Business Research? (With Methods and Examples)

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1
Business research methodology
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BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2
Business research methodology
1 -Research Questions and Short Form Proposal
1.1 Research Questions
Based on the dataset on the title “Gender, Mental Illness, and Crime in the United States, 2004
(ICPSR 27521)”, from https://rs.io/100-interesting-data-sets-for-statistics/, the following
research questions were identified and will be tested.
i. Is there a statistically significant difference in mean age when first smoke cigarettes
for the genders?
ii. Is there a statistically significant association between ever smoking and ever being
arrested and booked for breaking the law?
iii. Is it true that those from public schools are more likely to involved in ever smoking
than any other school?
iv. What is the relationship between currently enrolled in a school and ever smoking?
1.2 Short form research proposal
In this proposal, various factors contributing to smoking will be identified. All the proposal
components are discussed in the research proposal guide below.
2 - Literature review and methodology development
2.1 Literature review
According to the study by (Bachman, et, al, 2018), the students in the lower grades are likely to
be initiated into smoking habits unlike those in higher grades like senior high school students.
The author further stated that age difference is not statistically significant when these students
who were involved in smoking cigarettes between higher and lower grade students. The above
study investigated the association between smoking and grade difference in smoking but not
smoking and gender differences which the proposed study aims at investigating thus filling the
gap in the literature reviewed.
Besides, some researchers have established that the association between ever smoking and ever
being arrested and booked for breaking the law is significant among the employees, (Gottschalk,
2016). The reviewed finding is on the employees but not the students which the proposed study
will explore thus filling the literature gap. Again, there has been a norm that students from public
schools are more likely to engage in smoking habits unlike those not in public school. Hence, the
proposed study aims to confirm the norm thus coming up with scientific results that can be
generalized to another context.
2.2 Methodology and methods
The study will utilize secondary data with a sample size of 800 students. In addition, a
correlational study design will be used to test the statistical associations between the variables.
Appendix B: Short-form proposal guide and template
1-Title of the project:
Differential factors contributing to ever smoking among students.
2- Statement of purpose:
The research aims to identify some of the differential factors contributing to ever smoking
among students. These factors are derived from the following questions:

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i. Is there a statistically significant difference in mean age when first smoke cigarettes
for the genders?
ii. Is there a statistically significant association between ever smoking and ever being
arrested and booked for breaking the law?
iii. Is it true that those from public schools are more likely to involved in ever smoking
than any other school?
iv. What is the relationship between currently enrolled in a school and ever smoking?
3- Background:
Generally, several factors have been thought to have a significant influence, especially on the
adolescents when first initiated into smoking or using specific tobacco products, (Thomeer, et, al,
2019). The results were seen in the adolescent’s lives including but not limited to the display of
being stressed up, isolation, low self-esteem and just loss of interest like in academic affairs.
Also, some students are initiated into such practices by their parents, siblings or other friends
who in one way or the other they see smoking.
As much as efforts have been put in place to teach students and counsel students against such
habits, limited or no studies have focused on the differential factors like gender, age, school type,
and law enforcement whenever students began smoking and this forms the background of the
proposed study.
4- Significance:
The study will give an important finding especially on the association between gender and
smoking so that gender and age-specific policy measures can be adopted while designing
psychosocial support programs to students against smoking. Furthermore, by establishing school
factors exposing students to smoking, specific policymakers can be put in place based on the
school type to discourage students from smoking.
5- Description of the project:
Given the nature of the research questions which is majorly on the associations, the correlational
study design is appropriate since in one way or the other it can give the statistical association
between variables that can inform other future studies.
6- Preliminary literature review:
Some of the articles reviewed include but not limited to Bachman, et, al, 2018 who study
adolescence and Young Adulthood. Transitions Through Adolescence: Interpersonal Domains
and Context to establish an association between student’s grades and smoking patterns. Another
article reviewed was for Gottschalk, (2016) whose main concern was smoking behaviors among
the employees and breaking of the law.
7- Data analysis plan:
The dataset was obtained from https://rs.io/100-interesting-data-sets-for-statistics/ on a study
conducted by Melissa Thompson, Portland State University on Gender, Mental Illness, and
Crime in the United States, 2004 (ICPSR 27521). There was a total of 55,602 observations with
3,011 variables.
The reason for choosing this dataset was to help to understand whether the mean age when first
smoke cigarette differs between the genders as well as establishing the association between ever

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smoking and ever being arrested and booked for breaking the law. Besides, through the dataset, it
is easy to ascertain the norm that those from public school are more likely to involved in ever
smoking than any other school and finally to identify the relationship between currently enrolled
in a school and ever smoking, (East, et, al, 2018). For our purposes in this project, only six
variables were chosen for analysis as described below.
Table 1: Variable Description:
The following table shows the description of each variable within the present study:
Variable Description
IREX This is a categorical variable indicates the sex
status of the respondent. The responses are
either “male” or “female”
CIGEVER This is a categorical variable indicates
whether the respondent has ever smoked
cigarette. The responses are either “Yes” or
“No”
CIGATRY This is an integer variable representing the
age of the respondents when first smoked a
cigarette. This is measured in years.
CRIMEHIST This is also a categorical variable indicating
whether the respondents have ever arrested
and booked for breaking the law. The
responses are either “Yes” or “No”
SCHTYPE This is also a categorical variable showing
which school type has ever attended by the
respondents. The school categories include
“public”, “private”, “charter” or “home
school”
SCHOOL This is a categorical variable indicating
whether the respondent is currently enrolled
in a school. These categories are “school”, or
“no school”
Besides, both descriptive and inferential statistics will be used to present the findings. For
instance, descriptive statistics on age such as means, median, minimum and maximum values
will be calculated to summarize, describe and present the results. Besides, the inferential
statistics like independent sample t-test, ANOVA and chi-square tests will be carried in Stata to
conclude the study findings as shown below.
Table 1: Data analysis matrix:
The following table shows the data analysis matrix based on the research question:
Research question Statistics
Is there a statistically significant difference in
mean age when first smoke cigarettes for the
genders?
Descriptive statistics and independent-
sample t-tests

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Is there a statistically significant association
between ever smoking and ever being arrested and
booked for breaking the law?
Descriptive statistics and chis square
tests
Is it true that those from public schools are more
likely to involved in ever smoking than any other
school?
Descriptive statistics and ANOVA
What is the relationship between currently enrolled
in a school and ever smoking?
Descriptive statistics and chis square
tests
8- Bibliography:
Bachman, J. G., Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., & Schulenberg, J. (2018). Adolescence and
Young Adulthood. Transitions Through Adolescence: Interpersonal Domains and
Context.
East, K., Hitchman, S. C., Bakolis, I., Williams, S., Cheeseman, H., Arnott, D., & McNeill, A.
(2018). The association between smoking and electronic cigarette use in a cohort of
young people. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(5), 539-547.
Gottschalk, M. (2016). Caught: The prison state and the lockdown of American politics.
Princeton University Press.
Thomeer, M. B., Hernandez, E., Umberson, D., & Thomas, P. A. (2019). Influence of social
connections on smoking behavior across the life course. Advances in Life Course
Research, 42, 100294.

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References