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THE RESEARCH PROCESS:

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research is the systematic investigation into existing or new knowledge.

The Research Design

Research design is a roadmap for researchers. It is step by step approach. Research design is prepared keeping in view some basic questions like What would be scope of my study? What data do I need to collect? What methods will I use to collect the data and how will I justify them?

The Research Design (Contd)

The essentials of research design:

An activity- and time-based plan.

A plan always based in the research question. A guide for selecting sources and type of information. A framework for specifying the relationships among the studys variables. A procedural outline for every research activity.

Qualitative Research Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research
Used to gain insight into people's attitudes, behaviors, value systems, concerns, motivations, aspirations, culture or lifestyles.
Qualitative research involves analysis of data such as
words (e.g., from interviews), pictures (e.g., video), or

Quantitative Research
It involves analysis of numerical data. The use of sampling techniques (such as consumer surveys) whose findings may be expressed numerically. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena.

Purpose of the study

The purpose ranges from pure research to problem oriented research. In the former, the researcher just wants to satisfy his or her curiosity. For example, a researcher is curious to know if there is a difference between work ethics of Japanese and American. Later such studies would be used for correlating the work ethics with industrial advancement and innovation.

Purpose of the study

1. Exploratory Study
2. Descriptive Study 3. Hypothesis Testing 4. Case Study Analysis

1. Exploratory Study
Undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand, or no information is available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past.

Purposes
To narrow the scope of the research topic, and To transform ambiguous problems into well-defined ones

For example:

A researcher is curious to know if there is a difference between work ethics of Japanese and American. The best way to study the above situation is by conducting an exploratory study, by interviewing the employees in organizations.

2. Descriptive Study
Describes attitudes, perceptions, characteristics, activities and situations. Examines who, what, when, where, why, & how questions.

Example:
A bank manager may like to know how much loans were advanced and how much were recovered within the given time and how much were never recovered.

2. Descriptive Study (Contd)

This would include details of their average age, earnings, nature of occupation, full-time/ part-time employment status, and the like. The above information might help the manager to decide right away on the types of individuals who should be made ineligible for loans in the future.

3. Hypothesis Testing
Studies that engage in hypothesis testing usually explain the nature of certain relationships Undertaken to explain the variance in the independent variable or to predict organizational outcomes.

Example:
A marketing manager wants to know if the sales of the company will increase if he doubles the advertising dollars.

3. Hypothesis Testing (Contd)

Here, the manager would like to know the nature of the relationship between advertising and sales by testing the hypothesis:
If advertising is increased, then sales will also go up.

Case Study Design

A case study is an in depth study of a particular situation.

It is a method used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one easily researchable topic. The case study research design is also useful for testing whether scientific theories and models actually work in the real world. Case studies that are qualitative in nature are, however, useful in applying solutions to current problems based on past problem-solving experiences.

Comparison of Research Designs

Exploratory Descriptive

Purpose

Gather background information, define terms, clarify problems and hypotheses, establish research priorities.

Describe and measure marketing phenomena, characteristics, or functions of interest.

Assumed background knowledge Flexibility Research environment Cost Findings

Minimal

Considerable

High Relaxed Low Preliminary

Some Formal Medium Conclusive

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Types of Investigation

A manger should determine whether a causal or a corelational study is needed to find an answer to the issue at hand. Causal study Correlational study

Causal Design
One variable (independent variable) causes a change in another variable (dependent variable) Done to establish a cause and effect relationship. Used to state that variable X cause's variable Y. so when variable X is removed or altered in some way, problem Y is solved.

Example:
Smoking causes weak lungs.
It establish cause and effect relationship.

Independent Variable: Smoking

Dependent Variable: Lungs

Correlational Study
Correlation: Measurement of relationship between two variables.
determines whether or not two variables are correlated

increase or decrease in one variable corresponds to an increase or decrease in the other variable. e.g. Are smoking and lung cancer related?

Types of Correlation
Positive Correlation Negative Correlation

Zero Correlation

Example:
A researcher examines the effect of walking exercise on reaction time in older adults. Subjects recorded the length and time spent walking on a daily basis. Once a week, subjects turned in their daily logs to the researcher and reaction time measures were taken. After the six month time period, all the data was examined. The greater the amount of exercise, the better the reaction time The researcher concludes that exercise leads to better reaction time.

TIME HORIZON

CROSS-SECTIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDIES

Cross Sectional Study:

To look at a variable at a particular point in time.

Longitudinal Study:
Analysis of data at different points in time. Studying people or phenomena at more than one point in time to answer the research question More time More Effort

Cost

Example:
A researcher wants to investigate the relationship between daily walking and cholesterol levels in the body.

Cross Sectional Study If the researcher wants to compare cholesterol levels among different populations of walkers and non-walkers at the same point in time
Longitudinal Study If the researcher wants to measure cholesterol levels in a single population of daily walkers over an extended period of time