Sampling Design
Using the scenario and two variables your learning team developed for the Week 2 Business Research (scroll down to see this paper) Project Part 1 assignment, create a paper of no more than 700 words in which the goal is to submit a random sampling plan in such detail that another researcher could replicate the method.
Discuss the following:
(a) Population and size
(b) The target population and brief reasoning
(c) Sampling element which may be conducted through any of the following:
Data mining
Survey (If a survey is chosen, create a 5-10 question document), or
Observation
(d) The sample size
(e) Method of random sampling which may include:
Simple
Stratified
Systematic, or
Cluster
Calculate the sample size using a 95% confidence level, and a 5% margin of error. Place the calculation in the Appendix.
Discuss how validity (and reliability) will be achieved.
Explain how human subjects will be protected (if applicable).
Data collection
Explain how the data will be physically collected.
Explain where data will be stored and how it will be protected.
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.

While you will be using the team’s data to conduct the statistical analysis to demonstrate mastery of the content, in this activity you will create a sampling plan that would explain how the study would be conducted if you were actually collecting data as primary research (such as using a survey to collect data from human subjects). However, for this assignment you will not actually be collecting data.

So here is the process:
Use the scenario and two variables your learning team developed for the Week 2 Business Research Project Part 1. This establishes the framework for the sampling design.
Create a paper of no more than 700 words in which the goal is to submit a random sampling plan in such detail that another researcher could replicate the method. So, while you may not be conducting a random sampling plan in the actual group project, the object of this exercise is to demonstrate that you can construct a research plan based on a random sampling plan, and it should be clear enough for any other researcher to replicate your process.
You must then determine, based on your theoretical project, how you would collect a random sample if you were actually doing this:
For example, if you wanted to test consumer interest, you may issue a survey. If that is the case, part of the assignment would be to present a short survey example of 5 to 10 questions.
If were performing behavioral observations to collect data, you would describe your process.
If you were going to get historical data from a database, this would be considered data mining. You describe the database that stored the data, and how you would access. For example, if you wanted to study a phenomenon based on U.S. Survey data, then you could go to their website, and download the data. That is considered data mining.

As I had stated in my Class Message, you will probably want to print out the instructions for this assignment (or copy them to a Word document), and find the different sections of the text that address each point and make notes so that you can go back and reference.

I also posted a message last week about using Doctoral Dissertations as a resource. As I had stated, they cover the full research life cycle, so they are excellent examples. I had also suggested that you could look at my dissertation, and provided the citation so that you could look it up. I employed data mining in my study, so my dissertation could provide you an example of how a sampling design would look for that scenario. The caveat here is that you probably will not find everything you are looking for in a single dissertation, but you will see how the information is organized, presented, and cited.

Here is the info on Dissertation paper that the instructor is referring to:

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LEARNING TACTICS
EMPLOYED IN THE WORKPLACE BY LEADERS FROM EMERGING
GENERATIONAL COHORTS
by
Ross M. DePinto
BARRY BARNES, PhD, Faculty Mentor and Chair
JOHN MACHNIC, PhD, Committee Member
JENNIFER DEAL, PhD, Committee Member
Barbara Butts Williams, PhD, Dean, School of Business
A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Capella University
July 2013

Here is our team’s week 2 project 1 paper:

QNT/561

Pequod Coffee Shop
The John Snow, manager at Pequod Coffee Shop, is concerned that their productivity is different based on three different shifts, which in turn is causing sales to decline. Business research is the process of planning, acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating relevant data that will provide insights for decision making (Cooper & Schindler, 2011). Through the process of business research, Team A will determine the research question, independent and dependent variable, and hypothesis; thus determining the cause of Pequod’s sales decline.
John Snow was recently promoted to store manager at a brand new Pequod Coffee Shop. Since taking over the store, John has faced a couple of challenges with sales trends during different times of the day. John decided to shorten the shifts to provide more flexibility so he has a morning, afternoon, and evening shift. He doesn’t know if it will accomplish much but he decided he could more accurately decide what is causing sales a productivity to be inconsistent. Furthermore, projections of sales for this store are much lower than actual sales.
Team A will begin the business research by first establishing the dependent variable (DV) and independent variable (IV). In this case the DV is sales. The IV is the three shifts. Once the DV and IV are established, a research question is formed. In this case, the research will attempt to answer the following question: Is there a difference in sales based on the three shifts? The following are the hypothesis statements: Null Hypothesis: There is not an increase in sales based on shorter shift periods. Alternative Hypothesis: There is an increase of sales based on the shorter shift periods.

Reference
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P.S. (2011). Business research methods (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.