Q&A Hero

Q: An example of a recommendation would be "Given the state of the economy, now is a good time to invest in precious metals."

Q: You should assume that everyone who examines the evidence you present in your report will arrive at the same conclusion.

Q: Conclusions are interpretations of the evidence in your report.

Q: If you find a strong correlation between employee use of company stress-reduction programs and increased worker productivity, you can conclude that such programs do indeed cause increased productivity, without considering any other variables.

Q: The median value of a group is the sum of all the values in a series divided by the number of values in that group.

Q: If the price of a baseball cap in six different stores was $22, $20, $18, $20, $19, and $21, the mean price would be $21.

Q: Paraphrases do not require documentation of sources.

Q: It is always preferable for interviews to take place in person rather than to conduct them via email.

Q: If you plan to quote your interview subject in writing, it is a bad idea to provide him or her with a list of questions a day or two ahead of time.

Q: "Do you think the styling of the new Mini Cooper is a departure from previous styling?" is an example of an open-ended question.

Q: Surveys conducted over the Internet are more expensive and time-consuming than surveys conducted by traditional methods.

Q: "Do you watch sports and news shows on TV?" is a compound question.

Q: A survey is valid if it produces identical results when repeated.

Q: A survey is considered reliable if it measures what it is intended to measure.

Q: Observations, surveys, and experiments are all considered secondary sources of information.

Q: According to the fair use doctrine, you can use other people's work only as long as you do not unfairly prevent them from benefiting as a result.

Q: A work is not considered copyrighted until it is legally registered.

Q: When it comes to using Internet search engines, a keyword search is basically the same thing as a natural language search.

Q: When using search engines, Boolean operators enable you to define search queries with greater precision.

Q: Boolean operators include terms such as AND, OR, and NOT.

Q: A metacrawler enables you to use multiple search engines simultaneously.

Q: Unlike most search engines, a web directory yields results that have been screened by human editors.

Q: Search engines and directories use different approaches to find and index websites.

Q: Although they are helpful for staying up to date on personal interests, online monitoring tools are not helpful for business-related research.

Q: Some of the most useful and up-to-date resources available at libraries are online databases.

Q: The best general purpose search engines are capable of reaching information on the hidden Internet.

Q: When using the Internet to conduct research, you can be reasonably sure that any information you find will be accurate.

Q: When you need to consult government documents, your only option is to go to the appropriate government office in your city.

Q: If you wanted to find statistical information about countries in South America, the best type of library resource to consult would be a directory.

Q: With so much information available online, professionals have little need for libraries when it comes to finding secondary information.

Q: It is particularly important to verify information when it goes beyond simple facts to include projections and interpretations.

Q: The difference between primary sources and secondary sources is that primary sources are those you create specifically for your project.

Q: In conducting research on General Electric, you should not use any information from General Electric's official website, www.ge.com, because it is bound to be biased.

Q: To help guide your research, you should develop a problem statement that defines the problem or purpose of your research.

Q: Because of their complexity, industry publications and blogs are not a good place to begin familiarizing yourself with an unfamiliar subject area.

Q: The recommendations you make in a report should be A) the same as the conclusions. B) easy to implement. C) what the audience wants to hear. D) practical and offer clear guidance on next steps.

Q: Recommendations differ from conclusions in that recommendations A) suggest a clear course of action. B) interpret evidence. C) are always acceptable to readers. D) always come at the end of the report.

Q: When drawing conclusions for a report, you A) should make sure to take into account any information you know about that hasn't been included in the report. B) shouldn't compromise with others working as a part of your team. C) should suggest actions for the company to take based on the facts you have collected. D) interpret what the facts you have gathered mean.

Q: The number 29 is the ________ in this set of figures: 25, 29, 34, 29, 29, 42, 8. A) mean B) median C) mode D) correlation

Q: To find out your company's average monthly utility bill over the last year, you would need to calculate the ________ of the last twelve bills. A) mean B) median C) mode D) highest

Q: What would be the median for the following set of monthly salaries: $1200, $1200, $1300, $1500, $1700, $2000, $2800? A) $1200 B) $1500 C) $1671.43 D) $1700

Q: To paraphrase effectively A) avoid using any business language or jargon. B) check your version against the original to make sure that you didn't alter the meaning. C) make sure your version is the same length as or longer than the original. D) do all of the above.

Q: Unlike a summary, a paraphrase A) restates the original material in your own words and with your own sentence structures. B) presents the gist of the original material in fewer words by eliminating some of the original words. C) does not require complete documentation of sources. D) is never acceptable in business documents.

Q: When conducting an information interview, it is a good idea to A) learn about the person you are interviewing ahead of time. B) stick to using just one type of question. C) save the most important questions for last. D) avoid making an appointment, since you don't want the subject to think ahead about answers.

Q: A disadvantage of using too many closed questions in an interview is that they A) do not take full advantage of the interview format. B) prevent any important information from being revealed. C) diminish the interviewer's control over the interview. D) do all of the above.

Q: Which of the following is a closed-ended question? A) Would you rate the proposed expansion plan as likely to succeed or unlikely to succeed? B) What do you see as the primary benefit of the proposed expansion plan for your family? C) What corporate goals does the expansion help achieve? D) How will the expansion affect day-to-day operations?

Q: "How do you spend your leisure time on the weekends?" is an example of A) a closed-ended question. B) an open-ended question. C) a restatement question. D) an inappropriate question.

Q: Questions such as, "Do you shop at the mall often?" are A) perfect for most surveys. B) too ambiguous to yield useful information. C) likely to offend your respondents. D) too personal and will offend most audiences.

Q: People are more likely to respond to a questionnaire if A) they can complete it within a short time. B) you allow them plenty of time to research their answers. C) the questions are open ended. D) all of the above are the case.

Q: A survey is not valid if it A) does not include at least 50 responses. B) is more than one year old. C) fails to measure what it is intended to measure. D) lacks secondary evidence to supplement it.

Q: You create a survey and administer it five times under identical conditions. Because it yielded completely different results each time, you should conclude that this survey is A) not valid. B) not reliable. C) valid D) reliable

Q: The two most common primary research methods in the social sciences are A) not appropriate for test marketing. B) experiments and observations. C) surveys and interviews. D) test panels.

Q: According to the fair use doctrine A) plagiarism is not an issue in the business worldit is a problem only in schools and academic circles. B) crediting sources is all that is necessary to avoid legal problems. C) once material is made public, it no longer belongs to the author. D) you can use other people's work only if you don't prevent them from benefiting as a result.

Q: You would not need to cite a source if you have A) used a direct quotation of under 250 words from a book titled Modern Economics. B) used a table from the 1985 Farmer's Almanac. C) described, in your own words, a plan for organizing production lines, which appeared in a professional journal. D) provided general knowledge about your topic.

Q: Innovations in research technology allow you to A) completely avoid unreliable information on the web. B) rely exclusively on standard search engines, regardless of your needs. C) access all online databases free of charge. D) find webpages and also the documents webpages that are linked to those sites.

Q: To conduct an effective database search A) choose one search engine and stick with it. B) think before you search about questions such as where useful information might be found. C) use long search phrases in quotes rather than short phrases or single terms. D) avoid Boolean operators because they provide only mathematical results.

Q: When conducting a database search, you use wildcards to A) find similar spellings of your search terms. B) provide variations on your key terms. C) help you find plurals and alternative spellings of your key words. D) do all of the above.

Q: If you are researching a topic on which new material appears frequently, you should A) take advantage of search engines, but stay away from most databases . B) use only metacrawlers for your search to ensure the accuracy of your sources. C) consider using online monitoring tools so that you will automatically get new information as it comes out. D) explain to the audience that you simply couldn't keep up with all of the new information.

Q: Unlike Internet search engines, online databases A) can be accessed only from a library. B) often provide access to various parts of the hidden Internet. C) are rarely up to date. D) do not require a subscription.

Q: Which of the following is not a characteristic of online databases? A) They often categorize information by subject area. B) They offer access to many materials that are not accessible through standard search engines. C) Using them requires knowledge of basic search techniques. D) Most of them are available free of charge.

Q: A metacrawler is A) a highly specialized directory that focuses on a specific subject matter area. B) a search engine that examines only newsgroup messages. C) a type of aggregator that offers subscribers all-day information on their desktops. D) a special type of engine that searches several search engines at once.

Q: A web directory differs from a search engine in that A) it doesn't include Usenet newsgroups. B) it doesn't provide as precise results as a search engine. C) human editors find and index the websites to include. D) it usually locates more sites than a search engine.

Q: Which of the following is not true of conventional search engines? A) They travel the web automatically, identifying new websites. B) They access the deep Internet or hidden Internet. C) They return to previously identified websites to look for changes. D) Not all search engines operate in the same way.

Q: Bing is an example of a A) metacrawler. B) web directory. C) search engine. D) none of the above.

Q: In evaluating material you have gathered for a report, you should A) assume that any information taken from a webpage will be credible and reliable. B) throw out any information whose source is an organization that might be biased. C) check to make sure the material is current. D) ignore government documents.

Q: Which of these documents would not qualify as primary research? A) A recent survey of your company's top clients B) The most recent issue of a trade magazine in your industry C) Notes from a conversation you recently had with a local government official D) Your company's latest balance sheet

Q: Primary research refers to A) new research done specifically for your current project. B) the evidence that stands out in your report. C) the research you conduct first. D) research that is fairly easy to conduct.

Q: Sources of secondary information include A) first-hand observation. B) in-person interviews. C) newspapers and periodicals. D) experiments.

Q: A problem statement A) outlines all the potential drawbacks of your research. B) defines the purpose of your research. C) is an unsupportable claim or assertion. D) should be long and complex.

Q: At the beginning of a research project, you need to A) develop a formal outline that you plan to stick to throughout your researching and writing. B) familiarize yourself with the subject. C) just jump in by finding resources on the Internet and taking notes from them. D) develop the conclusion you want to reach and start looking for evidence that supports that conclusion.

Q: ________ is the process of changing an audience's attitudes, beliefs, or actions.

Q: You usually do not need permission to use a person's name or photograph in a marketing or sales message.

Q: Because promotional messages are not legally binding contracts in most states, it is usually acceptable to imply offers or promises you cannot deliver.

Q: In the action section of a marketing or sales message, you try to persuade the reader to act immediately.

Q: A good way to gain attention for a persuasive campaign for an electric car would be a series of graphs and technical data that show how efficient the car is.

Q: Successful marketing and sales messages match the product's selling points to the audience's primary needs or emotional concerns.

Q: In a message promoting a new laptop, a selling point would be the computer's lightning fast performance whereas a benefit would be "never having to worry about having enough space for your photos, music, movies, and documents."

Q: When addressing a persuasive claim or request for adjustment, you should appeal to your audience's sense of fair play, goodwill, or moral responsibility.

Q: Most persuasive claims and requests for adjustment use the direct approach.

Q: A persuasive message should always do more than simply convince audiences to change their attitudes or beliefs about a particular topic.