Business Research Project

Current Business Research Project
A research study took place between 1998-2000 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Malaysia, addressing technology trends in an office environment.   Specifically, the research “explored the effects of new office technology on both secretaries and managers in private and public sector businesses” (Khalid, Swift, & Cullingford, 2002, p. 258).
The rationale for choosing both countries was to “explore whether there were differences according to the state of the development of the new technology, and whether there were distinctions between contrasts of the different working patterns” (Khalid, et al., 2002, p. 259).   The study took place in the private and public sector and additionally examined “the attitudes of secretaries towards new technology” (Khalid, et al., 2002, p. 258).
Data Collection
Interviews followed the questionnaires in the study.   The researchers desired data on the use of technology, training, and opinion, or views toward the new technology (Khalid, et al., 2002).   Additionally, some questions were “extracted from Eysenck’s Personality Inventory” (Khalid, et al., 2002, p. 261) and embedded into the questionnaires to discover the relationship between the answers and secretaries/managers personality (Khalid, et al., 2002).
Technology
The purpose of technology is to support office operations, such as communications, word processing, information analysis, administrative duties, and data storage.   This technology includes computers, computer software, fax machines, printers, telecommunications, and multi-line phone systems.   However, its central function is the input, processing, and output of information (Long, 1987).

Response Rate
Low response from managers was attributed to their work demands; however, researchers were none the less satisfied with the response.   Many authors according to Alshoaibi (1998) have shown that mail questionnaires with a response rate of 30% are considered satisfactory.   “The sample... [continues]

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