The document contains a practice exam for a business research methods course. It includes 30 multiple choice questions covering topics like research methods, statistical concepts, probability distributions, sampling, and ethics. The questions assess understanding of key business research concepts and techniques.

1. RES/341 Final Exam
Answers are HERE!
1) Unstructured interviews are best used for
A. measuring worker productivity
B. solving manufacturing defect problems
C. assessing management effectiveness
D. asking individualized questions with no specific order
2) A recent study of breast cancer revealed that 13% of the women in the sample used
antibiotics more than 500 days in their lifetime. Further, 79% of these “heavy antibiotics
users” developed breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, one in twelve
women will develop breast cancer at some time in her life. Of the numbers mentioned,
which are parameters?
A. 13% and 79%
B. 13% and one in twelve
C. 79% and 500 days
D. 79% and one in twelve
3) Basic business research methods would be used to
A. identify factors that affect worker absenteeism
B. evaluate a retail store’s inventory tracking system
C. assess consumer acceptance of a redesigned computer keyboard
D. determine the effect of a 10% price increase on the sale of school supplies
4) The collection and summarization of the socioeconomic and physical characteristics of
the employees of a particular firm is an example of
A. inferential statistics
B. descriptive statistics
C. a parameter
D. an estimation
5) Which of the following is an example of statistical inference?
A. Counting the number of patients who file malpractice suits after being discharged from
hospitals in New York
B. Calculating the mean number of fruit trees damaged by Mediterranean fruit flies in
California last year
C. Calculating the mean age of patients discharged from hospitals in New York in 1997
D. Calculating the amount of fly spray needed for your orchard next season
6) A logically conjectured statement that describes the relationship between two or more
variables and is formulated for empirical testing is a

2. A. hypothesis
B. theory
C. construct
D. thesis statement
7) The variable that causes a measurable effect or change on the dependent variable is
A independent
B. dependent
C. intervening
D. moderating
8) Survey questionnaires may be effectively used for research to determine
A. defect rates in automobile parts coming off a production line
B. the effect of price changes on sales volume
C. the attitudes of prospective voters
D. how temperature and humidity affect concrete cure time
9) A company is designing a survey to obtain information on the reliability of a product it
sells. To obtain the most valid research information, who should the company send this
type of survey to?
A. A random sample of its customers
B. Vendors
C. Customers who have bought the product
D. Employees
10) The following practice is considered ethical when conducting business research:
A. Disclosing some, but not all, financial interests that may affect research
B. Allowing participants to withdraw from a business research project whenever they ask to
do so
C. Keeping minimal records of research activities and research design
D. Revealing only a small part of the purpose of the business research project
11) If a population distribution is skewed to the right, then given a random sample from
that population, one would expect that the
A. median is greater than the mean
B. mode is equal to the mean
C. median is less than the mean
D. median is equal to the mean
12)
Textbook Price Number of Textbooks
$25 to $35 2
$35 to $45 16
$45 to $55 5
$55 to $65 7
$65 to $75 20

3. Estimate the standard deviation of the price of a textbook.
A. 14.03
B. 33.85
C. 196.78
D. 729.00
13)
Textbook Price Number of Textbooks
$25 to $34.99 2
$35 to $44.99 16
$45 to $54.99 5
$55 to $64.99 7
$65 to $74.99 20
Estimate the mean price of a textbook.
A. $554.00
B. $11.08
C. $60.00
D. $55.40
14) A supermarket has determined that daily demand for eggs has a bell-shaped
distribution, with a mean of 55 cartons and a standard deviation of six cartons. If the
supermarket begins each morning with a stock of 61 cartons of eggs, approximately what
percentage of days will there be a surplus of eggs?
A. 16%
B. 18%
C. 68%
D. 84%
15) Which of these measurement scales has a rank order associated with its use?
A. Ratio
B. Ordinal
C. Nominal
D. Likert
16) Identify the scale that has no meaningful zero.
A. Nominal
B. Ordinal
C. Interval
D. Ratio
17) __________ is a measure of the chance that an uncertain event will occur.
A. Random experiment
B. Sample space
C. Probability
D. A complement

4. 18) The Information Commons in the main library has 150 personal computers. The
probability that any of them will require repair on a given day is 0.02. To find the
probability that 25 of the computers will require repair, one would use what type of
probability distribution?
A. Binomial
B. Poisson
C. Normal
D. Hypergeometric
19) A multiple-choice test has 20 questions. There are four choices for each question. A
student comes to class with four different colored balls of identical shape and size in her
pocket. She has decided to draw one ball from her pocket per question and allow the color
of the ball to select the answer for each question. What type of probability distribution can
be used to figure out her chance of getting 10 questions right?
A. Hypergeometric
B. Poisson
C. Normal
D. Binomial
20) Which of the following cannot generate a Poisson distribution?
A. The number of people at a movie theatre on Friday evening
B. The number of customers arriving at an automatic teller machine (ATM) in a minute
C. The number of defects in a new automobile
D. The number of goals in the World Cup soccer game
21) Which of the following is a characteristic of every binomial distribution?
A. Each outcome is dependent on the previous outcome.
B. The probability of success increases from trial to trial.
C. Each outcome is mutually exclusive.
D. The outcome of the trial depends on the number of trials.
22) The average qualifying speed for a championship NASCAR® race is 145.65 mph and
the standard deviation is 9.45 mph. Only drivers who obtain z-scores greater than 1.2 will
qualify for the race. If the speeds are normally distributed, what minimum speed must be
clocked to compete for the trophy?
A. 146.9 mph
B. 155.2 mph
C. 157.0 mph
D. 174.8 mph
23) Trudy Jones recently completed her certification examination and learned that her z-
score was -2.5. The examining board also informed her that a failure to pass would equal
all scores that were one or more standard deviations below the mean and that those with
scores higher than two standard deviations above the mean would receive a special
commendation award. Trudy can conclude that she

5. A. failed the exam
B. needs more data to determine if she passed the exam
C. passed the exam and will receive a special commendation award
D. passed the exam, but no commendation award is forthcoming
24) The use of the student’s distribution requires which of the following assumptions?
A. The sample size is greater than 30.
B. The population variance is known.
C. The population is normal.
D. The sample is drawn from a positively skewed distribution.
25) The standard error of the sample mean is equal to 5 when n=25. If the sample size
increases by a factor of four, how will the standard error change?
A. It will be double.
B. It will be cut in half.
C. It will be cut to 1/4 of 5.
D. It will quadruple.
26) For a sample size of 1, the sampling distribution of the mean will be normally
distributed
A. regardless of the shape of the population
B. only if the shape of the population is positively skewed
C. only if the population values are larger than 30
D. only if the population is normally distributed
27) A 95% confidence interval for the population mean indicates that
A. with an infinite number of samples, there’s a 5% chance that the population mean will be
outside the interval
B. more sampling is required to increase the confidence interval to 100%
C. the sampling process is biased
D. 95% of the observations from any sample will fall within the interval
28) A random sample of 16 ATM transactions at the First National Bank of Flintrock
revealed a mean transaction time of 2.8 minutes with a standard deviation of 1.2 minutes.
The width, in minutes, of the 95% confidence interval for the true mean transaction time is
A. ± 0.639
B. ± 0.588
C. ± 0.300
D. ± 2.131
29) All other things being equal, which is narrower, a 95% confidence interval with n=100
or a 99% confidence interval with n=30?
A. The 95% confidence interval
B. The 99% confidence interval
C. The same width
D. Need the margin of error to tell

6. 30) When the only sources of variation in a production process are caused by chance, the
process is said to be
A. out of balance but under control
B. out of control but in balance
C. under control
D. out of control
Topic:
Define business research and its purpose. Question: Basic business research methods would be used
to Answer Rationale: Research that will evaluate, assess, or determine the effect is analytical research
conducted to solve a particular business problem.
Topic:
Develop a questionnaire for survey research. Question: A company is designing a survey to obtain
information on the reliability of a product it sells. To obtain the most valid research information, who
should the company send this type of survey to? Answer Rationale: A random sample of customers,
vendors, and employees may not be users of the product, and may not provide valid responses.