Research Methodology

Lecture No : 7 (Research Design)

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RECAP

• Hypotheses statements are stated in such way that they can be easily testable

• Hypotheses statement are written in directional, non directional formats for testing group differences, relationship between variables.

• We develop null and alternate hypotheses• We now want to design the research in such a way

that the data can obtained and analyzed in away that we arrive at a solution

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Elements of Research Design

• Refers to the outline, plan, or strategy specifying the procedure to be used in answering research questions

• It encompasses many issues.

• We need to decide on the different choices.

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• To decide for any given situation – the type of investigation needed, – the study setting, – the extent of researcher interference, – the unit of analysis, – the time horizon of the study– To identify whether a casual or a correlation study

would be more appropriate in a given situation

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The Research DesignTypes of Investigation

Establishing:-Casual relationship- Correlation's- Groupdifferenceranks, etc.

Purpose of the study

ExploratoryDescriptionHypotheses

Testing

Extent of Researcher interference

Minimal: studyingevents as theynormally occurManipulation

Study setting

contrived

non-contrived

1. Feel fordata

2.Goofiness of data

3. HypothesisTesting

Units of analysis(population to be

studied)

individualsdyadsgroups

organizations\machines

etc

Samplingdesign

Probability/Non-probabilitySample size (n)

Time horizon

one-shot(cross-sectional)

Longitudinal

Data collectionmethod

ObservationInterview

QuestionnairePhysical

measurementUn-obstructive

Measurement& Measures

Operational Definitionscaling categorizingcoding

Prob

l em

Sta

tem

ent

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THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• Studies can be either exploratory in nature, or descriptive, or they can be conducted to test hypotheses.

• The nature of the study - whether it is exploratory, descriptive or hypothesis testing - depends on the stage to which knowledge about the research topic has advanced.

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• The Case Studies, which is an examination of studies done in similar organizational situations, is also a method of solving problems, or for understanding phenomena of interest and generating additional knowledge in that area.

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• Exploratory StudyExploratory studies are undertaken to better comprehend the nature of the problem, since very few studies might have been conducted in that area.

• Extensive interviews with many people might have to be undertaken to get handle on the situation and to understand the phenomena.

• After obtaining a better understanding, more rigorous research proceed.

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• Some qualitative studies (as opposed to quantitative data gathered through questionnaire, etc.) where data are collected through observation or interviews, are exploratory studies in nature.

• When the data reveals some pattern regarding the phenomena of interest, theories are developed and hypotheses formulated for subsequent testing.

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Example: Managers of firm wants to explore the nature of managerial work (Mitnizberg in 1970)

Based on the analysis of his interview data, he formulated theories of managerial roles, the nature and types of managerial activities, and so on.

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Example : What is the role of virtual markets for e -commerce ? (in 2005)

The recent development of the internet and the busy life style of the people in the west, lots of the individuals are showing interests in accessing internet .

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• Descriptive Study:A descriptive study is under taken in order to ascertain and be able to describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation.

• For instance a study of class in terms of the percentage of members who are in their senior and junior years, gender composition, age groupings, number of semesters until graduation, and number of business courses taken, can only be considered as descriptive in nature

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• Descriptive studies that present data in a meaningful form help to:

• 1. Understand the characteristics of a group in a given situation.

• 2. Think systematically about aspects in a given situation.

• 3. Offer ideas for further probe and research• 4. Help make certain simple decisions (such as how

many and what type of individuals should be transferred from one department to another

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• Example:• A bank manager wants to have a profile of the

individuals who have loan payments outstanding for six months and more. It would include details of their average age, earnings, type of occupation they are in, full time/part time employment status, and the like.

• This information might help to ask for further information or make an immediate decision on the types of individuals to whom he would not extend loans in future.

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• Example:• The ministry of science and technology wants to

know how many projects have failed, what were the reasons. Out of the triple constraints (cost, time, scope) how many failed due to scope constraint.

• The information received can help tighten the scope definition process at the MOST technology projects.

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• Hypotheses Testing:Hypothesis testing is undertaken to explain the variance in the dependent variable or to predict organizational outcomes.

• Similar to the kind of examples we had discussed in the theoretical framework chapter

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• Example: • A Marketing manager would like to know the sales

of the company will increase if he doubles the advertising dollars.

• Here, the manager wants to know the nature of the relationship between advertising and sales that can be established by testing the hypothesis:

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• H0: There is no relationship between sales and advertisement

• Ha: If advertising is increased, then sales will also increase

• Ho:ρ =0• Ha: ρ >0

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• Example: The manager of a manufacturing firm believes that the voluntary turn over is more of with it’s female employees. The manager would like to test the difference between the turnover rates of male and female.

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• Ho: There is no difference between the turn over rate of men and women

• Ha: There is a difference between the turn over rate of men and women

• Ho:μturn-over-men = μturn-over-men

• Ha:μturn-over-men ≠ μturn-over-men

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• So exploratory studies are focused on understanding the characteristics of a phenomenon of interest.

• A pilot study on small scale interviewing individuals is done. ( What is an internet club)

• A Descriptive study is when characteristics of the phenomenon are known and we want to describe it better ( How many internet clubs are in the city, how many are open for 24 hrs etc)

• A hypothesis testing is when we try test certain theories. (Internet clubs have a cased a decline in the social values )

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Types of Investigation: Causal versus Correlation

• When the researcher wants to define the cause of one or more problems, then the study is called a Causal Study.

• When the researcher is interested in outline the important variables that are associated with the problem, it is called a Correlational Study.

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• Example:• A causal study question:

– Does smoking cause cancer?• A correlational question:

– Are smoking, chewing tobacco related to cancer ?• A causal study hypothesis:

– Smoking causes cancer.• A correlational hypothesis:

– Smoking and cancer are related– Chewing and cancer are related

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Extent of Researcher Interference with the Study

• The extent to which the researcher interferes with the normal flow of work at the workplace has direct bearing on whether the study undertaken is casual or correlational.

• A correlational study is conducted in the natural environment of the organization, with the researcher interfering minimally with the normal flow of work.

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• For example, • if a researcher wants to study the factors

influencing training effectiveness • (a correlational study), • the individual simply has to develop a

theoretical framework, collect the relevant data, and analyze them to come up with the findings.

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• Although there is some disruption to the normal flow of work in the system as the researcher interviews employees and administers questionnaire at the workplace, the researcher’s interference in the system is minimal compared with that in causal studies.

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• In case of causal study the researcher would try to manipulate certain variables so as to study the effect on the dependent variable

• Example. • Effect of lighting on employee performance• The researcher's interfere is high

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Recap

• We covered some of the research design elements• We talked about the research purpose

– (exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing)

• Type of investigation– (causal, correlations)

• Extent of researcher's interference– (High,moderate,low)

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