National Product - Quantitative Methods - Past Exam, Exams of Quantitative Techniques

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ARHOLIADAU EXAMINATIONS

Ionawr 2011 January 2011

MMM7010 RESEARCH SKILLS FOR MANAGERS

Time Allowed: TWO Hours

Answer any ONE question from Part A and any TWO questions from PART B

Candidates are permitted to use only the Casio FX83ES or FX85ES calculator which must be made available on request for inspection by the invigilators who are authorised to remove any other calculators.

Any necessary assumptions introduced in answering a question are to be stated.

TURN OVER

SECTION A

Question 1.

The following data show investment in the UK for the period 1973-2005. Investment expenditure is important to the economy because it is one of the primary determinants of growth. The variable studied here is total gross domestic fixed capital formation, measured in £m. These data were taken from Economic Trends Annual Supplement.

(a) Draw a time-series graph of investment. Comment upon the key features of the series. (15 marks)

(b) Draw time-series graphs of the change in investment. Comment upon the key features of the series. (25 marks)

TURN OVER

Year Investment Year Investment Year Investment 1973 15 227 1984 58 589 1995 118 031 1974 18 134 1985 64 400 1996 126 593 1975 21 856 1986 68 546 1997 133 620 1976 25 516 1987 78 996 1998 151 083 1977 28 201 1988 96 243 1999 156 344 1978 32 208 1989 111 324 2000 161 468 1979 38 211 1990 114 300 2001 165 472 1980 43 238 1991 105 179 2002 173 525 1981 43 331 1992 101 111 2003 178 751 1982 47 394 1993 101 153 2004 194 491 1983 51 490 1994 108 534 2005 205 843

Question 2.

(a) Critically comment upon the role of the correlation and regression in business research. (10 marks)

(b) The following data show Birth Rate and Gross National Product (GNP) per capita of 12 developing countries.

Country Birth rate GNP growth Brazil 30 5. Colombia 29 3. Costa Rica 30 3. India 35 1. Mexico 36 3. Peru 36 1. Philippines 34 2. Senegal 48 -0. South Korea 24 6. Sri Lanka 27 2. Taiwan 21 6. Thailand 30 4.

Rank the observations (country with the highest growth rate (rank =1), Country having the highest birth rate (rank=1)) and calculate rank correlation coefficient. (30 marks)

The formula for calculating the correlation coefficient between X and Y is:

TURN OVER

SECTION B

Question 3.

(a) Critically comment upon the role of the primary and secondary data in business research. (12 marks)

(b) What are the different methods of collecting primary and secondary data? Select any data collection method and explain its five advantages and disadvantages. (18 marks)

Question 4.

(a) What is business research? Explain basic steps of the business research process. (15 marks) (b) Define business ethics. What steps do you believe business researcher should take to ensure that research participants fulfill their ethical obligations in research process? (15 marks)

Question 5.

(a) Critically discuss the role of reviewing the literature and explain why it is important to the research process? (25 marks)

(b) What are the major sources of business literature? (5 marks)

Question 6.

(a) Critically discuss the difference between closed and open end questions? Give an example of each. (10 marks)

(c) Briefly evaluate the importance of structured and unstructured interviewing. (10 marks)

(c) Critically discuss the role of focus group interview and explain when this method is preferred. (10 marks)

END OF PAPER