Symptom and an underlying cause

You are conducting an image study for Carnival Cruise Lines. As part of exploratory research, analyze the messages posted to the newsgroup rec. travel. cruises to determine the factors that consumers use in evaluating cruise companies. This newsgroup can be located at http://groups.google.com.

1. What is the role of the researcher in the problem-definition process?

2. What is a problem audit?

3. What is the difference between a symptom and an underlying cause? How can a skillful researcher differentiate between the two and identify the true problem?

Solution: