 Sampling 362
Appendix 14a: Determining Sample Size 390
>part IV
Analysis and Presentation of Data
39915 Data Preparation and Description 400
Appendix 15a: Describing Data Statistically 423 16 Exploring, Displaying, and Examining Data 428 17 Hypothesis Testing 452
18 Measures of Association 490
19 Multivariate Analysis: An Overview 526 20 Presenting Insights and Findings:
Written Reports 560
21 Presenting Insights and Findings:
Oral Presentations 596
>case index
633>appendices
A Business Research Requests and Proposals (with Sample RFP) 644
B Focus Group Discussion Guide 668 C Nonparametric Signifi cance Tests 670 D Selected Statistical Tables 677
References and Readings 688 Glossary 714
Photo Credits 732 Indexes 733
