Describe the main outcomes that can be gained from quantitative research as opposed to qualitative research.
Describe the limitations of both quantitative and qualitative research.
From your textbook:
pp. 26-27, Questions 1.25 and 1.26
Consumer recycling behavior. Under what conditions will consumers dispose of recyclable paper in the garbage? This was the question of interest in an article published in the Journal of Consumer Research (December, 2013). In one of the studies conducted, the researchers instructed 78 college students to cut an 8.5-×11-inch sheet of paper into eight smaller pieces. Half the students were randomly assigned to list five uses for the cut paper (usefulness is salient condition). The students in the other half were asked to list their five favorite TV shows (control condi-tion). After completing an unrelated task, all students were asked to dispose of the paper upon leaving. There was a trash bin and a recycling bin outside the door. The researchers kept track of which students recycled and which students disposed of their paper in the garbage. This information was used to test the theory that students in the
usefulness is salient condition will recycle at a higher rate than students in the control condition.
a. Explain why the data-collection method used in this study is a designed experiment.
b. Identify the experimental unit in this study.
c.Identify the variables measured in this study. What type of data (quantitative or qualitative) is produced from each variable? (Hint: Two variables are measured.)
d. About 68% of the students in the usefulness is salient condition recycled, as compared to 37% of students in the control condition. Use this information to make an inference about the population of interest.
1.26 Drafting NFL quarterbacks. The National Football League (NFL) is a lucrative business, generating an annual revenue of about $15 billion. One key to becoming a financially successful NFL team is drafting a good quarterback (QB) out of college. The NFL draft allows the worst-performing teams in the previous year the opportunity of selecting the best quarterbacks coming out of college. The Journal of Productivity Analysis (Vol. 35, 2011) published a study of how successful NFL teams are in drafting productive quar-terbacks. Data were collected for 331 quarterbacks drafted over a 38-year period. Several variables were measured for each QB, including draft position (one of the top 10 players picked, selection between picks 11 and 50, or selected after pick 50), NFL winning ratio (percentage of games won), and QB production score (higher scores indicate more produc-tive QBs). The researchers discovered that draft position is only weakly related to a quarterback’s performance in the NFL. They concluded that “quarterbacks taken higher [in the draft] do not appear to perform any better.”
a. What is the experimental unit for this study?
b.Identify the type (quantitative or qualitative) of each variable measured.
c.Suppose you want to use this study to project the per-formance of future NFL QBs. Is this an application of descriptive or inferential statistics? Explain.
pp. 104-105, Question 2.125
In business, do nice guys really finish last? Do “nice guys finish last” in the competitive corporate world? In a study published in Nature (March 20, 2008), college students repeatedly played a version of the game “prisoner’s di-lemma,” where competitors choose cooperation, defec-tion, or costly punishment. (Cooperation meant paying 1 unit for the opponent to receive 2 units; defection meant gaining 1 unit at a cost of 1 unit for the opponent; and punishment meant paying 1 unit for the opponent to lose 4 units.) At the conclusion of the games, the researchers recorded the average payoff and the number of times pun-ishment was used against each player. A graph of the data is shown in the accompanying scatterplot. Does it appear that average payoff is associated with punishment use? The researchers concluded that “winners don’t punish.” Do you agree? Explain.
p. 115, Question 2.147
Construct a scattergram for the data in the following table.
Variable 1: 174 268 345 119 400 520 190 448 307 252
Variable 2: 8 10 15 7 22 31 15 20 11 9
p. 119, Question 2.169
Age discrimination study. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act mandates that workers 40 years of age or older be treated without regard to age in all phases of employment (hiring, promotions, firing, etc.). Age discrimi-nation cases are of two types: disparate treatment and dis-parate impact. In the former, the issue is whether workers have been intentionally discriminated against. In the latter, the issue is whether employment practices adversely affect the protected class (i.e., workers 40 and over) even though no such effect was intended by the employer. A small computer manufacturer laid off 10 of its 20 software engi-neers. The ages of all engineers at the time of the layoff are shown below. Analyze the data to determine whether the company may be vulnerable to a disparate impact claim.
Not laid off: 34 55 42 38 42 32 40 40 46 29
Laid off: 52 35 40 41 40 39 40 64 47 44
Submit Homework 1 as a Word document to the appropriate assignment folder no later than Sunday 11:59 PM EST/EDT. (This assignment folder may be linked to Turnitin.)
