MARKING SCHEME

ATP 201BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

Part 1 Objective Answers

1 / C / 21 / B
2 / A / 22 / B
3 / A / 23 / A
4 / C / 24 / B
5 / C / 25 / A
6 / B / 26 / B
7 / B / 27 / B
8 / A / 28 / A
9 / D / 29 / B
10 / D / 30 / A
11 / C / 31 / B
12 / B / 32 / B
13 / B / 33 / A
14 / B / 34 / B
15 / B / 35 / A
16 / A / 36 / B
17 / D / 37 / A
18 / B / 38 / B
19 / D / 39 / B
20 / D / 40 / A

Question 2

  1. Descriptive study the researcher wants to know the outside work activities like hobby and leisure activities.
  2. Ex-post facto, the researcher cannot control any variable as the activities are one outside office hours.
  3. Field Study as it is done in the normal setting without manipulation.
  4. Cross sectionalas data is collected only once.
  5. Individual, productionoperators.

Question3

Based on the explanation given above, answer the following questions.

(a)What is the research problem?

What factors contribute to increased smoking intentions?

[ 2 markah ]

(a)Bentuk satu kerangka teori yang bersesuaian.

[ 4 markah ]

(c)

Develop 4 hypotheses to be tested.

[ 4 marks ]

H1Exposure to smoking in movies has a positive impact on attitude towards smoking.

H2Attitude towards smoking has a positive impact on smoking intentions.

H3The positive relationship between exposure to smoking in movies and attitude towards smoking will be stronger when identification with the film character is high.

H4The positive relationship between attitude towards smoking and smoking intentions will be stronger for those from urban areas.

Question 4

Please use your judgement

(a)Explain the concept of control variables by giving suitable examples.

[ 4 markah/marks ]

Control variables are variables we want to control in our research which is not part of the research. For example we want to control gender in our research, we can do sampling control or statistical control depending on type of research.

(b)Differentiate basic and applied research by giving suitable examples?

[ 4 markah/marks ]

•Applied Research solving short term problems

• Evaluate opportunities

• Improve a current situation

• Basic Research solving long term problems or theoretical problems

• Solving theoretical problems

• No direct impact to actions, performance or policy decisions

(c)What are the 4 sources of information that an individual can use? Discuss.

[ 4 markah/marks]

  1. Respondent
  2. Instrument
  3. Measurer
  4. Situation

(d)What is a focus group study and when are they suitable to be used?

[ 4 markah/marks ]

Focus groups are conductedby a trained moderator and typically include 6-10 participants. The facilitator uses group dynamics principles to focus or guide the group in an exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences on a specific topic. Most suitable in exploratory researches.

(e)Explain the typical ethical violations that happen in business research.

[ 4 markah/marks ]
  1. Violatingdisclosureagreements
  2. Breakingconfidentiality
  3. Paddedinvoices
  4. Misrepresentingresults
  5. Deceivingparticipants
  6. Avoidinglegal liability

Question 5

Based on the output given, answer the following questions.

(a)Can we develop a regression equation based on the results of the analysis?

[ 2 marks ]

Yes, the F = 26.427and Signif of F = 0.000 < 0.01 so we can conclude that all the 3 variables together can significantly explain the variation in REVENUE.

(b)Determine the best fitting regression equation.

[ 2 marks ]

REVENUE = 8463.490 + 227.813 (STORE) – 705.653(SIZE) – 0.573(EMPLOYEES)

(c)Develop and test these 3 hypotheses at the 5% level.

  • There is negative relationship between SIZE and REVENUE
  • There is negative relationship between EMPLOYEE and REVENUE
  • There is positive relationship between STORE and REVENUE

Variablet-valuep valueDecision

H0 b1 = 0

H1 b1 > 0

STORE5.4940.001p < 0.05Reject H0

H0 b2 = 0

H1 b2 0

SIZE-2.1480.031p 0.05Reject H0

H0 b3 = 0

H1 b3 0

EMPLOYEE-6.6650.000p < 0.05Reject H0

[ 6 marks ]

(d)Interpret the coefficient of determination.

[ 2 marks ]

R2 = 80082458/87153177 = 0.918. We can conclude that 91.8% variation in Intention can be explained by all the 3 variables; about 8.2% variation cannot be explained.

(e)What is the REVENUE if SIZE was 85,000 m2, STORES was 55 and the EMPLOYEE was 25,500

[ 3 marks ]

REVENUE = 8463.490 + 227.813 (55) – 705.653 (85) – 0.573 (25,500)

= - RM 53,600 million

(f)Has all the assumptions of the analysis been met?

[ 2 marks ]
  • There is multicollinearity as VIF10 and Tolerance0.1 also Conditional index is more than 30
  • The histogram indicates normal distribution with mean = 0 and SD = 1
  • P-P plot shows the errors are normally distributed
  • Partial plots indicates the variables are linearly related to Y
  • There are no outliers
  • Constant variance can also be ascertained as the plot of studentized residual and predicted Y is given

(g)Write a short report on how PESCO can interpret the results.

[ 3 marks ]

Based on the results all 3 variables are significant, STORE, SIZE and EMPLOYEES. Based on the Standardized Beta values, STORE has the most influence ( = 6.663) followed by EMPLOYEES( = - 4.006) and SIZE ( = - 2.148) indicating that STORE size and EMPLOYEES numberare the most crucial factors in predicting revenue. To increase REVENUE PESCO need to increase the number of stores that they own and reduce the number of employees. One way is to acquire more stores and introduce self service check outs.