FEDERAL URDU UNIVERSITY OF ARTS

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

SECTOR G 7-1 ZERO POINT ISLAMABAD

NAME:
SAQIB SAEED
CLASS:
M.COM 2
SECTION:
B (EVENING)
MIS ID:
27628
Subject:
BRM (Final Paper)

Date: 20 Sept,2020
Question-3:-
Read the scenario below carefully and answer the questions in the end:
Answer:

(A) What would be the relevant population?

Here, convenience sampling can be used. Convenience sampling is a non-

probability sampling technique where subjects are selected because of their
convenient accessibility and proximity to the researcher. Since the target is to
appeal to all people of age group 33 to 45, we can choose the candidates randomly
according to our convenience. Convenient sampling is fine but this scenario has
eligibility criteria which is that you need consumers of age group of 35 to 44 so the
first question would be are you between age group of 35 to 44, so the sampling
method would be judgment or purposive sampling method. Even though,
probability sampling method would always be preferable. Here, it is not possible.

(B) The most appropriate sampling design?

 
 
Stratified Random Sampling must be used in this case as Stratified random
sampling divides a population into subgroups or strata, and random samples are
taken, in proportion to the population, from each of the strata created. The
members in each of the stratum formed have similar attributes and characteristics.
A simple random sample is then taken from each stratum .In this case, the
subgroups or strata are the various regions of New York: north western, south
eastern, central and southern suburbs.

The most appropriate sampling method in this scenario will be Cluster sampling

( Area Sampling) because the scenario suggest the naturally located heterogeneous
groups and possibly the medical inspector wants the representation from each
suburbs of New York City. It can be stratified because- stratified are not
natural group rather something developed during the study and has similar features
(features are important in stratified sampling). Here the scenario mentions the
naturally occurring suburbs
Question-4:-

Describe various parts of a research proposal. Elaborate your answer with

logical reasons.

Answer:

Research Proposal:

The goal of a research proposal is twofold: to present and justify the need to
study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the
proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for
conducting research are governed by standards of the predominant discipline in
which the problem resides, therefore, the guidelines for research proposals are
more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research
proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive
evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a
rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the
research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and
a statement on anticipated outcomes and/or benefits derived from the study's
completion.

How to Approach Writing a Research Proposal:

 Develop your skills in thinking about and designing a comprehensive

research study;
 Learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to
determine that a research problem has not been adequately addressed or
has been answered ineffectively and, in so doing, become better at
locating pertinent scholarship related to your topic;
 Improve your general research and writing skills;
 Practice identifying the logical steps that must be taken to accomplish
one's research goals;
 Critically review, examine, and consider the use of different methods for
gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,
 Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see
yourself as an active participant in the process of doing scholarly
research.
Parts of Research Proposal:

As with writing most college-level academic papers, research proposals are

generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines.
The text of proposals generally vary in length between ten and thirty-five
pages, followed by the list of references. However, before you begin, read the
assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor
whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the
proposal.

A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:

 What do I want to study?
 Why is the topic important?
 How is it significant within the subject areas covered in my class?
 What problems will it help solve?
 How does it build upon [and hopefully go beyond] research already
conducted on the topic?
 What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get it done in the time
available?
In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge
of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study.
Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like, "Wow,
that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"

Most proposals should include the following Parts:

I.  Introduction
In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written
by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in
getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course
assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea or a thorough
examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the
introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you
want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the
topic and to be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most
proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.
Think about your introduction as a narrative written in two to four
paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions:
 What is the central research problem?
 What is the topic of study related to that research problem?
 What methods should be used to analyze the research problem?
 Why is this important research, what is its significance, and why should
someone reading the proposal care about the outcomes of the proposed
study?

Background and Significance:

This is where you explain the context of your proposal and describe in detail
why it's important. It can be melded into your introduction or you can create a
separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your
proposal. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume
your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note
that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about
the topic; instead, you must choose what is most relevant in explaining the
aims of your research.
To that end, while there are no prescribed rules for establishing the
significance of your proposed study, you should attempt to address some or all
of the following:
 State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about
the purpose of the study than what you stated in the introduction. This is
particularly important if the problem is complex or multifaceted.
 Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it
is worth doing; be sure to answer the "So What? question [i.e., why
should anyone care].
 Describe the major issues or problems to be addressed by your research.
This can be in the form of questions to be addressed. Be sure to note
how your proposed study builds on previous assumptions about the
research problem.
  Explain the methods you plan to use for conducting your research.
Clearly identify the key sources you intend to use and explain how they
will contribute to your analysis of the topic.
 Describe the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a
clear focus. Where appropriate, state not only what you plan to study,
but what aspects of the research problem will be excluded from the
study.
 If necessary, provide definitions of key concepts or terms.

Literature Review:
Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of
your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior
studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is
to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being
explored, while demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and
innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what
methods they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and,
when stated, their recommendations.
Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is
intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments
underpinning your proposed study in relation to that of other researchers. A
good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes]
rather than systematically or chronologically describing groups of materials
one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after
you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new
categories is an on-going process of discovery as you review more studies.
How do you know you've covered the key conceptual categories underlying the
research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that  all of the
significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see
repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.
NOTE: Do not shy away from challenging the conclusions made in prior
research as a basis for supporting the need for your proposal. Assess what you
believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately
examine the issue that your study addresses. For more information on writing
literature review.
To help frame your proposal's review of prior research, consider the "five C’s"
of writing a literature review:
1. Cite, so as to keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your
research problem.
2. Compare the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings
expressed in the literature: what do the authors agree on? Who applies
similar approaches to analyzing the research problem?
3. Contrast the various arguments, themes, methodologies, approaches,
and controversies expressed in the literature: describe what are the major
areas of disagreement, controversy, or debate among scholars?
4. Critique the literature: Which arguments are more persuasive, and why?
Which approaches, findings, and methodologies seem most reliable, valid,
or appropriate, and why? Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what
an author says/does [e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues, etc.].
5. Connect the literature to your own area of research and investigation:
how does your own work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add a new
perspective to what has been said in the literature?

Research Design and Methods:

This section must  be well-written and logically organized because you are not
actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that it is
worth pursuing. The reader will never have a study outcome from which to
evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the
objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and
proposed methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the
methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results.
Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of
your study.
Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples
from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other
researchers have used but methods of data gathering that have not been used
but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you
plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to
analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit
yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study
to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].
When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:
  Specify the research process you will undertake and the way you will
interpret the results obtained in relation to the research problem. Don't
just describe what you intend to achieve from applying the methods you
choose, but state how you will spend your time while applying these
methods [e.g., coding text from interviews to find statements about the
need to change school curriculum; running a regression to determine if
there is a relationship between campaign advertising on social media
sites and election outcomes in Europe].
 Keep in mind that the methodology is not just a list of tasks; it is an
argument as to why these tasks add up to the best way to investigate the
research problem. This is an important point because the mere listing of
tasks to be performed does not demonstrate that, collectively, they
effectively address the research problem. Be sure you clearly explain
this.
 Anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in
carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address
them. No method is perfect so you need to describe where you believe
challenges may exist in obtaining data or accessing information. It's
always better to acknowledge this than to have it brought up by your
professor.

Preliminary Suppositions and Implications:

Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the
results, doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and
potential implications. The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what
ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing
knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and
objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact
future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or
policymaking. Note that such discussions may have either substantive [a
potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new understanding], or
methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance.
 
When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the
following questions:
 What might the results mean in regards to challenging the theoretical
framework and underlying assumptions that support the study?
 What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential
outcomes of the study?
  What will the results mean to practitioners in the natural settings of their
workplace?
 Will the results influence programs, methods, and/or forms of
intervention?
 How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic, or
other types of problems?
 Will the results influence policy decisions?
 In what way do individuals or groups benefit should your study be
pursued?
 What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
 How will the results of the study be implemented and what innovations
or transformative insights could emerge from the process of
implementation?
NOTE:  This section should not delve into idle speculation, opinion,  or be
formulated on the basis of unclear evidence. The purpose is to reflect upon
gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your
proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem
should the study be implemented as designed.

Conclusion:
The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and
provides a brief summary of the entire study. This section should be only one
or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth
investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance
existing knowledge.
Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:
 Why the study should be done,
 The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempts
to answer,
 The decision to why the research design and methods used where chosen
over other options,
 The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the
research problem, and
 A sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the
research problem.
Citations:

As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used. In a
standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with
your professor about which one is preferred.
References -- lists only the literature that you actually used or cited in your
proposal.
Bibliography -- lists everything you used or cited in your proposal, with
additional citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the
research problem.

Question-2:-

Write a note on the factors affecting the internal validity of research.

Answer:

Internal Validity:

Internal validity is the extent to which you can be confident that a cause-and-effect
relationship established in a study cannot be explained by other factors.

Internal validity is the degree of confidence that the causal relationship you are
testing is not influenced by other factors or variables.

Importance of Internal validity:

First we must know, Why internal validity matters? Internal validity makes the
conclusions of a causal relationship credible and trustworthy. Without high internal
validity, an experiment cannot demonstrate a causal link between two variables.
Research example:
You want to test the hypothesis that drinking a cup of coffee improves memory.
You schedule an equal number of college-aged participants for morning and
evening sessions at the laboratory. For convenience, you assign all morning session
participants to the treatment group and all evening session participants to the
control group.
Once they arrive at the laboratory, the treatment group participants are given a cup
of coffee to drink, while control group participants are given water. You also give
both groups memory tests. After analyzing the results, you find that the treatment
group performed better than the control group on the memory test.

How to check whether your study has internal validity:

There are three necessary conditions for internal validity. All three conditions must
occur to experimentally establish causality between an independent variable A
(your treatment variable) and dependent variable B (your response variable).

 Your treatment and response variables change together.

 Your treatment precedes changes in your response variables
 No confounding or extraneous factors can explain the results of your
study.

In the research example above, only two out of the three conditions have been met.

 Drinking coffee and memory performance increased together.

  Drinking coffee happened before the memory test.
 The time of day of the sessions is an extraneous factor that can
equally explain the results of the study.

Because you assigned participants to groups based on the schedule, the groups
were different at the start of the study. Any differences in memory performance
may be due to a difference in the time of day. Therefore, you cannot say for certain
whether the time of day or drinking a cup of coffee improved memory
performance.

That means your study has low internal validity, and you cannot deduce a causal
relationship between drinking coffee and memory performance.

Factors Affecting Internal Validity:

There are eight threats to internal validity: history, maturation, instrumentation,

testing, selection bias, regression to the mean, social interaction and attrition.
Research example (single-group)
A research team wants to study whether having indoor plants on office desks
boosts the productivity of IT employees from a company. The researchers give
each of the participating IT employees a plant to place by their desktop for the
month-long study. All participants complete a timed productivity task before (pre-
test) and after the study (post-test).

History:

An unrelated event influences the outcomes. History effects refer to events that

happen in the environment that change the conditions of a study, affecting
its outcome. Such a history event can happen before the start of an experiment, or
between the pre-test and post-test. To affect the outcome of an experiment in a way
that threatens its internal validity.

Example:

A week before the end of the study, all employees are told that there will be layoffs.
The participants are stressed on the date of the post-test, and performance may
suffer.

Maturation:
The outcomes of the study vary as a natural result of time. If the experiment in
your dissertation focuses on people (i.e., people are the population you are
interested in), maturation is likely to threaten the internal validity of your findings.
This has to do with time and the effect that time has on people. After all,
experiments do not happen overnight, but often over a period of time, whether
days, weeks, a few months, or in some cases, years. Whilst experiments at the
undergraduate and master's dissertation level tend to last no longer than 2-3 months
(at least the data collection phase), there are a number of changes that can take
place within such short timeframes. During such periods of time, people change,
and such change can affect your findings. 

Example:

Most participants are new to the job at the time of the pre-test. A month later, their
productivity has improved as a result of time spent working in the position.

Instrumentation:

Different measures are used in pre-test and post-test phases. Instrumentation can be
a threat to internal validity because it can result in instrumental
bias (or instrumental decay). Such instrumental bias takes place when the
measuring instrument (e.g., a measuring device, a survey, interviews/participant
observation) that is used in a study changes over time. Instrumentation becomes a
threat to internal validity when it reduces the confidence that the changes
(differences) in the scores on the dependent variable may be due to instrumentation
and not the treatments (i.e., the independent variable). It sometimes helps to think
about instrumental bias arising either because of the use of a physical measuring
device or the actions of the researcher.

Example:

In the pre-test, productivity was measured for 15 minutes, while the post-test was
over 30 minutes long.

Testing:

The pre-test influences the outcomes of the post-test. Testing effects, also known
as order effects, only occur in experimental and quasi-experimental research
designs that have more than one stage; that is, research designs that involve a pre-
test and a post-test. In such circumstances, the fact that the person taking part in the
research is tested more than once can influence their behaviour/scores in the post-
test, which confounds the results; that is, the differences in scores on the dependent
variable between the groups being studied may be due to testing effects rather than
the independent variable. Some of the reasons why testing effects occur
include learning effects (practice or carry-over effects) and experimental fatigue.

Example:

Participants showed higher productivity at the end of the study because the same
test was administered. Due to familiarity, or awareness of the study’s purpose,
many participants achieved high results.

Selection bias:

Groups are not comparable at the beginning of the study. As the saying goes, "No
two people are the same". They differ along a wide range of factors, such in age,
behaviour, gender, height, intelligence, and so forth. You cannot eliminate
such individual differences from research, but you do need to take them into
account when comparing different groups. It is important to reduce individual
differences between groups where these individual differences are extraneous
variables and systematically applied [see the article: Extraneous and confounding
variables]. In experimental and quasi-experimental research, you need to make
sure that the groups are equivalent before you start or there could be difference
between the treatment and control groups (i.e., before any interventions are made),
which may explain the differences in scores on the dependent variable. This is
known as a selection effect, and it is a threat to the internal validity of your study.

Example:

Low-scorers were placed in Group A, while high-scorers were placed in Group B.

Because there are already systematic differences between the groups at the
baseline, any improvements in group scores may be due to reasons other than the
treatment.

Regression to the mean:

There is a statistical tendency for people who score extremely low or high on a test
to score closer to the middle the next time. Statistical regression (or regression
towards the mean) can be a threat to internal validity because the scores of
individuals on the dependent variable may not only be the due to the natural
performance of those individuals, but also measurement errors (or chance). When
these scores are particularly high or low (i.e., they are extreme scores), there is a
tendency for these scores to move (i.e., regress) towards the mean (i.e.,
the average score): so an individual with an extremely high score during the pre-
test measurement of an experiment gets a lower score on the post-test
measurement; and vice versa, with an individual with an extremely low score
during the pre-test measurement getting a higher score on the post-test
measurement.

Example:

Because participants are placed into groups based on their initial scores, it’s hard
to say whether the outcomes would be due to the treatment or statistical norms.

Social interaction:

Participants from different groups may compare notes and either figure out the aim
of the study or feel resentful of others.

Example:

Groups B and C may resent Group A because of the access to a phone during
class. As such, they could be demoralized and perform poorly.

Attrition:

Attrition is a threat to internal validity when there is differential fallout between

the intervention and the comparison groups. True. False. Keeping consistency
between your pre and posttest content and administration can help to reduce or
even eliminate the instrumentation threat. TrueDropout from participants.

Example:
20% of participants provided unusable data. Almost all of them were from Group
C. As a result, it’s hard to compare the two treatment groups to a control group.

Question-5:-

Develop and name the type of measuring instrument you would use to tap
the following:

(A)Which brand of beer are consumed by how many individuals:

The nominal scale, which comprises of individuals and firms with the products
according to brands where a count is conducted to determine the various
categories and the votes related. This can be actualized by the use of
questionnaire.

(B)Among the three types of exam multiple choice, essay type and a mix
both which is the one more preferred by students ?

An ordinal scale will be used where the items are ranked and in this case the student
can select their preferences, and the one with more votes is prioritized and vice
versa.

(C)To what extent do individuals agree with your definition of accounting

principles?
The Likert scale can be used where a sum is conducted to get a general score. The
scale that is labeled has 5 categories with values for determining the strength of the
response.
(D)How much people like an existing organizational policy.?
This can be realized by the use of sampling to get views from a small number that
represents the total number .
(D)The age of employees in an organization.
This can be attained by one on one interrogations.

(F)The number of employees in each of the 20 departments of a company?

This is measured using data available in the IT department of the organization.

Question-1:-
What is snowball sampling technique? How is it different from other non-
probability techniques? Give logical reasons for your answer.

Answer:

Introduction:

Snowball sampling is where research participants recruit other participants for a

test or study. It is used where potential participants are hard to find. It's called
snowball sampling because (in theory) once you have the ball rolling, it picks up
more “snow” along the way and becomes larger and larger.

In sociology and statistics research, snowball sampling (or chain sampling, chain-

referral sampling, referral sampling) is a non probability sampling technique where
existing study subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances.
Thus the sample group is said to grow like a rolling snowball.

Snowball Sampling:

Snowball sampling or chain-referral sampling is defined as a non-probability

sampling technique in which the samples have traits that are rare to find. This is a
sampling technique, in which existing subjects provide referrals to
recruit samples required for a research study.  

For example, if you are studying the level of customer satisfaction among the
members of an elite country club, you will find it extremely difficult to
collect primary data sources unless a member of the club agrees to have a direct
conversation with you and provides the contact details of the other members of the
club.

Snowball Techniques:
Snowball sampling is a recruitment technique in which research participants are
asked to assist researchers in identifying other potential subjects.

Snowball sampling is a recruitment technique in which research participants are

asked to assist researchers in identifying other potential subjects.  The use of
currently enrolled research participants to recruit additional research participants
(sometimes referred to as “the snowball sampling”) may be approved by the IRB
under some circumstances.  However, the protocol must include justification of the
use of this method in the context of the study and target population.  The method
that minimizes risk would be the preferred choice.  For example, a researcher
seeking to study patterns of informal leadership in a community may ask
individuals to name others who are influential in a community.1
If the topic of the research is not sensitive or personal, it may be acceptable for
subjects to provide researchers with names and contact information for people who
might be interested in participation.  If the topic is sensitive or personal, snowball
sampling may be justified, but care should be taken to ensure that the potential
subjects' privacy is not violated.   For example, studies of networks of drug users or
studies tracking sex partners require extreme caution with information gathered
from one subject about another
Types of Snowball Sampling
 Linear Snowball Sampling: The formation of a sample group starts with
one individual subject providing information about just one other subject
and then the chain continues with only one referral from one subject. This
pattern is continued until enough number of subjects are available for the
sample.
 Exponential Non-Discriminative Snowball Sampling: In this type, the
first subject is recruited and then he/she provides multiple referrals. Each
new referral then provides with more data for referral and so on, until
there is enough number of subjects for the sample.
 Exponential Discriminative Snowball Sampling: In this technique, each
subject gives multiple referrals, however, only one subject is recruited
from each referral. The choice of a new subject depends on the nature of
the research study.

How Snowball sampling is different from other non-probability techniques?

Snow ball sampling is different from other non-probability techniques because for
some population, snowball sampling is the only way of collecting data and
meaningful information. Following are the instances, where snowball sampling can
be used:

Snow ball sampling is a unique technique can reduce research cost.This is a good
method for such population s that are not well defined or properly listed.Data
collected from snowballed sample may not be a measure of what is to be actually
collected.

 No official list of names of the members: 

This sampling technique can be used for a population, where there is no
easily available data like their demographic information. For example,
homeless or list of members of an elite club, whose personal details cannot
be obtained easily.
 Difficulty to locate people: 
People with rare diseases are quite difficult to locate. However, if a
researcher is carrying out a research study similar in nature, finding the
primary data source can be a challenge. Once he/she is identified, they
usually have information about more such similar individuals.
 People who are not willing to be identified: 
If a researcher is carrying out a study which involves collecting
information/data from sex workers or victims of sexual assault or
individuals who don’t want to disclose their sexual orientations, these
individuals will fall under this category.
 Secretiveness about their identity: 
People who belong to a cult or are religious extremists or hackers usually
fall under this category. A researcher will have to use snowball sampling
to identify these individuals and extract information from them.
 It’s quicker to find samples: 
Referrals make it easy and quick to find subjects as they come from
reliable sources. An additional task is saved for a researcher, this time
can be used in conducting the study.
 Cost effective: 
This method is cost effective as the referrals are obtained from a
primary data source. It’s is convenient and not so expensive as
compared to other methods.
 Sample hesitant subjects: 
Some people do not want to come forward and participate in research
studies, because they don’t want their identity to be exposed.
Snowball sampling helps for this situation as they ask for a reference
from people known to each other. There are some sections of the
target population which are hard to contact. For example, if a
researcher intends to understand the difficulties faced by HIV patients,
other sampling methods will not be able to provide these sensitive
samples. In snowball sampling, researchers can closely examine and
filter members of a population infected by HIV and conduct a research
by talking to them, making them understand the objective
of research and eventually, analyzing the received feedback.