| Course | BUS 499 Senior Capstone |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Problem statement and research questions |
| Length | About 1,121 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for BUS 499 Module 2
Pinning Down the Question: Problem Statement, Research Questions and Hypotheses for a Study of Service Plan Cancellations
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
BUS 499: Senior Capstone
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Pinning Down the Question: Problem Statement, Research Questions and Hypotheses for a Study of Service Plan Cancellations
The proposal for this capstone identified a business concern at Prairie Shield Pest Control, a composite residential pest control company in Wichita, Kansas: more customers are canceling their quarterly service plans within a year of enrolling or renewing. This paper turns that concern into a formal problem statement, research questions and hypotheses that will guide the rest of the project. A well-built set of questions determines what data are collected, how they are analyzed and what the final recommendations can claim.
Problem Statement
Twelve-month retention of Prairie Shield's residential quarterly plan customers has fallen from 74% among customers who started in 2023 to 61% among those who started in 2025, a decline worth roughly $228,000 in annual revenue. The company's owners hold four competing explanations: a price increase from $119 to $129 per visit, the hiring of five new technicians, new routing software that changed which technician visits each home, and slow handling of complaints when pests return between visits. The company has no evidence to tell these explanations apart, and acting on the wrong one would waste money while customers continue to leave. The problem this study addresses is that Prairie Shield does not know which factors are associated with first-year cancellation and therefore cannot target its efforts to keep customers.
Purpose Statement
Because the study combines records with interviews, it follows what Creswell and Creswell (2018) call a convergent mixed methods design, in which the two kinds of data are collected in the same period and compared to see where they agree. The purpose statement reflects that design.
The purpose of this mixed methods study is to find which customer and service characteristics go with households dropping the plan inside their first year, to understand how former customers explain their decisions and to recommend changes the company can make to improve retention.
Testing the Questions Before Writing Them
Hulley et al. (2013) propose that good research questions meet the FINER criteria: they are feasible, interesting, novel, ethical and relevant. Feasibility is the most important test here. The company records billing method, technician visits, complaints and dates for every customer, so questions about those factors can be answered. It does not record income, home size or whether a customer moved, so questions about those factors cannot. The questions are interesting and relevant to the owners, novel in the sense that the company has never studied its own data, and ethical because they use anonymized records and voluntary interviews.
Research Questions
Research question 1: Which customer and service factors recorded by the company are associated with cancellation within twelve months of enrolling or renewing?
Research question 2: How do former customers describe their reasons for canceling?
Research question 3: Which of the factors identified in the first two questions can the company change, and what changes do the findings support?
Hypotheses
The first research question can be tested with company records, and four hypotheses follow from the owners' theories and from research.
Hypothesis 1: Customers who pay per visit are more likely to cancel within twelve months than customers who pay by monthly automatic payment. Gourville and Soman (2002) found that consumers who pay in one lump sum feel the cost of a service most sharply at the time of payment and are less likely to use what they paid for as time passes, while spreading payments keeps the cost and the benefit more closely linked. A quarterly invoice of $129 may feel like a fresh decision to keep paying each time it arrives.
Hypothesis 2: Customers whose visits are performed by different technicians are more likely to cancel than customers who see the same technician for most visits.
Hypothesis 3: Customers with a complaint that was not resolved within the company's standard of 48 hours are more likely to cancel than customers with no complaint or a resolved complaint.
Hypothesis 4: Customers in their first year of service are more likely to cancel than customers who have renewed at least once.
The second research question is exploratory and will not be tested with hypotheses, because its purpose is to hear explanations the owners have not considered.
Definitions
| Term | Definition used in this study |
|---|---|
| Quarterly plan | Residential service with four scheduled visits a year, billed per visit or monthly |
| Cancellation | A customer request to end the plan, recorded in the billing system, within twelve months of the start or renewal date |
| Retention | The share of customers in a starting group still active twelve months later |
| Technician continuity | The same technician performing at least three of the first four visits |
| Unresolved complaint | A logged callback for pests between visits not closed within 48 hours |
| First-year customer | A customer who has not yet completed a full twelve months of service |
Assumptions
The study assumes that billing and service records are accurate and complete for the period studied, that former customers who agree to interviews will answer honestly, and that the reasons customers give are related to their actual decisions, even if imperfectly.
Limitations
Company records can show associations but cannot prove that a factor caused a cancellation, since customers who differ in billing method may also differ in other ways. Interview participants will be those willing to talk, who may not represent all former customers. Records of complaints before the new software was installed may be incomplete.
Delimitations
The study is limited to residential quarterly plans at one company in one city between 2023 and 2025. It leaves aside business clients, termite work and single visits. The study examines factors the company records or can learn from customers, not broader economic conditions.
How the Questions Shape Data Collection
Each question now points to a specific source. The first will be answered from the billing and service system, which means extracting every customer's start date, cancellation date, billing method, technician on each visit and complaint log. The second will be answered through interviews with former customers, so the interview guide must invite them to describe their decision before any of the owners' theories are mentioned. The third question draws on both, comparing what the records show with what customers say and asking which factors the company actually controls. Writing the questions first prevents the common mistake of collecting whatever data are convenient and searching afterward for something to say.
Conclusion
The problem, purpose, questions and hypotheses now align: the company does not know why customers cancel, the study will identify associated factors and explanations, and the questions are written so the available data can answer them. The definitions fix how each factor will be measured. The next module reviews research on customer retention to refine these expectations.
References
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE.
Gourville, J., & Soman, D. (2002). Pricing and the psychology of consumption. Harvard Business Review, 80(9), 90-96.
Hulley, S. B., Cummings, S. R., Browner, W. S., Grady, D. G., & Newman, T. B. (2013). Designing clinical research (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
BUS 499 Module 2 instructions, in plain terms
The Aspen catalog presents BUS 499 as an original, comprehensive research project, and the second module usually asks students to sharpen the project into a problem statement and research questions. Use the exact Module 2 wording in your classroom; this example reads it as a problem statement with questions, hypotheses and definitions. State the problem in a few sentences supported by evidence, and name the gap in knowledge that the study will fill. Restate the purpose so it matches the problem. Write research questions that are specific, answerable with the data you can get and connected to the purpose. Where the data allow, turn questions into hypotheses that predict a direction. Define terms so that two readers would measure them the same way. Close with the assumptions, limitations and boundaries of the study.
Inside the BUS 499 Module 2 example
The paper opens with a short problem statement: retention fell from 74% to 61% in two years, costing roughly $228,000 a year, and the owners hold four competing theories. Hulley and colleagues' FINER criteria test whether the questions are feasible, interesting, novel, ethical and relevant. Research question one asks which customer and service factors are associated with first-year cancellation. Question two asks how former customers explain their decision. Question three asks which factors the company can change. Hypotheses link cancellation to billing per visit, changes of technician, unresolved callback complaints and first-year status, each tied to research such as Gourville and Soman's work on payment timing. A table defines six terms, including retention, cancellation and technician continuity, and sections on assumptions, limitations and delimitations close the paper.
BUS 499 Module 2 rubric: what earns full marks
In this module the instructor mainly checks alignment: whether the problem, purpose, questions and hypotheses fit together and whether the data can answer what is asked. This example keeps the purpose statement nearly identical in wording to the problem it addresses and writes each research question so it maps to a specific data source. Hypotheses are directional and testable, and each one rests on a reason drawn from research or from company facts. The FINER criteria from Hulley and colleagues' text on designing research provide a recognized check on the questions. The definitions table makes measurement explicit, which prevents confusion in the analysis modules. Honest limitations, such as the inability to prove causation from records, show research maturity and earn credit rather than losing it.
BUS 499 Module 2 help: mistakes that cost marks
Students often write research questions that are too broad to answer, such as how can the company improve retention. Break that into questions about patterns, reasons and changes, each tied to data. Another weakness is a hypothesis that cannot be tested with the information available; check your data first. Make sure the problem statement includes evidence and names the gap, not only the symptom. Define every term you will measure, especially words like retention that people use loosely. Separate limitations, which are weaknesses you cannot control, from delimitations, which are boundaries you chose. Keep the language neutral; a hypothesis predicts a relationship but does not assume the answer. Finally, check that the purpose statement in this module matches the one you wrote in the proposal, and update both if the project has shifted.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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BUS 499 Module 2 questions, answered
What does BUS 499 Module 2 usually ask for?
Aspen's BUS 499 moves next to the problem statement and research questions, so a paper defining the problem with evidence and posing answerable questions is typical. Follow your classroom instructions.
What is the difference between a research question and a hypothesis?
A research question asks what you want to find out; a hypothesis predicts a specific relationship that the data can support or fail to support.
What are limitations and delimitations?
Limitations are weaknesses in a study the researcher cannot control, such as incomplete records; delimitations are boundaries the researcher chooses, such as excluding commercial customers.
Where can I find a free BUS 499 Module 2 sample paper?
The complete paper is shown above: a problem statement, three research questions and four hypotheses for a capstone on pest control plan cancellations, with a definitions table.
How many research questions should a capstone have?
Usually two to four, each specific and answerable with the data available, and together covering the purpose of the study.