The production department planned to work 8,000 labor-hours in march; however, it actually worked 8,400 labor-hours during the month. its actual costs incurred in march are listed below: actual cost incurred in march direct labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $134,730 indirect labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $19,860 utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $14,570 supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,980 equipment depreciation . . . . . . . . . $54,080 factory rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $8,700 property taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,100 factory administration . . . . . . . . . . $26,470 required: 1. using exhibit 9–2 as your guide, prepare the production department’s planning budget for the month. 2. using exhibit 9–5 as your guide, prepare the production department’s flexible budget for the month. 3. using exhibit 9–8 as your guide, prepare the production department’s flexible budget perfor- mance report for march, including both the spending and activity variances. 4. what aspects of the flexible budget performance report should be brought to management’s attention? explain.

Reliability and validity reliability and validity are two important considerations that must be made with any type of data collection. reliability refers to the ability to consistently produce a given result. in the context of psychological research, this would mean that any instruments or tools used to collect data do so in consistent, reproducible ways. unfortunately, being consistent in measurement does not necessarily mean that you have measured something correctly. to illustrate this concept, consider a kitchen scale that would be used to measure the weight of cereal that you eat in the morning. if the scale is not properly calibrated, it may consistently under- or overestimate the amount of cereal that’s being measured. while the scale is highly reliable in producing consistent results (e.g., the same amount of cereal poured onto the scale produces the same reading each time), those results are incorrect. this is where validity comes into play. validity refers to the extent to which a given instrument or tool accurately measures what it’s supposed to measure. while any valid measure is by necessity reliable, the reverse is not necessarily true. researchers strive to use instruments that are both highly reliable and valid.