Business Communication_CH4

Clarence needs primary sources for his report. What would qualify as a primary source?

experiment results

Demarius conducts a survey to gauge employee satisfaction with their jobs. What type of report is this?

internal qualitative

Valerie needs to make a to-do list for all of her work but isn't sure how to format Google sheets to make a nice spreadsheet for this purpose. Where should she look?

the template gallery

How would you describe good secondary source research?

The gathering, curating and presenting of material in a new, updated and helpful manner

What would you use the CRAAP analysis for?

To evaluate the quality of a given source

If you were a member of a startup or smaller organization, how would you go about citing sources?

Nothing too formal

Quantitative data

are numeric and therefore largely easier to understand.Example: temperature, dimensions (e.g., length), prices, headcount, stock on hand

Which of the following best defines the term primary source?

first hand evidence about an event, object, or person

Which is the best example of a well-defined research questions?

How do early preschool programs like Head Start affect student preparedness for the statewide 2nd grade exams?

What is arguably the best feature of Google Sheets?

Real time collaboration

When writing an internal memo to her statistics research company about maintaining professional integrity, Marissa reminds her employees to always use proper citations but to also protect their clients and themselves from issues by

anonymizing and protecting data

qualiative data

are generally non-numeric and require context, time, or variance to have meaning or utility. Examples: taste, energy, sentiments, emotions

When citing sources in a business environment what is the general rule?

attribution should fit with the visual and general style of your company and industry

Lorenzo has returned item data organized by month. If he wishes to visually see which month had the most returns, what should he do?

create a clustered column chart

Secondary research

is gathering information from other people's primary research.

Bill wants to find information on the symbolism used in Dracula. What search engine would be the most useful?

Google Scholar

If you simply wanted to get an awareness around the academic or professional literature on a given topic, which tool might you use?

Google Scholar

Trinity needs to write up a report on native wildlife in her Texan town for her work at a real estate company. What is her best first step?

Identify what she needs to find out.

COUNTIF function

is a way for you to ask Excel to count how many times a certain piece of information appears in your worksheet. For example, perhaps you want to know how often "shirt" appear in an inventory list. All you need to do is ask Excel to count the number of cells that contain the word "shirt."

7 Pillars of Information Literacy

1_Identify what you need to find out. 2_Assess current knowledge, identify your personal knowledge gaps, and understand what types of information are available. 3_Plan where you'll locate data and how you'll use it. 4_Gather data needed, keeping track of where you found your information 5_Evaluate both your research process and the information you find; compare and analyze data. 6_Manage the information you've gathered professionally and ethically—cite all of your sources. 7_Present the knowledge you've gained, disseminating information to others and apply your knowledge to your life.

Stakeholder Analysis

A technique for analyzing information to determine which stakeholders' interests to focus on and how to increase stakeholder support throughout the project

What is the purpose of bracketing?

Acknowledging and accounting for bias in your research, or in the evaluation of sources.

Amy's manager has requested that she research marketing ideas for the upcoming marketing campaign. How can Amy make sure that the data she found is useful to her manager?

Amy can prepare a factual, concise report that addresses the issue of new marketing ideas

To search for the 2019 annual report for Apple, Inc. what would be the best Google search?

Apple, Inc. annual report 2019

Amy just received a worksheet from the automated call center. She is interested in seeing how many calls Mike, the newest employee, was able to process. What Excel feature should she use to determine this information?

COUNTIF

To find specific categories of information inside of an Excel spreadsheet, use the ________ feature.

COUNTIF

full breakdown of the CRAAP method

Currency: How current is the source? Relevance: How important is the information, and has it been consistently presented? Authority: What is the source of the information? Accuracy: Judged against other sources (which themselves will need appropriate evaluation), how correct is the source? Purpose: What is the goal of the source—why was it created? Watch this video for a recap of each of the components of the CRAAP method.

If Andrea wants to collect data about a company in the way that anthropologists do, she should ________.

Embedded herself in a organization

Broadly speaking, sociologists tend to use surveys to study organizations, while anthropologists tend to ________.

Embedded themselves into the organization

Internal Data Sources

Employee headcount Employee demographics (e.g., sex, ethnicity, marital status) Financials (e.g., revenue, profit, cost of goods sold, margin, operating ratio)

When you're thinking about starting your project, what's typically the first thing you should nail down?

First start with a well scoped research question

Stephan remembers the acronym IAP GEMP to help him recall all of the steps in the Seven Pillars of Information Literacy. He's completed the first few steps of identifying a topic, assessing what he already knows, and planning out his research, but can't remember what to do next. What is his next step?

Gather data.

If Mikayla is doing work for her college's freshman office on dropout rates and freshman retention, what is a good first step to her research strategy?

Have a well-defined research question.

Dameon has been tasked with finding out consumer trends for his new job at a textile company. What is a good first step to his research strategy?

Have well-defined research question.

Randy is trying to determine if customer complaints are still active in the tracking system and then why. After he receives a worksheet with all the complaints and their status listed, he first wants to indicate on the spreadsheet which ones are still active with a new column that shows 'yes' or 'no'. Which Excel function should he use to do this?

IF

Analysis:

In analysis, gathered data is examined and organized so those who are less familiar with technical details can be guided through the data. Analysis can also help uncover patterns and trends in data.

Interviews:

Interviews are conversations, typically in small groups, where one party asks questions of another. Interviews are usually conducted in-person, between two people (the person asking questions and the person answering them); however, these can also take place over the phone, and may involve multiple parties.

Marcos is careful to write his memos and briefs with professional integrity. What's one way he can ensure this?

Marcos can make sure that all copyright laws are followed.

Clint prepared a paper for his Astronomy class. In his paper he wrote the sentence "Astronomy is the study of stars, planets, moons and galaxies." without citing it. What is this, and which is the best reason why?

Not plagiarism; it could be considered common knowledge.

External Data Sources

Number of vendors used Number of clients in a company's book of business Size of the industry (e.g. number of companies, total capital)

Brandon is following the seven pillars of information literacy to work on his research paper. So far he has identified a topic and assessed what he knows. What does he need to do next?

Plan out his research.

Walker is using the CRAAP analysis process for evaluating sources. He is looking at the goals of the source. Which component in the analysis process is he utilizing?

Purpose

Gillian needs to do some research about the changes in national educational policy for work, but she knows next to nothing about educational policy before she starts her research. What's a helpful first step she could take to get started?

Read Wikipedia articles about education reform and education policy.

Ann is writing a report for her manager. Her report is to help her manager decide on which inventory software system will be purchased in the next quarter. Which strategy will help her manager the most?

Spending a month researching each software company, what the software does, and the cost of each, then preparing an analytical report for her manager.

When trying to put information into a useful format to analyze data sets using statistical methods, one helpful tool is/are

Survey Monkey

Sociological data sets can be similar, but the analysis will be more quantitative and broken down into categories and variables for statistical analysis.

Surveys are the most common tool to gain sociological data.

Surveys:

Surveys are typically written documents that are sent out to individuals to fill out. Surveys are more rigid than interviews, as an interviewer can change their planned questions based on the subject's responses. Surveys, however are pre-written and can only respond in limited anticipated ways.

Therese has almost finished her paper for her English class. What is the last step in the process?

Therese needs to write down all her searches.

Analytical Reports:

Those used to help make a decision (e.g., whether to hire more people, expand a product line, etc.)

Informational Reports:

Those used to inform people throughout the organization about something of importance.

Kennedy never applies sunscreen and still never gets sunburned, but her sister applies it frequently and always get a little too much sun. Because of this, she doesn't think sunscreen is effective. When her boss at her cosmetics firm asks her to prepare a report on sunscreen, what should Kennedy do to ensure her bias does not affect her approach to her research?

Use bracketing.

Dylan finds a relevant scholarly article about anti-doping regulations in his report for his job at the NCAA compliance office. What is one effective way he can find other applicable sources?

Use the bibliography information from the article he found.

Nancy is new to conducting research. She will be using library databases. Once she has found a scholarly source, what is a way she can find multiple sources?

Use the bibliography information from the article she found.

If your boss at a start-up company asks you to prepare a report on the market climate, how might you go about citing sources?

Use your best judgment to ensure proper attribution without making the overall document feel cumbersome.

Katrina is looking for a charity to devote extra time to. She knows her search parameters and has reviewed secondary sources. What does she need to do next?

Visit the charities on her list

The writer of any report is encouraged to think like an executive:

What do I need to know right away? How quickly do I need to make a decision?

Is it necessary to use precise Boolean or other search related terms with web based search engines?

While the use of "AND" or other search terms can help refine your results , Google and other engines take most of these into account and produce records accordingly

As Karen is scrolling through her News Feed on Facebook, she sees a paragraph posted by a yoga gym's Facebook group that she finds inspirational. She copies the text and posts it as her Facebook status. Was this plagiarism?

Yes

Rodger is writing a proposal recommending the reduce of plastic waste at his store. He asks his colleague, Aamir, to look over his report before its submission. Aamir pointed out that while Rodger uses a lot of compelling data about plastic waste around the world, none of it has cited sources. Was this plagiarism?

Yes

Takeshi wrote a letter to the editor in the newspaper about historical flooding trends in his neighborhood and supported his opinion with facts and data from almanacs and previous news articles. He did not include citations with his letter. Was this plagiarism?

Yes

Kalini wrote a paper for the city council about creating more green space in her community. She used facts and data from other communities and news articles but chose not to include citations since it was only for a community meeting. Was this plagiarism?

Yes, absolutely.

Dallas is putting together a report for the marketing department analyzing the impact of social media on marketing. Which of the following sources should she NOT incorporate in her report?

a blog post by a popular instagrammaer

Ngozi is putting together a report for the marketing department analyzing the impact of social media on marketing. Which of the following sources should she NOT incorporate in her report?

a blog post from a popular instagrammer

primary sources

a first-hand or contemporary account of an event or topic. They are the most direct evidence of a time or event because they were created by people or things that were there at the time or event. These sources have not been modified by interpretation and offer original thought or new information.

Pedro is preparing a newsletter-type report for his company outlining new purchasing requirements. The report will be read by everyone that purchases any items for the company. What will help Pedro create a good informational report?

a short report describing the new purchasing requirements.

Which of the following is an example of qualitative data?

customers reporting which store location they prefer to visit and why

________ is primary data that could be collected to prepare an annual fiscal report for a company.

financial information

One of the biggest differences in using Google Sheets over Excel is that

google sheets offers online functionality

What should you consider when writing business reports?

how my report will help someone make a decision or take a specific action, and/or to gain insight or information

For decision-makers or colleagues to trust the reports you write, ________ must be above any concern.

how you go about doing your work

stakeholder

is someone who has a particular interest in the organization; people who work in the organization are clear stakeholders as are customers, shareholders, suppliers and vendors.

Primary Research

is usually defined as research you collect yourself. is done to fill in gaps found during secondary research review.

Belinda was preparing a report for her manager. What is one way that Belinda can make sure that her report is written with integrity?

make sure that all copyright laws are followed

Incorporating sources into your reports uses a general pattern; what's the first part of the pattern?

making a claim

Adena was tasked to write a proposal suggesting ways to improve the sales at her store. As soon as she was given this task, she began researching ways other stores had improved their sales. Was this the best approach?

no, make a plan first

Bronson is collecting data about the growth of competitor firms over the last quarter and is interested in the factual data as well as a few stories and news reports about how this growth has been perceived and experienced by customers. The type of data he needs to gather would be

qualitative and quantitative

John wants to make sure all his sources are coherently integrated so his paper won't sound awkward. An effective way to test his paper would be to

read the paper aloud to someone to see if the paper reads like conversation.

Mallika is preparing an important report for her boss and is nervous that the way she incorporated a lot of different quotes and material from her research is too choppy and overcomplicated. A good way to ensure her report flows nicely would be to

read the paper aloud to someone to see if the paper reads like conversation.

Which is the best description of primary research?

research you conduct yourself

Secondary sources analyze

review, or summarize information in primary resources or other secondary resources. Even sources presenting facts or descriptions about events are secondary unless they are based on direct participation or observation.

Francesca needs to determine how quickly the market for smartwatches is growing and why. She also needs to understand how consumers feel are about these market trends. To do this research, she analyzes other company's annual reports, reads newspaper articles, and finds data from business journals. What type of research is she conducting?

secondary research

Giselle needs to gather information about the performance and sales of frozen yogurt shops both locally and nationally without spending too much money or time. She should conduct ________.

secondary research

Analyzing Data is based off of the data gathered. Anthropology tends to view the following as types of data:

the types of interactions, often called "transactions" that the population engages in topics and themes of the transactions occurrence/recurrence of the transactions tensions between what the group represents as "truth" versus observations the researcher or analyst perceives differently

Business reports should be:

true, factual concise, brief built to help others make decisions free from unnecessary or extra information simple; they should address one question (i.e., well-scoped)

What insight from qualitative anthropological study can be applied to research in business?

understanding that everyone has biases, and it's typically better to acknowledge them than to pretend they don't exist

The 50th anniversary of Nancy's company is coming up, and she has been asked to prepare a timeline of the company. What primary source would be good to use for her timeline?

Internal historical documents

Processing data from internal sources requires patience, diligence and care. There are two primary concerns:

(1) The act of gathering information about your own organization is not without political and ethical considerations. (2) Data can be dynamic and often hard to find.

Jamal designed a new ad campaign for a new shoe coming out from a major company, but wants to test it out on consumers before the campaign is launched nationally. What primary research could he conduct?

He could show clips of the marketing campaign in malls and observe the reaction of the people in the mall.

Isaiah is creating a sales forecast in Excel. He wants to include last quarter's sales, projected sales for next quarter, and the salespersons that are in the top 10%. In order to have Excel calculate the top 10% he would use ________.

conditional formatting

Marisa just received a large worksheet with the last five years of names from the monthly mailers. She wants to quickly determine how many duplications there are in the list. What should she do?

conditionally format w "highlight cells rule">"duplicate values"

Vincent is using the CRAAP analysis process for evaluating sources and is careful to check for the date when the information was written. Which component in the analysis process is he utilizing?

currency

Aracely is thinking about how to start her research project. What should be her first step?

Determine a problem and define a question to answer

Observations:

Observations are just what they sound like: the researcher watches something and records what they see. It is important to avoid influencing whatever you're watching. However, if it's impossible to not influence your subject, make sure to include the fact that your presence may have influenced your observations.

Analyzing a data set from anthropological data will be more

qualitative than quantitative