Why Study Business Research?

Business
research provides
information to
guide business
decisions

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Research Should Help Business Respond to
Change

“Enterprises have long recognized the need

to better sense and respond to business change.
What’s different today is that ubiquitous access
to information and real-time communications
have fostered an ‘always on’ business culture
where decision making has become a ‘just-in-time
process.’”
Business Performance Management Forum

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Business Research

• A process of determining, acquiring,

analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating
relevant business data, information, and
insights to decision makers in ways that
mobilize the organization to take
appropriate business actions that,
in turn, maximize business performance

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Characteristics of
Good Research
Clearly
Clearly defined
defined purpose
purpose
Detailed
Detailed research
research process
process
Thoroughly
Thoroughly planned
planned design
design
High
High ethical
ethical standards
standards
Limitations
Limitations addressed
addressed
Adequate
Adequate analysis
analysis
Unambiguous
Unambiguous presentation
presentation
Conclusions
Conclusions justified
justified
Credentials
Credentials
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Categories of Research

Applied Basic (Pure)

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Types of Studies

Reporting Descriptive

Explanatory Predictive

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QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND
CODING

by:
Dr. Sakshi Sharma
Dr. Manmeet Kaur
QUESTIONNAIRE  
 A questionnaire is a means of eliciting the
feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or
attitudes of some sample of individuals. As a
data collecting instrument, it could be
structured or unstructured.
 A questionnaire is a written or printed form
used in gathering information on some subject
or subjects consisting of a list of questions to
be submitted to one or more persons.
 ADVANTAGES
 Economy - Expense and time involved in training
interviewers and sending them to interview are reduced by
using questionnaires.
 Uniformity of questions - Each respondent receives the
same set of questions phrased in exactly the same way.
Questionnaires may, therefore, yield data more
comparable than information obtained through an
interview.
 Standardization - If the questions are highly structured
and the conditions under which they are answered are
controlled, then the questionnaire could become
standardized.
Disadvantages
 Respondent’s motivation is difficult to assess,
affecting the validity of response.
 Unless a random sampling of returns is obtained,
the completed returned questionnaire may
represent biased samples.
 The questionnaire is said to be the most "used and
abused" method of gathering information by the
researcher because often it is poorly organized,
vaguely worded, and excessively lengthy.
FACTORS AFFECTING THE
PERCENTAGE OF RETURNED
QUESTIONNAIRES
 Length of the questionnaire.
 Reputation of the sponsoring agency.

 Complexity of the questions asked.

 Relative importance of the study as determined by the

potential respondent.
 Extent to which the respondent believes that his
responses are important.
 Quality and design of the questionnaire.

 Time of year the questionnaires are sent out.

TWO TYPES OF QUESTIONNAIRE

Closed or restricted form - calls for a

"yes" or "no" answer, short response, or
item checking (Likert’s Scale); is fairly
easy to interpret, tabulate, and summarize.
Open or unrestricted form - calls for free
response from the respondent; allows for
greater depth of response; is difficult to
interpret, tabulate, and summarize.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
QUESTIONNAIRE
 Deals with a significant topic, a topic the respondent
will recognize as important enough to justify
spending his time in completing.
 Seeks only that information which cannot be
obtained from other sources such as census data.
 As short as possible, only long enough to get the
essential data. Long questionnaires frequently find
their way into wastebaskets.
 Attractive in appearance, neatly arranged, and
clearly duplicated or printed.
 Directions are clear and complete, important terms are
defined, each question deals with a single idea, all
questions are worded as simply and clearly as possible.
 Questions are objective, with no leading suggestions to
the desired response.
 Questions are presented in good psychological order,
proceeding from general to more specific responses.
 It may be wise to present questions that create a
favorable attitude before proceeding to those that may
be a bit delicate or intimate. If possible, annoying or
embarrassing questions should be avoided.
 Easy to tabulate and interpret. It is advisable to
pre-construct a tabulation sheet, anticipating how
the data will be tabulated and interpreted, before
the final form of the question is decided upon.
 Working backward from a visualization of the
final analysis of data is an important step in
avoiding ambiguity in questionnaire form. If
mechanical tabulating equipment is to be used, it
is important to allow code numbers for all possible
responses to permit easy transfer to machine-
tabulation cards.
Guides for preparing and administering the
questionnaire
 Get all of the help you can in planning and constructing your
questionnaire. Study other questionnaires and submit your own
questionnaire to experts, faculty members and class members for
criticism.
 Try your questionnaire out on a few friends or associates. This
helps to locate unclear and vague terms.
 Choose respondents carefully. It is important that questionnaires
be sent only to those who possess the desired information - those
who are likely to be sufficiently interested to respond
conscientiously and objectively.
A preliminary card asking whether or not the
individual would be willing to participate in the
proposed study is recommended by some
research authorities.

 It has also been found that in many instances

better response is obtained when the original
request was sent to the administrative head of an
organization rather than directly to the person
who had the desired information.
 If the desired information is delicate or intimate in nature,
one must consider the possibility of providing anonymous
responses. Ensuring confidentiality may result in
objective responses.
 Try to get the aid of sponsorship. Recipients are more
likely to answer if a person, organization, or institution of
prestige has endorsed the project.
 Be sure to include a courteous, carefully constructed cover
letter to explain the purpose of the study.
 Some recipients are slow to return questionnaires. A
courteous post card reminding an individual that the
questionnaire has not been received will often bring in
some additional responses.
RULES FOR THE PROPER CONSTRUCTION
OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
 Define or qualify terms that could easily be misunderstood or
misinterpreted.
 What is the understanding of the quality initiatives in your
organizations? (Do they understand what initiatives are you talking
about?
 What are you doing now? (Filling out your stupid questionnaire.)
 Be careful with descriptive adjectives and adverbs that have no
agreed upon meaning, such as frequently, occasionally, and rarely
(one person’s rarely may be another person’s frequently). Preferable
use Likert scale will help the respondent classify himself on a
response
 Beware of double negatives.
 Are you opposed to not requiring students to take showers after gym
classes?
 Are you in not favor of not offering XYZ course in your PhD Program?
 Be careful of inadequate alternatives.
Married: Yes ____ No ____
(There are other answers to these types of questions,
such as divorced or separated)
 Avoid double barreled questions.
Do you believe that students should be placed in
separate groups for instructional purposes and
assigned to special schools?
Should all MBA students take both Marketing &
Finance papers? (One might be for one part of the
question and opposed to the other.)
 Underline a word to emphasize its importance.

The following illustration will serve to emphasize how a line under

the word can change a sentence from the standpoint of the
respondent's train of thought.

 Were you there last night?

 Were you there last night?
 Were you there last night?
 Were you there last night?
 Were you there last night?
 When asking for a rating, a point of reference is
needed.
 How would you rate campus environment today?
 How would you rate student attitudes? (Compared to what?) 

 Avoid unfounded assumptions.

 Are you satisfied with the salary you received last year? (A no
answer might mean that I didn’t receive a raise last year or that I did
get a raise, but I’m not satisfied.)
 Phrase questions so that they are appropriate for all
respondents.
 What is your monthly salary?
 What is your yearly salary?

(Both questions may not have a definite answer. Yearly salaries

are subject to commission, seasonal changes, etc.)
 Design questions that give complete possibilities for
comprehension of responses. For example in assessing the reading or
viewing habits of people questions like?

 Do you read “The Economic Times”?

 Do you watch the news on television?

(Neither question indicates much about the reading or viewing habits of an

individual.)

 Provide for a systematic quantification of responses.

 What is your favorite TV program?
 What is your favorite radio program?

(It is hard to summarize where the respondents tick a number of items from a
list. A better way is to rank in order of preference). 
Example: Rank one through five the following radio programs. The items can
then be tabulated by inverse weightings or points.
 Consider the possibility of classifying the responses yourself
rather than having the respondent choose categories.

   What is your age?

 25 years or below
 26 – 35 years
 36- 45 years
 46 – 55 years
 Above 55 years
 NON-COMPARATIVE SCALING
LIKERT SCALE
The Likert scale requires the respondents to indicate a degree of agreement or
disagreement with each of a series of statements about the stimulus objects.
  Strongly Disagree Neither Agree Strongly
disagree agree nor agree
disagree
 
1. Big Bazaar sells high-quality merchandise. 1 2X 3 4 5
 
2. Big Bazaar has poor in-store service. 1 2X 3 4 5
 
3. I like to shop at Big Bazaar. 1 2 3X 4 5
 
 The analysis can be conducted on an item-by-item basis or a total score can be calculated.
 When arriving at a total score, the categories assigned to the negative statements by the respondents
should be scored by reversing the scale.
 SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL
SCALE

The semantic differential is a rating scale with end points associated with
bipolar labels that have semantic meaning.

Big Bazaar is:

Powerful --:--:--:--:-X-:--:--: Weak
Unreliable --:--:--:--:--:-X-:--: Reliable
Modern --:--:--:--:--:--:-X-: Old-fashioned

 The negative adjective or phrase sometimes appears at the left side of the
scale and sometimes at the right.
Question Content

Should this question be asked?

Is the question of proper scope and coverage?

Can the participant adequately

answer this question as asked?

Will the participant willingly

answer this question as asked?

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Response Strategy

Objectives
of the study

Participant’s Participant’s
motivation to level of
share information
Factors
Factors

Ease and clarity with Degree to which

which participant participants have
communicates thought through topic
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Free-Response Strategy

What factors influenced your enrollment in Metro U?

____________________________________________
____________________________________________

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Dichotomous Response Strategy

Did you attend the “A Day at

College” program at Metro U?
Yes
No

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Multiple Choice Response Strategy

Which one of the following factors was

most influential in your decision to attend
Metro U?
Good academic standing
Specific program of study desired
Enjoyable campus life
Many friends from home
High quality of faculty

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Checklist Response Strategy

Which of the following factors influenced

your decision to enroll in Metro U? (Check all that
apply.)
 Tuition cost
 Specific program of study desired
 Parents’ preferences
 Opinion of brother or sister
 Many friends from home attend
 High quality of faculty

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Rating Response Strategy

Strongly Somewhat Not at all

influential influential influential
Good academic   
reputation

Enjoyable campus life   

Many friends   

High quality faculty   

Semester calendar   

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Ranking

Please rank-order your top three factors from the following list
based on their influence in encouraging you to apply to Metro U.
Use 1 to indicate the most encouraging factor, 2 the next most
encouraging factor, etc.
_____ Opportunity to play collegiate sports
_____ Closeness to home
_____ Enjoyable campus life
_____ Good academic reputation
_____ High quality of faculty
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Internet Survey Scale Options

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Internet Survey Scale Options

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Internet Survey Scale Options

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FLOWCHAR
T FOR
INSTRUMEN
T DESIGN:
PHASE 3

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PicProfile: Branching Question

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Snapshot: Mobile Questionnaires

10
10 or
or fewer
fewer questions
questions

Simple
Simple question
question modes
modes

Minimize
Minimize scrolling
scrolling

Minimize
Minimize non-essential
non-essential content
content

Minimize
Minimize distraction
distraction

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 EVALUATION OF A
QUESTIONNAIRE OR INTERVIEW
SCRIPT
 Is the question necessary? How will it be used? What answers will
it provide? How will it be tabulated, analyzed, and interpreted?
 Are several questions needed instead of one?

 Do the respondents have the information or experience necessary

to answer the questions?
 Is the question clear?

 Is the question loaded in one direction? Biased? Emotionally

toned?
 Will the respondents answer the question?

 Will the respondents answer the question honestly?

 Is the question misleading because of unstated assumptions?
 Is the best type of answer solicited?

 Is the wording of the question likely to be objectionable to the

respondents?
 Is a direct or indirect question best?

 If a checklist is used, are the possible answers "exhaustive"?

 Are the questions in psychological order?

 Is the respondent required to make interpretations of quantities or

does the respondent give data which investigator must interpret?
SELF ASSESSMENT
1. Construct a simple questionnaire of at least two questions each
to illustrate an open or unrestricted form and a closed form.
2. Construct a simple questionnaire of at least two questions
using the Likert scaling technique.
3. Make a structured Interview Schedule (of five questions) for
the General Manager of an organization seeking information
about (any one)
a. The failure of a Product Launch

b. Increased rate of absenteeism in the organization

c. Impact of recession on employees