Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, Fourth Edition Test Bank

Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Chapter 2: Database Concepts and Applications in HRIS Test Bank Multiple Choice 1. One of the benefits of a relational database system is that a. end users who generally had limited programming experience can still utilize the query functionality b. organizations can easily implement them c. they are easy to maintain d. they are a strategic HRM resource Ans: A Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Relational DBMSs Difficulty Level: Medium 2. The employee’s name is an example of ______. a. an entity b. an attribute c. an object d. a primary key Ans: B Learning Objective: Know where data in a database are stored AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Entities and Attributes Difficulty Level: Easy 3. Which of the following is NOT a shortcoming of early file-oriented database structures? a. data redundancy b. poor data control c. inadequate data manipulation capabilities d. inability to resemble manual recordkeeping Ans: D Learning Objective: Identify problems with early database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Early DBMSs Difficulty Level: Easy Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 4. When a(n) ______ from one table is stored as an attribute of another table, that attribute is called a(n)______. a. primary key; foreign key b. object; entity c. foreign key; primary key d. entity; attribution Ans:A Learning Objective: Know where data in a database are stored AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Relationships, Primary Keys, and Foreign Keys Difficulty Level: Easy 5. HR metrics are a. various measures of organizational performance b. derived from organizational outcomes c. used to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness d. all of these Ans: D Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 6. ______ is a broad category of business applications and technologies for creating data warehouses and for analyzing and providing access to these specialized data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. a. Strategic planning b. Business intelligence c. Enterprise solution d. Data intelligence Ans:B Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 7.Queries are important because a. they are a way to store data b. they provide direction for strategic HR Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 c. they allow you to present questions to the DBMS in a language it understands d. they allow you to manipulate information Ans: C Learning Objective: Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Easy 8. The database design process a. begins with determining what the users want b. is a task that only upper management should manage c. begins with a budget estimate d. requires outside consultant services Ans: A Learning Objective: Discuss the key steps involved in designing a simple database in Microsoft (MS) Access AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Designing an MS Access Database Difficulty Level: Medium 9. Information is the ______ of data while knowledge is information that has been given ______. a. accumulation; structure b. meaning; structure c. interpretation; meaning d. understanding; definitions Ans:C Learning Objective: Discuss the difference between data, information, and knowledge AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Data, Information, and Knowledge Difficulty Level: Medium 10. Functional units, management levels, and geographically dispersed locations may all have the need to ______. a. share data b. limit attributes in the database c. reduce database needs d. limit query functionality Ans:A Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Relational DBMSs Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Difficulty Level: Easy 11. The advent of the Internet and a standardized communication protocol have contributed to a. easier database programming b. data sharing across geographically dispersed locations c. the maximization of query functionality d. the elimination of a centralized database Ans: B Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Data Sharing Across Locations Difficulty Level: Easy 12. MS Access would be appropriate for an organization that a. had a small database and limited knowledge of database programming b. had a small database and extensive knowledge of database programming c. had a large database and limited knowledge of database programming d. had a large database and extensive knowledge of database programming Ans: A Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:MS Access—An Illustrative Personal Database Difficulty Level: Medium 13. Data processing systems that performed record-keeping functions that mimicked existing manual procedures were called ______. a. file-oriented data structures b. small database structures c. data warehouses d. electronic data storage Ans:A Learning Objective: Identify problems with early database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Early DBMSs Difficulty Level: Easy 14. Patterns in large data sets are identified through ______. a. the creation of tables b. data gathering c. data mining d. electronic data storage Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Ans:C Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 15. Business intelligence (BI) applications include ______. a. the activities of decision support systems b. query and reporting c. forecasting d. all of these Ans:D Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 16. A(n)______ allows you to ask a question based on one or more tables in a database. a. action query b. question query c. cross-tab query d. select query Ans:D Learning Objective: Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Easy 17. A shortcoming of hierarchical and network database systems was that a. only very knowledgeable technical staff members could interact with the database effectively b. relationships between records were explicitly maintained c. it replaced file-oriented structures d. it was electronically stored data Ans:A Learning Objective: Identify problems with early database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Answer Location:Early DBMSs Difficulty Level: Easy True/False 1. An attribute is a characteristic of the entity in a relational database. Ans:T Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Key Relational Database Terminology Difficulty Level: Medium 2. Data mining involves visually analyzing large data sets to identify recurring relationships. Ans:F Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 3. A data warehouse is a special type of database that is optimized for reporting and analysis and is the raw material for management’s decision support system. Ans:T Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 4.Attributes represent a single data element or characteristic of the data table. Ans: T Learning Objective: Know where data in a database are stored AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Tables Difficulty Level: Easy 5.A foreign key represents the primary key from another table that is stored as an attribute in another table. Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Ans:T Learning Objective: Know where data in a database are stored AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Relationships, Primary Keys, and Foreign Keys Difficulty Level: Easy 6.Relational database data is stored in tables where each table represents one “entity” in the real world, and the information associated with that “entity” is stored in that table. Tables are related to each other through a common attribute or key. Ans:T Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Tables Difficulty Level: Medium 7.Tables are used to store information about entities. Multiple tables are created for each entity. Ans:F Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Tables Difficulty Level: Medium 8.One of the benefits of a relational database system is that end users who generally had limited programming experience can still utilize the query functionality. Ans: T Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Medium 9.The employee’s name is an example of an object. Ans:F Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Entities and Attributes Difficulty Level: Medium Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 10.MS Access would be appropriate for an organization that had a small database and limited knowledge of database programming. Ans: T Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:MS Access—An Illustrative Personal Database Difficulty Level: Medium 11.The advent of the Internet and a standardized communication protocol have contributed to easier database programming. Ans:F Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Data Sharing Across Locations Difficulty Level: Medium 12.The database design process begins with determining what the users want. Ans:T Learning Objective: Discuss the key steps involved in designing a simple database in Microsoft (MS) Access AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Designing an MS Access Database Difficulty Level: Medium Essay 1. What are some examples of how an organization might use the data-sharing ability of a relational database system? Ans: Examples can come from (1) data sharing between functional units, (2) data sharing between management levels, and (3) data sharing across geographically dispersed locations. Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Relational DMBSs Difficulty Level: Easy 2. Provide some examples of actions that might be performed as a result of an action query. Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Ans: Actions include updating data in the table (e.g., increasing the base salary of all employees who were rated above average in the latest performance rating), deleting records from the table (e.g., removing employees from the employees table if they no longer work at the company), or inserting records (e.g., the query may add a new set of benefits to the benefits table). Learning Objective: Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Easy 3. What is meant by a cross-tab query? Ans: A cross-tab query performs calculations on the values in a field and displays the results in a datasheet. The reason it is called cross-tab is that it tabulates the data for a set of descriptor attributes, contrasting them or crossing them in a table format. Learning Objective: Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Easy 4. Compare the typical users of an action query with those of a cross-tab query. Ans: Action queries improve the operational efficiency of managing and maintaining a database and are important to the operational staff but of less interest to HR managers and executives. Cross-tab queries provide the information that managers and executives expect. Learning Objective: Know what a query is and discuss three different types of queries AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Queries Difficulty Level: Easy 5. What are the implications for databases and data sharing in today’s global environment? Ans: In today’s global environment, access to data from any physical location in the world is increasingly important. Computer networks are created that provide instant access to these operational data, allowing real-time managerial decision capability regardless of physical location. A centralized database allows a company to confine its data to a single location and, therefore, to more easily control data integrity, updating, backup, query, and control access to the database. A company with many locations and telecommuters, however, must develop a communications infrastructure to facilitate data sharing over a wide geographical area. The advent of the Internet and a standardized communication protocol made the centralized database structures and geographically dispersed data sharing feasible. Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Data Sharing Across Locations Difficulty Level: Easy 6. What were the benefits of relational database systems versus traditional file-oriented data structures? Ans: Relational database systems eliminated the shortcomings of traditional fileoriented structures including (1) data redundancy—an employee’s name and address could be stored in many different files; (2) poor data control—if you had access to the file, you had access to all of the data in the file, which may not be desirable because you may want to restrict the data viewed by a particular user; (3) inadequate data manipulation capabilities—it was very difficult to combine the data across files and to easily update and to add new data; and (4) excessive programming effort—any change in the data required extensive changes in the programming that accessed the data.Perhaps, the most significant difference between a file-based system and a relational database system is that data are easily shared. Learning Objective: Understand what a relational database is and why it is better than older database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Comprehension Answer Location:Early DBMSs Difficulty Level: Medium 7. What is meant by business intelligence? Ans: Business intelligence is a broad category of business applications and technologies for creating data warehouses and for analyzing and providing access to these specialized data to help enterprise users make better business decisions. BI applications include the activities of decision support systems, query and reporting, statistical analysis, forecasting, and data mining. Learning Objective: Understand the difference between operational databases and a data warehouse AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Analysis Answer Location:Data Integration: Database Warehouses, Business Intelligence, and Data Mining Difficulty Level: Hard 8. What are decision support systems, and what role do they play? Ans: Decision support systems are software applications that use databases, primarily data warehouses, to assist senior managers and business professionals in making business decisions. Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Data Sharing Between Different Levels Instructor Resource Kavanagh and Johnson, Human Resource Information Systems: Basics, Applications, and Future Directions, 4e SAGE Publishing, 2018 Difficulty Level: Easy 9. What is meant by a hierarchical database? Ans: A hierarchical database is a database where the relationships among the data are created between sets of data based on where the data are stored in a record. Learning Objective: Identify problems with early database structures AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Early DBMSs Difficulty Level: Easy 10. What critical role does N-tier architecture provide to large, multinational companies? Ans: N-tier architectures represent the software and hardware configuration in which databases and applications are distributed among many different computers around the world. Learning Objective: Discuss three types of data sharing and why they are important AACSB Standard: Application of knowledge Cognitive Domain: Knowledge Answer Location:Data Sharing Between Different Levels Difficulty Level: Easy