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Business Research Methods

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Business Research Methods, Part I
Nikkei Crowder, Jessica Thompson, Delores Winton
QNT/561
Anthony Matias
August 13, 2012

Business Research Methods, Part I There are elements needed when conducting research, such as developing a theory and hypothesis, determining an appropriate research design, collecting data, providing analysis of the data, and revising the theory upon results. This paper will develop a research design behind the auto industry bailout and identify a sample design used for collecting data.
Organizational Dilemma What was the ultimate cause of the downfall of the auto industry resulting in a bailout? This research question arising from the dilemma in the auto industry is one that many American’s found him or herself asking after the government decided to bail them out of their financial crisis. In 2008, the auto industry found itself in a downward financial spiral. Gas prices reached over $4 a gallon and the credit debacle is only a couple of reasons for the dilemma the auto industry faced. The country was facing a recession and they blame up-and-coming technologies of distracting technologies to validate and continue the old routine and procedure to fill their pockets with money and bonuses to retain the status quo in the industry without any regard to others affected, even if this method compromises their long-term strategy. Roche (2009), “This qualifies as failed management syndrome because they consider themselves royalty and a class above the rest of us. They must go to make way for a new strategic management/leadership team. It is time to stop incompetence, manipulation, and the culture of greed” (Automobile Industry Dilemma).

Research Design To research the cause behind the auto industry downfall it is important to gear the research design around a causal-explanatory approach. “This approach explores the effect of one variable on another” (Market Research World, 2011). When developing a research design it is vital to determine the independent and dependent variables. For this particular research question, the dependent variable is the bailout and the independent variables are the various factors that could have played a role in causing the auto industry to fail financially. Once the hypothesis has been determined, and the variables have been identified, it is important to come up with different ways to measure the impact of each factor involved. By conducting statistical analysis one can then revise the theory behind what actually caused the auto industry to fail. While there may have been many factors that led to the bailout, by conducting research one should be able to pinpoint the main factors behind the failure.
Sample Design The auto industrial will present a sample questionnaire to prospective customers. The sampling will achieve success sales of autos. According to StatPac “Convenience sampling is used in exploratory research where the researcher is interested in getting an inexpensive approximation of the truth. As the name implies, the sample is selected because they are convenient” (2012, par 8). Auto sales need to resume and make a profit. The sampling will allow the companies to achieve results because of preliminary research efforts. This sampling method is going to achieve results without the expense of doing random sampling. The sampling will allow customers to decide what accessories are the most important in choosing to make a purchase. In today’s economy with gas prices achieving results of around $4 per gallon. The auto industrial wants to learn if fuel economy is more important to perspective buyers than speed. The convenience method achieves a non-probability method and is often the chosen method in preliminary research. This method will achieve success without the cost and time required when doing the random method by allowing customers to fill out a survey while they are visiting the sales floors of auto dealers (n.a., 2012).
Conclusion
Developing a strong research design helps companies better understand the relationship between various factors in their business. The auto industry needs to understand what components caused the financial failure and how to recover and prevent a failure similar to this from happening again. This can be done by developing a strong research plan that involves statistical analysis and various sampling techniques.

References
Market Research World. (2011). What is causal research. Retrieved from http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=799
McClave, J. T., Benson, P. G., & Sincich, T. (2011). Statistics for business and economics (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Roche, S. (2009). American Towns. Retrieved from http://www.americantowns.com/de/rehothbeach/news/automobile-industry-dilemma-163275
StatPac. (2012). Survey Sampling Methods. Retrieved from http://www.statpac.com/surveys/sampling.htm

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