Bus 642 Week 4

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Week 4 Exercises BUS642 Business Research Methods and Tools January 29, 2012 1. Which circumstances could you make a case for using observation?.Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the survey to those of observation. Under The primary advantage to a survey over that of an observation study deals with the actual collection of data. With a survey the data collected is usually known and is more often than not directed to specific answers, because of the survey format in which observational studies collect data in a random way. However, observation can be a beneficial tool in certain situations. Observation is a very beneficial tool when the study must be hidden from the participants. In this method, someone can observe and the participants do not know they are involved in a study. This does present an ethical dilemma but often is mandatory for an effective data collection and study. 2. What ethical risks are involved in observation? In the use of unobtrusive measures? The observation studies of persons include four major categories. 1. Nonverbal behavior, linguistic behavior, extra linguistic behavior and finally spatial relationships. Nonverbal behavior means that no words spoken, but body language, glances, and motor movements. Linguistic behavior is the second most used form of behavior observation and it includes the sounds, like the hums’, or “like” sounds or words that a person uses. The following behavior, extra linguistic behavior, includes the pitch or level of a person’s speech, how quickly or sluggishly he or she communicates, and if the individual tends to interject during conversations. The final type of behavior study is spatial relationships. This is how people handle individuals getting in to their comfort zone around their bodies. The ethical risks involved is because the researcher is limited the legitimacy of what is to
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