This set mixes the five lessons of the market research module. The questions are original, set in fictional Malaysian businesses, and ordered from easier to harder. They are not exam questions.
Write each answer on paper before you open the worked answer. Aim for full sentences that use the facts given. You can check percentages with the ratios tool.
Practice questions
1. Kedai Buku Harmoni in Ipoh wants to know whether to stock stationery. Classify each source as primary or secondary: (a) A questionnaire the owner gives to 60 parents. (b) A government report on household spending. (c) The shop’s own till records from last year. (d) A week of the owner counting how many people enter a rival stationery shop.
Show answer
(a) Primary: collected first-hand for this question. (b) Secondary: gathered earlier by someone else for another purpose. (c) Secondary, usually described as internal data, because the records were kept for running the shop and not for this question. Check how your course words this. (d) Primary: first-hand observation for this question.
2. Mr Chong owns a laundry in Penang and is thinking about a pick-up service. Which research question is strongest? A: “Do people like laundry?” B: “What do customers want?” C: “Among households within 3 km, what share would use pick-up at least twice a month at RM6 per trip?”
Show answer
C. It names a group (households within 3 km), a topic (pick-up), a measure (share who would use it twice a month) and a price. A and B name no product, group or measure, so any answer would fit and none could guide a decision.
3. Rewrite neutrally: “Don’t you agree our lemang is delicious and cheap?”
Show answer
The item is leading (“Don’t you agree”), loaded (“delicious”) and double-barrelled (taste and price). Replace it with two questions, each with a balanced scale: “How would you rate the taste of our lemang?” and “How would you rate the price of our lemang?”, with options from Very poor to Very good.
4. A salon asks: “How clean and friendly were our staff?” Explain why the answers could mislead the owner.
Show answer
It asks two things at once. A customer who found the staff clean but unfriendly cannot answer accurately, and the owner cannot tell which quality a score refers to. The owner should ask about cleanliness and friendliness in separate questions.
5. A survey asks for age with the options 15 to 20 / 20 to 25 / 25 to 30. Identify two flaws and repair the item.
Show answer
The options overlap at 20 and 25, and they leave out everyone under 15 and over 30. A repair: Under 15 / 15 to 19 / 20 to 24 / 25 to 29 / 30 and over. Every age now fits one box only.
6. A revision-pack seller asks 45 people outside a tuition centre if they would buy a RM25 revision pack. 27 say yes. Calculate the percentage and give one limitation.
Show answer
27 ÷ 45 = 0.6, which is 60% of those asked. A limitation: everyone asked was already at a tuition centre, so they may be more willing to buy revision materials than students in general.
7. A restaurant in Kota Kinabalu emails 300 questionnaires and 42 are returned. Calculate the response rate and comment on it.
Show answer
42 ÷ 300 = 0.14, which is 14%. This is low. The 42 who replied may feel strongly, either pleased or annoyed, so the 258 who did not reply may think differently. The owner should treat the findings with caution.
8. A company plans a halal frozen food product for families in Kuantan. It can survey: A, 30 friends of the owner; B, 150 shoppers at three supermarkets on different days; or C, 400 people who chose to vote in a social media poll. Which sample is most reliable? Give two reasons.
Show answer
B. It is larger than A and draws from several places and days, so it is more likely to reflect families in Kuantan. A is small and made up of people who know the owner and may want to be kind. C is largest, but the voters selected themselves, so they may be people with strong views or existing followers of the page.
9. A sambal maker writes: “Research proves 80% of Malaysians love our sambal.” The research asked 25 online followers, and 20 said yes. Check the number, then rewrite the claim with care.
Show answer
20 ÷ 25 = 0.8, so 80% is correct for the 25 followers. The claim goes wrong by applying it to all Malaysians and using “proves”. A careful version: “In a survey of 25 online followers, 80% said they like the sambal. This suggests some interest among existing followers, but the sample is small and may favour the brand, so it does not describe all Malaysians.”
10. A bakery will spend RM30,000 on a new oven. It proposes a RM1,500 survey and a one-week trial of the new product line first. Calculate the survey cost as a percentage of the oven, and make a judgement on whether the research is worthwhile.
Show answer
1,500 ÷ 30,000 = 0.05, which is 5% of the oven cost. This looks proportionate: a small cost to reduce the risk of a large decision. The trial adds evidence of real buying, not only stated intention, so the two sources together are stronger than the survey alone. The research is worthwhile if it can change the decision, such as delaying or scaling down the purchase.
If you got these wrong
| Where you slipped | Go to |
|---|---|
| Q2, or a question that is vague or leading | Frame a question that research can answer |
| Q1, or mixing up primary and secondary | Distinguish primary and secondary data |
| Q3 to Q5, or missing a flaw in a survey item | Identify a biased survey item |
| Q6 to Q8, or applying a sample result to a whole market | Assess sample limitations |
| Q9 and Q10, or “proves” and overconfident conclusions | Use research evidence without treating opinion as a market fact |
Record each slip in a mistake log, noting whether it was a wrong term, a missed flaw or a conclusion that went too far. Retry that kind of question after a few days.
Where you can state the right idea but cannot yet write it as a case-based paragraph, our teachers can work on that with you in online one-to-one Business tuition.