Elements of Research

Design
 Elements of Research Design
 Purpose of the study
 Types of investigation

 Extent of researcher interference

 Study setting

 Unit of analysis (population to be

studies)
 Time horizon
 1) Purpose of the study
 Exploratory study

 Descriptive study

 Hypotheses testing
 Exploratory study Mintezberg
 An exploratory study is undertaken
when not much is known about the
situation at hand.

 OR: no information is available on

how similar problems or research
issues have been solved in the past.
 Exploratory study(2)
 Therefore,

Extensive preliminary work needs to

be done to gain familiarity with the
phenomena in the situation and to
understand what is occurring before
developing a model……..etc
 Example
 Interviewingmanagers to exploring
the nature of managerial work…..
Done by Mintizberg 1973.

 Based on the analysis of his

interview data, he formulated
theories of managerial roles, the
nature and types of managerial
activities.
 Descriptive study

A descriptive study is undertaken to

be able to describe the
characteristics of the variables of
interest in a situation.
 Descriptive studies are undertaken in
organizations to learn about and
describe the characteristics of a
group of employees
 Descriptive study

 Descriptivestudies are undertaken in

organizations to understand the
characteristics of the
organizations that follow certain
common practices.
 Examples
Descriptive in nature

A study of a class in terms of the

percentage of members who are in
their senior and junior years, gender
composition, age grouping, number
of semesters left until graduation……
 Examples
 Describe the group….
(The age, the educational level, job
status, ……….)

 Describe the organization:

Describe the characteristics of the
organization that implement flexible
manufacturing systems…..
 Hypotheses testing

 Hypotheses testing study usually

explain the nature of certain
relationships,
 or establish the differences
among groups
 or the independence of two or
more factors in a situation
 Examples
 The relationships that can be
established between advertising and
sales:
 If advertising is increased, then sales
will go up.
 Examples
 establish the differences

 There
are some differences
between male and female in the
managerial skills.
 Examples
 independence of two or more
factors in a situation

 Workingthe night shifts is related to

whether or not one is married.
 Types of investigation

 Casual study: When the researcher

wants to determine the cause of one
or more problems.

 Correlatioanl study: When the

researcher wants to determine the
important variables associated with
the problem
 Examples
 Casual study:

Does smoking cause cancer?

 Correlatioanl study:

Are smoking and cancer related?

 Extent of researcher interference

A correlational study is conducted

in the nature environment of the
organization with minimum
interference by the researcher with
the normal flow of work.
 An Example
 if a researcher wants to study the
factors influencing training
effectiveness……
 so he will collect relevant data,
analyze them to come up with the
findings.
 Extent of researcher interference
(2)
A cause and effect relationships:
 A researcher wants to study the
influence of lighting on workers’
performance, and manipulates the
lighting in the work situation……

 Sothe researcher interferences with

the natural and normal setting.
 Study setting

A correlational studies are conducted

in noncontrived settings ( natural)

A cause and effect studies are

conducted in contrived lab settings
(Artificial setting).
 Field studies
where various factors are
examined in the natural setting
in which daily activities go on as
normal with minimal researcher
interference
 Field experiments

Where cause and effect relationships

are studied with some amount of
researcher interference, but still in
the natural setting where work
continues in the normal fashion.
Example: Cause and effect of training
on employees after a week, a month,
a 3 months ……
 Lab experiments

 Where the researcher explores cause

and effect relationships not only
exercising a high degree of control
but also in an artificial created
setting.

 Example: Students’ sample.

 Unit of analysis (population to be
studies)
 Individualas a unit of analysis
 Groups as a unit of analysis

 Organization as a unit of analysis

 Industry as a unit of analysis

 Country as a unit of analysis

 Time horizon
 Cross-sectional studies ( one
shot)

A study can be done in which data

are gathered just once, over a
period of days or weeks or months.
 Time horizon (2)
 Longitudinal studies:
 When the researcher would like to study
people or phenomena at more than one
point in time in order to answer the
researcher question.
 Example:

 Employees’ behavior before and after

changes in the top management to know
what effects the change accomplished.