Deck 7: Finding and Evaluating Business Information

Question 1

Your supervisor recently expressed disappointment that no one in your department was participating in the company's new volunteer initiative, which encourages employees to "adopt" causes they care about and donate time and resources to help them. You decide to research some options - including a mentoring program at a local high school and a recreational center at a nearby senior citizens' facility - so that you can discuss them with your team and hopefully convince them to join the program with you.
She tells you that one of your sources will not be highly regarded by the professional audience to whom you will present, and advises you to omit it. Which of the following sources is she most likely referring to?

A) The New York Times
B) The Wall Street Journal
C) U.S. Department of Labor data
D) Wikipedia
E) Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology

Answer 1

D
Explanation: D) A professional audience will not consider a general and non-validated source like Wikipedia to be professional or highly credible.

Question 2

Which of the following questions is used for background research of your topic?

A) Who is the primary audience?
B) Who else might be affected by this problem or decision?
C) What sources will your audience expect you to consult?
D) What questions will your audience expect you to answer when you present the research?
E) When and why did my research topic first develop?

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following is true of workplace research?

A) Its starting point is a topic.
B) The goal of most workplace research is for the researcher to invent a new product.
C) Employers will expect you to have all the information you need at your fingertips.
D) You will need to find appropriate sources.
E) It requires skills completely different from those used in academic research.

Answer 3

D
Explanation: D) Many of the skills that you developed doing academic research will be useful for workplace research. Both types require you to identify research questions, find appropriate sources, extract the right information, combine it with information from other sources, and present it in a useful format.

Question 4

In this research project, who is your primary audience?

A) your company's entry-level employees
B) your boss
C) your company's owners
D) the outsourcing service providers
E) yourself

Question 5

Which of the following statements is most likely to be true of academic research?

A) The goal of most academic research is for the researcher to learn.
B) It does not prepare you for the research you will need to do in the workplace.
C) The aim of the research is to find, analyze, and organize information that will solve a problem.
D) The skills required for it are not applicable to workplace research.
E) Its starting point is typically a specific question or problem.

Question 6

Your supervisor recently expressed disappointment that no one in your department was participating in the company's new volunteer initiative, which encourages employees to "adopt" causes they care about and donate time and resources to help them. You decide to research some options - including a mentoring program at a local high school and a recreational center at a nearby senior citizens' facility - so that you can discuss them with your team and hopefully convince them to join the program with you.
She tells you that Wikipedia ________.

A) is an acceptable source for background information only
B) will be considered as a highly credible source by your professional audience
C) should be avoided in favor of sources like professional journals and websites published by professional associations
D) is a more professional source than a national newspaper
E) is a source that your professional audience will expect you to consult

Question 7

Which of the following aspects of determining what information you need is being targeted while doing background research to broaden your understanding of your topic's history, context and structure, and categories?

A) analyzing the research question and topic
B) identifying audience concerns and needs
C) establishing scope of the research
D) defining research activities
E) developing a work plan

Question 8

As you prepare to analyze the research question and topic, which of the following would be your best first move?

A) considering whether there are options other than outsourcing this work
B) asking entry-level employees how they feel about doing these tasks
C) calling a few outsourcing service providers to get quotes from them
D) finding out whether any of your competitors outsource this kind of work
E) comparing the specific terms of a few different outsourcing service providers

Question 9

Which of the following involves the use of a secondary source?

A) talking to the entry-level employees about why the duties are not being properly executed
B) surveying other companies who outsource the kinds of duties you are looking to outsource
C) reading a journal article about the perceived versus actual cost effectiveness of outsourcing
D) discussing the situation with your boss
E) speaking to outsourcing service providers about some options

Question 10

Which of the following is true regarding business research?

A) Business research shouldn't follow a structured process.
B) The biggest challenge in business research is starting with a general topic and developing a research question.
C) Understanding what you are looking for and where to look for it will benefit you in business research.
D) The credibility of your information source is unimportant in business research.
E) Unlike academic research, business research does not require you to conduct background research before you actually start exploring your specific question.

Question 11

Which of the following statements is true of primary sources?

A) Primary sources provide raw data.
B) Primary sources exclude surveys and interviews.
C) Primary sources include Wikipedia and various encyclopedias.
D) Primary sources are only qualitative.
E) Primary sources include research reports written by the researchers themselves.

Question 12

Which of the following assignments would require you to conduct research and share the results?

A) investigating why product sales are low
B) implementing a new code developed by your colleague
C) adding the results that you have just received to your report
D) organizing a marketing team meeting
E) sending an apology email to the client for delay in delivery

Question 13

Your supervisor recently expressed disappointment that no one in your department was participating in the company's new volunteer initiative, which encourages employees to "adopt" causes they care about and donate time and resources to help them. You decide to research some options - including a mentoring program at a local high school and a recreational center at a nearby senior citizens' facility - so that you can discuss them with your team and hopefully convince them to join the program with you.
In this case your primary audience ________.

A) is your supervisor
B) is the top management of your company
C) are your team members
D) are the high school students
E) are the senior citizens

Question 14

________ sources are books and articles that synthesize material from ________ sources, framing them for general readers.

A) Primary; secondary
B) Secondary; tertiary
C) Tertiary; primary
D) Primary; tertiary
E) Tertiary; secondary

Question 15

You decide to do some background research on the topic of outsourcing, to broaden your general understanding of the topic and help structure your research. Which of the following questions addresses the context and structure of outsourcing service providers?

A) When and why did outsourcing first develop?
B) How has outsourcing evolved over time?
C) What types of outsourcing service providers exist?
D) How does outsourcing fit into the larger system of our workplace and tasks?
E) How do typical outsourcing service providers compare and contrast?

Question 16

Doing background research on your topic ________.

A) is not advised for business research
B) should not include information about your topic's history
C) is vital, since you are required to include it in your final presentation
D) can help you structure your research
E) is only necessary for academic research

Question 17

At your company, a number of routine office tasks are loosely shared among entry-level employees, who perform these duties in addition to their specific job descriptions. This often results in tasks being done late, poorly, or not at all. You suggest to your boss that outsourcing this work might be a good idea. He is interested and asks you to research and recommend a service provider.
In this case, which of the following is the best example of a primary source?

A) the website of an outsourcing service provider that you are considering
B) a Wikipedia article about the popularity of outsourcing
C) a journal article about the impact of outsourcing on a company's bottom line
D) a research report discussing the effects of outsourcing on the overall economy
E) a textbook chapter about the ethical implications of outsourcing

Question 18

When doing background research on your topic, asking, "What else exists that serves similar purposes?" is a question about the topic's ________.

A) categories
B) history
C) popularity
D) appeal
E) context and structure

Question 19

Which of the following terms refers to the characteristics of a research project that prevent you from generalizing your findings more broadly?

A) scopes
B) limitations
C) sources
D) samples
E) populations

Question 20

At your company, a number of routine office tasks are loosely shared among entry-level employees, who perform these duties in addition to their specific job descriptions. This often results in tasks being done late, poorly, or not at all. You suggest to your boss that outsourcing this work might be a good idea. He is interested and asks you to research and recommend a service provider.
Which of the following best articulates the research question you have been asked to explore?

A) Is it fair to make entry-level employees do this additional work?
B) How can we train the entry-level employees so that they will be able to perform these tasks in a more efficient manner?
C) Which outsourcing service provider would be the best for us?
D) Is outsourcing the best solution to our problem?
E) Why aren't our entry-level employees responsible enough to get this work done themselves?

Question 21

Searching through which of the following is most likely to yield the narrowest search results?

A) Lexis/Nexis
B) Standard and Poor's
C) New York Times Index
D) Hoover's
E) Ebsco Business Source Premier

Question 22

Which of the following is most likely to increase the number of results in a web search?

A) putting quotation marks around your search phrase
B) searching for specific file types
C) excluding words from your search with a minus sign
D) using the Boolean operator AND
E) using the wildcard asterisk (*) in the phrase being searched

Question 23

The work plan ________.

A) is created before you establish the scope of your research
B) involves setting the limitations of your research
C) must not be modified as you progress with your research
D) begins with the research questions, which form the basis for the research activities
E) should not include space for recording results

Question 24

Using an online database like Lexis-Nexis to search for articles on a topic ________.

A) is not as effective as doing a Google search
B) allows you to search publications not available through a Google search
C) is less expensive but more time-consuming than a Google search
D) leads you to articles that are less reliable than web pages
E) does not allow you access to articles from newspapers and magazines

Question 25

When you conduct a search in most web search engines, you can use ________ as a wild-card symbol within a phrase to represent an unknown word.

A) a question mark (?)
B) a capital W (W)
C) an asterisk (*)
D) an ampersand (&)
E) a minus symbol (-)

Question 26

Which of the following tools will give you maximum access to the data and analyses published by Standard & Poor's and Hoover's?

A) Lexis-Nexis Academic
B) AltaVista
C) The Wall Street Journal Index
D) Business Week Index
E) New York Times Index

Question 27

Which of the following terms best describes a process that is designed to ensure that articles in academic journals are accurate and honest?

A) narrow casting
B) peer-review
C) satisficing
D) social referencing
E) social loafing

Question 28

Using the search string "cake recipe" - "egg" in a search engine would yield results ________.

A) about either eggs or cake recipes but not both
B) of cake recipes that mention eggs
C) about both cake recipes and eggs
D) of cake recipes that do not mention eggs
E) about disadvantages of adding eggs to cake

Question 29

Putting quotation marks around the search phrase you enter in a search engine is most likely to ________.

A) yield fewer results, which will be more relevant to your search phrase
B) yield fewer results, which will be less relevant to your search phrase
C) yield more results, which will be more relevant to your search phrase
D) yield more results, which will be less relevant to your search phrase
E) have no effect whatsoever on the number or relevancy of results

Question 30

Which of the following would you select to conduct federated searches?

A) Yahoo
B) Google
C) Biznar
D) Bing
E) AltaVista

Question 31

If you perform a search using both of the following phrases, "health insurance plans" and "freelance workers," the search engine will ________.

A) give you those sites that include either exact phrase
B) only give you those sites that include both phrases
C) give you those sites that include any of these five words anywhere on a page
D) give you those sites that include at least two of these five words anywhere on the page
E) only give you those sites that include the first phrase and exclude the second

Question 32

Which of the following do you need to avoid to be an efficient researcher?

A) evaluating your sources for credibility
B) using a library or bookseller to find relevant books
C) using only Google searches to find information
D) following leads in good sources
E) using an online database or index to find articles from print publications

Question 33

The last step before beginning your research is to ________.

A) identify audience concerns and needs
B) develop a work plan
C) define research activities
D) analyze the research question and topic
E) establish scope of the research

Question 34

When you type into a basic search engine like Google, Bing, or Yahoo, the sites that appear at the top or on the side of the results page are usually ________.

A) those that are most frequently accessed
B) those that have paid a fee to be featured in the results
C) those that most closely match your search terms
D) those that are least relevant to your search
E) those that you have visited before

Question 35

When you are using a search engine, the main body of the results page is most likely to begin with sites ________.

A) that are least relevant to your search
B) that are being accessed by other users at that very moment
C) that are accessed least frequently
D) that are updated most recently
E) that are frequently accessed or that most closely match your search terms

Question 36

Boolean operators ________.

A) act as place holders for unknown words in a search phrase
B) must be spelled out using lowercase letters
C) are used to search for an exact match of a word or phrase
D) can help expand or reduce your search results
E) use symbols like "*," "#," and "&" along with key words

Question 37

Which of the following results would the web search "* adopts flex-time schedule" yield ?

A) "Value Mart adopts flex-time schedule"
B) "Flex-time schedule adopted by Vandelay Industries"
C) "Many firms leery of adopting flex-time schedule"
D) "Office World implements flex-time schedule"
E) "Flex-time schedule adopted by more and more firms"

Question 38

In your research you consult Thomson One Banker, IBIS World, and Yahoo Finance. This means that you are using ________ to conduct your search.

A) an online bookstore
B) a library online catalog
C) a general search engine
D) an online publication index
E) online business research tools

Question 39

You enter the phrase flex-time schedule into Google and get about 313,000 results. Trying your search again, this time with quotation marks around your phrase, and entering "flex-time schedule" ________.

A) should not be done if you need an exact match
B) will likely dramatically increase the number of results
C) will result in a list of resources which include that exact match
D) will yield results that include any of those three words anywhere on the page
E) will reduce the number of results by excluding those words from your search

Question 40

A deep web portal ________.

A) finds only that information which is aimed at the public and consumers
B) accesses free information exclusively
C) is not of much use in a professional environment
D) omits information in publications that require a subscription
E) performs federated searches

Question 41

Searching articles in online databases like Lexis-Nexis and Ebsco Business Source Premier ________.

A) bears little resemblance to searching the web
B) is possible only if you personally purchase a subscription
C) allows you to search more sources, though most are less reliable than general web pages
D) lets you specify that you only want articles that are peer reviewed
E) gives you access to article abstracts but never the full texts of the articles themselves

Question 42

For which of the following question types are the responses most likely to vary?

A) Yes/No
B) Multiple Choice
C) Likert (Agreement) Scale
D) Rating Scale
E) Open Ended

Question 43

In the context of a survey, which of the following terms represents the span between the highest and lowest values?

A) mean
B) median
C) mode
D) range
E) volatility

Question 44

You work in a small office of fewer than 20 employees that has no dedicated IT staff. As the resident technical expert you are called on to deal with computer issues and technology-related decisions. Lately this has been taking up more of your time and you feel that it is no longer an efficient arrangement. You speak to your boss about contracting with an IT company to oversee these needs, and she tells you to research some options.
You find a website with some interesting information about your topic, and the author is a well-known expert in the field. There is some useful data, for which the author has taken care to provide citations. There are also some promising looking links, but when you try to click through they are broken. Based on this information, which of the following is an accurate assessment of this source, following the 3 A's?

A) The broken web links suggests that the page may be outdated.
B) The author's qualifications are questionable.
C) The author expects you to take her word for the data.
D) The source seems irrelevant to your problem.
E) The source is protected by copyright.

Question 45

When it comes to research, ________.

A) students should be discouraged from using books as they are less credible than online sources
B) students often shun online information sources in favor of books
C) the drawback with online content is that it cannot be updated regularly
D) books are valuable resources, as they are often professionally written, reviewed, and edited
E) the widespread availability of online content makes books irrelevant

Question 46

Given your company's particular situation, which of the following options would likely be the best choice?

A) doing telephone surveys with a targeted sample
B) doing face-to-face interviews with a convenience sample
C) doing a print survey with a random sample
D) doing a web survey with the entire population
E) doing an email survey with a random sample

Question 47

Which of the following is an example of primary research?

A) interpreting the results of a published survey of consumers
B) interviewing consumers about what appeals to them in a product
C) searching a database for articles about consumer spending patterns
D) using Google to find research on trends in consumer behavior
E) watching a documentary about how the recession has affected consumer spending

Question 48

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of looking at books in a school library?

A) They usually have the newest titles, and if they don't have a book that you want they can order it and get it for you right away.
B) If you find a book that is useful for your research, you can browse the area around it on the shelves to find similar titles.
C) Librarians and faculty have determined that the books on the shelves are worthy of being in the library's collection.
D) A library's online catalog allows you to do key word searches using many of the same techniques you use for a web search.
E) If your library doesn't have a book that you want, then you may be able to get it borrowed from another library.

Question 49

Employee turnover is increasing at your company and morale is low, and this is becoming costlier every day. The company is unsure about the causes of this dissatisfaction, but wants to determine them so they can be remedied before things get worse. As a result, upper management asks you to do a survey to assess employee satisfaction and determine the areas that are most in need of change. The early thinking is to survey all 10,000 of its employees, including those overseas, to demonstrate how serious the company is about its commitment to improving the satisfaction of all its employees.
The original idea is to survey every employee in the entire company, including those overseas. This would mean that you will survey ________.

A) the entire population
B) a sample
C) a convenience sample
D) a targeted sample
E) a random sample

Question 50

Which of the following terms best describes a report produced by a company or organization to educate readers about a complex business issue, product, or technology?

A) memo
B) circular
C) codicil
D) white paper
E) affidavit

Question 51

A sample is random when ________.

A) members are selected based on the ease with which they can participate in the survey
B) every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected
C) members are restricted to a specific subset of the population
D) some members of the population are more likely to be selected based on specific criteria
E) some members of the population are less likely to be selected based on specific criteria

Question 52

Which of the following questions is recommended for evaluating the authorship of a source?

A) Do other sources agree with this information?
B) Is the source published by a reputable press, or is the website sponsored by a reputable organization?
C) Does the author acknowledge and respond to opposing points of view?
D) How current is this information?
E) Does the source provide a copyright?

Question 53

Which of the following questions is recommended for use in assessing the accuracy of a source?

A) How current is this information?
B) Do others frequently cite the source?
C) If your source is a website, does it identify the author?
D) Is the source protected by a copyright?
E) Are any web links broken?

Question 54

You work in a small office of fewer than 20 employees that has no dedicated IT staff. As the resident technical expert you are called on to deal with computer issues and technology-related decisions. Lately this has been taking up more of your time and you feel that it is no longer an efficient arrangement. You speak to your boss about contracting with an IT company to oversee these needs, and she tells you to research some options.
You find a website with some interesting information about your topic, and the author is a well-known expert in the field. There is some useful data, for which the author has taken care to provide citations. There are also some promising looking links, but when you try to click through, they are broken. You find that the page was last updated almost a year ago. How will you evaluate this source?

A) This source should be cited in your report, as it amply meets all 3 A's.
B) This source has some accuracy issues so it should not be cited.
C) This source is not very recent, but given the nature of your research it is acceptable.
D) This source fares well as to authorship and accuracy, but it is not current enough to be cited for a technology project.
E) This source is problematic regarding all 3 "A"s.

Question 55

________ uses a predetermined list of questions to collect a structured set of information from a selected audience.

A) Covert observational research
B) Survey research
C) Trace analysis
D) Observational research
E) Tertiary research

Question 56

Oftentimes, you cannot survey the entire population because there are simply too many people to contact. In these cases, you can identify a representative portion of your population which is referred to as a ________.

A) league
B) sample
C) cohort
D) clique
E) cluster

Question 57

Mandy is conducting a survey and her primary goal is making sure that survey participants actually respond but it is not possible for her to personally meet her participants as they are all geographically dispersed. Which survey medium would be best for Mandy?

A) mail surveys
B) web surveys
C) telephone surveys
D) email surveys
E) face-to-face survey

Question 58

You are researching solutions for a problem that you are facing in your organization and it appears that the in-depth research that you want has not already been done. In this situation ________.

A) shutting down the research project is your only choice
B) performing tertiary research is required
C) composing a survey to elicit this information yourself is an option
D) interviewing experts in the field is not an appropriate choice
E) conducting secondary research is highly recommended

Question 59

Satisfaction Ratings: {6, 3, 6, 6, 9, 1, 4} What is the range of the satisfaction ratings reported above?

A) 2-4
B) 5-9
C) 3-8
D) 1-4
E) 1-9

Question 60

Considering whether any web links are broken is a part of evaluating the source's ________.

A) accuracy
B) authorship
C) age
D) clarity
E) authority

Question 61

Instead of just investigating which new computers your company should buy, you decide to also explore other options like leasing equipment or upgrading your current machines. This means that you have narrowed down your research questions.

Question 62

Tertiary data is collected by surveying, interviewing, or observing people.

Question 63

Before doing in-depth research to explore your research questions, it is important to understand your general topic.

Question 64

Academic research and workplace research have nothing in common.

Question 65

Google is an example of a deep web portal.

Question 66

Anecdotal evidence comes from ________.

A) research papers published in the past
B) online database and websites
C) subjective reports and stories that people tell
D) videos and photographs
E) archived manuscripts and reports

Question 67

The ________ is the number that appears most frequently in a distribution.

A) median
B) mode
C) mean
D) range
E) total count

Question 68

Which of the following types of research is most likely to involve watching people perform activities relevant to your research?

A) secondary research
B) quantitative research
C) tertiary research
D) qualitative research
E) observational research

Question 69

Lily takes over a project from a coworker and finds that very little research has been done so far, though the deadline is just a week away. Since she is unable to extend the deadline, one of the ways in which she can complete the research is by narrowing the scope of her research.

Question 70

When using a basic search engine like Yahoo, one tip for narrowing your results is to add more words to the search phrase.

Question 71

Lexis-Nexis is an online database that allows paid subscribers to search articles from thousands of publications, like newspapers, magazines, professional publications, and academic journals.

Question 72

You should organize your findings by ________.

A) the dates on which the sources of information were last updated
B) the research questions
C) popularity of the source of information
D) the chronological order in which you found them
E) alphabetical order

Question 73

Information sources like Wikipedia or a Google search are considered to be highly credible by a professional audience.

Question 74

Interviews ________.

A) must take place between exactly two people
B) do not give the researcher the opportunity to delve deeply into the answers
C) limit participants to predefined responses
D) can be done by email
E) are less time consuming than surveys

Question 75

________ computing involves storing your files on the Internet so that they are available to share with collaborators and to use on all your devices, including computers, tablets, and smartphones.

A) Grid
B) Mainframe
C) Cloud
D) Utility
E) Peer-to-peer

Question 76

When you download a file from the web, ________.

A) you should always keep its original filename
B) it is unethical to change its original filename
C) you should always change the file type indicated by its extension to ".txt" to save storage space
D) rename it as something easily identifiable if its original filename is vague
E) it is impossible to change its original filename

Question 77

When you conduct a search in most web search engines, you can use a hash (#) sign as a wildcard symbol within a phrase to represent an unknown word.

Question 78

Deep web portals are unable to perform federated searches.

Question 79

The goal of most academic research is for the researcher to learn.

Question 80

In the context of a survey, which of the following terms represents the average and is determined by adding all the responses and dividing the sum by the number of responses?

A) mode
B) standard deviation
C) mean
D) volatility
E) variance