Course:

Research Methodology
( MGT 602)

Instructor

Ayyaz Mahmood
Assistant Professor at CIIT
BS,MBA,MS, PhD(thesis under evaluation)
12 years of teaching at University and 9 years of
Industry experience.
Supervised a number of MBA and MS thesis.
Published papers and attended conferences.

Introduction

Overview of the course :

Business research is an organized and
deliberate process through which
organization effectively learn new
knowledge and help improve performance.

Introduction
Objectives of the course :
To understand and develop a
systematic approach to business
research
To emphasis on the relationship
between theory , research and
practice
To Integrate different research
activities in an orderly fashion

 Outcomes of the course are :

To formulate research questions
Develop theoretical framework
Develop hypotheses
Learn to select from different research
methodologies
Develop skills for data analysis and
interpretation.

Research Methodology
COURSE OUTLINE:
Course Intro Building blocks of science in research [1]
Broad problem area , Preliminary Information Survey [ 2]
Literature Review [2]
Literature Review[2]
Theoretical Framework [3]
Theoretical Framework[3]
Hypothesis Development [3]
Hypothesis Development[3]
Elements of Research Design (purpose, investigation type, researcher interference, study setting)[4]
Elements of Research Design (unit of analysis, time horizon, Measurement of variables) [4,6]
Measurement of variables (operational definition) [6]
Measurement of Variable (Scales) [6]
Validity and Reliability [6]
Data Collection Methods (Interviews , Questionnaire) [7]
Data Collection Methods (Questionnaire, observation) [7]
Sampling (Probability Sampling) [8]
Sampling (Non Probability Sampling) [8]
Experimental Design [5]
Refresher on Statistical Terms [9]
Introduction to SPSS
Introduction to SPSS
Data Analysis and Interpretation ( Getting data ready for analysis) [10]
Data Analysis and Interpretation (Feel for Data, Testing the goodness of Data) [10]
Data Analysis and Interpretation (Descriptive Statistics)[10]
Data Analysis and Interpretation (Inferential Statistics( Person Correlation, Hypothesis Testing t-test, ANOVA, Chi Square)[10]
Data Analysis and Interpretation (Inferential Statistics( Hypothesis Testing, Multiple Regression) [10]
Data Analysis and Interpretation (Inferential Statistics( Mediation, Moderation, Rank) (Hand out)
Research Report contents (Sample report)

Business
Scenarios

Research

A. A manager observes that the customers are

not pleased
Are my customers satisfied from my
product/service ?
B. It is observed that hydro construction project
projects tend to have a low successes rate.
What could be reasons behind it. ?
C. The new product introduced is not doing so
well.
Have we selected the right market, features
or price ?
For all the above scenarios management needs

Information
Reduces
Uncertainty

I dont know
if we
should
reduce our
product prices?

Define Business Research

Business research is defined as the systematic
and objective process of gathering, recording and
analyzing data for aid in making business
decisions.
Research information is neither intuitive nor
haphazardly gathered.
Literally, research (re-search) -search again
Business research must be objective
Detached and impersonal rather than biased
It facilitates the managerial decision process for all
aspects of a business

Research Methods
Is the way in which research studies are
designs
procedures
by which data is collected are analyzed.
We would be focusing on the survey
methodology in which the research is
conducted by collecting data and analyzing
them to come up with answers to various
issues of interest.
The different areas of problem could be related
to Finance, Accounting, HR, Marketing etc.

Types of Research
Two purpose of research are
To solve a currently exiting problem in
the work setting
(Applied Research )
To add to the general body of knowledge
(Basic Research)

 Applied research is when research is

done with the intention of applying the
results of its findings to solving specific
problem currently being experienced in
the organization
e.g.
To improve the attendance at an X
organization
A transport service can be introduced,
Has flextime improve the employee
performance at a university)

 Basic research done mainly to improve

our understanding of certain problems that
are commonly occur in organizational
setting and how to solve them
e.g.
increase the productivity of clerical
workers in service industry,
increase the effectiveness of project
oriented business

Research Philosophy and Choices

 Important assumptions about the way in

which one views the world.
These assumptions effect the research
strategy and the methods you choose and
practical considerations.
Researcher concerned with facts, such as
the resources needed for manufacturing
will have different view on the way
research

 Researcher concerned with the feelings

and attitudes of the workers towards their
managers in that same manufacturing
process.
Their strategies and methods probably will
differ considerably and what is important
and significant

Philosophy of Choices
Deductive
Develop a theory and hypothesis (or
hypotheses) and design a research
strategy to test the hypothesis
Inductive
Collect data and develop theory as a
result of your data analysis

Characteristics of Good Research

Purposive: Definite aim (Help reduce turnover,
absenteeism, complete projects on time )
Rigor: Sound methodological design, systematic
and scientific. Avoid individual biases.
(Manager interviews few employee on their
preference for flexi time and device policy)
Testability: After properly selecting the
cases/respondents and collection of data
logically developed hypothesis statements can
be tested using statistical tests.

 Replicability: Applying the same method the

finding from more than one study suggest the
same results.
Precision and Confidence: Study of the whole
universe of item, events or population of interest
is not possible. But we try to come close to reality
as possible (precision)and also be confident of our
findings that they are correct (confidence).
Objectivity: The interpretation of the results should
be based on facts, not on our own subjective
feeling

 Generalizability: Applicability of the finding on a

variety of firms/organization
Parsimony: Simplicity in explaining the phenomena
is preferred, rather than managing many factors
and their effect (45% variability is explained by 4
variables and 48% variability is explained by 10
variables)
Management and Behavioral science result are not
100% scientific or exact. We deal with measuring
subjective feelings , attitudes, perceptions. Meeting
all the characteristics of good research is difficult

Hypothetic-Deductive Method of
Research
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Observation
Preliminary Information gathering
Theory formulation
Hypothesizing
Further data collection
Data Analysis
Deduction

Observation
One senses certain changes are occurring
New behaviors are surfacing in an
environment
When one considers the situation
important then move to the next step
E.g. Customers are not pleased as they
used to be. Are customers at the store
are grumbling or complaining.

Preliminary Information Gathering

Know more about what has been observed
Talk to more people about it( other employees,
customers)
Know what is happening is happening and why.
E.g. Talk to customers if they are happy with the
product or service. The customer might be happy
with the products but the problem is that the
required products are out of stock and sales person
are not helpful. The salesman input on this issues
reveals that the factory does not deliver on time so
in order to satisfy the customer the salesmen
communicates different delivery dates.

Hypothesizing
Some testable or educated supposition are
made
E.g.
If sufficient inventory is made
customers would be less dissatisfied
customers
Accurate and timely information of the
delivery to the sales person can also
reduce the dissatisfied customer.

Further Scientific Data Collection

Data with respect to each variable in the
hypothesis need to be obtained.
E.g.
Measure the current level of customer
satisfaction and measure the satisfaction level
when the stocks are made readily available.
Measure the current level of accuracy of
information to sales person on the stock and
the satisfaction level of customer and then
measure them again once the level of
information has increased.

Data Analysis
Data gathered statistically is analyzed and
see if the hypothesis have been supported
or not.
E.g.
Do an correlation analysis of the tow
factors like level of information and
satisfaction.

Deduction
Arriving at a conclusion by interpreting the
meaning of the results of the data analysis.
E.g.
If the customer satisfaction has increase
by certain amount when the availability
of information and the stock.
We could recommend that these two
factors influence the satisfaction of the
customers

Recap lecture

We tried to examine what research is?

Research Philosophies and choices
We considered the two types of research
Hall Marks of Research (Purposive, rigor, testable,
replicabilty, precision and confidence, objectivity , genralizability
and parsimony)

The seven steps of hypothetic deductive

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

Observation
Preliminary Information gathering
Theory formulation
Hypothesizing
Further data collection
Data Analysis
Deduction