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Week 2: Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Mr. Pierre Arbajian
Week 2
Frederick R. Paige III












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Chapter 5. Question 2.
Define the distinctions between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources in a
secondary search.
Primary sources are original works of research or data that has not been interpreted
by a secondary source. These sources are official reports and raw pieces of data. Primary
sources include memos; letters; complete interviews or speeches; laws; regulations; court
decisions or standards; and most government data. Secondary sources are interpretations
of primary data such as encyclopedias, textbooks, handbooks, and magazines. These
sources are mostly combined information from primary sources. Tertiary sources are
interpretations of secondary sources to include indexes, bibliographies and other aids.
Internet search engines fall into this category because the information gathered is from
secondary sources.
Chapter 5. Question 3.
What problems of secondary data quality must researchers face? How can they deal
with them?
Sometimes secondary data is sometimes the only research that a research can find
on certain topics and this can cause a problem. One problem is that the researcher must be
able to verify and determine the validity of the secondary data. This sometimes can be a
problem because of the secondary data might the only data readily available. A researcher
must be able to verify the accuracy of the information by finding a reliable primary source.
For instance, an original transcript, memos, letters or speeches are a good valid source. It
may not be easy to establish data from a primary source but effort must be made in order
to prove the credibility of the sources being used in any research.
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Chapter 7. Question 1.
How does qualitative research differ from quantitative research?
Quantitative research emphasizes on numbers or quantities and studies are results
that are based on numerical statistics and analysis. Quantitative research usually has more
people being studied or interviewed as participants and it can be ideal to have large
number of participants because this gives the analysis more statistical power. Also,
quantitative research measures the preciseness of something, its methodologies usually
measure consumer behavior, knowledge, opinions, or other attitudes. Qualitative research
studies are aimed towards differences in a quality, rather than the differences in the
quantity. Qualitative studies generally allow for smaller numbers of participants because
the research focuses more on the quality of a topic vice the statistical power. Also,
qualitative research focuses on what happened, why it happened or how often things
happen; these methodologies serve the purpose of qualitative research.
Chapter 7. Question 2.
How do data from qualitative research differ from data in quantitative research?
Data received from qualitative research differs from quantitative research in the
sense that qualitative data focuses on quality and the number of participants is generally
smaller. Quantitative research data is based on describing, explaining and predicting
certain focus areas therefore the data can be larger and more on a broader spectrum. The
research of quantitative focuses on controlling bias and building theories through
probability and having a larger number of participants is generally warranted. The
analysis during quantitative can be ongoing and since it is generally larger, computerized
analysis exists. More statistical and mathematical methods dominate the data. Qualitative
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research data is verbal or pictorial in its descriptions and its analysis is human then usually
followed by computer coding. The data of this kind of research focuses the researcher to
see the contextual framework of the phenomenon being measured between fact and
judgments less clear and is always ongoing.
Chapter 7. Question 5.
If I was a small kitchens electrics and I had to determine if an innovative design
could be successfully marketed in the U.S. I would choose the interview process. I would
choose this process because it is the most common method used amongst the qualitative
methodologies. I would personally have two types of interviews, group interview and
personal interview. Both have distinct advantages when it comes to data collection. The
individual interview focuses on the individual experiences and distinctions when it comes
to kitchen products. The group interview chooses participants whose backgrounds are
similar or dissimilar to generate conflicting or compatible data. The participants I would
choose would be females and males who cook or have cooking supplies/instruments in
their kitchens. The participants would have similar interests and ranges of interest in
kitchenware would be similar. The interview I would conduct would be semi-structured
with a few specific questions followed by more specific questions regarding detailed
information about kitchen products and the needs and wants of the interviewee.





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References
Cooper, D. R. & Schindler, P. S. (2011). Business research methods (11
th
ed.). New York:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.