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ASSIGNMENT DRIVE: SPRING 2014

SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DDE
Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester III
Subject: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Subject code: MB0050
Book ID B1700
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Q. No. 1. Briefly describe the different steps involved in a research process. Distinguish
between descriptive and causal research studies
Meaning of research 2
Steps 5
Differences 3
Ans; - Meaning of Research; -
Fred Kerlinger (1986) stated that Scientific research is a systematic, controlled and critical
investigation of propositionsabout various phenomena.
Grinnell (1993) has simplified the debate and stated The word research is composed of
two syllables, re and search.
Hence management research is an unbiased, structured, and sequential method of
enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit or explicit business objective.

A research study usually follows a structured sequence of steps:
The management dilemma
Any research starts with the need and desire to know more. This is essentially the
management dilemma. It could be the researcher himself or herself or it could be a business
manager who gets the study by done by a researcher. The need might be purely academic
(basic or fundamental research) or there might be an immediate business decision that
requires an effective and workable solution (applied research).
Defining the research problem
This is the first and the most critical step of the research journey. For example, a soft drink
manufacturer who is making and selling aerated drinks now wants to expand his business.
He wants to know whether moving into bottled water would be a better idea or he should
look at fruit juice based drinks. Thus, a comprehensive and detailed survey of the bottled
water as well as the fruit juice market will have to be done. He will also have to decide
whether he wants to
know consumer acceptance of a new drink. Thus, there has to be complete clarity in the
mind of the researcher regarding the information he must collect.
Formulating the research hypotheses
In the model, we have drawn broken lines to link defining the research problem stage to the
hypotheses formulation stage. The reason is that every research study might not always
begin with a hypothesis;
Hypothesis is, in fact, the assumptions about the expected results of the research. For
example, in the above example of work-life balance among women professionals, we might
start with a hypothesis that higher the work-family conflict, higher is the intention to leave
the job.
Developing the research proposal
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Once the management dilemma has been converted into a defined problem and a working
hypothesis, the next step is to develop a plan of investigation.
This is called the research proposal. The reason for its placement before the other stages is
that before you begin the actual research study in order to answer the research question you
need to spell out the research problem, the scope and the objectives of the study and the
operational plan for achieving this.
Research design formulation
Based on the orientation of the research, i.e., exploratory, descriptive or causal, the
researcher has a number of techniques for addressing the stated objectives. These are
termed in research as research designs. The main task of the design is to explain how the
research problem will be investigated. .
Sampling design
It is not always possible to study the entire population. Thus, one goes about studying a
small and representative sub-group of the population. This sub-group is referred to as the
sample of the study. There are different techniques available for selecting the group based
on certain assumptions. The most important criteria for this selection would be the
representativeness of the sample selected from the population under study.
Planning and collecting the data for research
Planning and collecting data for research as proceeding simultaneously with the sampling
plan. The reason for this is that the sampling plan helps in identifying the group to be
studied and the data collection plan helps in obtaining information from the specified
population. The data collection methods may be classified into secondary and primary data
methods. Primary data is original and collected first hand for the problem under study.
There are a number of primary data methods available to the researcher like interviews,
focus group discussions, personal/telephonic interviews/mail surveys and questionnaires.
Secondary data is information that has been collected and compiled earlier for some other
problem or purpose.
Data refining and preparation for analysis
Once the data is collected, it must be refined and processed in order to answer the research
question(s) and test the formulated hypotheses (if any). This stage requires editing of the
data for any omissions and irregularities.
The research report and implications for the managers dilemma
Iin this step, the researchers expertise in analysing, interpreting and recommending, is very
important. This report has to give complete details about everything that was done right
from problem formulation, to the methodology followed to the conclusions inding of the
study.
Differences:- Conclusive research can be of two typesdescriptive or causal
research. The main goal of descriptive research is to describe the data and haracteristics
about what is being studied. Casual research studies explore the effect of one thing on
another and more specifically, the effect of one variable on another.


Q. No. 2 Distinguish between primary and secondary methods of data collection.
Explain the I nterview method of data collection
Differences 5
Explanation of Interview method of data collection 5

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Ans: - The data collection methods may be classified into secondary and primary data
methods.

Primary data is original and collected first hand for the problem under study. There are
a number of primary data methods available to the researcher like interviews, focus
group discussions, personal/telephonic interviews/mail surveys and questionnaires.
The accuracy and relevance is reasonably high. The time and money required for this
are quite high and sometimes a researcher might not have the resources or the time or
both to go ahead with this method. In this case, the researcher can look at alternative
sources of data which are economical and reliable enough to take the study forward.
These include the second category of data sources namely the secondary data.

Secondary data as the name implies is that information which is not topical or research-
specific and has been collected and compiled by some other researcher or investigative
body. This type of data is recorded and published in a structured format, and thus, is
quicker to access and manage. Secondly, in most instances, unless it is a data product, it
is not too expensive to collect. The information required is readily available as a data
product or as the audit information which the researcher or the organization can get
and use it for arriving at quick decisions. In comparison to the original research-centric
data, secondary data can be economically and quickly collected by the decision maker
in a short span of time. However, one must remember that this is a little low on
accuracy as what is primary and original for one researcher would essentially become
secondary and historical for someone else.

Interview method of data collection
Personal interview is a one-to-one interaction between the investigator/interviewer
and the interviewee.
The steps undertaken for the conduction of a personal interview are:
1. Interview objective
2. Interview guidelines
3. Structure
4. Interviewing skills
5. Analysis and interpretation
Interview objective: The information needs that are to be addressed by the instrument
should be clearly spelt out as study objectives. This step includes a clear definition of
the construct/variable(s) to be studied.
Interview guidelines: A typical interview may take from 20 minutes to close to an hour.
A brief outline to be used by the investigator is formulated depending upon the
contours of the interview.
Structure: Based on the needs of the study, the actual interview may be unstructured,
semi-structured or structured.
Unstructured: This type of interview has no defined guidelines. It usually begins with
a casually worded opening remark like so tell us/me something about yourself. The
direction the interview will take is not known to the researcher also. The probability of
subjectivity is very high.
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Semi-structured: This has a more defined format and usually only the broad areas to be
investigated are formulated. The questions, sequence and language are left to the
investigators choice. Probing is of critical importance in obtaining meaningful
responses and uncovering hidden issues. After asking the initial question, the direction
of the interview is determined by the respondents initial reply, the interviewers probes
for elaboration and the respondents answers.
Structured: This format has highest reliability and validity. There is considerable
structure to the questions and the questioning is also done on the basis of a prescribed
sequence. They are sometimes used as the primary data collection instrument also.
Interviewing skills: The quality of the output and the depth of information collected
depend upon the probing and listening skills of the interviewer. His attitude needs to
be as objective as possible.
Analysis and interpretation: The information collected is not subjected to any statistical
analysis. Mostly the data is in narrative form, in the case of structured interviews it
might be summarized in prose form.


Q. No. 3 a. Discuss four types of measurement scales with examples.
b. Briefly explain the concepts of reliability, validity and sensitivity
a. Meaning of Measurement scales and types of Measurement scales with
examples 5
b.. Explanation of the concepts of reliability, validity and sensitivity 5
Ans: - The term measurement means assigning numbers or some other symbols to the
characteristics of certain objects.
There are four types of measurement scales
Nominal scale: This is the lowest level of measurement. Here, numbers are assigned for
the purpose of identification of the objects.
Example
What is your religion?
(a) Hinduism
(b) Sikhism
(c) Christianity
(d) Islam
(e) Any other, (please specify)
A Hindu may be assigned a number 1, a Sikh may be assigned a number 2, a Christian may be
assigned a number 3 and so on. Any religion which is assigned a higher number is in no way
superior to the one which is assigned a lower number. The assignment of numbers is only for
the purpose of identification.
Nominal scale measurements are used for identifying food habits (vegetarian or non-
vegetarian), gender (male/female), caste, respondents, marital status, brands, attributes, stores,
the players of a hockey team and so on.

Ordinal scale: An ordinal scale tells whether an object has more or less of characteristics
than some other objects. However, it cannot answer how much more or how much less.
Example:
Rank the following attributes while choosing a restaurant for dinner. The most important
attribute may be ranked one, the next important may be assigned a rank of 2 and so on.
In the ordinal scale, the assigned ranks cannot be added, multiplied, subtracted or divided. One
can compute median, percentiles and quartiles of the distribution.
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Interval scale: In the Interval scale the difference of the score on the scale has
meaningful interpretation while the ratio of the score on this scale does not have a
meaningful interpretation.
The mathematical form of the data on the interval scale may be written as

The following are some examples of interval scale data.



Ratio scale: In this case, there is a natural zero (origin).




Q. No. 4 a. Distinguish between:
i. Schedules and Questionnaires
ii. Open ended and closed ended questions
b. What are the different modes of administering a questionnaire? What are
the conditions that merit the use of one over the other? Discuss by using
suitable examples
a. Differences 4
b. Modes of administering a questionnaire 6




Q. No. 5 a. What is the analysis of variance? What are the assumptions of the
technique? Give a few examples where the techniques could be used.
b. The following data represents the number of units produced by four
operators during three different shifts


Perform a two-way analysis of variance and interpret the result.
a. Meaning, Assumptions and examples 4
b. Formulas, Calculation, Solution and Interpretation to the problem 6




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Q No. 6 Explain the three basic principles of professional ethics that any research must
follow. How do you follow an ethical practice while collecting information from
the respondents?
Basic principles of professional ethics 6
Ethical codes related to respondents 4