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Clarifying the Research Question through

Secondary Data and Exploration

Chapter 5

組員603530045 黎旭崴603530017 李承霖

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Learning Objectives

The purpose and process of exploratory research.

The two types and three levels of management decision-related secondary sources.

The five types of external information and the factors for evaluating the value of a source and its content.

The process of using exploratory research to understand the management dilemma and work through the stages of analysis necessary to formulate the research question (and, ultimately, investigative questions and measurement questions).

What is involved in internal data mining and how internal data-mining techniques differ from literature searches.

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Exploratory phase search strategy

Search Strateg

y

Discovery and analysis of secondary

sources

GroupDiscussio

ns

Individual Depth

Interviews

Expert Intervie

w

4

Objectives of exploratory research phase

Expand your understanding of the

management dilemma

Gather background information

Identify information that should be gathered

Identify sources for and actual questions

Identify sources for and actual sample frames

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Literature search has five steps

1.Define management dilemma or management question

2. Consult books for relevant terms 3. Apply these key terms to searching 4. Locate and review specific secondary sources 5. Evaluate the value of each source and its

content

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Levels of information Primary sources

Memos Letters Interviews Speeches Laws Internal records

Secondary sources

Encyclopedias Textbooks Handbooks Magazines Newspapers Newscasts

Tertiary sources

Indexes Bibliographies Internet search engines

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Types of information source

Indexes and BibliographiesDictionariesEncyclopediasHandbooksDirectories

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Evaluating information sources

EvaluationFactors

Purpose

Authority

Audience

Scope

Format

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Mining Internal Sources

The tern data mining describes the process of discovering knowledge from databases stored in data marts or data warehouses.The purpose of data mining is to identify valid, novel, useful, and ultimately understandable patterns in data.

A data warehouse is an electronic repository for databases that organizes large volumes of data into categories to facilitate retrieval, interpretation, and sorting by end users.

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Evoulution of Data Mining(cont.)Evolutionary Step

Investigative Question Enabling Technologies

Characteristics

Data collection (1960s)

“What was my average total revenue over the last five years?”

Computers, tapes, disks

Retrospective, static data delivery

Data access (1980s)

“What were unit sales in California last December?”

Relational databases (RDBMS), structured query language (SQL), ODBC

Retrospective, dynamic data delivery at record level

Data navigation (1990s)

“What were unit sales in California last December? Drill down to Sacramento.”

Online analytic processing (OLAP), multidimensional databases, data warehouses

Retrospective, dynamic data delivery at multiple levels

Data mining (2000)

“What’s likely to happen to Sacramento unit sales next month? Why?”

Advanced algorithms, multiprocessor computers, massive databases

Prospective, proactive information delivery

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Data Mining Process

Sample: The researcher must decide whether to use the entire data set or sample of the data.

Explore :After the data are sampled,the next step is to explore them visually or numerically for trends or groups .

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Data Mining Process

Modify: a data reduction program, such as factor analysis 、 correspondence analysis or clustering may be used.

Model:Modeling techniques in data mining include neural networks as well as decision tree, sequence-based, classification and estimation and genetic-based models.

Assess: the final step in data mining is to assess the model to estimate how well it performs.A common method of assessment involves applying a portion of data that was not used during the sampling stage.If the model is valid,it will work for this ”holdout” sample.

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Data Mining Process

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The Question Hierarchy：How Ambiguous Question

Become Actionable Research

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Management questions are the restatement of the management dilemma in question form.

No matter how the management question is defined,many research directions can be taken.A specific question can lead to many studies.

Therefore,it is the joint respon-sibility of the researcher and the makerter to choose the most productive project.

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT QUESTION?

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Management-Research Question Hierarchy

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Management Question

Types of Management Questions

Categories General Question

Choice of Purpose or Choice of Objectives

What do we want to achieve?

Generalization and Evaluation of Solutions

How can we achieve the ends that we seek?

Troubleshooting or Control How well is our marketing program meeting its goals?

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Management Question

Exploration

To move forward in the management-research question hierarchy and define the research question, we need to collect some exploratory information.

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The Research Question

Research Question: Research question best states the

objective of the business research study.It is a more specific manage-ment question that must be answered.

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Research Question

Fine – Tuning

Fine-tuning the question is precisely what a skillful practitioner must do after the exploration is complete.

At this point, a clearer picture of the management and research questions begins to emerge.

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Research Question

Fine-Tuning the research question

Evaluate hypotheses

Examine variables

Determine necessary evidence

Set the scope of

study

Break questions

down

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Investigative Question

Investigative Question: Investigative questions represent the information that the decision maker needs to know;they are the questions the researcher must answer to satisfactorily arrive at a conclusion about the research question.

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Investigative Question

As you develop your information needs, think broadly.In de-veloping your list of investigative questions,include

1. Performance Considerations 2. Attitudinal Issues 3. Behavioral Issues

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Measurement Question

Measurement questions are the actual questions that researchers use to collect data in a study.

Two types of measurement questions are common in business research：

1.Predesigned measurement questions

2.Custom-designed measurement questions

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Thank You for listening ^0^