Assignment: Business Research for Decision Making
PART I
You have been asked for assistance regarding the type of survey(s) that should be used in five research situations. Recommend whether a personal interview, telephone interview, self-administered questionnaire via mail, fax or internet, or some combination should be used in each situation, and provide reasons for your choices.
1. The Vice President of Student Affairs wants to conduct a survey of university students to ranktheir preferences for four candidates running for student government President.
2. A real estate developer would like to survey residents in a new housing subdivision to understand the reasons they selected his area in which to live.
3. The Chief Economist for a regional bank in Northern Georgia wants to understand the corporate financing needs of a sample of privately-held companies in his region.
4. Moneymagazine wants to survey the CFOs of Fortune 500 companies to understand their forecasts for their sector of the U.S. economy.
5. You are considering making a career change and want to explore job opportunities with companies in the beverage industry in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Toronto.
PART II
Below are five questions that might be found on questionnaires. Comment on each as to whether it is a "Good" question or not. If it is not, provide specific suggestions on how to improve/reword the question. Also indicate what type of responses you would request (yes/no, multiple choice, ranking, rating, open-ended, etc.)
1. Do you read the Wall Street Journal, Business Weekor Forbesmagazine regularly?
2. On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your satisfaction level with your organization's policies on compensation, promotion, vacation, and health care coverage?
3. Why did you decide to attend AIU?
4. What percentage of your work week is spent handling email correspondence
(1) within and outside your department, and (2) inside and outside the company?
5. What is your annual household discretionary income, has this income changed during the last three years, and what were the principal causes of these changes?