Business Research Methods

Adopted From Fourth Edition Uma Sekaran

Scientific Investigation

Scientific [Methods of Research]

In research, scientific Method refers to:

- Recognized Method of producing knowledge

Why Scientific Research?

This research is not based on hunches, experience and intuition.

It is purposive and rigorous. Enables all those who are interested in

researching and knowing about the same or similar issues to come up with comparable findings when data are analyzed.

Findings are accurate and confident. Apply solutions to similar problems. It is more objective.

Cont.

Highlights the most critical factors at the work place that need specific attention to solve or minimize problems.

Scientific Investigation and Managerial Decision Making are integral part of effective problem solving.

It can be applied to both basic and applied research.

Characteristics of Recognized Scientific

Methods.1. Purposiveness

2. Rigor

3. Testability

4. Replicability / Verifiable

5. Precision and Confidence

6. Statistical Generalization

7. Empirical

8. Objectivity

9. Cumulative

10. Deterministic

11. Neutrality

Hallmarks of Scientific Research

1. Purposiveness

It has to start with a definite aim or purpose. The focus is on increasing employee

commitment. Increase employee commitment will translate

into less turnover, less absenteeism and increased performance levels.

Manager has definite aim or purpose.

2. Rigor A good theoretical base and sound

methodological design would add rigor to the purposive study.

Rigor adds carefulness, precision, accuracy and the degree of exactitude in research.

:

1. Based on few employees2. Bias and incorrectness3. There might be other influences on commitment

which are ignored and are important for a researcher to know

Thus, Rigorous involves good theoretical base and thought out methodology.

These factors enable the researcher to collect the right kind of information from an appropriate sample with the minimum degree of bias and facilitate suitable analysis of the data gathered.

This supports the other six too.

3. Testability

.

In Scientific Research, the hypothesis can be tested logically by de applying certain statistical tests to the data collected for the purpose.

It means that it can be used again if similar circumstances prevails.

Information made are to be verifiable again to confirm/prove or reject the previous findings.

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4. Replicability/ Verifiable

3. Cumulative

Link between present and previous study if any.

Make sure that Study is not repetitive (lit Rev).

4. Neutrality

In research, findings should not be influenced by personal affiliations if any.

[Human beings are not neutral. They are affiliated with some Culture, Religion, and Politics Ideologies].

Deterministic For scientists nothing ‘just happens’. It happens for a reason.

Every act is caused by something/reason

Example: BS result of XYX university, where 90 students fail. What could be the determinants of such mass failure?

Students Attitude Teachers Attitude Admin Curriculum Infrastructure General Atmosphere etc

Precision– Precision refers to the closeness of the findings

to “reality” based on a sample.– It reflects the degree of accuracy and exactitude

of the results of the sample.Example: If a supervisor estimated the number of production days lost during the year due to absenteeism at between 30 and 40, as against the actual of 35, the precision of my estimation more favorably than if he has indicated that the loss of production days was somewhere between 20 and 50.

5. Precision and Confidence

Confidence– Confidence refers to the probability that our

estimations are correct. – That is, it is not merely enough to be precise,

but it is also important that we can confidently claim that 95% of the time our results would be true and there is only a 5% chance of our being wrong.

– This is also known as confidence level.

1. EmpiricalInformation based on:• Sound and reliable observations,• sound and reliable experiments and • Sound and reliable surveys.

Some realities can be determined by observation, e.g violation of traffic rules.

Some realities can be determined by experiments: e.g fixing and no fixing price tag on products.

6. Objectivity

The conclusions drawn through the interpretation of the results of data analysis should be objective; that is, they should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not on our subjective or emotional values.

Example: If we had a hypothesis that stated that greater participation in decision making will increase organizational commitment and this was not supported by the results, it makes no sense if the researcher continues to argue that increased opportunities for employee participation would still help!

7. Generalizability

we infer that what is true of a sample is true of the entire population. In both cases, the inference is valid only to the extent that the sample is representative of the population.

8. ParsimonySimplicity in explaining the phenomenon or problems that occur, and in generating solutions for the problems, is always preferred to complex research frameworks that consider an unmanageable number of factors.

For instance, if 2-3 specific variables in the work situation are identified, which when changed would raise the organizational commitment of the employees by 45%, that would be more useful be more useful and valuable to the manager than if it were recommended that he should change 10 different variables to increase organizational commitment by 48%.

The Building Blocks of Science in Research

Deduction and InductionsAnswers to issues can be found either by the process of induction or the process of induction, or by a combination of the two.

The Thought Process (Reasoning)

Getting information through mental process of reasoning/logic can be:

i. Deductive (General to particular)

ii. Inductive (Particular to general)

Deduction Deduction is the process by which we arrive at a

reasoned conclusion by logical generalization of a known fact.

Example: we know that all high performers are highly proficient in their jobs. If John is a high performer, we then conclude that he is highly proficient in his job

Induction Induction is a process where we observe certain

phenomena and on this basis arrive at conclusions.

In other words, in induction we logically establish a general proposition based on observed facts.

i. Deductive (General to particular)

Example:

All men are lazy

Research Instructor is a man

Conclusion: Therefore he is lazy.

ii: Inductive (Particular to general)Example:A. This X Police Officer is honestB. This male Police Officer is honestC. This female Police Officer is honestD. This rural Police Officer is honestE. This urban Police Officer is honest

Conclusion: Therefore all Police Officers are honest.

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method

So we can say that Research is an Objective, Organized, Scientific and Systematic method to generate the information to help decision making.

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method

Observation

–Observation is the first stage, in which one senses that certain changes are occurring or that some new behaviors, attitudes and feelings are surfacing in one’s environment (i.e., the work place).

–How does one observe phenomena and changes in the environment?

Preliminary Information Gathering:

– It involves the seeking of information in depth, of what is observed.

– This could be done by talking informally to several people in the work setting or to clients or to other relevant sources, thereby gathering information on what is happening and why. (Unstructured interviews)

– Then it is followed by structured interviews.– Additionally by doing library research or obtaining

information through other sources, the investigator would identify how such issues have been tackled in other situations.

Theory Formulation

– It is an attempt to integrate all the information in a logical manners, so that the factors responsible for the problem can be on conceptualized and tested.

–The theoretical framework formulated is often guided by experience and intuition.

– In this step the critical variables are identified and examined as to their contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved.

Hypothesizing – It is the next logical step after theory formulation.– From the theorized network of associations among

the variables, certain testable hypotheses or educated conjectures can be generated.

– Hypothesis testing is called deductive research. Sometimes, hypotheses that were not originally formulated do get generated through the process of induction.

Further Specific Data Collection

–After the development of the hypotheses, data with respect to each variable in the hypotheses need to be obtained.

–Further data are collected to test the hypotheses that are generated in the study.

Data Analysis

–Data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses that were generated have been supported.

–Co relational method will be used to analyze and determine the relation ship of two or more factors in the hypotheses for example: stock availability and customer satisfaction.

Deduction–Deduction is the process of

arriving at conclusions by interpreting the meaning of results of the data analysis.

Other Types of Research

Case studies and action research are sometimes used to study certain types of issues.

1. Case Studies

2. Action Research

Case Studies

Case studies involve in depth, contextual analyses of similar situations in the other organizations, where the nature and definition of the problem happen to be the same as experienced in the current situation.

Case study, as a problem solving technique, is not often undertaken in organizations because such studies dealing with problems similar to the one experienced by a particular organization of a particular size and in a particular type of setting are difficult to come by.

Action Research

The researcher begins with a problem that is already identified and gathers relevant data to provide a tentative problem solution.

This solution is then implemented, with the knowledge that there may be unintended consequences following such implementation.

The effects are then evaluated, defined and diagnosed and the research continues on an ongoing basis until the problem is fully resolved.