Week 4 Assignment

Week 4 Assignment

BUS642 Business Research Methods and Tools

Instructor:

December 17, 2012

Week 4 Assignment

Terms in Review: questions 1-4 page 204

1. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the survey to those of observation. Under which circumstances could you make a case for using observation?

Advantages include directness; being there to observe the behavior first hand rather than depending on an individual’s account. The setting of the observation: during an observation survey the surveyor is in the participant’s natural surroundings instead of an artificial setting with questionnaires. Observing behaviors that the participant is not aware of: participants may not be aware of behaviors that they have and may think they are acting in a totally different way and behaviors that a participant may not be willing to disclose: In a questionnaire a participant may not disclose certain behaviors in fear of incriminating oneself but when being observed in their natural surroundings those behaviors will come out (Jones & Gratton 2004)

Disadvantages include: the observer may not understand what they are observing especially where they have little knowledge on the subject. The observer may not know exactly what they are looking for and may miss some key issues. The presence of the observer may affect the behavior of the participant: knowing that someone is watching them may cause them to act differently (Jones & Gratton 2004).

A good case for using the observation method: At the United States Postal Service the observation method is used when determining what is causing a mail carrier to use more time on a route than is allocated. An observing comes in and watches everything the carrier does, including how they case the mail, pull the mail down, and how they load the vehicle.

2. What ethical risks are involved in observations and in the use of unobtrusive measures?

Ethical risks: participant has not given...