Q.1 (a) Explain the general characteristics of observation. Answer. 'Observation' has been derived from the Greek words 'ob' and 'servare'. The above two words stand for the meanings 'to keep' and 'before the mind' respectively. The knowledge derived by placing something before the mind leads to observational knowledge. Usually the perceptual knowledge is considered as the observational knowledge. But in respect of the inductive reasoning 'observation' has been defined as regulated perception with a definite purpose. Three factors are involved in the case of an observation. There must be some object to be observed; the sense organs to observe the object and; the mind to become aware of it. Characteristics of observation: 1. Observation is the case of regulated perception of events . Observations are made by help of sense organs. So it is basically perceptual. Perception may be either external or internal. Perception of natural events or occurrences is external perception. To know something directly by introspection without using the sense organs is called internal perception. Feeling of sorrow, joy, happiness etc. is internal perception. 2. Observation should be systematic and selective. Observation excludes the cases of careless and 521023181/MB 0050
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Q.1 (a) Explain the general characteristics of observation.
Answer.
'Observation' has been derived from the Greek words 'ob' and 'servare'. The above
two words stand for the meanings 'to keep' and 'before the mind' respectively. The
knowledge derived by placing something before the mind leads to observational
knowledge. Usually the perceptual knowledge is considered as the observational
knowledge. But in respect of the inductive reasoning 'observation' has been
defined as regulated perception with a definite purpose.
Three factors are involved in the case of an observation.
There must be some object to be observed;
the sense organs to observe the object and;
the mind to become aware of it.
Characteristics of observation:
1. Observation is the case of regulated perception of events. Observations
are made by help of sense organs. So it is basically perceptual. Perception
may be either external or internal. Perception of natural events or
occurrences is external perception. To know something directly by
introspection without using the sense organs is called internal perception.
Feeling of sorrow, joy, happiness etc. is internal perception.
2. Observation should be systematic and selective. Observation excludes the
cases of careless and stray perceptions. When the purpose of observation is
decided we select those instances, which have got relevance with the
purpose. Suppose we want to observe the colour of the crows. Then out of
the different types of birds we select only crows to observe. Hence
perception should not be careless or a casual one. The aim of perceptions
is to establish some generalized truths. A general truth cannot be derived
from stray or casual perception. The perception should be systematic and
selective.
3. Observation should be impartial and free from any bias. It means that the
observation should be strictly objective. Sometimes in order to establish a
definite conclusion we overlook certain instances, which are not
favourable to the conclusion. For example, when a sales representative
demonstrates the utilities of a particular product he only shows us some of
the suitable utilities of it. He overlooks those instances, which are not
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favourable for the purpose of demonstration. This is an example of biased
observation. Such types of biased observation should be avoided.
4. Observations should be objective and be neutral. If the neutrality is not
maintained it may lead to fallacious observations. For example, while
evaluating the answer scripts if the examiner thinks that he is evaluating
the scripts of brilliant students then the mistakes present in the answer
script may be overlooked. A prejudiced mind cannot make observation
neutral. If a person is biased, then his observation will not be true or
objective.
5. Observation is the active process of knowing the truth. Knowledge
through observation is always active. The involvement of sense organs
makes it active. Of course, the experiments are more active as compared to
observations. But observations are not passive.
6. Observations should be simple and direct observations help in knowing
the uncontroversial truths. Since the aim of observation is to obtain right
knowledge and to establish the material truth of a general proposition it
should be simple and direct.
Q.1 (b). What is the utility of observation in business research?
Answer.
In business research, observation is a systematic process of recording behavioral
patterns of people, objects, and occurrences as they happen. No questioning or
communicating with people is needed. Researchers who use observation as a
method of data collection either witness and record information while watching
events take place or take advantage of some tracking system such as check-out
scanners or Internet activity records. These tracking systems can observe and
provide data such as whether or not a specific consumer purchased more products
on discount or at regular price or how long an employee takes to complete a
specific task.
Observation becomes a tool for scientific inquiry when it meets several
conditions:
• The observation serves a formulated research purpose.
• The observation is planned systematically.
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• The observation is recorded systematically and related to general
propositions, rather than
simply reflecting a set of interesting curiosities.
• The observation is subjected to checks or controls on validity and
reliability.
Utility of observation in business research
Observation is suitable for a variety of research purposes. It may be used for
studying for the following:
i. The behaviour of human beings in purchasing goods and services.: life
style, customs, and manner, interpersonal relations, group dynamics,
crowd behaviour, leadership styles, managerial style, other behaviours and
actions;
ii. The behaviour of other living creatures like birds, animals etc;
iii. Physical characteristics of inanimate things like stores, factories,
residences etc;
iv. Flow of traffic and parking problems
v. movement of materials and products through a plant.
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Q.2. a. Briefly explain Interviewing techniques in Business Research?
Answer:
An interview is a conversation between two people (the interviewer and the
interviewee) where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information
from the interviewee.
The qualitative research interview seeks to describe and the meanings of central
themes in the life world of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is to
understand the meaning of what the interviewees say. (Kvale,1996)
The interview process consists of the following stages:
Preparation
Introduction
Developing rapport
Carrying the interview forward
Recording the interview
Closing the interview
Preparation
The interviewing requires some preplanning and preparation. The interviewer
should keep the copies of interview schedule/guide (as the case may be) ready to
use. He should have the list of names and addresses of respondents, he should
regroup them into contiguous groups in terms of location in order to save time and
cost in travelling. He should think about how he should approach a respondent,
what mode of introduction he could adopt, what situations he may have to face
and how he could deal with them. The interviewer may come across such
situations as respondents; avoidance, reluctance, suspicion, diffidence, inadequate
responses, distortion, etc. The investigator should plan the strategies for dealing
with them. If such preplanning is not done, he will be caught unaware and fail to
deal appropriately when he actually faces any such situation. It is possible to plan
in advance and keep the plan and mind flexible and expectant of new
development.
Introduction
The investigator is a stranger to the respondents. Therefore, he should be properly
introduced to each of the respondents. What is the proper mode of introduction?
There is no one appropriate universal mode of introduction. Mode varies
according to the type of respondents. When making a study of an organization or
institution, the head of the organization should be approached first and his
cooperation secured before contacting the sample inmates/employees. When
studying a community or a cultural group, it is essential to approach the leader
first and to enlist cooperation. For a survey or urban households, the research
organization’s letter of introduction and the interviewer’s identity card can be
shown. For interviewing rural respondents, the interviewer should never attempt
to approach them along with someone from the revenue department, for they
would immediately hide themselves, presuming that they are being contacted for
collection of land revenue or subscription to some government bond. He should
not also approach them through a local political leader, because persons who do
not belong to his party will not cooperate with the interviewer. It is rather
desirable to approach the rural respondents through the local teacher or social
worker.
Developing Rapport
Before starting the research interview, the interviewer should establish a friendly
relationship with the respondent. Start the conversation with a general topic of
interest such as weather, current news, sports event, or the like perceiving the
probable of the respondent from his context. Such initial conversation may create
a friendly atmosphere and a warm interpersonal relationship and mutual
understanding. However, the interviewer should “guard against the over rapport”
as cautioned by Herbert Hyman. Too much identification and too much courtesy
result in tailoring replied to the image of a “nice interviewer.”
Carrying the Interview Forward
After establishing rapport, the technical task of asking questions from the
interview schedule starts. This task requires care, self-restraint, alertness and
ability to listen with understanding, respect and curiosity. In carrying on this task
of gathering information from the respondent by putting questions to him, the
following guidelines may be followed:
Start the interview. Carry it on in an informal and natural conversational style.
Ask all the applicable questions in the same order as they appear on the schedule without any elucidation and change in the wording.
If interview guide is used, the interviewer may tailor his questions to each respondent, covering of course, the areas to be investigated.
Know the objectives of each question so as to make sure that the answers adequately satisfy the question objectives.
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If a question is not understood, repeat it slowly with proper emphasis and appropriate explanation, when necessary.
Talk all answers naturally, never showing disapproval or surprise. Listen quietly with patience and humility. Give not only undivided
attention, but also personal warmth. At the same time, be alert and analytic to incomplete, non specific and inconsistent answers.
Neither argue nor dispute. Show genuine concern and interest in the ideas expressed by the respondent;
at the same time, maintain an impartial and objective attitude. Should not reveal your own opinion or reaction. Even when you are asked
of your views, laugh off the request, saying “Well, your opinions are more important than mine.”
At times the interview “runs dry” and needs re-stimulation. Then use such expressions as “Uh-huh” or “That interesting” or “I see” “can you tell me more about that?” and the like.
When the interviewee fails to supply his reactions to related past experiences, represent the stimulus situation, introducing appropriate questions which will aid in revealing the past. “Under what circumstances did such and such a phenomenon occur?” or “How did you feel about it and the like.
At times, the conversation may go off the track. Be alert to discover drifting, steer the conversation back to the track by some such remark as, “you know, I was very much interested in what you said a moment ago. Could you tell me more about it?”
When the conversation turns to some intimate subjects, and particularly when it deals with crises in the life of the individual, emotional blockage may occur. Then drop the subject for the time being and pursue another line of conversation for a while so that a less direct approach to the subject can be made later.
When there is a pause in the flow of information, do not hurry the interview. Take it as a matter of course with an interested look or a sympathetic half-smile. If the silence is too prolonged, introduce a stimulus saying “You mentioned that… What happened then?”
Additional Sittings
In the case of qualitative interviews involving longer duration, one single sitting
will not do, as it would cause interview weariness. Hence, it is desirable to have
two or more sittings with the consent of the respondent.
Recording the Interview
It is essential to record responses as they take place. If the note taking is done after
the interview, a good deal of relevant information may be lost. Nothing should be
made in the schedule under respective question. It should be complete and
verbatim. The responses should not be summarized or paraphrased. How can
complete recording be made without interrupting the free flow of conversation?
Electronic transcription through devices like tape recorder can achieve this. It has
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obvious advantages over note-taking during the interview. But it also has certain
disadvantages. Some respondents may object to or fear “going on record”.
Consequently the risk of lower response rate will rise especially for sensitive
topics.
The interviewer should also record all his probes and other comments on the
schedule, in brackets to set them off from responses. With the pre-coded
structured questions, the interviewer’s task is easy. He has to simply ring the
appropriate code or tick the appropriate box, as the case may be. He should not
make mistakes by carelessly ringing or ticketing a wrong item.
Closing the Interview
After the interview is over, take leave off the respondent thanking him with a
friendly smile. In the case of a qualitative interview of longer duration, select the
occasion for departure more carefully. Assembling the papers for putting them in
the folder at the time of asking the final question sets the stage for a final
handshake, a thank-you and a good-bye. If the respondent desires to know the
result of the survey, note down his name and address so that a summary of the
result could be posted to him when ready.
Editing
At the close of the interview, the interviewer must edit the schedule to check that
he has asked all the questions and recorded all the answers and that there is no
inconsistency between answers. Abbreviations in recording must be replaced by
full words. He must ensure that everything is legible. It is desirable to record a
brief sketch of his impressions of the interview and observational notes on the
respondent’s living environment, his attitude to the survey, difficulties, if any,
faced in securing his cooperation and the interviewer’s assessment of the validity
of the respondent’s answers.
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Q.2 (b) What are the problems encountered in Interview?
Answer:
In personal interviewing, the researcher must deal with two major problems,
inadequate response, non-response and interviewer’s bias.
Inadequate response
Kahn and Cannel distinguish five principal symptoms of inadequate response.
They are:
partial response, in which the respondent gives a relevant but incomplete
answer
non-response, when the respondent remains silent or refuses to answer
the question
irrelevant response, in which the respondent’s answer is not relevant to
the question asked
inaccurate response, when the reply is biased or distorted and
verbalized response problem, which arises on account of respondent’s
failure to understand a question or lack of information necessary for
answering it.
Interviewer’s Bias
The interviewer is an important cause of response bias. He may resort to cheating
by ‘cooking up’ data without actually interviewing. The interviewers can
influence the responses by inappropriate suggestions, word emphasis, tone of
voice and question rephrasing. His own attitudes and expectations about what a
particular category of respondents may say or think may bias the data. Another
source of response of the interviewer’s characteristics (education, apparent social
status, etc) may also bias his answers. Another source of response bias arises from
interviewer’s perception of the situation, if he regards the assignment as
impossible or sees the results of the survey as possible threats to personal interests
or beliefs he is likely to introduce bias.
As interviewers are human beings, such biasing factors can never be overcome
completely, but their effects can be reduced by careful selection and training of
interviewers, proper motivation and supervision, standardization or interview
procedures (use of standard wording in survey questions, standard instructions on
probing procedure and so on) and standardization of interviewer behaviour. There
is need for more research on ways to minimize bias in the interview.
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Non-response
Non-response refers to failure to obtain responses from some sample respondents.
There are many sources of non-response; non-availability, refusal, incapacity and
inaccessibility.
Non-availability
Some respondents may not be available at home at the time of call. This depends
upon the nature of the respondent and the time of calls. For example, employed
persons may not be available during working hours. Farmers may not be available
at home during cultivation season. Selection of appropriate timing for calls could
solve this problem. Evenings and weekends may be favourable interviewing hours
for such respondents. If someone is available, then, line respondent’s hours of
availability can be ascertained and the next visit can be planned accordingly.
Refusal
Some persons may refuse to furnish information because they are ill-disposed, or
approached at the wrong hour and so on. Although, a hardcore of refusals
remains, another try or perhaps another approach may find some of them
cooperative. Incapacity or inability may refer to illness which prevents a response
during the entire survey period. This may also arise on account of language
barrier.
Inaccessibility
Some respondents may be inaccessible. Some may not be found due to migration
and other reasons. Non-responses reduce the effective sample size and its
representativeness.
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Q .3(a). What are the various steps in processing of data?
Data is an integral part of all business processes. It is the invisible backbone that
supports all the operations and activities within a business. Without access to
relevant data, businesses would get completely paralyzed. This is because quality
data helps formulate effective business strategies and fruitful business decisions.
Data processing refers to the process of converting data from one format to
another. It transforms plain data into valuable information and information into
data. Clients can supply data in a variety of forms, be it .xls sheets, audio devices,
or plain printed material. Data processing services take the raw data and process it
accordingly to produce sensible information. The various applications of data
processing can convert raw data into useful information that can be used further
for business processes.
Data processing in simplest way, we can draw like this; DATA --> Processing
on Data --> Converted to Information.
As we have seen above, data processing means a process of converting data into
information. This processing is done through computers which accept raw data as
input and provide information as output.
Steps in Data Processing
Here are the steps that are included in data processing:
1. Collecting
First step is to collect the raw data which you want to process. From which data
do you want information? This is first question before you start.
2. Sorting
Relevance of data is very important while processing the data. There are various
irrelevant data which decrease the perfection of the information. So from the
bunch of collected data, sorting is needed to get relevant output information. Data
must be in proper categorization.
3. Editing
There is a big difference between data and useful data. While there are huge
volumes of data available on the internet, useful data has to be extracted from the
huge volumes of the same. Extracting relevant data is one of the core procedures
of data processing. When data has been accumulated from various sources, it is
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edited in order to discard the inappropriate data and retain relevant data.
4. Coding
Even after the editing process, the available data is not in any specific order. To
make it more sensible and usable for further use, it needs to be aligned into a
particular system. The method of coding ensures just that and arranges data in a
comprehendible format. The process is also known as netting or bucketing.
5. Data Entry
After the data has been properly arranged and coded, it is entered into the software
that performs the eventual cross tabulation. Data entry professionals do the task
efficiently.
6. Validation
After the cleansing phase, comes the validation process. Data validation refers to
the process of thoroughly checking the collected data to ensure optimal quality
levels. All the accumulated data is double checked in order to ensure that it
contains no inconsistencies and is utterly relevant.
7. Tabulation
This is the final step in data processing. The final product i.e. the data is tabulated
and arranged in a systematic format so that it can be further analyzed.
Q. 3 (b) How is data editing is done at the Time of Recording of Data?
Answer:
Data editing is also a requisite before the analysis of data is carried out. This
ensures that the data is complete in all respect for subjecting them to further
analysis. Some of the usual check list questions that can be had by a researcher for
editing data sets before analysis would be:
Is the coding frame complete?
Is the documentary material sufficient for the methodological description
of the study?
Is the storage medium readable and reliable.
Has the correct data set been framed?
Is the number of cases correct?
Are there differences between questionnaire, coding frame and data?
Are there undefined and so-called “wild codes”?
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Comparison of the first counting of the data with the original documents
of the researcher.
The editing step checks for the completeness, accuracy and uniformity of the data
as created by the researcher.
Completeness: The first step of editing is to check whether there is an answer to
all the questions/variables set out in the data set. If there were any omission, the
researcher sometimes would be able to deduce the correct answer from other
related data on the same instrument. If this is possible, the data set has to rewritten
on the basis of the new information. For example, the approximate family income
can be inferred from other answers to probes such as occupation of family
members, sources of income, approximate spending and saving and borrowing
habits of family members’ etc. If the information is vital and has been found to be
incomplete, then the researcher can take the step of contacting the respondent
personally again and solicit the requisite data again. If none of these steps could
be resorted to the marking of the data as “missing” must be resorted to.
Accuracy: Apart from checking for omissions, the accuracy of each recorded
answer should be checked. A random check process can be applied to trace the
errors at this step. Consistency in response can also be checked at this step. The
cross verification to a few related responses would help in checking for
consistency in responses. The reliability of the data set would heavily depend on
this step of error correction. While clear inconsistencies should be rectified in the
data sets, fact responses should be dropped from the data sets.
Uniformity: In editing data sets, another keen lookout should be for any lack of
uniformity, in interpretation of questions and instructions by the data recorders.
For instance, the responses towards a specific feeling could have been queried
from a positive as well as a negative angle. While interpreting the answers, care
should be taken as a record the answer as a “positive question” response or as
“negative question” response in all uniformity checks for consistency in coding
throughout the questionnaire/interview schedule response/data set.
The final point in the editing of data set is to maintain a log of all corrections that
have been carried out at this stage. The documentation of these corrections helps
the researcher to retain the original data set.
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Q.4. a. What are the fundamental of frequency Distribution?
Answer:
When you collect behavioural measurements, data is initially unorganized
and raw. One of the many uses of statistics is to make sense out of the senseless
and randomness of data; that is, organize raw data. This chapter is still dealing
with raw data; we are not converting raw data into any type of statistic; we are
simply taking the raw data and consolidating it so that it is easier to understand.
Simple Frequency Distributions
The easiest method for organizing raw data is to create a frequency distribution.
In a frequency distribution each possible value in the range between the high
score and the low score in the data set is listed with its frequency of occurrence.
That is, each value in the data set is listed with the number of times it was
recorded across all of the subjects.
Creating a frequency distribution is easy, but some rules must be followed to
preserve clarity. First, list each value in the range of obtained scores from high to
low in one column by placing the highest value at the top of this column and
working your way down to the lowest score. It is important to not skip values that
were not obtained in your data.
Next, count the number of times each value occurs in the data set. The “counts” of
each value is the frequency of each value. List the frequency of each value in a
new column labeled “f” that should be positioned to the right of the X column. It
is good to list the total frequency (n), that is, the number of scores in the data set
at the bottom of this column. This is just to be sure that the individual frequencies
of each value add up to the total number of people measured. If not, go back and
check. Except for some more information that we’ll deal with in the next section,
that’s it! You’ve created a frequency distribution and organized a messy set of raw
data:
Relative Frequencies and Relative Percentages
There is a limitation to using only the frequencies of values to organize raw data. The
raw frequency of any value doesn't tell you anything about the rest of the distribution, or
how frequent a value is with respect to the rest of the distribution. That is, the raw
frequency of a value does not tell you anything about the impact that a value has on the
rest of the distribution.
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We need a measurement that tells us of the “relative importance” or “impact” of each
value on the rest of the distribution. That is, the frequency of a value relative to the
distribution and to have this value be standardized, such that higher values on this
relative measure always indicate a higher frequency in the distribution and lower values
indicate a lesser frequency. The relative frequency of a value is calculated by dividing
the frequency of a value by the total frequency (n) and then listing that resulting value in