Fall2014

Master of Business Administration - Semester

Ill
Q1. Research Is
a
sequential
MB0050 RESEARCH MEniODOLOGY
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.

Defin1ng the
Research Problem

Formulating the
Research
Hypothesis

Developing the
Research

Proposal

rt ng

T
h
e

Management/Re
arch Decision

R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h

Figure: The
Process of
Research

F
r
a
m
e
w
o
r
k
R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h
D
e
s
1
g
n

Data Collection Plan

Sampling Plan

Instrument

Design

P1lot Test1ng

Data Collection

Data
Refin
ing
and
Prep
arat1
on

Data
Anal
ysis
and
Inter
preta
tion

Rese
arch
Repo

Steps 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 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
After 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
On the basis of 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
Study the entire population is not always possible. Hence the researcher 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.

The objective of descriptive research studies is to provide a comprehensive and detailed

explanation of the phenomena under study as the name itself suggests. 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 high-end
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

Cross-sectional studies involve a slice of the population as the name implies. 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 important characteristics of cross-sectional studies:

This study is carried out at a single point in time and thus the applicability is most
relevant for a specific period. For example, one cross-sectional 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.

Cross-sectional 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

Only one sample of the identified population that is under study 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:

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

individuals that typically represent the population under study.

Another feature of this study is it 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.

Q4.

a. Distinguish between:

i. Schedules and Questionnaires

ii. Open ended and closed ended questions
b. Explain the questionnaire design process.
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

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

D
13
15
14

Q&. Explain the Structure of the Research Report. What are the guidelines for
effective report writing?

Remaining answers are available in thefull assignments.

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