HERO BUILDERS 1
Case Study: Hero Builders
Olen C. Appleton
Master of Business Administration in Finance of Liberty University
BUSI 600: Business Research Methods
Dr. Michael Walker
Author Note
Olen Appleton
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Olen Appleton
Email: oappleton@liberty.edu
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Hero Builders
Which of the four types of studies are presented in this case?
The Hero Builders case study is an example of a study that falls under the descriptive
study framework. A descriptive study can do a lot for the researcher. The question is important
when determining what type of study should be used. “In a descriptive-study, the objectives can
be stated as the research question” (Schindler, Pg. 522). The textbook also tells us that the
descriptive study tries to determine the 5W’s during the study. The commonly known 5W’s
would be the Who, Why, When, Where, and What. For example, “Descriptive research on
employee theft would measure the types of theft committed, how often, when, where, and by
whom” (Schindler, Pg. 75). The reason why this study seems to fall under the descriptive
research is because the Hero Builder went into his research looking for the who, what, when,
where, and why people would be interested in buying the action figure dolls and through those
studies he was able to see that “In the toy store, action figures take up the most aisle space,
second only to electronic games. And young girls have an action-figure section,
too” (Hero Builders).
Using the criteria in Exhibit 1-6, evaluate the research that HeroBuilders.com conducted
prior to launching its hero and villain action figure business?
The table in exhibit 1-6 is a summary of variable types. The dependent variable is the
concept/construct of interest. The independent variable is the primary variable believed to have
significant effect on the dependent variable. The moderating variable is the alternative
independent variable; possible significant contributory effect of the independent-dependent
variable. The control variable might influence the independent-dependent variable, but effect is
not at the core of the problem studied. The confounding variable is the alternative independent
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variable, with unknown effect on independent variable and dependent variable. Lastly, the
textbook says that the intervening variable theoretically might affect; effect cannot be
determined. (Schindler, exhibit 1-6)
As with many and most types of studies, there are similarities in the methods involved.
Doing research can be difficult in general. The North Hennepin Community College says that
the first steps are “identify and develop your topic and conduct preliminary searches for
information. Before beginning your research in earnest, do a preliminary search to determine
whether there is enough information out there for your needs and to set the context of your
research” (NHCC). Finding the topic and conducting the preliminary research was spawned by
the interest of his friends and family and those that saw his dolls being built in his personal
collection.
“I’d been making dolls on my personal time. And the individual requests became.
too much,” claimed Vicale. He decided to research the potential for the action figure.
business. Starting with the Internet, Vicale found dozens of companies were.
involved worldwide, some big and some small. “Hasbro was the biggest player, but
there were numerous others” (Hero builders) After the initial interest, there were several steps
that took the research from his personal friendship further. He found that the market for his
hero’s would be profitable for a business model and especially among those retail stores he spoke
about. After that he talked to experts about what issues he may have by making dolls that
resembled other heroes and could be considered somewhat copy-cat dolls. It would be hard to
say whether he had a specific research question in mind other than would he be able to make
money through this company.
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Relating to the other variables in the exhibit 1-6 we can see that the research was not
incredibly robust with all those formal variable types involved. He primarily visited websites
and some in-person store visits outside of talking to his friends. It would be easy to say that as
he went along with the interest that his research began to focus more on how to make these
products quicker and more efficient and that his research became shaped over time based off the
needs required of the customers that he was trying to serve.
What issues, other than those Vicale chose to evaluate, would you have included in your
research plan for HeroBuilders.com?
In this case study there were some issues that were pointed out by Vicale, but there were
more to consider. The library of Sacred Heart University talks about a section that should have
been involved to consider these limitations. “The limitations of the study are those
characteristics of design or methodology that impacted or influenced the application or
interpretation of the results of your study. They are the constraints on generalizability and utility
of findings that are the result of the ways in which you chose to design the study and/or the
method used to establish internal and external validity” (Sacred Heart). One issue for this case
study is that Vicale was not already an expert in the toy industry and the action figure side before
embarking on this study. He only had a general interest in making a profit potentially and that is
what sparked his general research. The limitations that this placed on his study is that he did not
really know where to begin and does not know the best way to get started. When he began to
study, he could have been more efficient and more accurately developed the intended end state
that he sought to answer from the beginning and that would have given him the better starting
spot from where to begin his entrepreneurial endeavors.
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Another issue with this research plan described in the case study is that he could have
taken some of the other elements of the different types of studies into consideration when
shaping his research. For example, “A causal-explanatory study attempts to explain relationships
among variables-to determine how one variable produces changes in another” (Schindler, Pg.
76). This could have included the ability to see what types of variables would cause higher or
lower interests in the action figures and maybe even what types of events would spurn higher
demand specifically.
Lastly, having a study starts with a good hypothesis. A hypothesis should be measurable,
testable, and Vicale’s starting hypothesis was hard to narrow down. It seemed like he was
searching vaguely for the information. Ironing out the hypothesis would have made this study
and the design of the study much clearer and more precise and could have delivered the
information he needed specifically much more presentable and therefore action could have been
taken on the information better.
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References
Basic Steps in the Research Process - NHCC.edu. (n.d.). North Hennepin Community College.
Retrieved May 23, 2021, from https://www.nhcc.edu/student-
resources/library/doinglibraryresearch/basic-steps-in-the-research-process
Herobuilders, E. V. (2021, April 28). Create a Custom Action Figure of your own, Custom Action
Figures. HEROBUILDERS®. https://www.herobuilders.com/
Research Guides: Organizing Academic Research Papers: Limitations of the Study. (n.d.).
Sacred Heart University. Retrieved May 23, 2021, from
https://library.sacredheart.edu/c.php?g=29803&p=185934
Schindler. (2021). Business Research Methods (13th edition). Mc Graw Hill Education (Uk).
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