Introduction to doing

an Empirical Research
Dr. M. V. Anuradha
PGPM

What is research?

 Formalized curiosity
Systematic study of materials and sources in
order to establish facts and reach new conclusions

Why Research?
Understand more about particular issues and
problems
Find workable solutions/Work towards the solution
Key in informed decision making
Evaluate success

Knowing about statistical techniques not enough!

Agenda/Objective of this course

Knowledge of frequently used terms
How to carry out literature review
How to decide on a research topic/research question
Deciding which method to choose
Design your research
Writing your research

MANAGING YOUR RESEARCH

WORK:
PLAN!

May

June

July

Groundwork

xx

xx

xx

Lit. Review

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

Method

Aug

Data
Collection

Sep
t

Oct

xx

Report due

Jan

xx
xx

Data
Analysis

Final Draft

Dec

xx

Progress

First Draft

Nov

xx
xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx

xx
xx

xx
xx

Research
Process

Reality, Documented
Knowledge(Science)
Existing Knowledge on a Topic (Topic Choice,
Literature Review)
Research
Question
Theory Building and Hypothesis
Specification
Measurement Scale
Development/Adoption
Research
Design

Research Proposal
Preparation

Data Generation & Collection (Maybe Preceded by

Pilot Study)
Data Analysis:
Results/Findings
Assessing Goodness of
Findings
Research paper Writing/Paper
Presentation

Choosing the Research Topic &

Developing the Research
Question

Where to draw the topic from?

Personal experiences/Interests
Observations
Current trend- Hot topics
Literature

Use Concept maps

Practicality- Doability- will you get data?
Relevance
Contribution

Autocracy
Sector

Democracy

Economic
growth
indicators in
host country

Governm
ent

FDI

Competitors

Global
Economic
Environment

State of
technol
ogy

Policy
Makers

Corrupt
ion

Tips for developing a concept map

What is your topic?
What is the context of your research?
What do you want to achieve?- explain/describe,
explore?
What is the nature of your question?- How, When, What
Are there any potential relationships youd want to
explore?- correlation, influence, causal relation etc.

Example
Topic: Meaning ; Context: Work; Goal: to describe the
various meanings that people assign to their work?
Question: What does work mean to people?
Topic: Meaning; Context: Work; Goal: To understand
the characteristics essential for work to be called
meaningful Question: When do people consider their
work to be
meaningful?
Topic: Meaning; Context: Work; Goal: To explore why
some people find meaning in work while others do not
find meaning in the same work?
Question: How does meaning get created?

Research Question
Set boundaries, provide direction & act as a reference
for your work
Helps:
Define the topic
Define nature of the research-explore, describe,
compare, explain
Define questions: What? Why? How? When?
Define constructs and variables
Define relationships- correlated, causal, increase,
decrease etc.

Example
Topic: Foreign Direct investments in India
Research Questions:
Does the existence of corruption in the host
country lead to low foreign direct investments in the
retail sector?
Can technology lead to reduced level of corruption
in a country eventually affecting foreign direct
investments in the retail sector?

Good Question Checklist

Is the question right for me?
Is the question right for the field?
Is the question well articulated?
Is the question doable?
Does the question get the tick of approval from
those who know?

Review of literature first or research

question first?

What skills are required for

research?
Using the right and left brain

Right- intuitive, spontaneous, holistic, informal,

imaginative, metaphorical

Left- analytic, logical, temporal, sequential,

orderly, systematic, formal linear, factual,
concrete

What is your type?

Left brain or Right brain?

Theorist-Pragmatist-Activist-Reflector?

Surface learning-Deep learning?

Process of doing research

What the existing literature says

What do you say

Give evidence

How can that be used?