Royal Barton started thinking about an electric fishing reelwhen his father had a stroke and lost the use of an arm. To seethat happen to his dad, who had taught him the joys of fishing andhunting, made Barton realize what a chunk a physical handicap couldtake out of a sports enthusiast’s life. Being able to cast andretrieve a lure and experience the thrill of a big bass trying totake your rig away from you were among the joys of life that wouldbe denied Barton’s father forever. Barton was determined to dosomething about it, if not for his father, then at least for otherswho had suffered a similar fate. So, after tremendous personalexpense and years of research and development, Barton perfectedwhat is sure to be the standard bearer for all future freshwaterelectric reels. Forget those saltwater jobs, which Barton refers toas “winches.” He has developed something that is small, compact,and has incredible applications. He calls it the Royal Bee. Thefirst word is obviously his first name. The second word refers tothe low buzzing sound the reel makes when in use. The Royal Beesystem looks simple enough and probably is if you understand themechanical workings of a reel. A system of gears ties into thespool, and a motor in the back drives the gears attached to thetriggering system. All gearing of the electrical system can bedisengaged so that you can cast normally. But pushing the buttonfor “retrieve” engages two gears. After the gears are engaged, thetrigger travels far enough to touch the switch that tightens thedrive belt, and there is no slipping. You cannot hit the switchuntil the gears are properly engaged. This means that you castmanually, just as you would normally fish, then you reengage thereel for the level wind to work. And you can do all that with onehand! The system works on a 6-volt battery that you can attach toyour belt or hang around your neck if you are wading. If you have aboat with a 6-volt battery, the reel can actually work off of thebattery. There is a small connector that plugs into the reel, soyou could easily use more than one reel with the battery. Forinstance, if you have two or three outfits equipped with differentlures, you just switch the connector from reel to reel as you useit. A reel with the Royal Bee system can be used in a conventionalmanner. You do not have to use it as an electric reel unless youchoose to do so. Barton believes the Royal Bee may not be just forhandicapped fishermen. Ken Cook, one of the leading professionalanglers in the country, is sold on the Royal Bee. After he suffereda broken arm, he had to withdraw from some tournaments becausefishing with one hand was difficult. By the time his arm healed, hewas hooked on the Royal Bee because it increased bassingefficiency. As Cook explains, “The electric reel has increased myefficiency in two ways. One is in flipping, where I use it all thetime. The other is for fishing top water, when I have to make along cast. When I’m flipping, the electric reel gives me instantcontrol over slack line. I can keep both hands on the rod. I neverhave to remove them to take up slack. I flip, engage the reel, andthen all I have to do is push the lever with my thumb to take upslack instantly.” Cook’s reel (a Ryobi 4000) is one of several thatcan be converted to the electric retrieve. For flipping, Cook loadshis reel with 20- pound test line. He uses a similar reel withlighter line when fishing a surface lure. “What you can do with theelectric reel is eliminate unproductive reeling time,” Cook says. Afew extra seconds may not mean much if you are out on aneighborhood pond just fishing on the weekend. But it can mean alot if you are in tournament competition, where one extra castmight keep you from going home with $50,000 tucked in your pocket.“Look at it this way,” Cook explains. “Let’s suppose we’re in clearwater and it’s necessary to make a long cast to the cover we wantto fish with a top water lure. There’s a whole lot of unproductivewater between us and the cover. With the electric reel, I make mylong cast and fish the cover. Then, when I’m ready to reel in, Ijust press the retrieve lever, so the battery engages the necessarygears, and I’ve got my lure back ready to make another cast whileyou’re still cranking.” When Royal Barton retired from hisveterinary supply business, he began enjoying his favoritepastimes: hunting, fishing, and developing the Royal Bee system. Herealized he needed help in marketing his product, so he soughtprofessional assistance to learn how to reach the broadest possiblemarket for the Royal Bee system.
Questions
1. What business research problem does Royal Barton face?Outline some survey research objectives for a research project onthe Royal Bee system.
2. What type of survey—personal interview, telephone interview,or mail survey—should be selected? Why?
3. What sources of survey error are most likely to occur in astudy of this type?
4. Suppose the speed limits in 13 countries in miles per hourare as follows:
Country Highway Miles per Hour
Italy. 87
France 81
Hungary 75
Belgium 75
Portugal 75
Great Britain 70
Spain 62
Denmark 62
Netherlands 62
Greece 62
Japan 62
Norway 56
Turkey. 56
a) What is the mean, median, and mode for these data?
b) Calculate the standard deviation for the data.
c) Calculate the expected value of the speed limit with aconfidence interval of 98%.
5. Suppose a survey researcher studying annual expenditures onlipstick wishes to have a 99 percent confidence level and a rangeof error (E) of less than $2. If the estimate of the standarddeviation is $29, what sample size is required for this?
