Qnt351 Wk 2 Paper

The Home Purchase

To many, owning a home is part of the American Dream that is woven into the fabric of the American culture. Today, with the price of homes becoming relatively inexpensive, as well as the falling cost of borrowing money, many people are looking at purchasing a home rather than continuing to pay rent; however, without the proper research, prospective buyers can find themselves paying too much for a home. This research will attempt to prove or disprove several common beliefs about what affects the price of a home such as, location, number of bedrooms and baths and other amenities such as pools and garages. The research will utilize, among other things, the data set from the University of Phoenix which provides real-estate data from five “townships” (University of Phoenix, 2005). Data included in this set are:

• Purchase price of home

• Number of bedrooms

• Number of bathrooms

• Size in square feet

• Whether or not the home has a pool or a garage

• Distance of the home from the township center

Discussed herein is the means by which this research will be conducted and provides the following:

• Purpose of the research

• Problem Definition

• Research Hypothesis and

• The remaining steps required to complete the research

Purpose of the Research

Describe the research problem

The very broad definition of this research problem is whether to purchase a home in or around the townships of 1-5 as provided in the Data Set. “It is critical that the focus of further research, or in other words, the problem, be unambiguously identified and defined. No amount of good research can find solutions to the situation, if the critical issue or the problem to be studies is not clearly pinpointed.” (University of Phoenix, 2010, p. 30).

Explain why the research problem is important

The focus of further research then, is the process of gathering facts and information that will help determine whether or not the purchase of a home in this area is a...