Research Design
True/False Questions
1. A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the business research
project.
(True,
2. Specifying the measurement and scaling procedures is one of the components
involved in research design.
(True,
3. Conclusive research is typically more formal and structured than exploratory
research.
(True,
4. Identifying alternative courses of action and establishing priorities for further research
are purposes for which exploratory research is used.
(True,
5. One reason to conduct descriptive research is to determine the degree to which
business variables are associated. For example, to what extent is shopping at
department stores related to eating out?
(True,
6. A descriptive design requires a clear specification of the who, what, when, where,
why, and way (the six Ws) of the research.
(True,
7. Cross-sectional designs involve the collection of information from any given sample
of population elements only once.
(True,
8. Cohort analysis is a type of multiple cross-sectional design that consists of a series of
surveys conducted at appropriate time intervals, where the cohort serves as the basic
unit of analysis.
(True,
9. A longitudinal design differs from a cross-sectional design in that the sample or
samples remain the same over time.
(True,
10. A major advantage of longitudinal design over the cross-sectional design is the ability
to detect change as a result of repeated measurement of the same variables on the
same sample.
(True,
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11. Business managers continually make decisions based on assumed causal
relationships. Because these assumptions may not be justifiable, the validity of the
causal relationships should be examined via formal research.
(True,
Multiple Choice Questions
12. _____ is a framework or blueprint for conducting the business research project. It
specifies the details of the procedures necessary for obtaining the information needed
to structure and/or solve business research problems.
a. Research classification
b. Research design
c. Design formulation
d. None of the above
(b,
32. The primary objective of _____ is to provide insights into, and an understanding of,
the problem confronting the researcher.
a. exploratory research
b. conclusive research
c. causal research
d. descriptive research
(a,
33. Cross-sectional and longitudinal designs are types of _____
a. causal research
b. exploratory research
c. descriptive research
d. none of the above
(c,
34. Which of the objectives below would best represent conclusive research?
a. describe market characteristics or functions
b. determine cause and effect relationships
c. provide insights and understanding
d. test specific hypotheses and examine relationships
(d,
35. Which of the following statements is not true about exploratory research?
a. It is flexible.
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b. It is a pre-planned and structured design.
c. It is versatile.
d. It is often the front end of total research design.
(b,
36. _____ is a type of conclusive research that has as its major objective the description
of something—usually market characteristics or functions.
a. Exploratory research
b. Conclusive research
c. Causal research
d. Descriptive research
(d,
37. A formal research design specifies the methods for selecting the sources of
information and for collecting data from those sources. A _____ design requires a
clear specification of the who, what, when, where, why, and way (the six Ws) of the
research.
a. descriptive
b. causal
c. exploratory
d. none of the above
(a,
38. _____ designs involve the collection of information from any given sample of
population elements only once.
a. Exploratory
b. Causal
c. Cross-sectional
d. None of the above
(c,
39. _____ is the most used descriptive design in business research.
a. Longitudinal design
b. Exploratory design
c. Cross-sectional design
d. none of the above
(c,
40. _____ is a cross-sectional design in which there are two or more samples of
respondents and information is obtained from each sample only once.
a. Multiple cross-sectional design
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b. Single cross-sectional design
c. Cohort analysis
d. None of the above
(a,
41. Which of the following statements is true about cohort analysis?
a. A cohort is a group of respondents who experience the same event within the
same time interval.
b. It is unlikely that any of the individuals studied at time one will also be in the
sample at time two.
c. The term cohort analysis refers to any study in which there are measures of some
characteristics of one or more cohorts at two or more points in time.
d. All are correct.
(d,
42. The question, “How did the American people rate the performance of George W.
Bush immediately after the war in Afghanistan?” would be addressed using a _____.
However, a _____ would be used to address the question, “How did the American
people change their view of Bush’s performance during the war in Afghanistan?”
a. longitudinal design; multiple cross-sectional
b. cross-sectional design; longitudinal design
c. longitudinal; cross-sectional design
d. none of the above
(b,
43. _____ refers to a sample of respondents who have agreed to provide information at
specified intervals over an extended period.
a. experiment
b. survey
c. panel
d. none of the above
(c,
44. All of the following are advantages of longitudinal designs over cross-sectional
designs (Table 3.4) except:
a. detecting change
b. accuracy
c. large amount of data collection
d. representative sampling
(d,
45. _____ are errors that can be attributed to sources other than sampling, and they can be
random or nonrandom.
a. Random sampling error
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b. Non-response error
c. Non-sampling error
d. Response error
(c,
46. _____ is a type of non-sampling error that occurs when some of the respondents
included in the sample do not respond. This error may be defined as the variation
between the true mean value of the variable in the original sample and the true mean
value in the net sample.
a. Random sampling error
b. Non-response error
c. Non-sampling error
d. Response error
(b,
47. Error that arises from the respondent’s unwillingness to provide accurate information
is _____. Respondents may intentionally misreport their answers because of a desire
to provide socially acceptable answers, avoid embarrassment, or please the
interviewer.
a. questioning error
b. unwillingness error
c. sampling frame error
d. recording error
(b,
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