Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam Cation RESEARCH DEPARTMENT Name : PVR Subrahmanyam Application No : Program : P.hD. Department : Management Semester : Sem-I, Coursework Paper Name : Research Methodology Session : 2021-2024 Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam Lesson-5: Exercise •Write a statement of any problem you consider suitable for management research. •Evaluate the statement yourself using the following: 1.Is the problem stated in a complete, grammatical sentence? 2.Does the problem state any hypothesis? 3.Have you tried to achieve precision by delimiting your area of study? 4.Does the problem seem to be merely an exercise in gathering data on the subject? 5.Can the problem be easily resolved with a yes-or-no answer? 6.Does the problem contain reference to the way you are going to interpret data? 7.Does the problem seem to indicate that there is a relationship between various items of data? 8.Is the problem is two broad? •Wherever answer is NO, rewrite the problem to correct that part. •Separate the major sub-problems and state them as questions •Underline the words which indicate that you intend to interpret data Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam Problem Statement: Is possible to establish the predictability and correlation of NIFTY 50 performance based on performance of its constituents and vise versa, by studying the scripts performance for the past 10 years in half yearly intervals (time intervals coinciding with the nifty index revision intervals) and comparing with the Nifty 50 performance? Effect of inclusion and exclusion of scripts, on the performance of scripts and index will also be studied to collaborate the findings. Performance of Companies with large Market capitalization which are included in the index calculation will be compared against index performance to verify if the scripts are included irrespective of their market performance and merely due to large market capitalization 1. Is the problem stated in a complete, grammatical sentence? Ans: Yes. 2. Does the problem state any hypothesis? Ans: Yes. Ho: Performance for the constituent scripts reflect the performance of the index Nifty 50. Ha: Performance for the constituent scripts does not reflect the performance of the index Nifty 50. Ho: Companies with large market capitalization are included in the Nifty50 based on their performance. Ha: Companies with large market capitalization are included in the Nifty50 not based on their performance (only based on the market capitalization). 3. Have you tried to achieve precision by delimiting your area of study? Ans: Yes, restricting study to 50 scripts of nifty 50 only and for a period of 10 years. Assignment -2 4. PVR Subrahmanyam Does the problem seem to be merely an exercise in gathering data on the subject? Ans: It involves gathering the data for past 10 years and comparing the performance of Index against its Constituents. 5. Can the problem be easily resolved with a yes-or-no answer? Ans: Yes. (a) The Nifty 50 Index can be predicted by the constituents performance or not. (b) The inclusion of companies with large market capitalization is due to their performance and not due to their market capitalization alone. 6. Does the problem contain reference to the way you are going to interpret? Ans: Yes. By comparing last ten years performance of Nifty 50 and its Constituents. Effect of inclusion or exclusion in Index on performance of scripts. 7. Does the problem seem to indicate that there is a relationship between various items of data? Ans: Yes there is a relation between the performance of the constituent scripts and the Index. The inclusion and exclusion of scriptd has an effect on their performance. 8. Is the problem is t0o broad? Ans: Yes broad enough to generalize the findings. • Wherever answer is NO, rewrite the problem to correct that part. • Separate the major sub-problems and state them as questions. (a) Is the performance for the scripts effect the Nifty 50 Index performance and vise versa? (b) Does the Inclusion and exclusion of scripts effect their performance? (c) Large market capitalization scripts are included based on their performance or due to the size of the market capitalization and percentage of their contribution to the over all market performance. • Underline the words which indicate that you intend to interpret data Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam Some questions are answerable by research, and others are not. Using some management problems of your choosing, distinguish between them. (3) Answers can vary. Sample answer: When we consider whether a topic is researchable it is wise to note that the answer is one of degree. Research can shed some light on most topics, but there are two situations where research can not provide much help. In the first case there are questions relating to “value” where fact gathering can not contribute much. For example, we may consider making a merger offer to company X and ask the question, “Do we really want to grow in this way?” Or, “Will we be happier making this offer rather than an offer to company Y?” A second situation where research is limited concerns those questions where data gathering could be helpful, but our techniques or procedures are inadequate. In the merger case, for example, we Examples for questions QM – 3 – might ask the question, “Will the stockholders of Company X welcome our merger offer?” This type of question is answered if there is a way to get the data before making the offer. However, there may be no method to enable us to make this assessment short of making the offer. Or again, the question, “Will the U.S. Department of Justice fight our merger plan?” While there are no legitimate techniques to gain certainty about such information, research may provide probable or at least possible clues as to reactions from stockholders, government agencies and other stakeholders. 1. Some questions are answerable by research and others are not. Using some management problems of your choosing, distinguish between them. • When management wants to find out which method of a production process is the most efficient in terms of operational productivity we can use research to provide usable results. When management wants to know if now is a good time to take on debt for equipment upgrades is, research may not be able to provide usable results. o Due to the extensive number of variables affecting financing decisions research will likely not be able to assist in this decision. The current market conditions, economy, interest rates, industry competition, and many other items require a type of analysis that research can not provide. 2. Discuss the problems of trading off exploration and pilot testing under tight budgetary constraints. What are the immediate and long-term effects? The text discussed that often pilot testing is not done to both reduce costs and also to reduce the total research time. • Not conducting pilot testing can then immediately progress the research process or reduce the total cost of the research but it can possibly have negative long-term effects. By not conducting pilot testing your research results may suffer because the proper information is not being gathered. A pilot test often provides indication of problems with the data gathering process. There may also be an overall increased cost with no additional benefit when no pilot testing has been completed. • Haven’t found the relevant content? Hire a subject expert to help you with Research: Decision Theory and Pilot Testing • The pilot test can not only indicate incorrect information be gathered but can also provide some indication as to whether the proper research questions have been asked. When the research questions being asked do not answer the true management questions then the conducted research will be useless. Useless research is a wasted expense. Pilot testing can indicate whether more in-depth Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam research is required thus providing a possible cost reduction or a better justification for proceeding with a higher cost project. 3. A company is experiencing a poor inventory management situation and receives alternative research proposals. Proposal 1 is to use an audit of last year’s transactions as a basis for recommendations. Proposal 2 is to study and recommend changes to the procedures and system used by the materials department. Discuss issues of evaluation in terms of (a) Ex post facto versus prior evaluation, and (b) Evaluation using option analysis and decision theory. Both of these proposals are going to be quite difficult to evaluate. • The need of the research will determine which method will be followed. Ex post factor or after-the-fact evaluation will determine the total cost of each proposal after the research studies are completed. This makes it quite difficult to determine whether the research is providing enough benefit to make it worthwhile until after the cost has been incurred. Thus for either of these systems it may be a better decision to proceed with a prior or interim evaluation method. • Under this method the research is designed in stages and an ex post facto evaluation is performed at the end of each stage. Then a determination is made deciding if enough benefit has been generated to proceed to the next stage thus allowing management to get results while also controlling cost. Option analysis may also be used to evaluate the two proposed studies. With option analysis the studies are designed in a very explicit manner thus allowing an organization to compare estimated costs (based on prior research approximations) versus an expected benefit. • Management will then select one proposal over another depending on the cost benefit ratio and current need. Decision theory allows management to make decisions based on defined criteria. Each criterion consists of a decision rule and a decision variable. The selection process then consists of analysis determining which proposal either increases the decision variable or which follows the decision rule. This information is considered with a choice being determined by the rules and current management need. Question: Based on an analysis of the last six months sales your boss notices that sales of beef products are declining in your chains' restaurants. As beef entry sales decline, so do profits. Fearing beef sales have declined due to several newspaper stories reporting E coli contamination discovered at area grocery stores, he suggests a survey area restaurants to see if the situation is pervasive, What do you think of this research suggestion? How if at all could you improve on your boss's formulation of the research question? Administering Surveys: As in all forms of data collection, it is vital to ensure that data obtained via surveys is associated with a minimal amount of bias. Bias can be reduced in survey research by ensuring that sample data is obtained randomly from the population. Assignment -2 PVR Subrahmanyam In addition, great case should be placed in how questions are asked of participants and in what setting. For example, in this case, in a local restaurant, if the owner of the restaurant approaches a group of customers and asks them how their dining experience was, it may be that the customers will not feel comfortable answering truthfully if indeed they are aware that they are being addressed by the owner. The timing of the surgery would also be integral for reducing bias. For example, any surveys should be conducted after a meal has taken place and been paid for. In this way, bias can be avoided as customers may not wish to give a negative review in a situation where they are still being brought food and beverages by an employee who may not appreciate potentially negative comments. Answer and Explanation: While it may be helpful to find out from other restaurants if they are experiencing the same challenge, obtaining unbiased information from your competitors may be difficult. I would suggest that instead of seeking information from other restaurants, I would seek information from my customer base. In doing so, you could ask individuals if they ordered beef and simply ask why or why not, depending on their response. If they were to have chosen to avoid beef because of an E coli reporting, you could inquire as to what reassurance they would need to order to feel comfortable ordering beef in the future. In this manner, the owner would be able to more accurately assess the needs of his customers and improve upon their dining experiences in the future. In addition, the decline in sales may have little to do with the news stories and the owner may discover an alternative source of the decline which could in turn be addressed.