Question

Final Project: Ch11 Critical Thinking 8, pg.251 Outline a research design using observation for each of the following situations: a. A bank wishes to collect data on the number of customer services and the frequency of customer use of these services. b. A state government wishes to determine the driving public’s use of seat belts. c. A researcher wishes to known how many women have been featured on Time covers over the years. d. A human resource manager wants to know what salaries their key competitors are offering for some common positions. e. A fast-food restaurant managers wishes to determine if they serve their customers as quickly as their competitors. f. A magazine publisher wishes to determine exactly what people look at and what they pass over while reading one of its magazines. g. An overnight package delivery service wishes to observe delivery workers beginning at the moment when they stop the truck, continuing through the delivery of the package, and ending when they return to the truck.

Answer 1

a.         One of the simplest designs might be to have tellers record the number of customers and the times customers visit the teller windows. This might take place after each customer is serviced. Or, it might be possible to have an observer standing by the doorway to record information such as a number of customers, the amount of time spent in the bank, etc.

b.         This research objective can be accomplished with direct human observation. A field worker stationed at a traffic light or another location could easily observe if shoulder straps are being used. Of course, for older model cars with lap-only belts there would be some error.

It is also possible to set up a high-power telescope or movie camera at “second-floor” windows and observe using these tools. Of course, this might be seen as inappropriate for a state government (“Big Brother is watching you!”).

c.         This study’s objective strongly suggests a content analysis study.

d.         This study’s objective strongly suggests a content analysis study. Content of job announcements can be analyzed to learn this information.

e.         Observation of how quickly customers are served at competing for restaurant will provide data that can be compared with observational data from the manager’s own restaurant.

f.          Eye-tracking equipment records how the subject reads printed material or views a TV commercial or program and how much time is spent looking at various parts of the stimulus. In physiological terms, the gaze of movement of a viewer’s eye is measured with an eye-tracking monitor, which measures unconscious eye movements.

g.         A package delivery service that wishes to observe its delivery workers from the point where they stop the truck to the point where they deliver the overnight package and return to the truck might use a motion and time study. The observation of the delivery workers might require that the tasks they engage in are broken down into component motions (for example, picking up the package, running down the street, handing the package to the customer, waiting for a signature, and so on) so that the efficiency of the work process can be cataloged and evaluated. The observer may use a stopwatch to time each of these discrete motions. Other verbal or behavioral factors, such as if the employee says “thank you” to the customer, may also be observed and cataloged.