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Research Methods for ManagersResearch Methods for Managers

Prof. George MathewProf. George MathewB.Sc., B.Tech, PGDCA, PGDM, MBAB.Sc., B.Tech, PGDCA, PGDM, MBA

Phone: 9447798852Phone: 9447798852Email: mathewaiim@gmail.comEmail: mathewaiim@gmail.com

ALLAMA IQBAL INSTITUTE OFALLAMA IQBAL INSTITUTE OF

MANAGEMENTMANAGEMENTTRIVANDRUMTRIVANDRUM

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Business Research

Introduction to business research

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1.1What is research?

Research is the process of finding

solutions to a problem after athorough study and analysis ofthe situational factors.

1 Introduction to Research

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1.2.What is business research?

Business Research is definedas the systematic and objective

process of gathering, recordingand analyzing data for aid inmaking business decisions

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What is business research?

Research provides the neededinformation that guides managers to

make informed decisions to successfullydeal with problems.

The information provided could be theresult of a careful analysis of data

gathered firsthand or of data that arealready available (in the company).

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Basic Research and Applied

Research.

1.Applied research

Research undertaken to answer

questions about specific problems orto make decisions about a particularcourse of action or policy decisions.

It is to solve a current problem facedby the manager in the work setting,demanding a timely solution

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2.Basic research (fundamental, pure)Basic or pure research is theresearch that is intended to expand

the boundaries of knowledge itselfor to verify the acceptability of apure theory.

It is to generate a body of knowledge by trying tocomprehend how certain problems that occur inorganizations can be solved.

The findings of such research contribute to thebuilding of knowledge in the various functionalareas of business.

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Research Process

1. Formulating a Research Problem

2. Conceptualization of Research Design

3. Constructing an instrument for data

Collection

4. Selecting a Sample

5. Writing a research Proposal

6. Collecting Data7. Processing Data

8. Writing a research report

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Formulating a

Research

Problem

Conceptualization

of Research

Design

Constructing an

instrument

for data

Collection

Selecting a

Sample

Writing a

research

Proposal

Collecting Data Processing Data

Writing a

researchreport

Research Process

Step 1Step 4Step 2

Step 8Step 7Step 6

Step 5

Step 3

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Research and Managers

Business Research helps managers indecision making by providing both processand tools needed to reduce risk.

Business Research is a systematic inquirythat provides information to guidemanagerial decisions.

It is a process of planning, acquiring, analyzing,and disseminating relevant data, information, andinsight to decision makers in ways that mobilizethe organization to take appropriate actions that,in turn, maximize business performance.

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Research and Managers

Students preparing to manage any function, need trainingin a disciplined process for conduction an inquiry of amanagement dilemma, the problem or opportunity that

requires a management decision. Some of the factors

which stimulate management research methods : Explosive growth and influence of internet

Stakeholders demanding greater influence

More vigorous competition

More government intervention More complex decisions

Maturing of management as a group ofdisciplines

Greater computing power and speed

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Planning Drives Business Research

Understanding the relationship betweenbusiness research and other information iscritical for managerial decision making related

to organizational mission, goals, strategies,and tactics.

A Business Intelligence System(BIS) isdesigned to provide manger with ongoinginformation about events and trends in thetechnological, economic, political and legal,demographic, cultural, social, and, competitivearenas. Such information is complied from avariet of sources.

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Business Researchers

Internal Research Department

Consumer goods and services

Producers Industrial goods and services

Producers

Media CompaniesWholesale distributers

Retail Distributers

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Internal Research Suppliers

Due to limitation of budget, equipment,facilities, and expertise reasons, the trend inindustry is not to staff large internal

research departments.

In poor economic times, many firmseliminate their internal research operations

as such services are expendable or arereadily available from external suppliers.

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External Research Suppliers

Full-Service ResearchFirms

Custom Researchers

Proprietary MethodologyResearchers

1. Business Research Firms Specialist Research Firms

Methodology Specialists

Other Specialists

Syndicated Data Providers

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External Research suppliers

2.Communication

Agencies

Advertising

agencies Public Relations

Agencies

Sales PromotionAgencies

Direct MarketingAgencies

3.Consultants

Marketing

Consultants

GeneralBusinessConsultants

4. Trade

Associates

General

Business

Business

Specialist

ResearchSpecialists

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Research Firms

Full service researchers include some of

the largest research firms in the world and

some of the smallest.

Full service firms are often involved inresearch planning for their clients from the

moment of discovery of the management

dilemma.

Custom Researcher crafts a research

design unique to the decision makers

dilemma.

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Custom Researchers

Ad-hoc research orcustom-designedresearch are often used to describecustom full-service research firms. A

custom researcher crafts a researchdesign unique to the decision makersdilemma.

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Proprietary Methodology Researchers

Proprietary Methodology is a research program ortechnique that is owned by a single firm.

Specialist Research Firms

They establishes a specialty in one or severaldifferent arenas such as:

Methodology,

Process,Industry,

Participant group, or

Geographic region

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Research Consultants

Business Consultants offer a wide range of

services at the strategic and tactical levels. All

are involved in doing extensive secondary data

research for their clients.

They are major influencers in research design, of

both custom research and the selection of

prosperity models. They are also involved in

interpretation of results. Consultants conducts both qualitative (eg. Focus

groups and expert interviews) and quantitative

studies (usually through surveys) on knowledge,

attitudes, opinions, and motivations.

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Trade Associates

Trade Associates have their purpose to promote,

educate, and lobby for the interests of their

members. They are in the following categories:

General Business

Business Specialist

Research Specialists

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Characteristics of a Good Research

1. Purpose Clearly defined

2. Research Process Detailed

3. Research design thoroughly planned

4. High Ethical Standards Applied

5. Limitations Frankly Revealed

6. Analysis adequate for decision makers

needs7. Findings presented unambiguously

8. Conclusions Justified

9.

Researchers Experience Reflected

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Types of Business Research

1.Exploratory Research

2.Descriptive Research

3.Causal Research

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Exploratory Research

Exploratory Research is theresearch conducted to clarify anddefine the nature of the problem.Usually, exploratory research isconducted with the expectation thatsubsequent research will be required to

provide conclusive evidenceEg. Study of employees need for childcare, conducted among small number ofemployees which leads to further studies.

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Descriptive Research

Descriptive Research is the researchdesigned to describe characteristics of apopulation or phenomenon.Descriptive Research seeks to determine the answer towho, what, when, where, and how questions.

Descriptive Research often helps segment andtarget markets. Accuracy is of paramount importance

in descriptive research.

Eg. Study of characteristics of consumers whopurchase organic food products

Diagnostic analysis is used to clarify research findings,such as explanations respondents give for behavior or

attitude.

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Causal Research

Causal Research is the research

conducted to Identify cause and effect

relationships among variables when the

research problem has already been

narrowly defined.

Casual Research attempts to establish

that when we do one thing, another thingwill follow.

Eg. Training and productivity

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Stages of Business Research

1. Identifying problems or

opportunities

2. Diagnosing, and assessingproblems or opportunities

3. Selecting and implementing a

course of action

4. Evaluation a course of Action

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Why is it important for managers to knowabout research?

Solve problems

Decision making tool

CompetitionRisk

Investment

Hire researchers and consultantsmore effectively

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Major Topics for research in

Business

1. General Business Conditions and

Corporate Research

2.Financial and Accounting Research

3. Management and Organizational

Behavior Research

4. Sales and Marketing Research

5. Information System Research

6. Corporate Responsibility Research

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Business Research in the 21st century

Two Major trends in Business

1. Increased Globalization

2. Rapid Growth of Internet and

Information Technology

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Research and Scientific Method

Scientific method, as practiced in businessresearch, guides our approach to problem solving.The essential tenets of scientific method are:

Direct observation of phenomena Clearly defined variables, method, and procedures

Empirically testable Hypothesis

The ability to rule out rival hypothesis

Statistical rather than linguistic justification ofconclusions

The self correcting process

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Research and Scientific Method

Empirical testing means to denote observationsand prepositions based on sensory experienceand/or derived from such experience by methods of

inductive logic, including mathematics and statistics.Researchers using this approach attempt todescribe, explain, and make predictions by relying oninformation gained through observation.

Argument allows us to explain, interpret, defend,challenge, and explore meaning.

Two types of argument of great importance toresearch are deduction and induction

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Deduction

Deduction is a form of argument that purports tobe conclusive - the conclusion must necessarilyfollow from reasons given. The reasons are said

to imply the conclusion and represent a proof.For a deduction to be correct, it must be bothtrue and valid.

Premise (reasons) given for the conclusion mustagree with the real world (true).

The conclusion must necessarily follow from thepremises.

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Deduction

A Deduction is valid if it is impossiblefor the conclusion to be false if the

premise are true.Conclusion is not logically justified if

one or more premises are untrue or

the argument form is invalid.

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Induction

In Induction, conclusions is drawnfrom one or more particular facts. The

conclusion explains the facts and thefacts support the conclusion.

The inductive conclusion is an inferential jump

beyond the evidence presented.

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Induction

Example:

A firm spends $1 million on a regionalpromotional campaign and sales do not

increase. The conclusion may be that thepromotional campaign was poorly executed.

But other reasons also may fit the fact.

It can be lack of stock with retailers A strike by employees during that period that

prevented stock reaching the retailers duringthe promotional activities, etc.

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Scientific Investigation

1 Observation

2 Identification of problem area

3 Theoretical framework4 Hypotheses

5 Research design

6 Data collection7 Data analysis

8 Data interpretation

9 Implementation

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The seven-step process in theHypothetico-Deductive method

1 Observation 2Problem identification

preliminary information gathering 3 Theoretical framework

theory formulation 4 Hypothesizing

5 Research design further scientific data collection

6 logical analysis

7 Deduction

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The seven-step process

problem statement is a clear, precise, and succinctstatement of the question or issue that is to beinvestigated with the goal of finding an answer orsolution.

Theoretical framework is the foundation on whichthe entire research project is based.It is logicallydeveloped,described,and elaborated network ofassociations among the variables relevant to theproblem situation.

A hypothesis is a tentative statement that proposes apossible explanation to some phenomenon or event.A useful hypothesis is a testable statement whichmay include a prediction. A hypotheses should notbe confused with a theory.

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The seven-step process

Data analysis: the data gathered are statisticallyanalyzed to see if the hypotheses that weregenerated have been supported.

Measurement is the process observing andrecording the observations that are collectedas part of a research effort.

Deduction is the process of arriving atconclusions by interpreting the meaning of the dataanalysis results.

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Problem Formulation

"Well begun is half done" --Aristotle,quoting an old proverb

Where do research topics come from? The idea for a research project?

one of the most common sources of researchideas is the experience ofpractical

problems in the field? The Literature Review

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Levels of Measurement

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The Research Cycle

The Research Cycle

QUESTIONING

PLANNING

GATHERING SORTING & SIFTING

SYNTHESIZING

EVALUATING

REPORTING*

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Information needs in business

Almost every organization has to engage inresearch at some level to stay competitive.

Companies gather data both from within and

outside the organization. The methods used to gather,analyze,and

synthesize information from the externalandinternal environments are becoming increasingly

sophisticated to the immense scope ofcomputertechnology.

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The research process

1 Observation 2 Data gathering

3 Problem definition

4 Theoretical framework (variables identified) 5Hypotheses

6 Research design 7Data collection,analysis,interpretation

8 Deduction

9 Report writing

10 Report presentation 11 Managerial decision making

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Research design

Purpose of the study:

Exploratory study Is undertaken when no information is available on how similar

problems or research issues have been solved in the past

Descriptive study Is to able to describe the characteristics of the variables of

interest in a situation.

Hypotheses testing Is undertaken to explain the variance in the dependent variable

or to predict organizational outcomes.

Case studies

Research design can be thought of as the structure ofresearch --it is the "glue" that holds all of the elements in aresearch project together

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Measurement

The rating scale

Have several response catagories

Likert scale is designed o exermine how

strongly subject agree or disagree withstatements on a 5-point scale

Ranking scale

Are used to tap preferences between two ormore objects or items

Goodness of measure: reliability,validity

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Data collection methods

Data can be collected in a variety ways ,datasources can be primary or secondary.

Data collection methods such as:

interview(face-to-face,telephone,computer-assisted interviews),

Questionaires

Observation Motivational techniques

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Sampling

A sample is a subset of the population.

Sample is the process of selecting a sufficientnumber of elements from the population.

Studying a sample rather the entire population is

sometimes to lead to more reliable results, mostlybecause fatigue is reduced,resulting in fewer errorson collection data. (time, cost,human resources)

Surveys are useful and powerful in finding answers toresearch question but if data are not collected fromthe people or objects that can provide the correctanswersto solve the problem, the survey will be invain.

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Data Analysis and Interpretation

The data analysis involves three major steps, done inroughly this order:

Cleaning and organizing the data for analysis (Data

Preparation) Describing the data (Descriptive Statistics)

Testing Hypotheses and Models (Inferential

Statistics)

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Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures. Central Tendency. The central tendency of a distribution is an estimate of

the "center" of a distribution of values. There are three major types ofestimates of central tendency: Mean is the most common-used measure of data tendency.=average. Median is the middle value , when the data is arranged in numerical order. Mode is the value ( number) that appears the most. Dispersion(Range, Standard Diviation)refers to the spread of the values

around the central tendency

Inferential statistics t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA),

regression analysis,

Correlation is a measure ofthe relation between two ormore variables.

we use inferential statistics to make judgments of the probability that anobserved difference between groups. Thus, we use inferential statistics tomake inferences from our data to more general conditions;

we use descriptive statistics simply to describe what's going on in our data.

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Statistics methods

Central tendency

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The Research Report

Researh proposal

Research report

Research presentation

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Research report articles vary in how they areorganized, :

Abstract -Brief summary of the contents of the article

Introduction - A explanation of the purpose of the study, a statement of theresearch question(s) the study intends to address

Literature review -A critical assessment of the work done so far on this

topic, to show how the current study relates to what has already been done Methods - How the study was carried out (e.g. instruments or equipment,

procedures, methods to gather and analyze data) Results -What was found in the course of the study Discussion - What do the results mean Conclusion -State the conclusions and implications of the results, and

discuss how it relates to the work reviewed in the literature review; also,

point to directions for further work in the area

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ResearchProposal

Title Page Abstract(on a separate single page)

The Body (no page breaks between sections in the body) Introduction(2-3 pages) Methods (7-10pages)

Sample(1 page)

Measures (2-3pages) Design(2-3 pages) Procedures (2-3pages)

Results(2-3 pages) Conclusions (1-2pages)

References

Tables (one to a page)

Figures(one to a page) Appendices

Sample Paper http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampaper.php http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/guideelements.php Formattinghttp://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/formatting.php

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Question?

How can you solve business problem? Why do you need to know how to write the research

proposal? Do you understand the research process?

Do you know why do you have to identify problemstatement clearly before doing research?

Do you know why sampling and statistics areimportant to the research result?

Why do you have to identify the limitation of your

study?

Why the research report and presentation areimportant?

Do you know how to apply the steps of the researchprocess ?

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Questions

1.If you want to set up a coffee shop nearthe university and school, what is your

research topic?

2.Identify the problem statement. 3.Identify the objectives

4.The hypotheses

5. The research methodology. 6. The examples of the questionaire