Research Methodology

Lecture No : 7
(Research Design)

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

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.

 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 Design

Purpose of the
study

Problem Statement

Exploratory
Description
Hypotheses
Testing

Types of
Investigation

Establishing:
-Casual
relationship
- Correlation's
- Group
difference
ranks, etc.

Extent of
Researcher
interference

Minimal: studying
events as they
normally occur
Manipulation

Study setting

contrived
non-contrived

Measurement
& Measures

Operational
Definition
scaling
categorizing
coding

1. Feel for
data

2.Goofiness
of data
Units of analysis
(population to be
studied)
individuals
dyads
groups
organizations
\machines
etc

Sampling
design

Time horizon

Data collection
method
3. Hypothesis
Testing

Probability/
Non-probability
Sample size (n)

one-shot
(cross-sectional)
Longitudinal

Observation
Interview
Questionnaire
Physical
measurement
Un-obstructive

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.

 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.

 Exploratory Study
Exploratory 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: =0
Ha: >0

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 Example: The manager of a manufacturing

firm believes that the voluntary turn over
is more of with its 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:turn-over-men = turn-over-men
Ha:turn-over-men turn-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 researchers 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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