Assignment on

Business Research Method

(Case Study)

-Submitted to-
Md. Rokibul Hossain
Assistant Professor,
Premier University Chittagong.

-Submitted by-
Nur Nesa Ema
ID- 1403010107536
Dept- Accounting
Section- A
Batch- 30
Semester- 6th
 Field Work

1. Development of the three comparative (paired comparison, rank order and

constant sum) scales to measure attitude toward five popular brands of
toothpaste (Crest, Colgate, Aim, Pepsodent and Ultra Brite).

 Paired Comparison scale to measure attitude toward five toothpaste (Crest,

Colgate, Aim, Pepsodant and Ultra Brite).

This is a comparative scaling technique in which a respondent is presented with two

objects at a time and ask to select one object according to some criterion. The data
obtained are ordinal in nature.

Instruction: There are five popular brands of toothpaste- Crest, Colgate, Aim, Pepsodent
and Ultra Brite. The respondents can prefer Crest to Colgate or Colgate to Aim or Aim to
Pepsodent etc.

Brand Crest Colgate Aim Pepsodent Ultra Brite

Crest - 1 0 1 0
Colgate 0 - 0 0 0
Aim 0 1 - 1 0
Pepsodent 0 1 0 - 0
Ultra Brite 1 1 1 1 -
No. of time 0 4 1 3 0
preferred

A 1 in a particular box means that the brand in that column was preferred over the brand
in corresponding row. A 0 mean that the row brand was preferred over the column brand.
The number of times a brand was preferred is obtained by summing the 1 in each column.
  Rank order scaling to measure attitude toward five toothpaste (Crest, Colgate, Aim,
Pepsodant and Ultra Brite).

The Rank Order Scaling is a yet another comparative scaling technique wherein the
respondents are presented with numerous objects simultaneously and are required
to order or rank these according to some specified criterion. The measure of 'order' can include
such as preference, importance, liking, effectiveness and so on.
Instruction: Rank the following brands of toothpaste in order of effectiveness. Begin out by
picking up the one brand you like most and assign it a number. Then find the second most
effective brand and assign it number two. Continue this procedure until you have ranked all the
brands of toothpaste in order of effectiveness. The least effective brand should be assigned
number four. Also remember no two brands receive the same rank order.

Brand Rank
Crest 4
Colgate 1
Aim 3
Pepsodent 2
Ultra Brite 5

 Constant sum scaling to measure attitude toward five toothpaste (Crest, Colgate,
Aim, Pepsodant and Ultra Brite).

Constant sum is a technique that is used in market research surveys where respondents are
required to allocate a constant sum of points or units on specified criteria or features. All these
points add up to a constant total, which remains unchanged.

Instruction: Between attributes of toothpaste please allocate 100 points among the attributes so
that your allocation reflects the relative importance you attach to each attribute. . The more point
the attribute gets the more important the attribute is. If an attribute is not at all important assign it
zero, 0

Attributes Crest Colgate Aim Pepsodent Ultrabrite

Price 50 30 40 50 50
Fragrance 05 10 05 10 05
Packaging 10 10 20 10 10
Cleaning 30 40 30 30 30
Power
Lather 05 10 05 20 05
Total Points 100 100 100 100 100
Decision:

The paired Comparison scaling is often used when the stimulus objects are physical products.
The comparison data so obtained can be analyzed in either of the ways. First, the researcher can
compute the percentage of respondents who prefer one object over another by adding the
matrices for each respondent, dividing the sum by the number of respondents and then
multiplying it by 100. Through this method, all the stimulus objects can be evaluated
simultaneously.

Second, under the assumption of transitivity (which implies that if brand X is preferred to Brand
Y, and brand Y to brand Z, then brand X is preferred to brand Z) the paired comparison data can
be converted into a rank order. To determine the rank order, the researcher identifies the number
of times the object is preferred by adding up all the matrices.

The paired comparison method is effective when the number of objects is limited because it
requires the direct comparison. And with a large number of stimulus objects the comparison
becomes cumbersome. Also, if there is a violation of the assumption of transitivity the order in
which the objects are placed may bias the results.

The Rank order scaling is often used to measure the preference for the brand and attributes.
The ranking data is typically obtained from respondents in the conjoint analysis as it forces the
respondents to discriminate among the stimulus objects.

With respect to the paired comparison scaling, the Rank order scaling resembles more closely to
the shopping environment, and also it takes less time and eliminates all the intransitive responses
(not object-directed). Such as, if there are „n‟ stimulus objects, then only ‘n-1’ scaling decisions
are to be made in case of Rank order scaling. Moreover, the rank order scaling is an easy method
to understand.

The Constant Sum Scaling was easy to respond. To answer a constant sum question in survey,
respondents can use the slider and it will automatically populate the points in the boxes. They
don‟t have to type digits to answer such questions.

Respondents allocate points to different attributes based on their choices. The constraint of total
sum highlights how they assign relative importance to each option. This ensures better data
accuracy.

Constant sum scale offers deep insights into customer preferences. You can find out which
option is the most important to the customers and by what factor.

We can see that the comparison scaling took the longest time. So, we can say that the Constant
Sum scaling was the easiest to administer. But the rank order scaling took the shortest time.
2. Constant Sum Scale to determine preferences for restaurants:

Constant sum is a technique that is used in market research surveys where respondents are
required to allocate a constant sum of points or units on specified criteria or features. All these
points add up to a constant total, which remains unchanged.

Instruction: Listed below are the restaurants are located in Chittagong city. Please allocate 100
points among the restaurants based on your overall preference. The more points you assign to a
restaurant, the higher the overall preference. The lower the number of points you assign, the
lower the preference. A restaurant that is preferred twice as much as another restaurant should
have twice as many points. It is possible to assign 0 points to a restaurant if it is not all preferred.
The total number of points should add to 100.

Restaurants No. of Points

Ambrosia Restaurant Ltd. 20
Handi Restaurant 10
Barcode Cafe 30
Pitstop Restaurant 20
Regalo 20
Total Points 100

Pilot studies are small-scale, preliminary studies which aim to investigate whether crucial
components of a main study – usually a randomized controlled trial (RCT) – will be feasible. For
example, they may be used in attempt to predict an appropriate sample size for the full-scale
project and/or to improve upon various aspects of the study design. Often RCTs require a lot of
time and money to be carried out, so it is crucial that the researchers have confidence in the key
steps they will take when conducting this type of study to avoid wasting time and resources.

This study is conducted to evaluate the feasibility of some crucial component(s) of the full-scale
study. Typically, these can be divided into 3 main aspects:

 Process: where the feasibility of the key steps in the main study is assessed (e.g. food quality,
service quality, interior designing)
 Resources: assessing problems with time and resources that may occur during the main study
(e.g. how much time the main study will take to be completed; whether use of some
equipment will be feasible or whether the form(s) of evaluation selected for the main study
are as good as possible)
 Management: problems with data management and with the team involved in the study (e.g.
whether there were problems with collecting all the data needed for future analysis; whether
the collected data are highly variable and whether data from different institutions can be
analyzed together).

Decision: The sample size in this study was 20. 100% of the 20 students are administrated the
scale. The 20 students were selected from the City area from the restaurants. Although the
study often present results related to the effectiveness of the interventions, these results
should be interpreted as “potential effectiveness”. The focus in the results of the study is on
feasibility, rather than statistical significance. Particularly as the sample size of these studies
is usually relatively small, and this might produce biased results. However, based on my pilot
study, it has been found that the Barcode Café is most preferred among the students in the
Chittagong city.
 Solving Problems

1. Defining Target Population and the Sampling Frame in given situations:

A target population can be defines as all elements, objects, people, products, etc. researchers like
to study about. In fact, target population possesses information the researcher is looking for. In
other words, target population is the source of information sought by the researcher and from
where the inferences have to be made.
Sampling frame is the fraction of a larger population that represents the elements of the target
population. Some of the sampling frame could be the telephone directory, directory listing of the
different organization in an industry, etc.
The target population for a survey is the entire set of units for which the survey data are to be
used to make inferences. Thus, the target population defines those units for which the findings of
the survey are meant to generalize. A sampling frame is a list of all the items in
researcher‟s population. It‟s a complete list of everyone or everything someone want to
study. The difference between a population and a sampling frame is that the population is general
and the frame is specific. For example, the population could be “People who live in Jacksonville,
Florida.” The frame would name ALL of those people, from Adrian Abba to Felicity Zappa.

a) i. Target population: All families of the Chicago

ii. Sampling frame: census report about resident of Chicago

The suitable goal populace for in domestic product utilization of a brand new cereal brand look
at in Chicago might be all households who live in Chicago. The suitable census for this look at
might be listing of homes which may be determined from the modern-day census file of Chicago.
The appropriate target population for the in-home serial product usage test in Chicago would be
individuals between the ages of 5 and 34, of all ethnic and racial groups, due to the fact that
young individuals within this age group tend to consume the most cereal products of any
age group.

b) i. Target population: All store customers or all store customers who have store charger
card are possible target population.

ii. Sampling frame: Store record of customer who have charger card is the sampling
frame.
 The suitable goal populace for a country wide chain save look at to determine the buying
behavior of clients who've its save fee card might be all clients who've save fee card. The
suitable sampling body for this look at might be the records saved via way of means of the save
which includes a listing of the clients who've been issue with save fee card.

c) i. Target population: All local families or household.

ii. Sampling frame: Local families guide or telephone directories

The suitable goal populace for the neighborhood TV station look at might be neighborhood
households who've at the least one TV set of their coverage area. The suitable sampling body for
this look at might be both- a TV station phone listing or the effects of an opinion ballot
accumulated for this look at from those households.

d) i. Target population: all new members of the American marketing association of Atlanta

ii. Sampling frame: Records managed by the American marketing association in Atlanta
for its recent members.

The suitable goal populace for the neighborhood bankruptcy of the American marketing
affiliation look at might be all new individuals who've joined the affiliation recently from
Atlanta. The suitable sampling body for this look at might be the facts stored via way of means
of the affiliation containing the listing in their new individuals from Atlanta.

2. Solution:

a. Identifying the population and sampling frame that could be used.

i. Target population: All automobile manufacturers, construction equipment manufacturers and

appliance manufacturers.
ii. Sampling frame: An association directory listing of the individual manufacturer corporation
of automobile industry, construction equipment industry and home appliances manufacturing
industry.
b. Describing how a simple random sample can be drawn using the identified sampling
frame.

Using simple random sampling method to draw sample size from the sampling frame is the
easiest way of selecting sample size. In this method, the first job of the researcher is to assign a
unique identification number to the each element of the sampling frame. The unique
identification numbers which is assigned to the each element of the sampling frame is randomly
generated either using computer routine or a statistical table. Using this method, sample is
generated by a random procedure where all element of the sample frame has equal probability of
being in the final sample size. Alternatively, a researcher can place all names of the sampling
frame and then shake the container properly to reduce the bias and final sample list can be drawn
out in an unbiased manner.

c. Could a stratified sample be used? If so how?

 Yes, Stratified sample can also be used to draw a sample from the sampling frame.
Actually this is the two step process where population is categorized or partitioned into
various small populations which is called strata. Using this method, the researcher will
try to place all similar or homogeneous element of the population in one stratum and
different or heterogeneous elements in different strata.
 In other words, in this sampling method, entire population of the sampling frame is
divided into smaller groups of population commonly known as strata were strata are
formed based on the specific attribute or characteristic of the elements of individual units
of the entire population. And then a random sample from each stratum is taken, where
percentage of the elements taken from each stratum depends upon the size of the stratums
compared to the population.
 The key of this method is that all elements should be assigned to only one strata and not a
single element is omitted from assigning a particular strata wherever it fits the
most. Finally, Simple random sampling method is used to draw sample from each
stratum.
 While using stratified sampling in above problem situation, we can divide all
manufacturers‟ auto, construction equipment and major appliances into homogenous
strata. For example, we can divide auto manufacturers into different strata like car
manufactures, truck manufacturers, motorbike manufacturers, etc and then we can select
sample from each category of manufacturers to make sure that our sample represents all
varieties of the larger population.
d. Could a cluster sample be used? If so how?

Yes, cluster sample can also be used to draw sampling from the identified sampling frame.
Cluster sampling is the multi stage sampling in which sample of area is chosen in the first stage
and sample of respondent will be selected from the each previously identified sample of area
using simple random sampling method. Therefore, it is multistage sampling having at least two
or more than two stage. Cluster sampling is popular because it reduces cost of research because
researchers do not have to travel as he/she doesn‟t need a sampling frame listing all the elements
in the target population rather sampling cluster is determined by selecting respondent from
certain areas only, or certain time-periods only.
In other words, in cluster sampling method all the naturally formatted groups (for example, auto
manufacturers in Detroit, Michigan) are selected as samples in cluster sampling. One of the
major advantages of cluster sampling is that it does not require sampling frames of all the
sampling units. When the clusters are selected from the whole lot of population then, they are
compiled into frames. And finally other statistical tools are used to draw conclusion out of those
selected cluster.
To use cluster method in above example, we can determined the cluster of auto manufacturers by
geographic location, for example auto manufacturers of Detroit, Michigan or construction
equipments manufacturers in Columbus, Ohio and then use simple random sampling method to
select respondent from each city for further analysis.

e. Which sampling technique would I recommend? Why?

Since we are determining the demand potential for a new power press we want high level of
precision. Therefore, the best alternative sampling method is stratified sampling method. One of
the major benefits of using this method is that this method ensures that all minority groups are
adequately included in the final sample. The main reason for choosing this method is that it aims
to minimize or eliminate standard error with some control over variance and this method will
give statistically more accurate result than simple random sampling method and cluster sampling
method.