Question

What give good survey results? Select one: a. All of the listed b. Well articulated questions. c. None of the listed. d. Having at least 30 but nominally 80 or more responses. e. Selecting the correct representative population for surveying. Which of the following is not a "Toyota Waste" in the context of six-sigma practice Select one: a. Part failure b. Part Defects c. Waiting for a part to finish d. Maintaining an Inventory

Answer 1

Question 1: What gives good survey results ?

Answer: All the listed options give good survey results.

Explanation :

Well articulated questions :

Better articulated questions gives the general population, the right to chose what they feel is the better option. For example, if a survey is being conducted about a particular product, there might be pretty good chance of people not liking the product right away. If they are not given the choice of "Not at all" , they would be forced to give a response that is not matching with the ground reality. Hence that product is sure to fail in business.

There should be no Presumptions while articulating the questions of the survey.

Having atleast 30 but nominally 80 or more responses:

It is advisable to take more number of responses, than to stick to a stipulated amount of responses. The right amount can be determined by taking consecutive surveys and calculating the standard deviation of measures like ratio data.

After analyzing the data from the consecutive surveys, if the data has low variability, we can conclude that the responses are from the target audience.

In order to do this, the number of responses has to be high enough this rises the precision.

Selecting correct representative population for surveying:

Majority of the surveys are sent to a subset of a larger population. Using results of such samples to make generic statements about the larger population is called inference. Statements made about the larger population using such samples is called inferential statistics.

It is almost impposible to make generic statements about a given larger population from the responses of a smaller subset, and we are stuck making statements about people who are surveyed. This causes a sampling bias.

Sampling bias has to be avoided in all cases, to ensure that the product cannot be deemed as failure to address the demands of the larger population.

The failure of "quota sampling" during the US Presidential election of 1948 is one of the most famous examples where Sampling bias mislead the surveyors.

Hence selecting the correct representative population for surveying is most crucial.

Question 2: Which of the following is not a "Toyota Waste" in context of Six Sigma practice :?

Answer: Part Failure is not considered a "Toyota Waste" in context of Six Sigma practice.

All the other options such as :

• Part defects
• Waiting for the part to finish
• Maintaining an inventory.

are considered to be "Toyota Waste" in context of Six Sigma practice.

(a) Part Defects :

Defects in the part deems it unfit for usage. Such part defects result in either complete reworking of the part or scrapping the part as a whole. Both of these cause unwanted pressure and costs on the operations without adding any value to the customer.

(b) Waiting of the part to finish

If there is waiting for the part, it is often caused by uneveness in production which lead to excess inventory buildup and consequently over production.

This will increase the holding costs of the inventory and also of the finished part. Inherently the costs grow up without adding any value to the customer.

(c) Maintaining an inventory

In many of the cases maintaining inventory in excess of what is required is viewed as an asset. Most of the time suppliers give discounts for bulk orders.

But having excess inventory leads to :

• Increased Holding costs of inventory
• Damage to materials
• Greater lead time in production.
• Inefficient allocation of Capital
• Risk of the product becoming out of trend leads to wastage of inventory.

Hence maintaing inventory in considered as "Toyota Waste".