Week 3

Contract Formation with Non-Compete Clause

BUS 642 Business Research Methods and Tools

Complete Making Research Decisions 5, page 315

Rating scales are a common way to determine attitudes or opinions about objects. Researchers “use rating scales to judge properties of objects without reference to other similar objects” (Cooper and Schindler, 2011, p. 298). There are many types of scales that researchers can use to obtain the desired information. Likert’s 5, 7, and 9-point scales are most commonly used because it is easy to construct and provides reliable unbiased results. However, some scales are vague and/or unbalanced causing the biased or forced results.

The scale used in (a) is balanced because there is an equal number of favorable and unfavorable response choices and a neutral option. Unlike the scale used in (a), the scale used in (b) is unbalanced because there are two favorable response choices, one neutral response choice, and one unfavorable response choice. Friedman and Amoo (1999) stated that unbalanced scales, like the scale in (b), are pretty much guaranteed to provoke a positive response. It will also frustrate the researcher because it is not effectively uncovering the attitudes and opinions towards the product.

The scales used in (c) and (d) are both balanced scales because of the equal number of favorable and unfavorable responses. Both scales also provide the public with a neutral response choice. Providing a neutral response allows that research to determine whether or not the customer could become a loyalist depending on how the customer answered the other questions in the survey. A neutral response choice also allows the customer, with no opinion towards the product, to provide an unforced answer.

Terms in Review, 1-3, page 123

1. Explain how each of the five evaluation factors for a secondary source influences its management decision-making value. Living in the age of technology, students,...