Fall 2014

Master of Business Administration MBA Semester 3

Project Management Specialisation
MB 0050 Research Methodology (4 credits)
(Book ID: B1700)

Q1. Research is a sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit

or explicit objective. Describe in detail the steps to be carried out in a typical
research study.
Management research is an unbiased, structured, and sequential method of enquiry,
directed towards a clear implicit or explicit business objective. This enquiry might lead to
proving existing theorems and models or arriving at new theories and models.
Steps to be carried out in a typical research study
The management dilemma
Any research starts with the need and desire to know more. This is essentially the
management dilemma. It could be the researcher himself or herself or it could be a
business manager who gets the study by done by a researcher. The need might be
purely academic (basic or fundamental research) or there might be an immediate
business decision that requires an effective and workable solution (applied research).
Defining the research problem
This is the first and the most critical step of the research journey. For example, a soft
drink manufacturer who is making and selling aerated drinks now wants to expand his
business. He wants to know whether moving into bottled water would be a better idea or
he should look at fruit juice based drinks.
Formulating the research hypotheses
In the model, we have drawn broken lines to link defining the research problem stage to
the hypotheses formulation stage. The reason is that every research study might not
always begin with a hypothesis; in fact, the task of the study might be to collect detailed
data that might lead to, at the end of the study, some indicative hypotheses to be tested
in subsequent research.
Developing the research proposal
Once the management dilemma has been converted into a defined problem and a
working hypothesis, the next step is to develop a plan of investigation.
Research design formulation
Based on the orientation of the research, i.e., exploratory, descriptive or causal, the
researcher has a number of techniques for addressing the stated objectives. These are
termed in research as research designs. The main task of the design is to explain how

the research problem will be investigated. There are different kinds of designs available
to you while doing a research.
Sampling design
It is not always possible to study the entire population. Thus, one goes about studying a
small and representative sub-group of the population. This sub-group is referred to as
the sample of the study. There are different techniques available for selecting the group
based on certain assumptions. The most important criteria for this selection would be the
representativeness of the sample selected from the population under study.

Q2. What are descriptive research designs? Explain the different kinds of
descriptive research designs.
As the name implies, the objective of descriptive research studies is to provide a
comprehensive and detailed explanation of the phenomena under study. The intended
objective might be to give a detailed sketch or profile of the respondent population being
studied. For example, to design an advertising and sales promotion campaign for highend watches, a marketer would require a holistic profile of the population that buys such
luxury products. Thus a descriptive study, (which generates data on who, what, when,
where, why and how of luxury accessory brand purchase) would be the design
necessary to fulfill the
research objectives.
Cross-sectional Studies
As the name suggests, cross-sectional studies involve a slice of the population. Just as
in scientific experiments one takes a cross-section of the leaf or the cheek cells to study
the cell structure under the microscope, similarly one takes a current subdivision of the
population and studies the nature of the relevant variables being investigated.
There are two essential characteristics of cross-sectional studies:

The cross-sectional study is carried out at a single moment in time and thus the
applicability is most relevant for a specific period. For example, one crosssectional study was conducted in 2002 to study the attitude of Americans towards
Asian-Americans, after the 9/11 terrorist attack. This revealed the mistrust
towards Asians. Another cross-sectional study conducted in 2012 to study the
attitude of Americans towards Asian- Americans revealed more acceptance and
less mistrust. Thus the cross sectional studies cannot be used interchangeably.

Secondly, these studies are carried out on a section of respondents from the
population units under study (e.g., organizational employees, voters, consumers,
industry sectors). This sample is under consideration and under investigation only
for the time coordinate of the study.

Longitudinal Studies
A single sample of the identified population that is studied over a longer period of time is
termed as a longitudinal study design. A panel of consumers specifically chosen to study
their grocery purchase pattern is an example of a longitudinal design. There are certain
distinguishing features of the same:

The study involves the selection of a representative panel, or a group of

individuals that typically represent the population under study.
The second feature involves the repeated measurement of the group over fixed
intervals of time. This measurement is specifically made for the variables under
study.

Q3. The procedure of testing hypothesis requires a researcher to adopt several

steps. Describe in brief all such steps.
A hypothesis is an assumption about relations between variables. It is a tentative
explanation of the research problem or a guess about the research outcome.
To test a hypothesis means to tell (on the basis of the data researcher has collected)
whether or not the hypothesis seems to be valid. The various steps involved in
hypothesis testing are stated below:
a)

Making a Formal Statement

The step consists in making a formal statement of the null hypothesis (H) and
also of the alternative hypothesis (H). This means that hypothesis should clearly
state, considering the nature of the research problem.
The formulation of hypothesis is an important step which must be accomplished
with due care in accordance with the object and nature of the problem under
consideration. It also indicates whether we should use a tailed test or a two tailed
test.

b) Selecting a Significant Level

The hypothesis is tested on a pre-determined level of significance and such the

same should have specified. Generally, in practice, either 5% level or 1% level is
adopted for the purpose.
The factors that affect the level of significance are:
The magnitude of the difference between samples.

The size of the sample.

The variability of measurements within samples.

c) Deciding the Distribution to Use

After deciding the level of significance, the next step in hypothesis testing is to
determine the appropriate sampling distribution. The choice generally remains
between distribution and the t distribution. The rules for selecting the correct
distribution are similar to those which we have stated earlier in the context of
estimation.
d) Selecting A Random Sample & Computing An Appropriate Value
Another step is to select a random sample(S) and compute an appropriate value
from the sample data concerning the test statistic utilizing the relevant
distribution. In other words, draw a sample to furnish empirical data.

Q4. a. Distinguish between:

i. Schedules and Questionnaires
ii. Open ended and closed ended questions
b. Explain the questionnaire design process.
a. i) Schedules
Another useful way of categorizing questionnaires is on the method of administration.
Thus, the questionnaire that has been prepared would necessitate a face-to-face
interaction. In this case, the interviewer reads out each question and makes a note of the
respondents answers. This administration is called a schedule.
Questionnaires
The questionnaire method is the most commonly used method of primary data
collection. The questionnaire is a research technique that consists of a series of
questions asked to respondents, in order to obtain statistically useful information about a
given topic. It is one of the most cost-effective methods of collecting primary data, which
can be used with considerable ease by most individual and business researchers.
ii) Open-ended questions
In open-ended questions, the openness refers to the option of answering in ones own
words. They are also referred to as unstructured questions or free response or freeanswer questions. Some illustrations of this type are listed below:

What is your age?

Which is your favourite TV serial?
I like Nescafe because ________________________
My career goal is to ________________________

Closed-ended questions
In closed-ended questions, both the question and response formats are structured and
defined.There are three kinds of formats as we observed earlier dichotomous
questions, multiplechoice questions and those that have a scaled response.
b) Convert the research objectives into information areas
This is the first step of the design process. By this time the researcher is clear about the
research questions; research objectives; variables to be studied; research information
required and the characteristics of the population being studied.
Method of administration
Once the researcher has identified his information area; he needs to specify how the
information should be collected. The researcher usually has available to him a variety of
methods for administering the study.
Content of the questionnaire
The next step is to determine the matter to be included as questions in the measure. The
researcher needs to do an objective quality check in order to see what research
objective/information need the question would be covering before using any of the
framed questions.
Motivating the respondent to answer
The questionnaire should be designed in a manner that it involves the respondent and
motivates him/her to give information. There are different situations which might lead to
this.

Q5. a. What is the analysis of variance? What are the assumptions of the
technique? Give a few examples where the techniques could be used.
b. The following data represents the number of units produced by four operators
during three different shifts:
Shifts

Operators
A
B
C
I
10
8
12
II
10
12
14
III
12
10
11
Perform a two-way analysis of variance and interpret the result.

D
13
15
14

a) However, if there are more than two populations, the test for the equality of means
could be carried out by considering two populations at a time. This would be a very
cumbersome
procedure. One easy way out could be to use the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
technique. The technique helps in performing this test in one go and, therefore, is
considered to be important technique of analysis for the researcher. Through this
technique it is possible to draw inferences whether the samples have been drawn from
populations having the same mean.
In ANOVA, it is assumed that each of the samples is drawn from a normal population
and each of these populations has an equal variance. Another assumption that is made
is that all the factors except the one being tested are controlled (kept constant).
Basically, two estimates of the population variances are made. One estimate is based
upon between the samples and the other one is based upon within the samples. The two
estimates of variances can be compared for their equality using F statistic.
The technique has found applications in the fields of economics, psychology, sociology,
business and industry. It becomes handy in situations where we want to compare the
means of more than two populations. Some examples could be to compare:
the mean cholesterol content of various diet foods
the average mileage of, say, five automobiles
the average telephone bill of households belonging to four different income
groups and so on.
b)
Data:
Shifts
I
II
III

Operators
A
10
10
12

B
8
12
10

C
12
14
11

D
13
15
14

Solution:
As in the one-way classification, it is possible to shorten the computations by using the
special method.
The steps are given below:
1. Sum each row, square these row sums, add, and divide by the number of
observations in each row. Thus, we have
(432+512+472)/ 4
= 6659 / 4
= 1664.75

(1)

2. Sum each column, square these column sums, add, and divide by the number of
observations in each column. Thus, we have
= (322+302+372+422) / 3
= 5057 / 3
= 1685.67
(2)
3. Square each individual item and add. Thus,
= 102+82+122+132+102+122+142+152+122+102+112+142
= 100+64+144+169+100+144+196+225+144+100+121+196
= 1703
(3)
4. Sum of all the observations, square it and divide by the number of observations.
Thus
=(10+8+12+13+10+12+14+15+12+10+11+14) 2 / 12
= 19881 / 12
= 1656.75
(4)
This is the correction factor
5. The row sum of squares is
(1) (4) = 1664.75 1656.75 = 8
6. The column sum of squares is
(2) (4) = 1685.67 1656.75 = 28.92
7. The total sum of squares is
(3) (4) = 1703 1656.75 = 46.25
8. The residual sum of squares is
(7) (5) (6) = 46.25 8 28.92 = 9.33

(5)
(6)
(7)

The result is tabulated in Table below:

Table: Analysis of Variance for a Two-way Classification
Source of
Sum of
d.f.
Mean sum
F-ratio
Variation
squares
of squares
Machine (row) 8
2
4
F26 = 4/1.555=
2.57
Operator (col.) 28.92
3
9.64
F36 = 6.19
Residual
9.33
6
1.555
Total
*The variance ratio is significant at 5%
The table value of F26 and F36 at a 5 per cent level of significance is given by 5.14 and
4.76 respectively. The corresponding sample F36 values 6.19. Since the computed F
values are greater than the corresponding table values, the null hypothesis is rejected in
the 2nd case.

Q6. Explain the Structure of the Research Report. What are the guidelines for
effective report writing?
Whatever the type of report, the reporting requires a structured format and by and large,
the process is standardized. As stated above, the major difference amongst the types of
reports is that all the elements that make a research report would be present only in a
detailed technical report. Usage of theoretical and technical jargon would be higher in
the technical report and visual presentation of data would be higher in the management
report.
The process of report formulation and presentation is presented in Figure. As can be
observed, the preliminary section includes the title page, followed by the letter of
authorization, acknowledgements, executive summary and the table of contents. Then
come the background section, which includes the problem statement, introduction, study
background, scope and objectives of the study and the review of literature (depends on
the purpose). This is followed by the methodology section, which, as stated earlier, is
again specific to the technical report. This is followed by the findings section and then
come the conclusions. The technical report would have a detailed bibliography at the
end.
In the management report, the sequencing of the report might be reversed to suit the
needs of the decision-maker, as here the reader needs to review and absorb the
findings. Thus, the last section on interpretation of findings would be presented
immediately after the study objectives and a short reporting on methodology could be
presented in the appendix.

Figure: The Process of Report Formulation and Writing

Clear report mandate: While writing the research problem statement and study
background, the writer needs to be absolutely clear in terms of why and how the problem
was formulated.
Clearly designed methodology: Any research study has its unique orientation and
scope and thus has a specific and customized research design, sampling and data
collection plan. In researches, that are not completely transparent on the set of
procedures, one cannot be absolutely confident of the findings and resulting
conclusions.
Clear representation of findings: Complete honesty and transparency in stating the
treatment of data and editing of missing or contrary data is extremely critical.
Representativeness of study finding: A good research report is also explicit in terms
of extent and scope of the results obtained, and in terms of the applicability of findings.

Simplicity of approach: Along with grammatically and structurally correct language,

care must be taken to avoid technical jargon as far as possible. In case it is important to
use certain terminology, then, definition of these terms can be provided in the glossary of
terms at the end of the report.