Research Process The Broad Problem Area 1

The Research Process -The Broad
ProblemAreaandDefiningthe Problem Area and Defining the

Problem Statement
Objectives Objectives
1 Discusshowproblemareascanbe 1. Discuss how problem areas can be
identified.
2 Stateresearchproblemsclearlyand 2. State research problems clearly and
precisely.
3. Explainhowprimaryandsecondarydata 3. Explain how primary and secondary data
help the researcher to develop a problem
statement.
4. Develop relevant and comprehensive
bibliographies for any research topic.
5 Wit lit t i i t i 5. Write a literature review on any given topic.
6. Develop a research proposal.
BroadProblemArea Broad Problem Area
The broad problem area refers to the entire
situation where one sees a possible need for
research and problem solving. Such issues might
pertain to:
1. Problems currently existing in an organizational setting that
need to be solved.
2 Areasthat amanager believesneedstobeimprovedinthe 2. Areas that a manager believes needs to be improved in the
organization.
3. A conceptual or theoretical issue that needs to be tightened up
f h b i h d d i h for the basic researcher to understand certain phenomena.
4. Some research questions that a basic researcher wants to
answer empirically. p y
BroadProblemArea Broad Problem Area
E l f b d bl th t ld Examples of broad problem areas that a manager could
observe at the workplace:
Trainingprogramsarenot aseffectiveasanticipated Training programs are not as effective as anticipated.
The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
Minority group members are not advancing in their careers.
The newly installed information system is not being used by the
managers for whom it was primarily designed.
Theintroductionof flexibleworkhourshascreatedmore The introduction of flexible work hours has created more
problems than it has solved in many companies.
PreliminaryInformationGathering Preliminary Information Gathering
Nature of information to be gathered:
Background information of the organization. g g
the contextual factors
Prevailingknowledgeonthetopic Prevailing knowledge on the topic.
relevant findings from previous research
The background details of the company can be
obtained from available published records, the p
web site of the company.
Companypolicies procedures andrulescan Company policies, procedures, and rules can
be obtained from the organizations records
and documents.
Datagatheredthroughsuchexistingsources Data gathered through such existing sources
are called secondary data.
S d d t d t th t l d i t Secondary data, are data that already exist
and do not have to be collected by the
researcher researcher.
Some secondary sourcesof data are statistical
bulletins government publications bulletins, government publications,
information published or unpublished and
availablefromeither withinor outsidethe available from either within or outside the
organization, library records, data available
frompreviousresearch, onlinedata, websites, from previous research, online data, web sites,
and the Internet.
Other types of information such as the
perceptions and attitudes of employees are p p p y
best obtained by talking to them; by observing
events people andobjects; or by events, people, and objects; or by
administering questionnaires to individuals.
h h f hf h Such data gathered for research from the
actual site of occurrence of events are called
primary data.
Prevailingknowledgeonthetopic Prevailing knowledge on the topic
A literature review should help the researcher
to identify and highlight the important y g g p
variables that are related to the problem.
Literature Review Literature Review
Literature surveyis the documentation of a
comprehensivereviewof thepublishedand comprehensive review of the published and
unpublished work in the areas of specific
interest totheresearcher interest to the researcher.
Literature Review Literature Review
A dlit t A good literature survey:
Ensures that important variables are not left out of the study.
H l th d l t f th th ti l f k d Helps the development of the theoretical framework and
hypotheses for testing.
Ensuresthat theproblemstatement ispreciseandclear Ensures that the problem statement is precise and clear.
Enhances testability and replicabilityof the findings.
Reducestheriskof reinventingthewheel. Reduces the risk of reinventing the wheel .
Confirms that the problem is perceived as relevant and
significant.
LiteratureSurvey Literature Survey
The library is a rich storage base for
secondarydatathroughbooks journals secondary data through books, journals,
newspapers, magazines, conference
proceedings doctoral dissertations masters proceedings, doctoral dissertations, master s
theses, government publications, and financial
marketing, and other reports.
LiteratureSurvey Literature Survey
The computerized databasesis now
readilyavailableandaccessible whichmakes readily available and accessible, which makes
the literature search much easier, and can be
donewithout enteringtheportalsof alibrary done without entering the portals of a library
building.
ConductingtheLiteratureSurvey Conducting the Literature Survey
h li i d b d h The literature review needs to be done on the
specific issues of concern to the researcher
and the factors identified during the interview
process.
The first stepin this process involves
identifying the various published and y g p
unpublished materials that are available on
thetopicsof interest, andgainingaccessto the topics of interest, and gaining access to
these.
ConductingtheLiteratureSurvey Conducting the Literature Survey
The second stepis gathering the relevant
informationeither bygoingthroughthe information either by going through the
necessary materials in a library or by getting
accesstoonlinesources access to online sources.
The third stepis writing up the literature
review
DataSources Data Sources
b k Textbooks
Academic and professional journals p j
Theses: Ph.Dtheses and Master theses.
Conferenceproceedings Conference proceedings
Unpublished manuscripts
Reports
Newspapers Newspapers
The internet
SearchingforLiterature Searching for Literature
There are three forms of databases:
1. The bibliographic databases,which display only g p , p y y
the bibliographic citations, that is, the name of
the author, the title of the article (book), source , ( ),
of publication, year, volume, and page numbers.
2 Theabstractdatabases whichinaddition 2. The abstract databases, which in addition
provide an abstract or summary of the articles.
3 Thefull textdatabases whichprovidethefull 3. The full-text databases, which provide the full
text of the article.
Online searchprovides the following
advantages: g
1. Saving enormous amount of time.
2 Arecomprehensiveintheir listingandreviewof 2. Are comprehensive in their listing and review of
references.
3 Th h f t i l t 3. The researcher can focus on materials most
central to the research efforts.
4. Finding access to references is relatively
inexpensive.
Accessing the online system and getting a
printout of all the published works in the area p p
of interest from the bibliographical index will
provideacomprehensivebibliographyonthe provide a comprehensive bibliography on the
subject, which will form the basis for the next
step step.
k While reading these articles, take notes
about the problemthat was researched, the
design detailsof the study (such as the
sample size and data collection methods), and
the ultimate findingsof the study.
Thesenoteswill facilitatesthewritingupof These noteswill facilitates the writing up of
the literature reviewwith maximum
efficiency efficiency.
WritingUptheLiteratureReview Writing Up the Literature Review
The documentation of the relevant studies
citing the author and the year of the study is g y y
called literature reviewor literature survey.
Th lit t i l dl i l The literature survey is a clear and logical
presentation of the relevant research work
done thus far in the area of investigation.
h f h l The purpose of the literature survey is:
To identify and highlight the important o de t ya d g g t t e po ta t
variables.
Todocumentthesignificantfindingsfrom To document the significant findings from
earlier researchthat will serve as the
foundationonwhichthetheoretical foundation on which the theoretical
framework for the current investigation can
bebuilt andthehypothesesdeveloped be built and the hypotheses developed.
Such documentation is important to convince
the readerthat:
1. The researcher is knowledgeable about the
problemarea. problem area.
2. The theoretical framework will be structured on
workalreadydoneandwill addtothesolid work already done and will add to the solid
foundation of exiting knowledge
ExamplesofLiteratureSurveys Examples of Literature Surveys
O i ti l ff ti Organizational effectiveness
Organization theorists have defined organizational g g
effectiveness (OE) in various ways. OE has been
described in terms of objectives (Georgopolous and j ( g p
Tannenbaum, 1957), goals (Etzioni, 1960), efficiency
(Katz and Kahn, 1966), resources acquisition ( ) q
(Yuchtman and Seashore, 1967). As Coutler (2002)
remarked, there is little consensus on how to
conceptualize, measure, or explainOE.
Examples of Literature Surveys
Cont..
Researchers are now moving away from a single model
and are taking contingency approaches to
conceptualizing OE (Cameron, 1996; Wernerfelt, 1998;
Yetley, 2001). However, they are still limiting
themselves to examining the impact of the dominant
factors in the organizations life cycle instead of taking a
broader, more dynamic approach (Dahl, 2001, p.25).
What insights can be gained from the
above example?
1. The literature review introduces the
subject of study. j y
2. Highlights the problem (that we do not
have a good conceptual framework for have a good conceptual framework for
understanding OE).
3. Summarizes the work done so far on the
topic (by reporting the citations in the body of the topic (by reporting the citations in the body of the
research by mentioning the family names and the year
of publication only).
DefiningtheProblem Statement Defining the Problem Statement
After the literature review, the researcher
is in position to narrow down the problem p p
from its original broad base and define the
issues of concern more clearly issues of concern more clearly.
What makes a good problem
statement?
The problem statement introduces the key
problem that is addressed in the research p
project.
Problemstatementisaclear precise and Problem statement is a clear, precise, and
shortstatement of the specific issue that a
h h researcher wishes to investigate.
What makes a good problem
statement? Cont
There are three key criteria to assess the
quality of the problem statement: q y p
1. It should be relevant
2 It shouldbefeasible 2. It should be feasible
3. It should be interesting
Three key criteria to assess the
quality of the problem statement
From an academic perspective, research is
relevant if:
1. Nothing is known about the topic.
2 Muchisknownabout thetopic but the 2. Much is known about the topic, but the
knowledge is scattered.
3 M h h th t i i il bl b t th 3. Much research on the topic is available, but the
results are contradictory.
4. Established relationships do not hold in certain
situations.
qualityoftheproblemstatement quality of the problem statement
A problem statement is feasible
If you are able to answer the problem statement within
the restrictions of the research project.
These restrictionsare possibly related to timeand money
and the expertise of the researcher (a problem statement
may be too difficult to answer).
Thus, it is important that you develop a narrowly defined
questionthatcanbeinvestigatedwithareasonably question that can be investigated with a reasonably
amount of time and efforts.
quality of the problem statement
The problem statement is interesting
Because research is a time-consumingprocess gp
and you will go through many ups and downs
before you present a final version of your research y p y
report. It is therefore vital that you are interested
in the problem statement that you are trying to p y y g
answer, so you can stay motivated throughout the
entire process. p
TheProblemStatement The Problem Statement
Examples of Well-Defined Problem Statements
To what extent do the structure of the organization and type of
informationsystemsinstalledaccount for thevarianceinthe information systems installed account for the variance in the
perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
To what extent has the new advertising campaign been successful in
i h hi h li d i h i creating the high-quality, customer-centered corporate image that it
was intended to produce?
How has the new packaging affected the sales of the product? p g g p
What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range growth patterns
of companies?
33
Format for Referencing
Relevant Articles
At least three modes of referencing are
followed in business research. These are
based on the format provided on the
publication manual of the American publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (APA) (2001), the
Chicago Manual of Style (1993) and the Chicago Manual of Style (1993), and the
Turabian Style (1996).
Format for Referencing
Relevant Articles
Each of these manuals specifies how
books, journals, newspapers, , j , p p ,
dissertations, and other materials are to be
referenced in manuscripts referenced in manuscripts.
In this course, we will follow the APA
f f f i b k j l format for referencing books, journals,
newspaper articles, dissertations, and so
on.
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Book by a single author
Leshin, C.B. (1997). Management onthe Leshin, C.B. (1997). Management on the
World Wide Web. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall Prentice-Hall.
Book by more than one author
Cornett, M., Wiley, B.J., and Sankar, S. (1998).
Thepleasuresof nurturing London: The pleasures of nurturing. London:
McMunster Publishing.
More than one book by the same author in
the same year y
R A (1998 ) T d th N Y k Roy, A. (1998a). Trade theory. New York:
McMillian Publishing Enterprises.
Roy, A. (1998b). Traditional Trade. San
Francisco CA: Jossey Bamar Francisco, CA: Jossey Bamar.
Journal Article
Barry, H. (1996). Cross-cultural researchwith Barry, H. (1996). Cross cultural research with
matched pairs of societies. Journal of Social
Psychology 79 2533 Psychology, 79, 25-33.
Jeanquart, S., & Peluchette, J. (1997). Diversity
in the workforce and management models,
Journal of Social WorkStudies, 43, 72-85. Journal of Social Work Studies, 43, 7285.
f d bl Conference proceedings Publication
Yeshwant, M. (1998). Revised thinking on es a t, ( 998) e sedt go
Indian philosophy and religion. In S. Pennathur
(Ed.), Proceedingsof theNinthInternational (Ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth International
Conference on Religion, (pp. 100-107). Bihar,
India: Bihar University. India: Bihar University.
Doctoral/Master Dissertations
Kiren, R.S. (1997). Medical advances and
li f lif U bli h dd l quality of life. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Omaha State University.
Paper Presentation at Conference
Bajaj, L. S. (1996, March 13). Practical tips for
ffi i k P d efficient work management. Paper presented
at the annual meeting of Enterpreneurs, San
Jose, CA.
Unpublished Manuscript
Pringle, P. S. (1991). Training and development
i h 90 ' U bli h d i S h in the 90s'. Unpublished manuscript, Southern
Illinois University, Diamondale, IL.
Newspaper Article
ThenewGMpact. ( 1998, July28). Concord The new GM pact. ( 1998, July 28). Concord
Tribune, p.1.
R f i El i S Referencing Electronic Sources
Author, I. (1998). Technology and immediacy , ( ) gy y
of information [On-line] Available
http://wwwbnet act com http://www.bnet.act.com
When a work is authored by twoindividuals,
always cite both names every time the y y
reference occurs in the text.
Whenaworkhasmorethantwoauthorsbut When a work has more than twoauthors but
fewer than six authors, cite all authors the first
h f b l time the reference occurs, and subsequently
include only the surname of the first author
followed by "et al." as the example in the next
slide: slide:
Sekaran, U., Martin, T., Trafton, N., and
Osborn, R.N., (1980) found.(first citation). , , ( ) ( )
S k l (1980) Sekaranet al. (1980)
found
.(subsequent citation).
When a work is authored by six or more
individuals, cite only the surname of the first y
author followed by et al. and the year for the
first andsubsequent citations first and subsequent citations.
Join the names in a multiple-author citation in
b h h l running text by the word and. In parenthetical
material, in tables, and in the reference list,
join the names by an ampersand (&).
As Tucker and Snell (1989) pointed
out..
As has been pointed out (Tucker &
Snell 1989) Snell, 1989),.
When a work's author is designated as
"Anonymous", cite in text, the word y
Anonymous followed by a comma and the
date: (Anonymous 1979) Inthereferencelist date: (Anonymous, 1979). In the reference list,
an anonymous work is alphabetized by the
wordAnonymous word Anonymous.
When the same author has several works
published in the same year, cite them in the p y
same order as they occur in the reference list,
withtheinpresscitationscominglast For with the in press citations coming last. For
example:
Research on the mental health of dual-
career family members (Sekaran, 1985a,
1985b, 1985c, 1999, in press) indicates
When more than one author has to be cited in
the text, these should be in the alphabetical p
order of the first author's surname, and the
citationsshouldbeseparatedbysemicolons citations should be separated by semicolons
as the example below:
( In the job design literature (Aldag & Brief,
1976; Alderfer, 1977; Beatty, 1982;
Jeanquart, 1998),
Quotations inText Quotations in Text
Quotations should be given exactly as they
appear in the source. The original wording, pp g g
punctuation, spelling, and italics must be
preserved preserved.
The research proposal contains the
following
K l Key elements:
Purpose of the study
Specificproblemtobeinvestigated. Specific problem to be investigated.
Scope of the study
Relevance of the study
R hd i Research design:
Sampling design
Data collection methods
D t l i Data analysis
Time frame
Budget
Selected Bibliography
Example Example
While Chryslers minivans, pickups, and sports
utilities take a big share at the truck market, g
its cars trail behind those of General Motors,
Ford Honda andToyota Qualityproblems Ford, Honda, and Toyota. Quality problems
include, among other things water leaks and
defectiveparts defective parts
( Business Week, No.10, 2007).
Examplecont Example-cont.
1. Identify the broad problem area.
2. Definetheproblem? 2. Define the problem?
3. Explain how you would proceed further.
Questions?

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