Qnt561 - Week 6

Business Research Methods, Part Three – Bringing It All Together

QNT561/Applied Business Research and Statistics

August 2, 2010

Business Research Methods, Part Three – Bringing It All Together

Team D worked long and hard to arrive at this final step in a three-part research project for Makes My Mouth Water candy factory (Candy Company). This paper provides highlights from Parts One and Two to explain the situation analysis and the data collected but does not contain the detail available in those papers to avoid redundancy and reader fatigue. The focus of Part Three is statistical analysis of the research data, and the steps taken by Team D to ensure validity and reliability. Discoveries from the web-based survey conducted in Part Two are discussed in detail, as are the proposed conclusions presented to the Candy Company.

Part One – Reviewing the Situation Analysis

The Candy Company is falling behind in distributing products to customers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the main problem is out-dated equipment, which is also in need of repair. Exploratory research by Team D indicates that in addition to potential equipment problems, these three key factors may negatively influence distribution:

* Logistics

* Sales

* Production

Mega-Store manager interviews, benchmarking against similar manufacturing companies, and staff experience surveys help Team D narrow the research questions and identify one management question: “What can be done to improve the Candy Company’s responsiveness and keep up with customer orders?”

In an effort to answer the management question, Team D creates a four-phased research approach objective and bias-free, and uses exploratory and descriptive techniques. By studying correlations between independent and dependent variables, and testing causal relationships, Team D concludes that the best approach to gathering and analyzing data is via an Internet based survey.

Part Two – Reviewing the Data Collected

In Part...