Chapter 6

Elements of Research Design

I.

The Research Design

A research design is a master plan specifying the methods and
procedures for collecting and analyzing the data. It involves a series
of rational decision-making choices depending upon the various
options available to the researchers. This chapter will examine the
six basic aspects of research design which is purpose of the study,
the type of investigation, the extent of researcher interference, the
study setting, the unit of analysis and time horizon of the study.

II.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose or nature of the study depends on the stage to which
knowledge about the research topic has advanced. It becomes more
meticulous from exploratory stage to descriptive stage until
hypotheses testing stage.
i.
Exploratory
This study undertaken when not much is situation known and no
information available about the similar problem or past research.
It also necessary when some facts are known, but more
information is needed for developing a viable theoretical
framework. Exploratory studies are important for obtaining a
good grasp of the phenomena of interest and advancing
knowledge through subsequent theory building and hypothesis
testing.
Example:
The manager of a multinational corporation is curious to know if
the work ethic values of employees working in its subsidiary in
Pennathur City would be different from those of Americans.
There is very little information about Pennathur (except that it is
a small city in southern India), and since there is considerable
controversy about what work ethic values mean to people in
other cultures, the manager curiosity can be satisfied only by an
exploratory study, interviewing the employees in organizations
in Pennathur.
ii.

Descriptive
This study undertaken in order to ascertain and be able to
describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a
situation. It aims to offer to the researcher a profile or to
describe relevant aspects of the phenomena of interest from an
individual,
organizational,
industry-oriented,
or
other
perspective.
Example:

A CEO may be interested in having a description of organizations

in her industry that follow the LIFO system. In this case, the
report might include the age of the organizations, their locations,
their production levels, assets, sales, inventory levels, suppliers,
and profits. Such information might allow comparison later of the
performance levels of specific types of companies.

III.

iii.

Hypotheses Testing
This study usually explains the nature of certain relationships, or
establish the differences among groups or the independence of
two or more factors in a situation.
Example:
A marketing manager wants to know if the sales of the company
will increase if he doubles the advertising dollars. Here, the
manager would like to know the nature of the relationship that
can be established between advertising and sales by testing the
hypothesis: If advertising is increased, then sales will also go up.

iv.

Case Study Analysis

This study involves in-depth, contextual analyses of matters
relating to similar situations in other organizations. Case study
that qualitative in nature can be use in understanding
phenomenon, applying solutions to current problems based on
past experience, and generating further theories for empirical
testing.

Type of Investigation: Causal vs Correlational

Causal study is when the researcher wants to describe the cause of
one or more problems.
Correlational study is when the researcher is interested in describing
the important variable associated with the problem.
Its important to determine whether a study is causal or
correlational to find an answer to the issue and it is necessary to
establish a definitive cause-and-effect relationship. Whether a study
is a causal or a correlational one depends on the type of research
questions asked and how the problem is defined.
Example:
Causal study question: Does smoking cause cancer?
Correlational study question: Are smoking and cancer related?

IV.

Extent of Researcher Interference with the Study

The extent of interference by the researcher has a direct
bearing on whether the study undertaken is causal or correlational.
A correlational study is conducted in the natural environment of the
organization with minimum interference by the researcher with the
normal flow of work. For example, if a researcher wants to study the
factors influencing training effectiveness, all that the individual has

to do is develop a theoretical framework, collect the relevant data,

and analyze them to come up with the findings.
In correlational study, the researcher tries to manipulate
certain variables so as to study the effects of such manipulation on
the dependent variable of interest. As an example, a researcher
might want to study the influence of lighting on worker
performance, and hence manipulates the lighting in the work
situation to varying intensities.

V.

Study Setting: Contrived and Non-Contrived

Organizational research can be done in the natural
environment where work proceeds normally (non-contrived settings)
or in artificial (contrived settings). Correlational studies are
invariably conducted in non-contrived settings by doing field study
(a non-contrived setting where various factors are examined in the
natural setting in which daily activities go on as normal with minimal
researcher interference) or a field experiment (non-contrived setting
where cause and effect relationships are studied with some /
moderate amount of researcher interference, but still in the natural
setting where work continues in the normal fashion), whereas most
rigorous causal studies are done in contrived lab settings by lab
experiment (a contrived setting where the researcher explores
cause-and-effect relationships not only exercising a high degree of
control but also in an artificial and deliberately created setting with
researcher interference to an excessive degree).
Example:
Situation: A bank manager wants to analyze the relationship
between interest rates and bank deposit patterns of clients.
Field Study: The bank manager tries to correlate the two by looking
at deposits into different kinds of accounts (such as savings,
certificates of deposit, golden passbooks, and interest-bearing
checking accounts) as interest rates changed.
Field Experiment: The bank manager now wants to determine the
cause-and-effect relationship between interest rate and the
inducements it offers to clients to save and deposit money in the
bank.
Lab Experiment: The bank manager now wants to establish the
causal connection between interest rates and savings, beyond a
doubt. Because of this she wants to create an artificial environment
and trace the true cause-and-effect relationship.

VI.

Unit of Analysis: Individuals,

Organizations, Cultures

Dyads,

Groups,

The unit of analysis refers to the level of aggregation of the data

collected during the subsequent data analysis stage. Our research
question determines the unit of analysis. As our research question

addresses issues that move away from the individual to dyads, and
to groups, organizations, and even nations, so also does the unit of
analysis shift from individuals to dyads, groups, organizations, and
nations.
i.
Individuals
Researcher interested in studying individual behavior or
influenced in organization and find out individual relation with
the problems being research.
Example: The Chief Financial Officer of a manufacturing
company wants to know how many of the staff would be
interested in attending a 3-day seminar on making appropriate
investment decisions.
ii.

iii.

VII.

VIII.

Dyads
The researcher is interested in studying two-person interactions,
then several two-person groups.
Example: A human resources manager wants to first identify the
number of employees in three departments of the organization
who are in mentoring relationships, and then find out what the
jointly perceived benefits (i.e., by both the mentor and the one
mentored) of such a relationship are.
Groups
The unit of analysis will be groups if the problem statement is
related to group effectiveness. In other words, even though the
relevant data gather from all individuals comprising, say, six
groups, it would being aggregate from individual data into group
data.
Example: A manager wants to see the patterns of usage of the
newly installed Information System (IS) by the production, sales,
and operations personnel.

Time Horizon of Study

i.

Cross-sectional
It is a study that can be done in which data are gathered just
once, perhaps over a period of days or weeks or months, in order
to answer a research question, it also known as one-shot studies.
Example: Data were collected from stock brokers between April
and June of last year to study their concerns in a turbulent stock
market.

ii.

Longitudinal
It is a study that done more than one point in time (before and
after) to know what effect the change accomplished and the
data gathered at two different points in time.
Example: A marketing manager is interested in tracing the
pattern of sales of a particular product in four different regions of
the country on a quarterly basis for the next 2 years.

Managerial Implications

Knowledge about research design issues helps the manager to

understand what the researcher is attempting to do. The manager
also understands why the reports sometimes indicate data analytic
results based on small sample sizes, when a lot of time has been
spent in collecting data from several scores of individuals, as in the
case of studies involving groups, departments, or branch offices.
Knowledge of research design details also helps managers to study
and intelligently comment on research proposals.