RE-EXAMINATION HOME EXAM FALL 2021: 50 POINTS
QUESTION 1 (16P)
You are hired by a market research company in order to analyze the housing market in New York City. You and your team are supposed to provide information about the housing prices and about factors, that influence the prices of houses, to local politicians. Your team has developed certain presumption about factors influencing the price of a real estate:
– H1: The more bathrooms a house has, the higher is the price of the house.
– H2: The more bedrooms a house has, the higher is the price of the house.
– H3: The more fireplaces a house has, the higher is the price of the house.
– H4: The older the house is, the lower is the price of a house.
Unfortunately, you are the only person in the team who knows how to conduct a quantitative analysis and how to use SPSS. You have collected a random sample of 1057 houses in New York. In order to investigate on your colleagues’ presumptions, you conducted a descriptive analysis, a correlation analysis as well as a regression analysis in SPSS. Please find the document with the output tables in canvas. Now you want to interpret your data.
1A: Provide an interpretation of the descriptive statistics of the variable “Price”. What to the different values say about the housing prices in NY? As your clients (the politicians) have a very limited knowledge of statistics, write in full sentences and use your own language to explain the different values in a clear and understandable way (N, range, minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis). (6P)
1B: Interpret the outcomes of the regression tables. How well does the overall model explain the difference in the housing prices? Explain the different values per each variable in the coefficient table – interpret the B-value, the Beta-value and the significance level for each variable. Use your own language and explain your findings in full sentences. (5P)
1C: You want to find out, whether your colleagues’ presumptions about the influences on the housing price are true. Test the hypothesis by using the provided output. Which hypothesis are supported by your data? Which factor has the strongest influence on the housing price? Justify your answer by referring to the output. (5P)
QUESTION 2 (10 P)
Anna is conducting a qualitative case study on bullying in middle school. She aims to explore students’ perceptions of bullying and its impact on the school’s social environment. To conduct her study, she needs to apply for funding. To do so, Anna needs to submit a proposal where she explains her research methods. You need to help Anna develop this proposal by developing two sections of the proposal: data collection, and data analysis sections. For the purpose of this proposal, you need to answer the following questions (base your answers on scientific literature):
2A: Define and explain what a qualitative case study is. What is a case and how can we define a case? (5P)
2B: Explain why a qualitative case study research method is suitable for her topic. (2P)
2C: What are the practical steps that Anna has to undertake to conduct her data collection? (3P)
QUESTION 3 (16P)
When we discuss about the quality and trustworthiness of qualitative research, we need other criteria than in quantitative research. Traditionally, qualitative researchers assess the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of their research. Give a definition to each of the categories and explain how researchers can ensure the presence of the criteria in their research. Your answers must be based on scientific literature.
QUESTION 4 (3P)
Below the descriptions of three variables are provided. What is the measurement level of the variables? Explain your answers.
4A: Family firm measure: the variable is coded as “1” when the company is a family firm and “0” otherwise. (Baù et al, 2018)
4B: Performance measure: Firm performance is measured using Return on Assets (calculated as net income divided by total assets), an established accounting-based performance indicator. (Ruigrok etal, 2007)
4C: Number of employees: In the survey, respondents were asked to indicate whether the firm had 1) less than 5 employees, 2) 5-50 employees, or 3) 51-150 employees. (adapted from Wei-Loon Koe etal. 2014).
QUESTION 5 (5P)
Discuss how you can select a random sample for a quantitative study. Therefore, first explain what a random sample is.
