Preparing to Conduct Business Research
Team B
Brandie Andrews, Dayra Wright, Dustin Cornell, Kasey Otto, Lecia Kilpatrick, Mercedes London
RES/351
September 22, 2012
Dr. Deborah Bacon

Wal-Mart is one of America’s largest bargain stores. They are well known for their low prices that has set them apart from their competition for over 50 years. Historically, they have faced sagging growth that has pushed them to find ways to distinguish themselves from their competition. Price, depending on the economy, is a concern that can be quickly forgotten for American consumers. However, regardless of the economic climate, many consumers are willing to pay more for appearance, less overcrowded aisles, and shorter lines. To understand the causes of sagging growth, loss of market share to be able to combat it. It is important develop strong research questions and hypotheses. It is also critical to understand variables, ethical considerations, thoroughly understand the significance, scope, and feasibility of developing good business research. Asking strategic questions will help Wal-Mart develop the questions that they need to overcome market challenges. Products are changing and upgrading every day to the newest items to older ones with new features. What Wal-Mart needs to do is keep a consistent watch of the new products coming out in the grocery and retail segments so that they can provide their existing and new customers what they want. Will discounts and package deals online help grow the profit margin? Every day millions of customers use the Internet to shop for their daily needs, the question is do we offer the same products in the store for a lower price? Researching the items most looked at will help enhance the availability and willingness for customers to keep returning to our company for their needs.

The variables that should be considered for declining sales within the Wal-Mart Corporation will begin with independent and dependent variables. "In each relationship, there is at least one independent variable (IV) and one dependent variable (DV). It is normally hypothesized that, in some way, the IV “causes” the DV", (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). The current economy and the price of fuel (IV) have an impact on the declining sales (DV).
An intervening variable that will be important is the effect of newer, updated merchandise and the overall appearance of the stores, will have on the consumer. The updated stores should attract more consumers by offering more of what they want.

"For the past six months, they have dropped the ball. The fact is that Wal-Mart has failed to execute as well as they have always done" ("Wal-Mart Struggles with Deeper Problems", 2012). I believe when someone speaks about Wal-Mart in this form it is time they step up. Wal-Mart is currently offering the price match. This is for the customers that shop elsewhere, when I and if they find a product priced lower they are supposed to give the customer the cheapest price. This is a start to ethical considerations. The company needs to take head to who they are hiring. Calling their previous bosses to see how their customer service skills brought production. This will bring better insight on who they should hire. There is certainly significance in the ability to research these questions and hypotheses. Wal-Mart’s annual revenue for 2011 was just shy of $419,000,000.00 ("Wal-Mart 2011 Annual Report,” 2012). The significance of maintaining their existing market share represents either the gain or loss of tens of billions of dollars annually. The scope of performing a good productive business research for such a large organization should strategically develop and apply. The ability to best its competition is something that has evolved Wal-Mart into the industry behemoth that it is today. Whether it is pioneering technology or strategically acquiring property that will provide Wal-mart with market share in its core demographic, growth is something, certainly feasible.

In conclusion, developing strong research questions will help Wal-Mart efficiently identify a path to recovering lost growth in any fiscal year. Additionally, developing strong hypotheses will help Wal-Mart focus their research from the beginning of their effort. Variables will always add an element of unreliability in business research, to address adequately and quantify the effects of those variables will reinforce the accuracy of the gathered data. Ethical research is always important. This is not just on account of public relations, but unethical business research will also skew data and therefore be unreliable. The significance of identifying reasons Wal-Mart may lose market share, and consequently answers to their recovery, are paramount to their continued success.

Most Appropriate Research

Among the research designs that are used to gather sound data, those will lead to overcoming the challenges of sagging growth, a descriptive design would be the most appropriate. One definition of descriptive research is “Descriptive research is designed to describe the characteristics or behaviors of a particular population in a systematic and accurate fashion” ("Pearson Education INC,"2010). Where an exploratory research design could be helpful to Wal-Mart, based on input from critics in the market place, hypotheses, and research questions have been roughly outlined already. Wal-Mart will begin to gather data relatively easy to filter and refine ("Pearson Education INC,” 2010). Exploratory research is used to uncover problems on Wal-Marts radar. However, exploratory research is used when the source of the problems and organization is not clear. A description of exploratory research design is “An exploratory design is conducted about a research problem when there are few or no earlier studies to refer to. The focus is on gaining insights and familiarity for later investigation or undertaken when problems are in a preliminary stage of investigation” ("USC libraries," 2012). The problem of sagging growth is not a new problem for the industry giant. Wal-Mart has years of historical data that will help them determine the right questions to ask and therefore identified their solutions sooner than exploratory research design would offer.
Choosing Data Collection Instruments and Survey’s

We will need to use different instruments for data collection to get answers we need. The first process should be to conduct focus groups with employees. These are the people who work with our customer’s every day. They should have some insight to what our customers want and what we can do to increase customer loyalty. Because employees are a major part of our operations, their input from open-ended questions will have some valuable data.

We would need to survey customers about their experiences and expectations. We will use the Likert Scale for questions; this is the most common type of survey and will be more comfortable for the consumer, which we hope will lead to a better response. Surveys are conducted through the mail and through e-mail, if customers choose to share their email addresses. The questions are customizing to fit the region of the customers. These surveys will need to focus on the demographics of the customer, quality of merchandise, variety, and general shopping experiences.

Developing New or Existing Instruments

Using an existing instrument like the Likert Scale would be the best to continue to use because of the familiarity and common use that a company, employees, and customers can relate to. This instrument can change as a company needs it to be for the type of information they are looking for. With the goal set to have more available merchandise and a wider variety available using the likert scale provides results that Wal-Mart needs to show what customers need and want. Surveys in general can range from many different kinds and using one that is understandable and can give easy to read results can help have a quicker turn around as to what the employees and customers want to have available.

The Likert scale use a basis of choices from one to five or strongly agree to strongly disagree, what this will provide is a minimum amount of choices which is more generally liked compared to scales that provide too many choices. New instruments provide that new look and provides curiosity, but when there are no normal looking portions, this can turn a person away from providing valuable information due to the lack of understanding.

Sampling Method

The sampling method that would best fit Wal-Mart’s situation is the quota method. Despite experiencing the world’s largest retailer chain, Wal-Mart has seen recent drops in sales and production. Long waiting times at cash registers, low budget apparel, and unethical workplace practice are reasons for the drop in sales. The quota method is best for this research because Wal-Mart wants to improve their representativeness. According to the text, “the logic behind quota sampling is that certain relevant characteristics describe the dimensions of the population. If a sample has the same distribution on these characteristics, then it is likely to be representative of the population regarding other variables on which we have no control,” (Cooper, Schindler, 2011). In other words, the “variables” or reasons Wal-Mart’s sales are dropping represent who they are, whereas some of the reasons are not controlled. The long lines at Wal-Mart are problems that are under control by hiring more employees to work the front. Maybe Wal-Mart can sell designer clothing at a cheaper price than the competitor and make an agreement with the designer. For the long line problem, Wal-Mart could determine the ration between the employees in the back and front which could provide more open registers.

Sampling Frame

When dealing with sampling frames they have to think about the population. We are simply dealing with the entire population of people who shop at Wal-Mart. We would have to lay out a sample of the population closest to Wal-Mart and discover exactly how many of them are doing the majority of their shopping there. We could also use this for employees. We could compare the addresses to see if the employees are from around the neighborhood or not.

Sampling Size

Stratified sampling would be a superior size to use for this company. We are trying to find a more accurate and efficient way to help build customer relations. This form of sampling (1) increases a sample statistical efficiency, (2) provides adequate data for analyzing the various subpopulations or strata, (3) it also enables different research methods and procedure to be used in different strata (Cooper, Schindler, 2011).

Determining the Sample Size

Sampling is to lower cost, speed of data collection, and accuracy of results and availability of population elements. To determine how to sample the size of a company’s consumer population, there should be consideration of several factors. Cost is one factor that influences the decision about the size and type of sampling and also the data collection methods used. Large samples ensure statistical significance between both groups. Also keep in mind that if a sample is too large it could potentially waste much time, money, and resources. If samples are too small, it would lead to inaccurate results and could also reduce the power of a study.

Wal-Mart should target their customers in a straightforward, honest manner so they can collect accurate and valid information to provide the service and well maintained stores that the customers are finding at Wal-Mart’s competitors.

Choosing Statistical Test

We will need to use triangulation, combining both quantitative and qualitative, to find the answers we are looking for. To answer the question of how much sales have fallen we will use quantitative data, this will give us the ability to adjust buying and employment decisions. The qualitative statistics can let us know what our customers want, and we can devise a strategy attract our customers by offering more of what they want.

To correct the falling sales it will be important to gather quantitative information about what products are not selling. Quantitative data will also let us know if there are decisions made to reduce costs.

We will need to use qualitative research to discover more about our customers and why they are changing their spending habits. Getting data on what the consumer thinks about the merchandise we stock can give us the opportunity to update our offerings and stock more of what the public wants. If we discover the economy is a factor we may consider a temporary program to benefit the community and our consumers.

By using both, quantitative and qualitative statistics we can get a better idea of what is causing sales to fall. It is imperative to gather the data as quickly as possible to make the corrections we need. Using the quantitative information will answer the questions of how much our sales have fallen, and look for possible ways to help correct the sales volume.

Displaying the Results

The results of the descriptive research design are displayed in manners that easy to read and develop solutions. A Pareto diagram has multiple benefits for an executive interpreting the data that good research has produced. One such benefit of a Pareto Diagram is that it is helps identify what issues have the most impact to their customers. The “80/20” rule, as emphasized in a Pareto diagram, suggests that a vital few defects account for most problems and that eliminating 20% of the causes of unacceptable quality or performance will produce 80% improvement overall (Cooper, Schindler, 2011). The goal of Wal-Mart is to produce 100% improvement, displaying data that will give Wal-Mart the most impact in the shortest amount of time. Efficiency is crucial when implementing changes thousands of retail establishments. Any organization will measure their effort by ROI (Return On Investment). One change spread across such a large organization will cost.

The Pereto diagram is a bar chart whose percentages sum to 100% (Cooper, Schindler, 2011). The data produced will organize into categories of decreasing importance. The percentages assigned to these categories will represent the answers that were given. However, there is a finite amount of value that can be assigned to each category, identifying the answers that will provide the most impact is important and should be clearly identifiable on the diagram. This method of display will offer the reader data this easily interpretable. There are other methods of display used. However, the goal of research is to understand the problem so an appropriate course of action is taken. The course of action that the Pereto diagram will suggest will be the highest concern of the consumer and therefore Wal-Mart can limit any further sagging growth.

Reference page

Cooper, D., Schindler, P. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Wal-Mart 2011 Annual Report. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.walmartstores.com/sites/annualreport/2011/financials.aspx

Wal-Mart Struggles with Deeper Problems. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7901047/ns/business-us_business/t/wal-mart-struggles-deeper-problems/#.UEz3W9ZlQmw/

USC libraries. (2012). Retrieved from http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=818072
Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Pearson education inc. (2010). Retrieved from http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_leary_resmethod_4/11/2989 /765402.cw/index.html