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SCIENTIFIC METHOD

DRS 2013/TRS3082
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Lecture 2 & 3
DR. AYE AYE KHIN
Faculty of Business Management and Professional Studies (FBMP)
Management and Science University

It is a systematic step-by-step procedure

following the logical processes of reasoning.
Science is independent of any particular subject.
The scientific method does not refer to a field of
specific subject matter, but rather to a procedure
or mode of investigation.
It is an objective, logical and systematic
method of analysis of phenomena, devised
to permit the accumulation of reliable
knowledge.

aakhin@msu.edu.my

CASE STUDY
This is the method of exploring and analysis of the life
situations.
It is a compact and intensive study of the actuality of a
business situation.
It is a form of qualitative and quantitative analysis of a
complete observation of a business situation, a
problem, a person or an institution.
Case study helps to secure wealth of information about a
unit or study which may provide the ideas for further
research.
Example: A Study of Labour Participation in
Management at the particular Enterprise/Company.

HALLMARKS OR MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (8)

Purposive
Rigor
Testability
Replicability
Precision and Confidence
Objectivity
Generalization and
Parsimony.

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PURPOSIVENESS
The scientific approach should have a definite aim or
objective.
For Example: How employees commitment to the
organization can be increased? is a research question
of an organization.
Purpose: to reduce labour turnover, to reduce
absenteeism, to increase performance and etc.

TESTABILITY
It is an important characteristics of scientific approach.
The developed hypotheses should be tested with the
help of scientifically collected data.
For Example: A hypothesis like Workers who perceive
greater opportunities for participation in decision
making would have a higher level of commitment,
can be supported by the collected data or disproved by
the collected data

RIGOROUS
Rigorous research involves a good theoretical base
and a carefully thought-out methodology.
It helps to collect right kind of data from right source with
out much bias.
Further, it facilitate appropriate analysis of the data
collected.
Example: Supply and Demand Theory Research

REPLICABILITY

The results of the tested hypotheses should be

supported again and again when the same
type of research is repeated in other similar
circumstances.
To the extent that this happen, the research
being scientific.

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PRECISION AND CONFIDENCE

Precision:
It reflects the degree of accuracy of the results.
Suppose the study estimated that number of
production days lost during a year due to
absenteeism is between 30 and 40, while the actual
lost to be 35.
Confidence:
It refers to the probability that the estimation or the
results are correct.

GENERATLIZATION

The results and the conclusions drawn from

the study should be applicable to be the
generalization of the research.
The more generalizability of the research, the
greater its usefulness and value of the research.

OBJECTIVITY

The conclusions drawn through the interpretation

of the results of data analysis should be
objective.
It should be based on the facts resulting from the
finding from the actual data and not based on
subjective or emotional vales.

PARSIMONY

Economy in research and research models are

achieved with lesser number of variables that
would explain the variance more efficiently than a
complex set of variables that would add only
marginally to the variance explained.
A good theoretical model will lead to
parsimony in research.
A structured and unstructured interview with the
concerned people and literature review will help to
a good theoretical model.

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LOGICAL REASONING PROCESS

Induction Reasoning
A process where we observe specific phenomena
and on this basis arrive at general conclusions. It
involves two process observation and
generalization. Example: Case Study Advertising
Expenditure and Sales

Deduction Reasoning
Application of a general theory to a specific case.
Example: Hypothesis testing Job Satisfaction and
Stress.
Both inductive and deductive processes are often
used in research.

HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE
The method of starting with
- a theoretical framework,
- formulating hypotheses and
- logically deducing from the results.
- The study is known as the hypothetico-deductive
method.
- This method is much popular in business research.
- This method involves seven important steps.

SEVEN (7) PROCESS OF

HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE METHOD

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Identify a broad problem area

Define the problem statement
Develop hypotheses
Determine measures
Data collection
Data analysis
Interpretation of data.

The Research Process

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

Figure 4.1, page 49

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

The most common, from which this interest may arise, are:
personal experience
unhappy with a change (or no change)
something you have read

Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

1. Research Interest
Where does the inspiration for your research come from?

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

something you have studied

your career experiences or obstacles.
Example: e-commerce?

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

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2. Preliminary
If the research acceptable and viable?
Basically any topic is acceptable but there has to be a
literature base which discusses the various theories that
underpin your topic.
Start by
identifying the general topic area
have a conversation with yourself
Talk to people
narrow the topic down to something that is more focused
Read up related areas and search the literature
come up with main aim or purpose of the research

2. Preliminary
Nature of Data Required :
Background information of the organization.
Managerial philosophy.
Perceptions, attitudes and behavioral
responses of the organizational members
and client system.

Example: What about e-commerce?

2. Background Information
The origin and history of the company
Size in terms of assets, employees, business
turnover etc.,
Purpose and ideology of the company
Location regional, national and other
Interdependent with other institutions and the
external environment
Financial performance

Usefulness of the Background Information

It is most important, if an outside agency conduct the
research.
It will help the researcher to investigate and identify a
correct problem.
It will also useful to raise appropriate issues and
questions related to the problem.
Example: Problem of Cash flow or problem of working
capital Management may be related to poor quality of
raw materials purchased, resulting high rate of return of
goods sold by company.

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2. Literature Reviews
The preliminary information gathering
and data analysis might give a good
idea(s) about the real problem.
However, surveying the literature will help
the researcher to see how others have
perceived such factors or problem in other
work setting and defined the problem.

2. Literature Reviews Sources

Documentation Services (Annual Reports)

Bibliographies (Text Books)
Journals (Publication Articles)
Government Reports (World Bank Reports)
Research Abstracts (Publication Articles)

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

2. Why we need Literature Reviews

To identify other people working in this area,
To gain the knowledge of your study area,
To identify opposing views,
To identify appropriate methodology, research design,
method of measuring concepts and technique of
analysis,
5. To identify gaps of the research,
6. To avoid reinventing the wheel of your study, and
7. To carry on from where others have already reached.

1.
2.
3.
4.

*** How to write the literature reviews? (See it in the Lecture 13 & 14
Research Report Writing) Citations/References how to write???

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

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Objective

3. Problem definition
State precisely the problem that needs to be addressed
Example (Online Banking)
With the rapid growth of Internet technology, online banking
has played an important and central role in the epayment area which provides an online transaction platform
to support many e-commerce applications
Despite the fact that online banking provides faster
transaction speed and lower handling fees, there are still a
large group of customers who refuse to adopt such services.

Main Objective: The main objective of the study is.

To identify reasons for the online shopping in Malaysia.
(Need to reflect your research title)
Specific Objectives: (Need to relate with your hypothesis
and your research question)
1. To find out the important factors influencing the online
shopping.
2. To determine the customer attitude and online shopping.
3. To estimate the customer behavior and online shopping.

Understanding the reasons for this resistance would be

useful for bank managers in formulating strategies aimed at
increasing online banking use.

Research Questions
RQ1: What are the factors that influencing the online
shopping?
RQ2: Is there relationship between the customer attitude
and online shopping?
RQ3: Is there relationship between the customer behavior
and online shopping?

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

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WHAT IS A VARIABLE?

Variable can be defined as a characteristic of things or

TYPES OF VERABLES

Random variable: characteristic that arise as a result of

chance factor alone and cannot be predicted.

Quantitative variable: measurable characteristics like

height, weight, blood pressure and temperature.

Qualitative variable: characteristics that cannot be measured,

but merely categorized like race, sex, color and blood group.

Discrete variable: whole numbers only (mainly counts), like

number of patients, number of beds and number of deaths.

Continuous variable: any values within a specified interval

(mainly measurements), like height, weight and BP.

objects that take different values in different items

tested.
The opposite of a variable is a constant.
The weights of new born babies vary from one another.
So, the weight of new born babies is a variable.
The gender of the babies also differs from one another.
So, gender is a variable too.

TYPES OF VERABLES

Dependent Variable
Independent Variable
Moderating Variable
Intervening Variable

DEPENDENT VARIABLE

It is the variable of primary interest of the researcher.

The goal of the research is to explain its variability or
predict it, when other variables that influence this
variable.
Example: A manager is concerned that the sales of a
new product is not a as high as he had expected.
Here, the sales is the dependent variable, since it is
the main factor of interest to the manager.
SALES OF THE
PRODUCT
(DEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

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INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

MODERATING VARIABLE

An independent variable is one that influences the

dependent variable in either positive or negative way.
The variance in the dependent variable is accounted for
by the independent variable.
Example: The research study shows that the low sales of
the new product is due to the unexpected price reduction
of the substitute products by the competitors.
Here, the advertisement influences the sales of the
product.
Hence it is independent variable (advertisement).

The moderating variable is one that has a strong

contingent effect on the independent variabledependent variable relationship (Demographic
Profile data).
Presence of this variable modified the original
relationship
between
the
independent
and
dependent variables.
Example: Further the study shows that INCOME LEVEL
OF CUSTOMERS may have positive or negative
influences on the sales of the new product.

ADVERTISEMENT

SALES OF THE
PRODUCT

(INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

(DEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

ADVERTISEMENT

SALES OF THE
PRODUCT

(INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE)
CONSUMER
INCOME LEVEL

(DEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

(MODERATING
VARIABLE)

INTERVENTING VARIABLE
An intervening (mediating) variable is one that surface
between the time the independent variables operate
to influence the dependent variable and their impact
on the dependent variable.
Example: Further the research study found that change
in the consumer preference or consumption habit
through advertisement may further improve the sales of
the product.
ADVERTISEMENT
(INDEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

CONSUMER
PREFERENCE
(INTERVENING
VARIABLE)

SALES OF THE
PRODUCT
CONSUMER
INCOME LEVEL

(DEPENDENT
VARIABLE)

(MODERATING
VARIABLE)

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4. Theoretical framework

4. Theoretical framework
What are the possible reasons for the limited usage
of internet banking?
Is it because the customers do not feel it is useful? (PU)
It is because they feel it is not easy to use? (PEOU)
It is because they do not thrust the system? (TR)

What are the possible reasons for the limited usage

of internet banking?
A simple model
PU
PEOU

Is it because they are not computer safety? (EFF)

TR

Is it because of their attitude? (AAT)

ATT

USAGE

EFF

4. Theoretical framework
What are the possible reasons for the limited usage
of internet banking?

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

A complex model
3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

PU

PEOU

EFF

TR

ATT

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

USAGE
2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

11

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5. Generation of Hypotheses
An alternative way of posing a research question is to state
a hypothesis
A hypothesis is a proposition about the area that you are
studying and is expressed as a statement of fact or
what you believe to be true.
You then try to find out whether the statement is true or false.
A good hypothesis is:
based on current knowledge and understanding (facts,
theory)
compares two variables
can be tested by the collection and analysis of data.

5. Generation of Hypotheses

5. Generation of Hypotheses

A hypothesis can be defined as a

tentative, yet testable, statement, which
predicts what you expect to find in your
empirical data.
Hypotheses are derived from the theory
on which your conceptual model is
based and are often relational in nature.

5. Generation of Hypotheses

4 TYEPES OF HYPOTHESIS
1.
2.
3.
4.

Propositions
If Then Statements
Directional and Non-directional
Null and Alternative Hypotheses

Propositions: Employees who are more healthy

will take sick Leave less Frequently.
If Then: If employees are more healthy, then
they will take sick leave less frequently.

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5. Generation of Hypotheses

Directional:

5. Generation of Hypotheses

Non- Directional:

A null hypothesis states a definite and exact

relationship between two variables (Ho).
The difference between means of two groups in the
population is equal to zero.
The Alternative hypothesis is the opposite of the null
hypothesis (HA).

Do postulate a relationships or difference, but offer not

direction of these relationships or difference

Example: To find if there is any relationship between

age and income.

* There is a relationship between experience

and productivity.

Ho: There is no significant relationship between age and

income.
HA: There is a significant relationship between age and
income.

The Direction of relationship is indicated

* Positive relationship between price and

supply of a good.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING
We always test the Null Hypothesis (H0) and not the
Alternative Hypothesis (HA).
If H0 is Rejected, HA is Accepted.
If H0 is Accepted, HA is Rejected.

Our target is to Reject H0.

We test the H0 at a certain level of confidence/valid/
accurate, usually at 99% ( 0.01) or 95% ( 0.05) level
of Confidence.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING
Set the Level of Confidence (usually 99% or 95%)
Level of Significance (p value) = (100 level of
Confidence)/100
Accept H0 if p-value > 0.05 (Example: p-value 0.456 > 0.05)
Reject H0 if sig p-value < 0.01 (at 99% level of confidence)
Reject H0 if sig p-value < 0.05 (at 95% level of confidence)
Example: sig p-value is 0.000 < 0.05. Reject H0.
0.05, 0.01 is level of confidence/significance value.

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4. Theoretical framework

5. Generation of Hypotheses
Some testable hypotheses (alternative hypotheses) in our example:

What are the possible reasons for the limited usage

of internet banking?

Ho: There is no positive relationship between PU and USAGE

A simple model
PU

H1: There is a positive relationship between PU and USAGE

H2: There is a positive relationship between PEOU and USAGE

PEOU
TR

H3: There is a positive relationship between TR and USAGE

USAGE

H4: There is a positive relationship between ATT and USAGE

H5: There is a positive relationship between EFF and USAGE

ATT

About 5 hypotheses can be stated for this example.

EFF

DATA

Data is the raw material for statistical analysis

Data can be from
primary sources: collected primarily through
designed experiments or surveys or
questionnarie, by the researcher
secondary sources: complied from sources
like, records, journals, books and archives

DATA

Time series data: A time series is a set of

observations on the values that a variable takes at
different times.
Cross-Sectional Data: Cross-sectional data are
data on one or more variables collected at the
same point in time.
Pooled Data/Panel Data: Time series data +
Cross-Sectional Data

There are both advantages and disadvantages in

the usage of primary and secondary data.
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TYPES OF DATA
Cross-sectional Data (i)
Y

X1

55

65

60

70

65

74

70

80

75

85

80

90

Observation

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Time-series Data (t)

1
OBSERVATION
Broad area of
research interest
identified

3
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
Research
problem
delineated
identified

Panel Data (ti)

2
PRELIMINARY
DATA GATHERING
Interviewing
Literature Survey

4
TEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
Variables
clearly
identified and
labeled

5
GENERATION
OF
HYPOTHESES

6
SCIENTIFIC
RESEARCH
DESIGN

7
DATA
COLLECTION,
ANALYSIS,
INTERPRETATION

8
DEDUCTION
Hypotheses
substantiated?
Research question
answered?

57

15