Case 1

Attiring Situation

RESERV is a national level placement firm specialising in putting retailers and service providers together with potential employees who fill positions at all levels of the organisation. This includes entry-level positions and senior management positions. One international speciality clothing store chain has approached them with issues involving key characteristics of retail employees. The two key characteristics of primary interest involve the appearance of potential employees and problems with customer integrity.

Over the last five years, store management has adopted a very flexible dress code that allowed employees some flexibility in the way they dressed for work. Casual attire was permitted with the idea that younger customers could better identify with store employees, most of whom are younger than average. However, senior management had just become aware of how some very successful companies tightly control the appearance of their sales force. The Walt Disney Company, for example, has strict grooming policies for all employees, provides uniforms (or costumes) for most cast members and does not permit any employee to work if they have a visible tattoo. Disney executives discuss many positive benefits from this policy, and one is that customers are more responsive to the employees. Thus, it just may be that the appearance of employees can influence the behaviour of customers. This influence can be from the greater identity that employees display - meaning they stand out better and may encourage acquiescence through friendliness.

Senior research associate, Michael Neil, decides to conduct an experiment to examine relevant research questions:

1 How does employee appearance affect customer purchasing behaviour?

2 How does employee appearance affect customer ethics?

Mr Neil decides the problem can best be attacked by conducting a laboratory experiment. In the experiment, two variables are manipulated in a between-subjects design. The experiment includes two experimental variables, which are controlled by the researcher, and subjects' gender, which was recorded and included as a blocking variable.

Questions

1 Develop at least three hypotheses that correspond to the research questions.

2 Test the hypotheses using an appropriate statistical approach.

3 Suppose the researcher is curious about how the feelings captured with the semantic differentials influence the dependent variables SPEND and KEEP. Conduct an analysis to explore this possibility. Are any problems present in testing this?

4 Is there a role for factor analysis in any of this analysis?

5 Critique the experiment from an internal and external validity viewpoint.

6 What conclusions would be justified by management regarding their employee appearance policy?

Case 2:

Music on Apple iPods

By Mark Box, Glenn Hack, Leigh Nairn and Adam Hogg - former marketing research students at Murdoch University

Questions

1 Evaluate the research objective and hypotheses.

2 Evaluate the research design in light of the stated research objective and hypotheses.

3 Do the measurements used and the method used to collect the information appear sound? Please elaborate.

4 Using the computerised database, obtain simple frequencies for the answers to each question (the answers to the open-ended questions are not included in the database).

5 Perform the appropriate analysis to address each of the hypotheses.

6 What recommendations would you make given the results found in Question 4?

Case 3

The effectiveness of the National Drug Campaign 2005

By Alex Brown, Eleanor Dix, Carla Gow, and Rebecca Poole, former market research students at Murdoch University

Questions

1 Evaluate the research design.

2 Using the attached data file examine the hypotheses. Is there sufficient evidence that the drug campaign was successful?

3 Were there any differences in drug-taking behaviour between men and women in the study? Provide evidence
by further analysis.

4 Given the results you found in Questions 2 and 3, what recommendations would you provide to the Australian Government regarding its anti-drug campaign?

Case 4

Body image in three countries

By Dr Steven Ward, Murdoch University

Questions

1 Evaluate the research design in light of the stated research objectives.

2 Do the measurement scales used appear to be valid and reliable?

3 Using the computerised database, obtain simple frequencies and/or descriptive statistics for the answers to each question by country.

4 Perform a regression analysis across each of the three countries to determine which factors predict perceptions
of body image.

Case 5

Values and the automobile market

By William G. Zikmund

Questions

1 Is the sampling method adequate? Is the attitude measuring scale sound? Explain.

2 Using the computerised database with a statistical software package, calculate the means of the three automotive groups for the values variables. Do any of the values variables show significant differences between American, Japanese and European car owners?

3 Are there any significant differences on importance of attributes?

4 Write a short statement interpreting the results of this research.

Advanced questions

5 Are any of the value scale items highly correlated?

6 Should multivariate analysis be used to understand the data?

Case 6

Let's talk about sex

By Arild Haugen, Edgar Madeira, Roar Albrigtsen and Lara Mikulasovych, former market research students at Murdoch University

Questions

1 Evaluate the research design and questionnaire. Is this an appropriate research technique to collect data on this sensitive issue?

2 Summarise the results of this survey. Are there any significant differences between men and women?

3 Go to the results of the Durex survey at www.durex.com/en-us/sexualwellbeingsurvey/fequency%20of%20 sex/pages/default.aspx and compare the results of this survey with that globally or regionally. Use appropriate univariate and bivariate tests of differences.

Attachment:- Assignment data.xls