RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

MID-TERM TEST
(Open Book)
Duration: 2 Hours 1. Fill in the blanks: (a) In a research design where two experimental groups are taken, and both the groups are subject to treatment, one group is subjected earlier and the other group later is known as ____________________________. (b) A question wherein the respondents are being asked two or more things simultaneously to respond. (c) A bias that is creeping into data collected due to the fact that some respondents did not provide responses is known as ____________________________________. (d) _____________ Validity is the degree to which the conclusions in ones study would hold good for other persons in other places and at other times. (e) A process of ascertaining that interviews were actually conducted as specified and whose basic purpose is to determine and detect whether the interviews were conducted properly and as per the instructions is called _______________________. [5] 2. State whether the following statements are true or false; (No need to give any reasons): (i) By increasing the sample size, one can minimize non-response bias. (ii) Simulation as an Experimental Research Design can be applied when it is too costly to perform experiment on a real system. (iii) Data obtained from Rank Order Scale can be used to calculate Mean Rank Score. (iv) Cornback Alpha is concerned about testing the internal validity of items in a Likert Scale. (v) There is no difference between the Constant Sum Scale and Q-Sort except that in a Constant Sum Scale one is given a particular number, say 100, to be distributed among a number of items and in a Q-Sort Scale, the respondent is given a number of cards, say100, to be distributed among a number of items. [5] 3. One of the issues while Editing and Feeding Data into a system (software) is to ensure that there is no inconsistency in the data. It means, for example, if somebody is working on MBA Students, then it is not possible to have an age
1

Marks: 60

of 12 years of any respondent. Then, as a researcher you must ensure that there should not be any inconsistency in the age of the respondents. Assume that in your questionnaire we have the following two questions; then suggest as researcher what should you do to ensure that ultimately, you ensure only consistent data:

(i) CGPA Score of PGPM students (ii) Rank order of the Preferences among the 5-Electives offered in the
fourth term after the Summer Training. [4] 4. (a) One of earlier NMP Groups of Research Methodology Project is doing a project titled as Health Insurance among Indians. This Group has designed a questionnaire and it has the following questions:

4) Annual Personal Income a) <= Rs 50000 b) Rs 50001 - 100000 c) Rs 100001 - 300000 d) Rs 300001 - 500000 e) Rs 500001 - 750000 f) Rs 750001 - 1000000 g) >1000000 5) Do you have any medical a) Yes (continue) If Yes 6) Details of your medical Insurance Premium paid by a) You b) Employer Premium amount -----------------------------------Coverage Amount -------------------------------insurance? b) No (If no Go to Question 16)

7) W have you taken medical insurance? hy a) Tax benefits b) Health Security c) Investment d) Fear 8) In buying insurance policy, your decision is influenced by? a) Family b) Friends & neighbors c) Professional & trade union groups d) Brand & advertisement 9) W hich one of the following factor motivated a) death b) disability c) diseases d) all you to secure or take insurance?

There are some errors in the above mentioned questions; you are required to identify any FOUR ERRORS. [4] (b) Comment whether in the following it is the issue of validity or of reliability and of which type: (i) One of the NMP Groups worked on Health Insurance among Indians and for this, the Group had adopted Survey Method as research design. One of the questions in their structures questionnaire is -

10) Rate the following factors important to you in opting medical insurance(1- for least important & 5 for most important) 1 2 3 4 5 a) Network coverage of hospital ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) b) Premium Amount ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) c) Coverage Amount ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) d) Coverage of diseases ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) e) Number of claims allowed per year ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
(ii) Ms. Sheena Goyal is doing a research project on Food Habits among Indian Children A study of School Going Children in NCR. One of the issues, she is addressing is Liking for vegetables. She is using how much a child eats of a vegetable on his/her plate is a measure of the child likes of the vegetable. [2+2=4]

5.

Provide an example/application where you think you can effectively use the following: (i) Leading question (ii) Double barreled question (iii) Likert Scale (iv) Two Group Test-Retest Design (v) Testing for Internal Reliability [10]

6.

Critically examine the following questionnaire. If you find something wrong in a question then suggest first, whats the wrong in that question and second, give a better way of framing the question: (Give only 5 wrongs) [10]

Declaration: W students of Arm Institute of M e y anagem & Technology, Greater NOIDA ent 201306(U.P) declare that the information obtained from this questionnaire will be utilized only for academ purpose and identity of respondent will not be revealed. ic Instructions: This questionnaire consists of three types of question. Please fill them as m entioned below. For questions having boxes in their options put a tick m inside the box. ark For questions having blanks, fill them with suitable answers For question s having scale please put a tick m at appropriate position. ark For exam ple: India is a great country ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Agree disagree General information Nam e Gender Age Education Qualifications Current Field of W ork No. of Dependents

Strongly

_____________________________ M ale Female _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________ _____________________________

PG level teachers have m options for m ore ultiple job -holding. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree Disagree Teachers hold more than one job than an y other professional. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree You work on

disagree

Weekdays

Weekends

Summer holidays

Never

always

M ultiple job -holding does not affect the primary job responsibility. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree

disagree

M ultiple job -holding helps in buil ding a network, meet new people outside of workplace. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree disagree
5

You work for m than one job ore Regularly Rarely Som etim es

Never

M ultiple job -holding, som etim becom stressful. es, e ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Strongly Agree disagree M oney is the m ajor m otivator for holdi ng m than one job. ore ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Strongly Agree You go for holding m than one job because of ore Financial reasons Non -financial reasons both l.

disagree

Holding m than one job polishes ones skill and m ore akes one a positive individua ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Strongly Agree M ultiple job -holding is beneficial for prim organization in long run. ary ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Agree disagree

disagree

Strongly

You take up a secondary job assignm of which of the follow category ent ing

Sponsored research work Assignm on contract basis ent All

Other (Please specify) ___________________________

A nother teaching assignm ent Corporate consultancy None

M ultiple job -ho lding acts as a cushion in case of job loss in the scenario of recession. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Strongly Agree disagree Individuals holding m than one job are m com ore ore petent. ________________________________________________________________ Strongly Agree Neutral D isagree Strongly Agree disagree Approx how m hrs do you work after any
If your teaching salary is increased significantly Yes

norm working hrs______________ al

, would you still choose to hold m ultiple jobs No

7.

Answer the following: (a) Give an example where the following scales can be used in order to obtain the desired responses from the respondents: (i) (ii) (iii) Stapel Scale Constant Sum Scale Semantic Differential Scale [6] (b) Assume that you have been awarded a contract of conducting a survey by a leading company manufacturing well known brand of air conditioners to test impact of brands on the buying behaviour of customers of air conditioners in the Northern India. For this, write down two important questions for the questionnaire of the survey. Also write another two questions that are similar but not identical so as to check the reliability of the responses. [4] (c) Mr. Ankur Chadha is a well-known sociologist in India. Presently, he is working on the Joint Family System in India. As a part of the project, he is conducting a survey and one question from the questionnaire is In the table below please put the age and sex of each of your brothers and sisters in the order in which they come in your family. Put yourself in the table too and indicate which person you are by an asterisk (*). Positio n AGE SEX
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th

Since the data collected is to be processed through computer, the necessary coding of it is to be done. Therefore, you are requested to suggest a suitable coding of the above question so that it can be processed comfortably and without any information loss. [6] (d) Truth of Social Sciences is always a subjective truth and hence, qualitative research is more suitable than quantitative research. Comment. [2]