Bba - Assignments 492x4g

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BBA Semester – 2 BBA201 – Research Methods Assignment Set - II 1. What is Secondary data? What are the advantages of Secondary Data? Ans: Secondary data: Secondary data is the data that have been already collected by and readily available from other sources. Such data are cheaper and more quickly obtainable than the primary data and also may be available when primary data cannot be obtained at all. Secondary data is collecting and possibly processing data by people other than the researcher in question. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, large surveys, and organizational records (Mintel). In sociology primary data is data you have collected yourself and secondary data is data you have gathered from primary sources to create new research. In of historical research, these two have different meanings. A primary source is a book or set of archival records. A secondary source is a summary of a book or set of records.

Advantages of Secondary Data: 

Secondary data is provides a multipurpose bases to researchers.

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Secondary data can be used for creating or generating new ideas by providing a base for some core issues.

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Secondary data can be very effectively used for the comparison of two statistics and then drawing inferences based on these comparisons.

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Secondary data is the best method of getting information regarding a particular area where the direct collection of data is impossible.

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Secondary data is the most easily accessible data and saves the researcher the trouble of going through the tiresome process of collecting data personally.

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Secondary data is readily available at cheap rates and is usually quite inexpensive.

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Collecting secondary data and analysing it saves time and effort.

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Secondary data is unobtrusive. It is easily available and the researcher can get it without much struggle.

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Secondary data avoids data collection problems and it provides a basis for comparison.

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Secondary data can be easily located by using printed indices.

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It can be less expensive than gathering the data all over again.

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This data type may allow the researcher to cover a wider geographic or temporal range.

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Secondary data can allow for larger scale studies on a small budget.

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It does not exhaust people's good will by re-collecting readily available data.

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Secondary data provides an opportunity for longitudinal analysis based on the previous waves of survey.

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Secondary data is a good indicator for analyzing the social change overtime.

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This type of data also provides an opportunity for cross-cultural analysis with fewer limits of time, cost and language.

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Collecting secondary data leaves more time for making in depth data analysis.

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Re-analysis of the same secondary data may offer different insights regarding the analysis by focusing on one variable or subgroup.

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With secondary data the researchers might be able to test hypotheses they had not thought of, or examine the strengths of their arguments.

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Secondary data may be available which is entirely appropriate and wholly adequate to draw conclusions and answer the question or solve the problem. Sometimes primary data collection simply is not necessary.

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It is far cheaper to collect secondary data than to obtain primary data. For the same level of research budget a thorough examination of secondary sources can yield a great deal more information than can be had through a primary data collection exercise.

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When the researcher has collected the secondary data, there is no need to repeat the field work necessary for the collection of data.

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The time involved in searching secondary sources is much less than that needed to complete primary data collection.

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Secondary sources of information can yield more accurate data than that obtained through primary research. This is not always true but where a government or international agency has undertaken a large scale survey, or even a census, this is likely to yield far more accurate results than custom designed and executed surveys when these are based on relatively small sample sizes.

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It should not be forgotten that secondary data can play a substantial role in the exploratory phase of the research when the task at hand is to define the research problem and to generate hypotheses. The assembly and analysis of secondary data almost invariably improves the researcher's understanding of the marketing problem, the various lines of inquiry that could or should be followed and the alternative courses of action which might be pursued.

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Often the secondary data provides valuable background for the research - for example, it enables s to judge whether a small sample they have gathered is typical of the national population.

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Government survey organizations have considerable expertise and relatively massive resources, including the power to compel participation (e.g. in censustaking), so samples are more likely to be of large size and truly representative of the population.

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Secondary sources help define the population. Secondary data can be extremely useful both in defining the population and in structuring the sample to be taken. For instance, government statistics on a country's agriculture will help decide how to stratify a sample and, once sample estimates have been calculated, these can be used to project those estimates to the population.

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Q.2. (a). Enumerate the guidelines in deg a questionnaire.

Ans: A good questionnaire should not be too lengthy. Simple English should be used and the question shouldn‟t be difficult to answer. A good questionnaire requires sensible language, editing, assessment, and redrafting. Questionnaire Design Process 1. State the information required- This will depend upon the nature of the problem, the purpose of the study and hypothesis framed. The target audience must be concentrated on. 2. State the kind of interviewing technique- interviewing method can be telephone, mails, personal interview or electronic interview. Telephonic interview can be computer assisted. Personal interview can be conducted at respondent‟s place or at mall or shopping place. Mail interview can take the form of mail . Electronic interview takes place either through electronic mails or through the internet. 3. Decide the matter/content of individual questions- There are two deciding factors for thisa. Is the question significant? - Observe contribution of each question. Does the question contribute for the objective of the study? b. Is there a need for several questions or a single question? - Several questions are asked in the following cases: 

When there is a need for cross-checking

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When the answers are ambiguous

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When people are hesitant to give correct information.

4. Overcome the respondents’ inability and unwillingness to answer- The respondents may be unable to answer the questions because of following reasons

The respondent may not be fully informed

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The respondent may not

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He may be unable to express or articulate

The respondent may be unwilling to answer due to

There may be sensitive information which may cause embarrassment or harm the respondent‟s image.

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The respondent may not be familiar with the genuine purpose

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The question may appear to be irrelevant to the respondent

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The respondent will not be willing to reveal traits like aggressiveness (For instance - if he is asked “Do you hit your wife, sister”, etc.)

To overcome the respondent‟s unwillingness to answer: h. Place the sensitive topics at the end of the questionnaire i.

Preface the question with a statement

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Use the third person technique (For example - Mark needed a job badly and he used wrong means to get it - Is it right?? Different people will have different opinions depending upon the situation)

k. Categorize the responses rather than asking a specific response figure (For example - Group for income levels 0-25000, 25000-50000, 50000 and above) Decide on the structure of the question- Questions can be of two types: . Structured questions- These specify the set of response alternatives and the response format. These can be classified into multiple choice questions (having various response categories), dichotomous questions (having only 2 response categories such as “Yes” or “No”) and scales (discussed already). a. Unstructured questions- These are also known as open-ended question. No alternatives are suggested and the respondents are free to answer these questions in any way they like. Determine the question language/phrasing- If the questions are poorly worded, then either the respondents will refuse to answer the question or they may give incorrect answers. Thus, the words of the question should be carefully chosen. Ordinary and unambiguous words should be used. Avoid implicit assumptions, generalizations and implicit alternatives. Avoid biased questions. Define the issue in of who the

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questionnaire is being addressed to, what information is required, when is the information required, why the question is being asked, etc. Properly arrange the questions- To determine the order of the question, take decisions on aspects like opening questions (simple, interesting questions should be used as opening questions to gain co-operation and confidence of respondents), type of information (Basic information relates to the research issue, classification information relates to social and demographic characteristics, and identification information relates to personal information such as name, address, number of respondents), difficult questions (complex, embarrassing, dull and sensitive questions could be difficult), effect on subsequent questions, logical sequence, etc. Recognize the form and layout of the questionnaire- This is very essential for self-istered questionnaire. The questions should be numbered and pre-coded. The layout should be such that it appears to be neat and orderly, and not clattered. Reproduce the questionnaire- Paper quality should be good. Questionnaire should appear to be professional. The required space for the answers to the question should be sufficient. The font type and size should be appropriate. Vertical response questions should be used, for example: Do you use brand X of shampoo ? 

Yes

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No

Pre-test the questionnaire- The questionnaire should be pre-tested on a small number of respondents to identify the likely problems and to eliminate them. Each and every dimension of the questionnaire should be pre-tested. The sample respondents should be similar to the target respondents of the survey. Finalize the questionnaire- Check the final draft questionnaire. Ask yourself how much will the information obtained from each question contribute to the study. Make sure that irrelevant questions are not asked. Obtain of the respondents on the questionnaire.

Q.2. (b). What are the guidelines that have to be followed in the coding process?

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Ans: Coding refers to those activities which help in transforming edited Questionnaires into a form that is ready for analysis. Coding speeds up the tabulation, while editing eliminates errors. Coding involves asg numbers or other symbols to answers, so that the responses can be grouped into a partial number of classes or categories. Coding helps the researcher to condense several thousand replies to a few categories containing the essential information needed for analysis. In coding, categories are the partitioning of a set; and categorization is the process of using rules to partition a body of data. Examples: 1 is used for male and 2 for female. Some guidelines to be followed in coding are as follows: 1. Establishment of appropriate category. 2. Mutual exclusivity. 3. Single dimension. 4. Exhaustive. 1. Establishing of appropriate category: Categories must provide the best partitioning of data for testing hypotheses and viewing relationships. Year-by-year age differences may be significant to the question being researched. If so, wider age classifications hamper the investigation. If specific income, attitude, or reason categories are crucial to the testing relationship, then we must choose the most excellent groupings. Example: Suppose the researcher is analysing the “inconvenience” that a car owner is facing with his current model. As a result, the factor chosen for coding may be “Problem”. Under this there could be 4 types (1) problem in entering the backseat (2) difficulty due to inadequate legroom (3) trouble with respect to the interior (4) inconvenience in door locking, and opening the dickey. Now the researcher may classify these four answers based on internal inconvenience and other inconveniences referring to the exterior.

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Each is assigned a different number for the purpose of codification. 2. Mutually exclusive: This is important because the answer given by the respondent should be placed under one category. Example: Profession of an individual may be responded to as (1) specialized (2) sales (3) managerial (4) supervisor etc. Sometimes, respondents think that they might belong to more than one category. This is because sales personnel may be doing a sales job and therefore should be placed under the sales category. Also, he may supervise the work of other sales executives. In this case, he is doing a managerial function. Viewed in this context, he should be placed under the managerial category, which has a different code. Therefore, he can only be put under one category, which is to be decided. One way of deciding this could be to analyse “in which of the two functions does he spend most time”? Yet another situation assumes that there is a salesman who is currently employed. Under the column of „occupation‟, he will indicate it as sales, while under the present employment column; he will mark as without a job. How does one codify this? Under which category should he be placed? One of the solutions is to have a classification, such as employed salesman, jobless salesman to represent the two separate categories.

3. Single dimension:

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The need for a group set to follow a single classificatory opinion means every class in the group set is defined in of one theory. Returning to the work survey example, the person in the study might be both a salesperson and jobless. The “salesperson” tag expresses the thought, occupation type, and the response “unemployed” is a different measurement concerned with current service (sentence not clear) set uses more than one dimension, it will usually not be evenly exclusive unless the cells in the set combine the scope (employed manager, unemployed manager and so on). 4. Exhaustiveness: A large number of “other” responses suggest our classification set may be too limited. In such cases, we may not be tapping the full range of information in the data. Failure to present an adequate list of alternatives is especially damaging when multiple-choice questions are used. Any answer that is not specified in the set will surely be under-represented in the tally. While the exhaustiveness requirement in a sole category set may be clear, a second aspect is less clear. Is the one set of categories fully confined to all the information in the data? For instance, responses to an open-ended question about family economic prospects for the next year may initially be classified only in of being confident or negative. It may be informative to classify responses in of other thoughts such as the precise focus of these expectations (income or jobs) and variations in responses among family heads and others in the family.

Q.3. What are the different guidelines for writing the research report?

Ans:Researchers who are effective in report writing agree that there are a series of guidelines which should be followed. Such guidelines can be listed as: Consider the Audience: make the report clear; use only words familiar to the readers and define all technical . To make the comparison of figures easier, use percentages, rounded off figures, ranks of ratios; put the exact data within the text or in

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the appendix. Use graphic aids (charts, graphs, pictures, etc) wherever they help clarify the presentation of data. Address the Information Needs:

the research report is designed to

communicate information to decision makers. Make sure that it clearly relates the research findings to the objectives of the management. Be concise, Yet complete: most managers will not want to read about the details of a research report. Knowing what to include and what to leave out is a difficult task. It is up to you, the researcher, to take into the information needs of the decision maker when writing your report. Be objective: You will probably face at least one situation in which you know that the client will not easily accept the results. The findings may conflict with the decision maker‟s experience and judgement or they may reflect unfavourably on the wisdom of previous decisions. In these circumstances, there is a strong temptation to start the report by making the result more acceptable to the management. A professional researcher, however, will the present the research findings in an objective manner (therefore without bias) and will defend their validity if they are challenged by the client. Style: The style of writing a research report is important because it shows a way of presentation. Here are a few a tips to help you write a report that is easy to read. 

Write in brisk, business-like English.

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Use short words and sentences.

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Be concise.

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Use the active voice.

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Consider appearance- space makes a long report easier to read.

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Avoid clichés.

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Write in the present tense.

The most important aspect to be kept in mind while developing a research report is the communication with the audience. The report should be able to draw the interest of the readers. Therefore, the report should be reader centric. Other aspects to be considered while writing report are accuracy and clarity.

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The points to be ed while doing oral presentation are thelanguage used, time management, use of graph, purpose of the report etc. Visual aids used must be understandable to the audience. The presenter must make sure that the presentation is completed within the time allotted. Sometime should be set apart for questions and answers.Written reports may be classified based on whether the report is a short report or a long report. It can also be classified as technical report or non-technical report. A written report should contain title page, contents, executive summary, body, conclusion and appendix. The last part is the bibliography.