MBA II BRM Trimester End Exam

Section A: Multiple Choice Questions
1. Select the best alternative. (1 x 10 =1 0)

i. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with:
a. the nature of ethics
b. the nature of knowledge
c. the nature of existence
d. the nature of beauty
ii. A paradigm that emphasizes the existence of a perfectly knowable reality is:
a. Positivism
b. Post-positivism
c. Critical theory
d. Constructivism
iii. Operational definitions are encouraged in research in order to:
a. conform to the requirement of statistical analysis
b. increase the probability that experiments will succeed
c. make terms used in a study as explicit as possible
d. make educational research more easily understood by laypersons
iv. The primary objective of _____ is to provide insights into, and an understanding of, the problem
confronting the researcher.
a. exploratory research
b. conclusive research
c. causal research
d. descriptive research
v. Which of the objectives below would best represent conclusive research?
a. describe market characteristics or functions
b. determine cause and effect relationships
c. provide insights and understanding
d. test specific hypotheses and examine relationships
vi. While studying supervisor-subordinate relationship in an organization, what is the unit of
analysis?
a. Individual
b. Dyad
c. Employer-employee
d. Organization
vii. Which of the following is likely to be of greatest value in formulating hypotheses for a scientific
investigation?
a. A high level of emotional involvement in the research problem
b. A rigorous statistical design
c. Clear indication of the variables involved
d. A problem statement that is broad in scope
viii. A moderator variable is one that
a. makes a relationship meaningless
b. qualifies the application of a relationship
c. weakens the strength of a relationship
d. provides an alternative explanation for a relationship
ix. A research worker plans to evaluate high school students' reactions to a new policy on closed
campus stations. He locates himself near the office of the dean, where he interviews every fourth
student who visits the dean. He eventually secures data from 100 interviews and publishes his
findings as the "Reactions of high school students to a new policy for a closed campus." What may
be wrong with this approach?
a. Too small a sample
b. Inadequately defined problem
c. Inadequate techniques of analysis
d. Biased sample
x. Validity can be assessed by finding the correlation between scores on:
a. A research instrument and some independent, widely accepted measure of that variable
b. One form of a test and another form of that test
c. The even-numbered items on a test and the odd-numbered items on that test
d. Two administrations of the same test.
Section B : Short Answer Questions
2. Answer the following questions. (4 x 5 = 20)

i. Discuss the major characteristics of quantitative research that distinguishes it from qualitative
research.
ii. In carrying out research, the true value of whatever one wants to measure is always obscured by a
variety of factors, many of which lie beyond the researcher’s control. It is important for one to be
aware of these sources of error so that one can at best avoid them or take measures to mitigate
their effects on the validity and reliability of the survey results. What are the sources of error in
survey research? For each of the survey errors you identified, explain how best you would avoid it
or mitigate its impacts on your research results.
iii. Shankar, an MBA student at the Pokhara University proposed the following topic for his graduate
research, "Influence of work force diversity on organizational culture of listed manufacturing
companies of Nepal". For this topic;
 State what you think could be a suitable definition of the problem
 Formulate any three research questions for the topic
 State a possible null and alternate hypothesis for the topic
 State any three objectives of the study
iv. Suppose the Ministry of Education has developed a new instrument for evaluating teacher
performance. What empirical evidence would provide strong support for the validity of the scores
resulting from this instrument? Make sure that your answer incorporates the methods of providing
validity evidence described in the textbook and in class.
Section C: Comprehensive Question

3. Read the following paragraphs and answer the questions that follow: (2 x 15 = 30)
The Happy Housewife Appliances Corporation is an American manufacturer of kitchen appliances.

Based in Boston, Massachussetts, in 1962, and with an employee base of around 5,000, the
Corporation markets its range of high-quality kitchen products, comprise numerous electrical items
such as microwave ovens, fuel-efficient cookers and stoves, vegetable cutters, juice mixers etc.
throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and parts of the Middle East. It is now trying to
expand into the South Asian market. Nepal, with its population of 150 million, ranks high on the
Corporations market priority list.
In a chance encounter at a dinner reception in Kathmandu sometime in December 2017, you meet
and strike up a long conversation with the Corporation’s Marketing Director, who visited Nepal on a
three-day preliminary “fact-finding mission”. You inform her that in the course of your MBA, you
have studied the ins and outs of undertaking business research, and have gained some basic
experience in undertaking empirical research in a group setting as part of the course. Now you are
eagerly looking forward for the opportunity to apply your knowledge in a professional business
research endeavour, and would be willing to assist Happy Housewife Appliances Corporation in
finding out whether it can profitably market its products in Nepal. Impressed by your enthusiasm,
and by your description of the course you attended, she hires as a consultant on the spot and gives
you a series of assignments as under:
i. The Marketing Director asks you to undertake some quick exploratory research with a view to
determining the opportunities for selling its kitchen appliances in the Nepalese domestic market. For
a start, this would entail obtaining out all sorts of data and information which are relevant to the
planned venture. What fundamental criteria does the data or information you collect have to fulfill
and why? What sort of data and information would you try to obtain for your exploratory research
and where would you look for this data and information? Specifically name several possible cate-
gories and sources of data and information relevant for this venture.
ii. Based on the preliminary findings of your exploratory research, the Marketing Director of Happy
Housewife Appliances Corporation thinks that a venture in Nepal may be financially rewarding, but
she is not willing to formally commit her organization until further detailed research is undertaken
by you. She assigns you the task of conducting a full scale research. The qualities of business
decisions are determined to a large extent by the quality of the informational input in the decision-
making process. The Marketing Director is aware of this fact from previous bad experience in other
foreign market entry ventures and she asks you to be especially careful in how you go about
obtaining data and information. Explain the research methodology you will use for the business
research.
Section D: Research Article Review
4. Read the attached research article "The Influence of Educational Factor Capital on the Tangible
Career Outcomes of MBA Graduates" carefully and answer the questions that follow. Read ONLY the
sections : 1. Introduction, 2. Literature Review, 3. Methodology, 4.1 Demographic Profile and 4.3
Conclusions. (4 x 10 = 40)
i. Evaluate the research method used by the study. Were the units of analysis selected in a way that
allows generalization to the desired population? Why or why not? Does the author discuss any
shortcoming in the sample or the sampling procedures? Does information available in the article
(e.g. demographic profile) suggest that the sample is reasonably representative, or does it point to
problems or biases? e) Overall, how good do you feel the sampling was? Discuss.
ii. Draw schematic diagram of conceptual framework used in the study. Discuss the important
concepts or constructs used in the study and explain how the constructs were operationalized. Offer
your opinion on reliability and validity of the measures used in the study.
iiii. What possible ethical issues might have arisen in the process of doing this research? Do you think
the researcher's ethical decisions were all justified, or are some questionable? Why?
iv. Critically review the research process used by the study and provide your overall evaluation of the
article: What things were done well? What were done poorly? How much trust do you put in the
findings? Discuss.

MBA II BRM Trimester End Exam

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Section A: Multiple Choice Questions

1. Select the best alternative. (1 x 10 =1 0)

Section B : Short Answer Questions

2. Answer the following questions. (4 x 5 = 20)

Section C: Comprehensive Question

The Happy Housewife Appliances Corporation is an American manufacturer of kitchen appliances.

Section D: Research Article Review

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