RESEARCH DESIGN

Sofia Fernandes
RESEARCH DESIGN
Purpose of Research
Research Strategies:
Experiment
Survey
Case Study
Action Research
Grounded Theory
Ethnography
Archival Research
Time Horizons
Credibility of Research
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PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
As presented before, when designing a research project, you need
to think in terms of the answer you want to answer and what are
the research objetives.
The research purpose might be a mix of exploratory, descriptive
and explanatory:
exploratory study: finding out what is happening, by searching
literature, interviewing experts or conducting interviews;
descriptive study: portray an accurate profile of events or
situations;
explanatory study: establishing links between variables (e.g.
relation between hours of study and final grade; working
conditions and frequency of sick leaves).
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PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

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PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

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PURPOSE OF RESEARCH

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES
Each research strategy can be used for either exploratory,
descriptive or explanatory studies.
Regarding the approach (inductive or deductive), some of the
strategies are more appropriate than others
None of the strategies is superior to the others.
The main purpose is to use dierent strategies to answer your
research question and meet your objectives.
The main research strategies are: Experiment, Survey, Case
Study, Action Research, Grounded Theory, Ethnography and
Archival Research.

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: EXPERIMENT
The purpose is to study causal links: changing an independent
variable produces a change in a dependent variable.

As presented in: Saunders et al (2009, p. 142)

Experimental strategy is dicult to apply in a business sector.

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: EXPERIMENT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9byiRztMVcY 9
RESEARCH STRATEGIES: SURVEY
Common strategy in business and management research.
Surveys allow the collection of a large amount of data in a highly
economical way.
A survey often consists of a questionnaire administered to a sample, and
the data are collected in a standard way allowing for easy comparison.
It can also consist of other data collection techniques, such as structured
observation.
It is considered reliable by most people, it is easy to understand and to
explain.
It is important to use a representative sample.
It has limitations: limited number of questions, availability of
participants.

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: SURVEY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5aYZTpgGls 11
RESEARCH STRATEGIES: CASE STUDY
Involves an empirical investigation of a particular
phenomenon within its real life context using multiple
sources of evidence.
It can generate answers to the questions Why?, What?
and How?
Several sources of data can be used: interviews, observation,
questionnaires

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: CASE STUDY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdCFxNvuvSI 13
RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ACTION RESEARCH
Research in action rather than research about action
It involves intervening in organisations or management
practice and evaluating the consequent change.
Partnership between practitioners and researchers: the
researcher is part of the organisation within which the research
and the change process are taking place.
Iterative nature of the process of diagnosing, planning, taking
action and evaluating.
Focus on change.
Time needs to be devoted to each of the process and employees
need to be involved.
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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ACTION RESEARCH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOrQ-sVTuE0 15
RESEARCH STRATEGIES: GROUNDED THEORY
It is a combination of induction and deduction.
Particularly helpful for research to predict and explain
behaviour, therefore it is useful for business and management
research, since it is often related to customers or employees
behaviour.
The initial theory is developed from data generated by
observation, which then is used to build predictions, which
are then confirmed or not by further observation.
It is an interpretive process, not a mere logical and deductive
process, therefore, the researcher needs to be creative.

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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ETHNOGRAPHY
Inductive approach.
It emanates from the field of anthropology.
It intends to describe the social world in which the research
subjects inhabit.
Very time consuming.
Takes place over an extended time period.
The research process needs to be flexible and responsive to
change since the researcher will constantly be developing new
patterns of thought about what is being observed.
It is not a dominant research strategy in business, but it is very
appropriate to gain insights about a particular context.
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RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ETHNOGRAPHY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vs8au2G0cb4 18
RESEARCH STRATEGIES: ARCHIVAL RESEARCH
Uses administrative records and documents as the main
source of data.
It can refer to recent and historical documents.
The data are part of the reality being studied, even though
they were not collected specifically for the research.
There is a diculty that the historical data might not include
the exact type of information the researcher requires

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TIME HORIZONS
Cross-sectional: studying a particular phenomenon at a
particular time
Longitudinal: representation of events over a period of time.

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CREDIBILITY OF RESEARCH
Credibility means reducing the possibility of having a wrong
answer at the end of the research process.
It relies on reliability and validity:
Reliability: do data collection techniques and analysis
provide consistent findings? Would dierent researchers
observe the same? Was data analysed in a transparent way?
Are participants biased? Are researchers biased?
Validity: is the relationship between the two variables a
causal relationship?

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CREDIBILITY OF RESEARCH
Generalisability: can the results be generalised, meaning, can
they be applied to other research settings?

Note: not all research is aimed to produce generalisable
results, instead, it might aim to explain a specific issue.

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CONCLUSION
The research design needs to be based on a flow of logic and
specific assumptions.
Research projects have dierent purposes: exploratory,
descriptive and explanatory.
Research design focuses on turning a research question and
objectives into a research project, by considering research
strategies and time horizons.
Dierent research strategies can be used in combination in
the same research project.
The researcher needs to make sure that the results are valid
and reliable.
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