Case Study

In a company that producing glass products, the production

manager noticed that the returned products getting higher
than the past few years. He investigated the reasons and he
found that there are some mistakes in the new packaging
system of the products, store handling and transferring to
distributors. He thought that workers training, special
transportation vehicles and distributors awareness will solve
this situation.
Give a title to this research problem.
Write down the broad problem.
What is the preliminary data the production manager
needs?
What are the variables dependent, independent,
moderating and mediating to be tested?
Develop three hypotheses that he think of to predict
the solution.
What type of data he needs to test these hypotheses?

Research Title

Exploring the factors that affecting the high

rate of returned products in the glass
factory.

Broad Problem

The production manager faces a high rate

of returned products.

Preliminary Data

Customer survey about the product quality.

Transportation facilities and distributers

data.

Workers training plan.

Workers depth interviews.

Packaging and storing procedures.

Variables
Dependent

Independents

Intervening

Returned products

Product quality

Training

Transportation system

Packaging

Product handling
Store handling

Conceptual Framework Diagram

Returned
Products
Packaging

Training

Product
Handling

Store
Handling

Product
Quality

Transportatio
n System

Sample Questions
To what extent does a new transportation
system will decrease the returned product?
Does the packaging system affecting the
product handling that leads to a higher
returned product?
Do workers need training to improve the
store handling of the product?
Is the quality control system is effective
enough and do the quality controller do
what he has to do?

Sample Hypothesis

H01: There is no relation between the

returned product and the transportation
system.

H2: The new packaging system has no effect

on the product handling.

H3: If we go for a good training for workers

then the store handling will be professional
enough which will decrease the returned
product.

Date needed

Quality procedures.

Distributers focus group.

Old & new packaging procedures.

Assignment

A teacher observes that the performance of

students in the class varies depending on
the workload, the complexity of the tests,
the extent of ambiguity in the assignments,
and the stress experienced by them. He
assigns to you the task of doing a research
project on this and wants you to do the
following:

1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Give the project a suitable title;

Briefly establish why it is important to
research the topic;
Clearly and precisely write the problem
statement;
Develop a theoretical framework using the
variables mentioned above, clearly Draw
the network of associations among the
variables
Develop three hypotheses