Introduction The TJF Company is an organization that is beginning to see a real need for Information Technology (IT) support. The unavailability of systems and delayed access to information has made it increasingly difficult for TJF employees to complete their work and support their valued customers. Because of decreased customer satisfaction levels, revenues are down. Originally the company was able to perform with a small IT staff however due to company growth the IT department has outsourced its Tier 1 helpdesk duties. These duties are limited to simple tasks that are needed: resetting passwords, installing or updating programs, and general low level assignments. The outsourcing was put in place to free up time of the network engineers and system administrators for larger projects. Since instituting the change there has been some feedback surrounding general dissatisfaction with the Tier 1 service. In order to properly gauge the amount of satisfaction and to determine if the company will continue to use the vendor we need to ask a research question. Research Question: 1. Is there a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly support their customer? The Variables in Question Are: 1. The quality of the assistance from IT to the employees; 2. The satisfaction level of external customers. Satisfaction is an abstract quality so it would need to be determined in survey as Very Satisfied – Satisfied – Indifferent – Dissatisfied – Very Dissatisfied. Because Frequency of repeated calls is quantifiable we will be able to look at the Help Desk tickets in order to determine the number of tickets called in over a period of time. Hypothesis Statements: 1. Is there a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly support their customer? H10: There is a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly support their customer? H1a: There is not a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly support their customer? Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research Problem Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT PART 1 1 Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research Problem 2 Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research Problem With the rising gas prices, consumers tend to conduct research when shopping for a new vehicle. Team B has been tasked with conducting research for Automotive Trends. The team is looking into the correlation between vehicles weight and highway fuel economy. The purpose of this paper is to review the dependent and independent variables for these and to come up with a hypothesis. Team B will generate a research question to get this started. Research Question When looking at the research question,.

1. Introduction
The TJF Company is an organization that is beginning to see a
real need for Information Technology (IT) support. The
unavailability of systems and delayed access to information has
made it increasingly difficult for TJF employees to complete
their work and support their valued customers. Because of
decreased customer satisfaction levels, revenues are down.
Originally the company was able to perform with a small IT
staff however due to company growth the IT department has
outsourced its Tier 1 helpdesk duties. These duties are limited
to simple tasks that are needed: resetting passwords, installing
or updating programs, and general low level assignments. The
outsourcing was put in place to free up time of the network
engineers and system administrators for larger projects. Since
instituting the change there has been some feedback surrounding
general dissatisfaction with the Tier 1 service. In order to
properly gauge the amount of satisfaction and to determine if
the company will continue to use the vendor we need to ask a
research question.
Research Question:
1. Is there a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT
service the employees receive and their ability to properly
support their customer?
The Variables in Question Are:
1. The quality of the assistance from IT to the employees;
2. The satisfaction level of external customers.
Satisfaction is an abstract quality so it would need to be
determined in survey as Very Satisfied – Satisfied – Indifferent
– Dissatisfied – Very Dissatisfied. Because Frequency of
repeated calls is quantifiable we will be able to look at the Help
Desk tickets in order to determine the number of tickets called
in over a period of time.

2. Hypothesis Statements:
1. Is there a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of IT
service the employees receive and their ability to properly
support their customer?
H10: There is a direct correlation with the satisfaction level of
IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly
support their customer?
H1a: There is not a direct correlation with the satisfaction level
of IT service the employees receive and their ability to properly
support their customer?
Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research
Problem
Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH PROJECT PART 1
1
Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research
Problem
2

3. Business Research Project Part 1: Formulation of the Research
Problem
With the rising gas prices, consumers tend to conduct
research when shopping for a new vehicle. Team B has been
tasked with conducting research for Automotive Trends. The
team is looking into the correlation between vehicles weight and
highway fuel economy. The purpose of this paper is to review
the dependent and independent variables for these and to come
up with a hypothesis. Team B will generate a research question
to get this started.
Research Question
When looking at the research question, Team B has
decided to look at the correlation between the weight of the
vehicle and the highway miles per gallon. The following is the
research question:
1. Is there a direct correlation between vehicles weight and the
highway fuel mileage?
To answer this, Team B had to determine the variables that
would be reviewing in researching. The first variable is the
independent variable. In this scenario, the independent variable
would be the highway fuel mileage. The second variable is the
dependent variable. With this scenario, the dependent variable
is the vehicles weight. The weight of the vehicle will remain
constant while the highway fuel mileage can vary based on
driving conditions.
Hypothesis
Team B generated a hypothesis for the research question. The
hypothesis is a statistical
inference using data (McClave, Benson, & Sincich, 2011). The

4. hypothesis Team B generated is
as follows:
1. Ho: There is a direct correlation between vehicle weight
(DV) and highway fuel mileage (IV).
2. H1: There is no direct correlation between vehicle weight
(DV) and highway fuel mileage (IV).
Data
Team B investigated 32 different vehicles from 26 different
manufacturers. The team collected the weights of the vehicles;
overall length; braking distance; number of cylinders;
displacement; city and highway miles per gallon; and
greenhouse gases.
The results for the vehicles are below as follows:
Car
Weight
Length
Braking
Cylinders
Displacement
City
Highway
GHG
Acura RL
4035
194
131
6
3.5
18
26
8.7
Acura TSX
3315
183
136
4

5. 2.4
22
31
7.2
Audi A6
4115
194
129
6
3.2
21
29
7.7
BMW 525i
3650
191
127
6
3.0
21
29
7.7
Buick LaCrosse
3565
198
146
4
3.8
20
30
7.9
Cadillac STS
4030
196
146
6

6. 3.6
18
27
8.7
Chevrolet Impala
3710
200
155
6
3.9
19
27
8.2
Chevrolet Malibu
3135
188
139
4
2.2
24
32
6.8
Chrysler 300
4105
197
133
8
5.7
17
25
9.3
Dodge Charger
4170
200
131
8

7. 5.7
17
25
9.3
Dodge Stratus
3190
191
131
4
2.4
22
30
7.4
Ford Crown Victoria
4180
212
140
8
4.6
17
25
9.3
Ford Focus
2760
168
137
4
2.0
26
32
6.5
Honda Accord
3195
190
144
4

8. 2.4
24
34
6.6
Hyundai Elantra
2980
177
133
4
2.0
24
32
6.7
Infiniti M35
4095
193
122
6
3.5
18
25
9.0
Jaguar XJ8
3860
200
133
8
4.2
18
27
8.6
Kia Amanti
4020
196
143
6

9. 3.5
17
25
9.3
Kia Spectra
2875
176
144
4
2.0
25
34
6.5
Lexus GS300
3915
190
133
6
3.0
22
30
7.4
Lexus LS
4205
197
134
8
4.3
18
25
8.7
Lincoln Town Car
4415
215
143
8

10. 4.6
17
25
9.3
Mazda 3
3060
177
129
4
2.3
26
32
6.5
Mercedes-Benz E
3745
190
128
6
3.2
27
37
7.0
Mercury Grand Marquis
4180
212
140
8
4.6
17
25
9.3
Nissan Altima
3235
192
144
4

11. 2.5
23
29
7.1
Pontiac G6
3475
189
146
6
3.5
22
32
7.2
Saturn Ion
2865
185
130
4
2.2
24
32
6.7
Toyota Avalon
3600
197
139
6
3.5
22
31
7.2
Toyota Corolla
2595
178
140
4

12. 1.8
30
38
5.5
Volkswagon Passat
3465
188
135
4
2.0
22
31
7.3
Volvo S80
3630
190
136
6
2.9
20
27
8.2
Sum
115370
6144
4377
180
104.0
678
939
248.8000
Mean
3605.31
192.00
136.78

13. 5.63
3.25
21.19
29.34
7.78
Median
3640.0
191.5
136.0
6.0
3.2
21.5
29.5
7.6
References
McClave, J. T., Benson, P. G., & Sincich, T. (2011). Statistics
for Business and Economics (11th
ed.). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.
Research Question Two Variable Handout
QNT/561 Version 7
1
University of Phoenix Material
Research Question Two Variable Handout
The research question (RQ) is developed from the business
problem. Each variable is operationally defined so that reliable
measurements may be taken. This DQ represents a managerial
problem statement that needs to be put into a form that can be
tested.
The independent and dependent variables are identified. The
variables may be attribute (non-numeric) or numerical. More
commonly, the dependent variable is the one that is numeric and
measured. When there are two numeric variables, the IV
generally precedes the DV.
Below are three cases.

14. Case 1: DV Numeric, IV Attribute
A manager asks why the productivity is different based on three
daily shifts. To test this statement, we may first want to validate
the observation. A hypothesis test will be decisive as to whether
the productivity is different because of normal variation (by
chance alone,) or whether there is statistical significance.
Productivity is abstract, so it is operationalized to be measure
cases of product per hour.
A RQ may be as such:
RQ: Is there a difference in productivity (DV) based on the
production shift (IV)?
Variables are productivity, numeric data, and shift, attribute
data.
The hypothesis statements are the next step.
Ho: There is no difference in productivity (DV) based on the
production shift (IV).
H1: There is a difference in productivity (DV) based on the
production shift (IV).
Notice the alternate hypothesis, H1, is nearly identical to the
RQ. Then notice the relationship between
H1 and Ho.
Case 2: DV Numeric, IV Numeric
A manager asks why a product’s profitability is inconsistent
with sales.
Profitability is abstract, so it is operationalized to be measure
Gross Profit (= Sales Revenue - Cost of
Goods Sold)

15. A RQ may be as such:
RQ: Is there a correlation in product profitability (DV) based on
product sales (IV)?
Variables are profitability, numeric, and sales, numeric data.
The hypothesis statements are the next step.
Ho: There is no correlation in product profitability (DV) based
on product sales (IV).
H1: There is a correlation in product profitability (DV) based
on product sales (IV).
Case 3: DV Attribute, IV Attribute
A HR manager believes employees on the back shift are less
satisfied than those on the day shift.
Satisfied is abstract, so it is operationalized to be Very Satisfied
– Satisfied – In Different – Dissatisfied –Very Dissatisfied.
Satisfaction has been operationalized by using a validate survey
questionnaire.
A RQ may be as such:
RQ: Is there a relationship between employee satisfaction (DV)
and specific shift (IV)?
Variables are satisfaction, attribute, and shift, attribute data.
The hypothesis statements are the next step.
Ho: There is no relationship between employee satisfaction
(DV) and specific shift (IV).
H1: There is a relationship between employee satisfaction (DV)
and specific shift (IV).
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