SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (SIIB)

constituent of SYMBIOSIS INTERNATIONAL (DEEMED UNIVERSITY)

(Estd. Under section 3 of the UGC act 1956, notification no. F-9-12/2001(A)-U-3 of the Govt. of India)

Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ Grade

Course Name: Applied Market Research- II

Project name : To determine the attitudes of resident students towards the hostel
facilities offered to them at their hostel complex and their suggestions or improvement,
if any.

Programme: MBA-IB Batch: 2009-11

Fresh / Backlog: Fresh Season: April 2010.

Semester-II

Seat No. : 025421

Name of the Student : Isha Aggarwal

PRN: 09020241075

Div: B

Submitted to:

Prof. S.V. Godbole

Marks obtained:

Marks out of :

Signature of the examiner:

ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075

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Name:

 Managerial Brief :

 CLIENT : Chief warden of a hostel complex

 To study the attitudes of the resident students towards hostel facilities offered and their
suggestions for improvement, if any
 Apart from boarding facilities, the complex also has a outpatient clinic, canteen, gym,
swimming pool and facilities for indoor games like table tennis, badminton, chess etc.
 All the above mentioned facilities apart from the boarding facilities are paid facilities.
 Budget allotted for the entire project : Rs. 60,000
 Estimated time : 8 weeks

 Assumptions proposed for the research :

 Respondents under consideration are students residing in the Symbiosis Infotech
Campus, Hinjewadi, Pune.
 Students are enrolled in a compulsory residential MBA programme at Symbiosis
University and thereby for all practical purposes the hostels – A, B or C is their
permanent home.
 Hostel A, B and C are three hostels located on the Symbiosis Infotech Campus.
 Hostel A is a boys hotel while Hostel B and C are girls hostels.

 Reasons for assumptions :

 Respondents to be surveyed are proposed to be students on SIC campus as they best
qualify for the respondents. SIC at Hinjewadi attracts students from every part of the
country and also from students from different countries. Thus, conducting a survey at SIC
will give the manager deep insight and proper understanding of the attitudes of resident
students towards hostel facilities.

ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075

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 INDEX
Contents Page No.
1. Covering letter ………………………………………………. 4
2. Research proposal
2.1 Objectives ……………………………………………… 5
2.2 Operational Definitions ………………………….5-6
2.3 Data collection Design …………………………………. 6-7
2.4 Data collection Format ………………………………… 7
2.5 Data section ………………………………………….. 8-10
2.6 Sampling Design ……………………………………. 10- 11
2.7 Analystical Design …………………………………. 12 - 13
2.8 Fieldwork Design ………………………………….. 13 - 16
2.9 Activity chart ………………………………………… 17
2.10 Budgetray Requirement ……………………….. 18

ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075

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 1. Covering Letter

Dart Consultants Ltd.

18, Fergusson College Road, Pune – 411072, Maharashtra
Tel no : 020- 23451720

mail@dart.com www.dart.com
To , Date : April 10, 2010

Chief Warden
SIC Campus,
Hinjewadi,
Pune

Subject : Research proposal for determining the attitudes of resident students towards hostel
facilities offered to them at their hostel complex.
Sir,
With reference to the advertisement in Sakaal, Pune dated April 1, 2010 for conducting a
research on “ Determining the attitudes of the resident students towards hostel facilities offered
to them at their hostel complex in Pune city”, we are submitting a detailed research proposal for
the same.
Established in 2007,“Dart consultants” is a young market research firm doing great business in
the market. In a short span of time, our clients already include some of the big names in the
industry. We believe in utmost integrity and quality of work.
We had recently handled a project for the leading fashion store, Pantaloons, Pune. The research
was on the “Attitudes of residents of Pune towards branded garments and the factors influencing
their attitudes”. The research was completed in March 2010, surveying a sample size of 120
respondents in Pune city. The research was carried out by using Mall intercept survey technique.
The findings were indeed useful to the company in knowing their customers better and taking
decisions accordingly.
With our highly qualified and competitive team of researcher, we are thereby confident of
handling this project to the best of our abilities in the aim of giving you maximum value from
this research. Please feel free to contact us for any clarifications.

Yours truly,

Isha Aggarwal
(Manager – Dart Consultants Ltd.)

ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075

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 2. Research Proposal

2.1 Objectives:
I. To measure the attitudes of the students residing on Symbiosis Infotech Campus towards
the existing hostel facilities.
II. To obtain suggestions for improvement of existing facilities and suggest some new
facilities, if needed.

2.2 Operational Definitions :

 Attitude : It is the tendency or orientation of mind towards hostel facilities. For the
purpose of the research, attitude of respondents is based following attributes for each
facility :
i. Fee charged
ii. Hygiene
iii. Quality of service
iv. Ambience
v. Appropriate timings
vi. Quality of equipments used

 Student : An individual pursuing MBA- compulsory residential programme from a

college on SIC, Hinjewadi, Pune .
 Hostel Facilities : Apart from the basic facilities like electricity connection, driniking
water, weekly room cleaning provided in the hostel, 24-hour generator backup, security
guards at the hostel and campus gates which are included in the basic hostel fees,hostel
facilities also include the other paid facilities on the campus. These are :
- Outpatient clinic
- Canteen
- Gymnasium
- Laundry
- Swimming pool
- Table tennis
- Badminton
- Chess
- Carom
- Mess
- Grooming facilities- beauty parlour

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  It is proposed that the research and thus analysis be conducted on the paid facilities
offered to the students at the campus, as the students bother about the paid facilities
much more as compared to the basic facilities, which they take it given. Also, for basic
facilities like generators, electricity connection, students do not generally have much of
an opinion and have a casual attitude towards them. Thus, it is proposed there may not
be much of scope of suggestions from the students towards the basic facilities, thus the
research be conducted to determine the attitudes of students towards paid facilities.

 Suggestions : Feedback in the form of inputs towards improvising or adding hostel

facilities by the students.

II.3 Data collection Design

Data collection design to be used if proposal is granted is Personal In-Home

interviews.

This is considered to be the most appropriate method for data collection because of the
following reasons :
i. Flexibility of data collection : HIGH for personal in-home interviews. As a range
of questions need to be asked, thus the interviewer might have to be explain a few
of them in detail, especially in case of open ended questions.
ii. Sample control: HIGH for personal in-home interviews. For the purpose of
measuring the attitudes of respondents towards hostel facilities, it is important that
we get genuine responses of the respondents with minimum intervention and
participation from others.
iii. Diversity of questions : HIGH for personal in-home interviews. As a variety of
questions are to be asked from the respondents about their attitude towards a
number of hostel facilities, thus this is an important criteria.
iv. Quantity of data collected: HIGH : Questions have to be asked about the
respondents attitude towards each hostel facility, that involves whole lot of
questions to be asked, thus, Personal in-home interview was considered to be
appropriate.

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  Comparative analysis of the survey techniques:

CRITERIA TELEPHONE IN-HOME MALL E-MAIL

INTERVIEW INTERVIEW INTERCEPT INTERVIEW
FLEXIBILITY MODERATE HIGH HIGH LOW
OF DATA
COLLECTION
DIVERSITY LOW HIGH MODERATE LOW
OF
QUESTIONS
SAMPLE MODERATE HIGH MODERATE LOW
CONTROL
QUANTITY LOW HIGH MODERATE MODERATE
OF DATA

 For the purpose of this research, Sample control is considered to be the most
important criteria for data collection. This forms the basis of rejecting other data
collection formats like Mall intercept surveys, telephonic or mail surveys.

II.4 Data collection Format :

 Questionnaire : Semi- structured and non-disguised type of questionnaire

will be used to conduct surveys if the proposal is granted.
- Semi structured : The questionnaire will contain both open- ended and
close- ended questions.
- Non- disguised : The respondents will be aware of the purpose of data
collection and can more openly answer the questions asked.

 For the following reasons :

a. to avoid interviewer bias in determining attitudes of the respondents
b. for the ease of coding and processing of data.

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 II.5 Data section :

 Classificatory variables considered : following are the classificatory variables proposed:

I. Gender:
i. Male
ii. Female

II. Facilities offered:

i. Outpatient clinic
ii. Mess
iii. Canteen
iv. Gymnasium
v. Laundry
vi. Swimming pool
vii. Indoor games – table tennis, badminton, chess, carom
viii. Grooming facilities – beauty parlour

-Reasons for choosing these classificatory variables:

1. Gender : It has been proposed as a classificatory variable as the expectations

and thus the attitude of males and females is different towards different facilities.
2. Facilities offered: It has been proposed to be a classificatory variable as it is
important to study the attitude of respondents towards every facility differently as
the expectations of students from different facilities is different and needs to be
considered.
 There may be more added on the basis of secondary data, if the proposal is
granted.

 Sample questions :

 Multiple choice question :

Q. How often do you use the laundry in the campus?
i. Once a week iii. Ocassionally
ii. Twice a week iv. Never
(if the answer to the above problem is “ Never”, then the next question will be asked)

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 Q. Why don’t you use the facility?
i. Facility not required iii. High priced
ii. Poor facilities iv. Availability problem
v. Others…………………………………….
- This question will help to determine some of the attributes which are considered by the
respondent to form his attitude towards laundry.

 Questions using scales:

Q. How satisfied are you with the laundry services?
o Extremely satisfied
o Moderately satisfied
o Indifferent
o Moderately dissatisfied
o Extremely dissatisfied
( We use Likert scale to rate the satisfaction of the students using various facilities)

 Open ended question:

Q. Suggestions for improvement of existing facilities, if any.
i. Oupatient clinic
ii. Mess
iii. Canteen
iv. Gymnasium
v. Laundry
vi. Swimming pool
vii. Indoor games
viii. Beauty parlour

(This is kept as an open ended question so that students feel free to give their
suggestions)
- The question will involve Probing and Prompting. This is to ensure that the respondent
gives his suggestions for every facility considering the various attributes taken for the
purpose of the research.

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  Questions involving giving weights to attributes
Q. Give weights from 1-10 to the listed attributes for each facility according to the level of
their importance

Facilites clinic laundry canteen gym Swimming Indoor Beauty mess

pool games parlour
Attributes
Fee charged

Hygiene
Quality of
service
Ambience
Appropriate
timings
Quality of
Equipments
Used

- This question will help us find out the weightages given by respondents to different attributes of
different facilities and help us get an attitude of a respondent based on these attributes for each
facility.

2.6. Sampling Design

ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075
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 2.6.1. Sampling frame : All the students of SIC campus using one or more paid facility.
2.6.2. Sampling technique : Stratified proportionate sampling is the sampling technique
proposed for the research.
Strata variable : Gender
- Justification: The sampling frame has been provided to us by the manager ( the chief
warden) and thus we can now divide the entire sampling frame into stratas ( gender in
our case) and conduct probabilistic sampling in those stratas. Also, both the genders are
proposed to be equally important for the manager to take decisions, thus a proportionate
stratified sampling technique has been proposed.

2.6.3 Sample size :

- Sample size should be adequate and representative of the population.
 Time availability of respondents as per days

Weekdays Saturdays Sundays

(5:30 pm- 9:30pm) (3:30pm- 9:30pm) (10:00am – 2:pm)
(3:00pm- 9:00pm)
No. of hours 4 6 10
available
No. of interviews 3 4 7
conducted

 Break up of time for each day :

- Actual Interview time : 25 minutes
- Gossip time : 5 minutes
- Travelling time (both sides) : 1.5 hours ( on an average)
(on weekdays and Saturdays, the travelling time will not affect the time available to take
interviews as the investigator’s working hours are more than 4 or 6 hours that are available
for inyterview of the respondent, however on Sundays, as the working hours of the
interviewer is also 10hours, thus it will effect the number of interviews that can be
conducted)
- Waiting time : 15 mins ( on an average)
- Time between interviews : 20 minutes ( on an average)
ISHA AGGARWAL, SEAT NO. 025421, PRN NO. 09020241075
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 - Number of Weekdays in 20 day period : 14 ( on an average)
- Number of Saturdays in 20 day period : 3 ( on an average)
- Number of Sundays in 20 day period : 3 ( on an average)
- Thus, total no. of interviews : 75
Per interviewer in 20 day period
- Total no. of interviews during actual : 62
Fieldwork( excluding pre-testing)
- No. of investigators : 4 (calculated in the fieldwork design section)

Sample size = No. of investigators * no. of interviews per investigator in the 17 day period

Sample size proposed : 248

Non- response error, sampling error : 3%
( A low response error is expected as the survey is being conducted for the Chief warden
who would try and improvise the facilities as per the findings in the report. Thus, the
students are expected to actively participate in the survey)

Thus, total no. of successful interviews expected = 240

( The calculation of the sample size, in detail, is done in the fieldwork design section)

2.7 Analytical Design

Classificatory variables proposed are:
i. Gender
ii. Facilities offered

Analyses may be done to find if the attitude of males and females is different towards an
attribute of a facility. In this manner, the analysis thus obtained will help the manager ( the
chief warden) to take decisions regarding what improvements to be done in Men and
women hostels respectively and for which facility, which attribute is the most important.

 Sample profile table

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 Table 1: Sample Profile 1
n=240

Gender Male Female Total

Number of
     
Respondents
Percentage to Total      

 If for instance, we take Quality of equipments used as an attribute to measure the attitude
of males and females towards the facilities which involve using equipments.

Table 2 : Quality of equipments

n=240

Clinic laundry canteen gym Swimming Indoor Beauty mess

pool games parlour
Males
Females

 Z-test can be conducted for this attribute for each facility to find if the importance given to this
attribute varies with gender or it does not.
 The values in these blank spaces will be calculated by taking an average of the weights given by
all the male respondents and so with the female respondents. We then conduct a Z- test to find if
the two averages are significantly different.

 In a similar manner, we can construct analytical tables for each attribute proposed for each
facility. We will get the importance given by males and females to each attribute for each
facility, which will clearly suggest to the manager as to what improvements are required in
every facility.

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II.6 Fieldwork Design
 Assumptions :
i. The investigators are already available and there is no need to hire new investigators.
However, the exisiting investigators will be trained before conducting the survey.
ii. The defined working hours of respondents is 10 hours. In case, the fieldwork requires
him to work less than 10 hours, he may do so.
iii. The payment to supervisor, trainer and investigators are all on daily fixed amount
basis. Neither of them will be given anything extra as food or travelling allowance for
a particular day.
iv. The company pays for the training of the investigators. The trainer is paid his
travelling and lodging expenses at the place of traning.

 Organisation Chart :

Chief Researcher
(1)
Focus group
Chief Supervisor 1
moderator (2)

Recorder (2)

Data entry Master Trainer (1) Investigators

operator(1) coder(1) (4)

 Researcher is responsible for the entire project.

 Supervisor co-ordinates with activities of all the departments and reports directly to the
researcher while the focus group moderators undertake the entire responsibility of the
Focus groups and report directly to the researcher.
 Data Entry Operator transfers the data obtained by the interviewer into the database on to
the computer and uses various statistical tools and techniques which are helpful while
analysing the data.
 Focus group supervisor conducts the focus group discussions.
 Training of the investigators is done by the trainer.
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  Investigators do all the fieldwork for the project.

 Budgetary allocation and sample size calculation :

 Break up of fieldwork(23 days)

Training time for investigators Pre- testing actual fieldwork

3 days 3 days 17 days

 Budgetary allocation to fieldwork

 No of trainers : 1
 No of supervisors : 1
- Total allocation of budget to fieldwork = Rs. 30000
(50% of total budget)

 Allocation of Fieldwork budget

Total fieldwork

Overheads (20%) Training + fieldwork(80%)

Training (20%) Actual fieldwork(80%)

Supervisors Investigators

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  Assuming that the researcher will not be involved throughout the fieldwork process, instead
will take routine checks of the proceedings and thus will be working around 3-4 days during
the fieldwork process.
- Salary of the trainer( per day) = Rs. 225
- Rent of venue of training = Rs.2000
- Amount spent on stay, food and travelling = Rs. 2100
of the trainers
- Total budget allocated to training = Rs. 4800
- Salary of supervisor (per day) = Rs. 250
- Total budget allocated to supervisor = Rs. 5000
 Total budget available for Investigators = Rs. 14200
 To calculate the no. of supervisors
Total budget for the entire project for investigators = Rs.14200

Total budget for investigators per day = Rs. 710

Lump sum amount given to each investigatior = Rs. 200(per day)

No. of investigators for the research =4

Determining sample size

- Total no. of interviews per interviewer
In the 20 day period(including pretesting) : 75
- Total no. of interviews per interviewer for : 62
actual fieldwork( excluding pre testing)
- Total interviews throughout actual : 248 interviews
fieldwork( excluding pre testing)

Sample Size : 248 interviews

Accounting for 3% non- response and sampling error , we get,

No. of successful interviews : 240 interviews

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II.7 Activity chart :
S.no Activity Duration Start day Finish day Total(days)
(days)
Pre- fieldwork 15 0 14 15
1. Meeting the manager 2 0 1 2
2 Objective formulation 2 2 3 4
3. Selecting members for focus 3 4 6 7
Group
4. Mailing list agenda to 1 7 7 8
Focus group members
5. Focus group 3 8 10 11
Discussion
6. Questionnaire formulation 4 11 14 15
Fieldwork 23 15 37
7. Training of investigators 3 15 17 18
8. Pre-testing 3 18 20 21
9. Fieldwork 17 21 37 38
Post fieldwork 16 38
9. Data entry 2 38 39 40
10. Data checking 3 40 42 43
11. Analysis 5 43 47 48
12. Report writing 5 48 52 53
13. Final submission 1 53 53 54
Contingency time 2 56
Total 56

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II.8 Budgetary requirement :

S.no Budget Head No. of Payment No. of Total

days (Rs/day/person) people (Rs.)
1. Chief Researcher 35 375 1 13125
2. Chief Supervisor 20 250 1 5000
3. Investigators 20 200 4 16000
4. Master coder 1 150 1 200
5. Computer operator 2 100 2 200
6. Focus group 3 225 2 1350
moderator
7. Recorder 3 150 2 900
8. Trainer 3 225 1 675

9. Other costs of training 4125

(venue + lodging of trainer)
10. Overheads during fieldwork 6000
(rent of building etc)
11. Overheads during pre fieldwork 7500
And post fieldwork
(rent of building, depreciation
Of building etc)
9. Miscellaneous 4925
Expenses( includes
Cost of stationary,transportation,

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 Telephone and other expenses

Total 60000

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