Question

Uber is facing a large number of lawsuits, among them, a charge of technology theft by Google, installation of software that blanks out the availability of Uber rides near government buildings or when government-employed riders call, discrimination in the workplace, and more! Using an Internet search on this topic, design a quantitative research study to determine the effect on ridership regarding the charge you examined.

Provide this information in your discussion:

- Research Question(s)

- Hypotheses

- Independent Variable(s) and Dependent Variable(s)

- Instrument (i.e, survey/questionnaire) items (i.e., questions) Please note: Provide a minimum of 10 questions you would ask plus 5 demographic questions (i.e, gender, age, ethnicity)

Answer 1

For this question, we will take one charge and devise a quantitative research study on what effect does that particular charge have on ridership.

The charge we have selected is – Discrimination in the workplace.

Research Questions:

Does discrimination at workplace matter to the riders?
Does discrimination at workplace lead to any change in the brand equity of Uber?
Does the change in brand equity lead to changes in ridership behavior?
Does the change in ridership behavior lead to brand switch?
Hypotheses:

We will consider different hypotheses for each of the four research questions.

Hypothesis 1: Discrimination at workplace matters to the riders

Hypothesis 2: Discrimination at the workplace leads to a decrease in brand equity of Uber

Hypothesis 3: Discrimination at the workplace leads to changes in ridership behavior

Hypothesis 4: Discrimination at the workplace leads to a brand switch

Variables:

Dependent variables: Net promoter score for the brand, Brand equity, Brand loyalty, Brand switch, Mode of the transport switch

Independent variables: Number of reports of Discrimination at workplace in mass media, Number of reports of Discrimination at workplace in social media, Number of reports of Gender Discrimination, Number of reports of Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Number of reports of Race Discrimination, Respondent’s demographics (Age, Gender, Education, Geography, Sexual orientation, Ethnicity)

Questions:

Demographic Questions:

What is your age?                    0-20       20-30     30-40     40-50     50-60     60+
What is your gender?             M            F              Other
What is your highest educational qualification?          Secondary School             Undergrad          Graduate        Higher
What is your sexual orientation?
What is your geographical location? For Geography, the survey owner can record the place where the survey is being performed
What is your ethnicity?
Survey questions:

How many times do you use app-based ride-hailing services in a month?
How many times do you use Uber in a month?
Rate your experience with Uber rides on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 refers to extremely poor and 10 refers to extremely good
What is your perception of Uber as a brand?
Have you heard of the recent Discrimination at workplace allegations on Uber?
Where did you hear the allegations? (Print, TV, Radio, Social Media etc.)
How many allegations of Discrimination at the workplace can you recall?
What is the worst type of Discrimination in the workplace? (Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Sexual Orientation)
What is your perception of Uber as a brand now? (Follow up question to Question 4 to see if there are any changes in perception)