Inquiring Minds Want to Know Now

Posted: August 27th, 2021

Inquiring Minds Want to Know Now

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Inquiring Minds Want to Know Now

Building the Hierarchy of the Management-Research Question

1. Has the number of leads generated by business publication adverting reduced as compared to the past?
2. Has the reduced number of leads been contributed by a lack of tracking of the source of the lead among many companies?
3. Could the unattractive lead source occasion lower advertising revenues if other alternate methods of inquiry are not utilized?

Study’s Ethical Issues

Reader-targeted mail questionnaire by phone would infringe on the consent rights of more than 1.7 million users as only 300 individuals had initially subscribed to receiving e-mail warnings from IndustryWeekly (Schindler, 2013). 

Sampling Plan

The sample’s construction entailed stratified disproportionate random sampling with subscribers who belong to one of 42 cells (Schindler, 2013). A stratified disproportionate random sample provides a greater accuracy as it frequentlycomprises a smaller sample that cuts down onthe incurred costs (Lynn, 2016). On the other hand, disproportionate stratified sampling is disadvantageous because it requires extra administrative effort, leading tocomputationally challenging analysis.

Research Design

The research design entailed seven industry groups by six job titles that totaled 710 completed survey questionnaires. Strengths of descriptive survey research design include cost-effectiveness,versatility, andreliability (Lynn, 2016). Indeed, it is cost-effective to receive responses from the target samples. Moreover, the received responses are considered reliable and versatile because the target samples answer the questionnaires accurately. On the contrary, the inherent weaknesses of this research design type are inflexible responses, which lack the potential depth of the expressed sentiments (Lynn, 2016).

Critique of the Study Survey

Since the survey study happened via mail, the targeted sampling size would be negligible. Moreover, from the report, the comprehensive samples would not answer the questionnaires as fewer individuals provide their e-mail addresses on the Internet for fear of hacking.

Preparing the Survey for Analysis

With the construction of the survey sample through the use of the stratified disproportionate random sampling, the targeted subscribers were presumably classified under one of 42 cells (Schindler, 2013). Thus, the active seven industry groups by six job titles totaled the completed questionnaires to 710 respondents. However, the survey analysis starts with only 676 individuals who previously purchased the advertising publication products (Schindler, 2013).

Partly, the study is set up for tabulation by considering that out of 676 respondents, only 97.7% had contacted an advertiser during the past year (Schindler, 2013). Therefore, the analysis of the study would involve the use of SPSS since it would measure complex data of multiple variables like the made inquiries by web visits, fax-on-demand, or e-mail at 49.1% (Schindler, 2013). Thus, the statistical software helped factor in other sub-variables inside the three listed methods of receiving inquiries.

Compiling Report for Decision-Making by IndustryWeekly’s Managers

With more than 71.4% of the respondents having mailed a reader service card in the past year for a non-immediate need and 69.3% having done the same for a business reply card to an advertiser, the publishing of reader service cards would not generate more revenues for the publicationadvertising company.

Compiling Report for the Limitations of the Study

            The study was deemed to fail in defending its findings since the need for the quick response regarding product availability and delivery are regularly affected by the time pressures of the downsizing workforce and costs considerations.

Recommending Further Actions on the Publication of Reader Service Cards

With the decreasing value of the reader response card in response to subscribers, the idea of publishing cards would matteras the behavior of respondents over the Internet has varied based on the immediacy of objective (Schindler, 2013). Therefore, buyers would prefer telephone contact over e-mail service, especially when they need immediate product info. Therefore, I would suggest that IndustryWeekly implement the auto-web gathering responses on the users’ choice methods for contacting the company.

References

Lynn, P. (2016). The advantage and disadvantage of implicitly stratified sampling. Understanding Society Series Paper, 5, 1-19.

Schindler, P. (2013). Business Research Methods (13th ed.). McGraw Hill.