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 Research Scenarios

A. A manager observes that the customers are not pleasedAre 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 to find reliable and creditable information to understand the issue and then take appropriate decisions in order to achieve performance

Information

Reduces

Uncertainty

I don’t knowif we

shouldreduce 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 it’s 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. Observation2. Preliminary Information gathering3. Theory formulation4. Hypothesizing5. Further data collection6. Data Analysis7. 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. Observation

2. Preliminary Information gathering

3. Theory formulation

4. Hypothesizing

5. Further data collection

6. Data Analysis

7. Deduction