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Methods
Lecture 1-2
Introduction to Research
Methods
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand the purpose and objectives of
a project
Understand scientific and business
research
Understand the importance of choosing
the right topic for their dissertation
Write research objectives
Write a research proposal
What is research?
Can you tell me?
RESEARCH
Very often people react to symptoms. The real
problem remains often unidentified. When
applying scientific methods of research to
business management, the research usually
starts by identifying the problems by asking as
many related questions as possible.
The researcher finds more about the
subject by gathering information, and through indepth review of the literature.
The general aim of research is to discover new
facts and to contribute to the existing body of
knowledge.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
Scientific research requires us to follow predetermined and well established methods that
are based on sound theoretical frameworks.
Such processes are
well structured, logical and objective. In such
cases, conclusions are based on standard
data analyses rather than preconceptions.
The
possibilities of generalisations are enhanced
and they are known in advance.
BUSINESS RESEARCH
Business research aims at finding solutions to
problems in the field of business management.
The spectrum of business research is wide
ranging from fundamental research to applied
research. The aim of fundamental research is to
contribute to the existing business management
theories WHEREAS applied research aims at
solving current real-life problems occurring in
business management.
Business research is to describe, explore,
explain, identify causes, establish relationships,
and predict.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOPIC
1. Take sufficient time to think about
the topic of your dissertation
2. Choosing an area that you like most
and which is related to your job
3. Find ideas for dissertation within
the area
Ideas
may emanate from
1. A problem affecting your work or your
organisation (your boss will definitely like
this one!)
2. A preference for the further exploration of
a topic that you are already good at
3. An old idea that you had always wished
to investigate
4. An intuition that needs some more
detailed attention
Decided?
It is time to put
some order..
An example
Area: Banking and Finance
Field: Credit Control
Aspect: Collection and processing of information in
screening borrowers
Topic 1: Assessing the effectiveness of the mechanisms
of commercial banks in Mauritius to acquire and process
information about credit worthiness of their borrowers
Topic 2: A comparison of the efficiency of the mechanisms
used by commercial banks and other financial institutions
to acquire and process information about credit worthiness
of their borrowers
Topic 3: Has the setting up of the Mauritius Credit
Information Bureau improved the sharing of information
among financial institutions in Mauritius?
Examples of Objectives
1. To examine the efficiency of mechanisms used by
commercial banks to process information about credit
worthiness of individual borrowers
2. To assess the impact of the Mauritius Credit
Information Bureau in improving the sharing of
information among financial institutions in Mauritius.
3. To compare organisation A with other organisations,
and identify its strengths and weaknesses
4. To evaluate the awareness, usage, perceived likes and
dislikes with the new products of company A
5. To appraise individuals reaction to the opening of a
new store in Flacq.
6. It is recommended that dissertations at postgraduate
level are based on two to four research objectives.
Hypothesis
Hypothesis are stated in declarative form, a
relationship between variables and reflect a
theory or body of literature in which they are
based.
It is derived directly from the statement of
problem and is actually a guess at a solution to
the problem bases on a review of the literature,
past research and personal experience.
Hypothesis Development
Employee Behaviour and Service Quality
Further to the exhaustive literature review, it can be deduced
that employee behaviour has a considerable impact on service
quality. This is because service encounters involve interaction
between customers and employees (Winsted, 2000; Suprenant
and Solomon, 1987) so employees will have an important role
to play in influencing customers perceptions of service
encounters (Bitner et al., 1990; Johnston, 1995; Piercy and
Gravens, 1995). Similarly, Sanes (1996) has stated that that an
organizations human resources are critical differentiators in
service delivery.
Hypothesis Development
Hence, the following hypothesis has been formulated.
H0 There is no significant difference between
employee behaviour and service quality at XYZ Ltd.
H1 There is a significant difference between
employee behaviour and service quality at XYZ Ltd.
What is a successful
dissertation?
THE SUCCESSFUL
DISSERTATION
Elements that all examiners will be looking
for in your dissertation:
clear presentation of concepts and existing
ideas
appropriate link between existing ideas, your
own idea, results of analyses and
conclusions
cautious choice and application of methods
and techniques
Example
Management Problem
What price should we charge for our new product?
Research Problem
What are our costs of production and marketing
(COGS)?
What are our pricing objectives and position in the
market?
What price does similar types of products sell for?
What is the perceived value of our product in the
marketplace?
Are there any norms or conventional practices in the
marketplace (e.g., customary prices, continual
discounting)
Example
Research Objectives
To assess the costs involved in producing and selling
our product
To determine corporate objectives and their
implications for pricing
To examine current prices for direct and indirect
competition
To determine potential customer reaction to various
prices and their perception of the benefits of owning
the product
Lecture 3
RESEARCH
METHODS
Learning Objectives
Understand what research is all about
Define the various research methods
and explain their usage
Understand the important steps in
conducting research
Understand the importance of a
research design
Research Paradigm
Widely Recognized Research Paradigms
1. Positivist Quantitative
2. Phenomenological Qualitative or
Interpretivist
Positivist Paradigm
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Phenomenological Paradigm
1. The world is socially constructed and
subjective
2. Observer is part of what is observed
3. Science is driven by human interests
4. Focus on meanings
5. Inductive
6. Try to understand what is happening
7. Qualitative Multiple methods to establish
pattern in different subjective areas
FEATURES:
PHENOMENOLOGICAL PARADIGM
PHENOMENOLOGICAL PARADIGM
1. Tends to produce qualitative data
2. Uses small samples
3. Concerned with generating theories
4. Data is rich and subjective
5. The location is natural
6. Reliability is low
7. Validity is high
8. Generalizes from one setting to another
Research can be
Descriptive research
In descriptive research, the basic objectives
include providing information about conditions,
situations, and events that occur in the present.
Deals with everything that can be counted and
studied which has an impact of the lives of the
people it deals with.
For example: finding the most frequent diseases
that affects the children of a town. The reader of
the research will know what to do to prevent that
disease thus more people will gave a healthy life.
Causal research
Causal research aims to suggest causal
linkages between variables by observing
existing phenomena and then searching
back through available data in order to try
to identify plausible causal relationships.
This involves the discovery of factors
identified as cause of any phenomenon
always preceding in time the occurrence
of the phenomenon.
Correlational research
Correlational research is also useful and it
involves the search for relationships or
associations between variables through the use
of various measures of statistical association.
Seaks to establish a relationship/
association/correlation between 2 or more
variable that do not readily lend themselves to
experimental manipulation
For example: to test the hypothesis- Listening to
music lowers blood pressure levels
Prediction research
A prediction research study has as its
goal the capacity to forecast future events
and the formulation of hypotheses for
research.
Some research in investments and
portfolio management, for example, is
directed at developing approaches to
enhance the capacity to predict market
trends.
Case study
Survey method
Survey method aims at collecting
systematic descriptions of existing
phenomena in order to describe or explain
what is going on.
Data are obtained by directing questions
to a relatively large group of people.
Survey studies also typically report
relations among variables.
These relationships are associational and
not causal.
Grounded theory
is a systematic methodology in the
social sciences involving the construction of
theory through the analysis of data
a study using grounded theory is likely to
begin with a question, or even just with the
collection of qualitative data
This method is not so common among
business researchers.
Grounded Theory is
a research method that will enable you to
develop a theory which
offers an explanation about
the main concern of the population of
your substantive area and
how that concern is resolved or
processed.
Action research
is learning by doing - a group of people identify a
problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful
their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again.
action research that differentiate it from common problemsolving activities that we all engage in every day
RELIABILITY
Means consistency or dependability
Example: a weight-scaleone gets on it &
read 150 as the weight
if one repeats it & gets the same weight
each time then the scale is reliable
Reliability isconsistency in measurement