Research Methods
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Table of Contents
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Executive Summary
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Title of Paper
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Senior leadership at Sun Coast has identified several areas for concern that they believe could be solved using business research methods. The previous director was tasked with conducting research to help provide information to make decisions about these issues. Although data were collected, the project was never completed. Senior leadership is interested in seeing the project through to fruition. The following is the completion of that project and includes the statement of the problems, literature review, research objectives, research questions and hypotheses, research methodology, design, and methods, data analysis, findings, and recommendations.
Statement of the Problems
Note: The following statement of the problems should remain in the research project unchanged. Delete this note before you begin.
Six business problems were identified:
Particulate Matter (PM)
There is a concern that job-site particle pollution is adversely impacting employee health. Although respirators are required in certain environments, PM varies in size depending on the project and job site. PM that is between 10 and 2.5 microns can float in the air for minutes to hours (e.g., asbestos, mold spores, pollen, cement dust, fly ash), while PM that is less than 2.5 microns can float in the air for hours to weeks (e.g. bacteria, viruses, oil smoke, smog, soot). Due to the smaller size of PM that is less than 2.5 microns, it is potentially more harmful than PM that is between 10 and 2.5 since the conditions are more suitable for inhalation. PM that is less than 2.5 is also able to be inhaled into the deeper regions of the lungs, potentially causing more deleterious health effects. It would be helpful to understand if there is a relationship between PM size and employee health. PM air quality data have been collected from 103 job sites, which is recorded in microns. Data are also available for average annual sick days per employee per job-site.
Safety Training Effectiveness
Health and safety training is conducted for each new contract that is awarded to Sun Coast. Data for training expenditures and lost-time hours were collected from 223 contracts. It would be valuable to know if training has been successful in reducing lost-time hours and, if so, how to predict lost-time hours from training expenditures.
Sound-Level Exposure
Sun Coast’s contracts generally involve work in noisy environments due to a variety of heavy equipment being used for both remediation and the clients’ ongoing operations on the job sites. Standard ear-plugs are adequate to protect employee hearing if the decibel levels are less than 120 decibels (dB). For environments with noise levels exceeding 120 dB, more advanced and expensive hearing protection is required, such as earmuffs. Historical data have been collected from 1,503 contracts for several variables that are believed to contribute to excessive dB levels. It would be important if these data could be used to predict the dB levels of work environments before placing employees on-site for future contracts. This would help the safety department plan for procurement of appropriate ear protection for employees.
New Employee Training
All new Sun Coast employees participate in general health and safety training. The training program was revamped and implemented six months ago. Upon completion of the training programs, the employees are tested on their knowledge. Test data are available for two groups: Group A employees who participated in the prior training program and Group B employees who participated in the revised training program. It is necessary to know if the revised training program is more effective than the prior training program.
Lead Exposure
Employees working on job sites to remediate lead must be monitored. Lead levels in blood are measured as micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (μg/dL). A baseline blood test is taken pre-exposure and postexposure at the conclusion of the remediation. Data are available for 49 employees who recently concluded a 2-year lead remediation project. It is necessary to determine if blood lead levels have increased.
Return on Investment
Sun Coast offers four lines of service to their customers, including air monitoring, soil remediation, water reclamation, and health and safety training. Sun Coast would like to know if each line of service offers the same return on investment. Return on investment data are available for air monitoring, soil remediation, water reclamation, and health and safety training projects. If return on investment is not the same for all lines of service, it would be helpful to know where differences exist.
Literature Review
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should include the literature review information here. Delete this before you begin.
Research Objectives
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should include research objectives here. Delete this before you begin.
RO2:
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Research Questions and Hypotheses
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should state the research questions and hypotheses. Delete this before you begin.
RQ1:
H01:
HA1:
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Research Methodology, Design, and Methods
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should detail the research design they have selected. Use the following subheadings to include all required information. Delete this before you begin.
Research Methodology
Research Design
Research Methods
Data Collection Methods
Sampling Design
Data Analysis Procedures
Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should provide the Excel Toolpak results of their descriptive analyses. Use the following subheadings to include all required information. Delete this before you begin.
Correlation: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
Simple Regression: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
Multiple Regression: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
Independent Samples t Test: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
Dependent Samples (Paired-Samples) t Test: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
ANOVA: Descriptive Statistics and Assumption Testing
Data Analysis: Hypothesis Testing
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should provide the Excel Toolpak results of their hypothesis testing. Use the following subheadings to include all required information. Delete this before you begin.
Correlation: Hypothesis Testing
Simple Regression: Hypothesis Testing
Multiple Regression: Hypothesis Testing
Independent Samples t Test: Hypothesis Testing
Dependent Samples (Paired Samples) t Test: Hypothesis Testing
ANOVA: Hypothesis Testing
Findings
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should discuss the findings in the context of Sun Coast’s problems and the associated research objectives and questions. Important Note: Students should refer to the information presented in the Unit VII Study Guide and the Unit VII Syllabus instructions to complete this section of the project. Restate each research objective, and discuss them in the context of your hypothesis testing results. The following are some things to consider. What answers did the analysis provide to your research questions? What do those answers tell you? What are the implications of those answers? Delete these statements before you begin.
Example:
RO1: Determine if a person’s height is related to weight.
The results of the statistical testing showed that a person’s height is related to their weight. It is a relatively strong and positive relationship between height and weight. We would, therefore, expect to see in our population taller people having a greater weight relative to those of shorter people. This determination suggests restrictions on industrial equipment should be stated in maximum pounds allowed rather than maximum number of people allowed.
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Recommendations
After providing a brief introduction to this section, students should include recommendations here in paragraph form. This section should be your professional thoughts based upon the results of the hypothesis testing. You are the researcher, and Sun Coast’s leadership team is relying on you to make evidence-based recommendations. Delete these statements before you begin.
References
Include references here using hanging indentations, and delete these statements and example reference.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). Sage.
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