RESEARCH DESIGN
In this step we need to design the
research in a way that the necessary data
can be gathered and analyzed to arrive at
a solution.
The Nature of Studies:
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Exploratory Study
Descriptive Study
Hypothesis Testing
Case Study Analysis
Exploratory Study
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An Exploratory Study is 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.
Example 1
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The manager of a multinational corporation is curious
to know if the work ethic values of employees
working at that specific corporation outside the
United States would be different from those of
Americans.
No information is available about the ethic values of
the same company workers other than in the U.S.
Also, the work ethic values may be different to
people in different cultures.
Example 1 (Cont.)
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The best way to study the above situation is by
conducting an exploratory study, by interviewing
the employees in the organization.
Descriptive Study
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Is undertaken in order to describe the
characteristics of the variables of interest in a
situation.
For instance, a study in a 200-student class in terms
of the percentage of members who are in their
senior (will be in the graduation stage), gender, age
groupings, number of semesters left until
graduation, can be considered as descriptive in
nature.
Best way of collecting data is by examining
numbers and characteristics from collected surveys
and questionnaires.
Example 2
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A bank manager wants to have a profile of the
individuals who have loan payments outstanding
(due) for 6 months and more.
This profile would include details of their average
age, earnings, nature of occupation, full-time/ parttime employment status, and the like.
The above information might help the manager to find
patterns to decide right away on the types of
individuals who should be made ineligible for loans in
the future.
The above information can be collected by examining
the bank data and related numbers in it.
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Case Study Analysis 1
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a case study is a research method involving an up-close,
in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject of study
(the case), as well as its related contextual conditions
Case studies involve in-depth, contextual analyses of
matters relating to similar situations in other organizations.
Case studies, as a problem solving technique, are not
frequently used in organizations because finding the same
type of problem in another comparable setting is difficult
due to the reluctance of the companies to reveal their
problems.
Case Study Analysis 2
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Case studies that are qualitative in nature,
however, useful in applying solutions to current
problems based on past problem-solving
experiences.
Also, case studies are useful in understanding
certain phenomena such as dyslexia in students,
learning disabilities, special need students and
generating further theories for empirical testing.
Hypothesis Testing
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It is a proposed theory before its testing for what you think your answer to the
your question might be.
This usually explains the nature of certain relationships, or establishes the
differences among groups. Expected findings such as learning style patterns or
students who are required to read extra materials will have higher grades in
their writing exams than those who do not.
Hypothesis testing is undertaken to explain the variance (difference) in the
dependent variable or to predict organizational outcomes.
For example, if the independent variable(is the control you have over the
experiment such as the use or non-use of a new language teaching procedure),
then the dependent variable(the outcome) might be students' scores on a test of
the content taught using that procedure.
In other words, the variation in the dependent variable depends on the
variation in the independent variable.
Example 6.5
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A marketing manager wants to know if the sales of
the company will increase if he doubles the
advertising dollars.
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.
Type of Investigation: Causal versus
Correlational
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A causal study: Is an inquiry to know the cause of
one or more problems. (more general)
A correlational study: Is an inquiry to know the
important variables associated with the problem for
example age, number of years smoking , number of
cigarettes daily, type of cancer and gender. (more
detailed)
Example
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A causal study question:
Does smoking cause cancer?
A correlational study question: More statistics
involved.
Are smoking and cancer related?
Or
Are smoking, drinking, and chewing tobacco
associated with cancer?
Extent of Researcher Interference
With the Study
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The extent of interference by the researcher with
the normal flow of work at the workplace has a
direct bearing on whether the study undertaken is
causal or correlational.
Correlational studies should have minimal
interference than causal studies.
Correlational studies done in organizations are
called field studies.
Extent of Researcher Interference
With the Study
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A correlational study is conducted in the natural environment
of the organization with minimum interference by the
researcher with the normal flow of work.
A hospital administrator wants to examine the relationship
between the perceived emotional support in the system and the
stress experienced by the nursing staff. In other words, she
wants to do a correlational study.
The researcher will collect data from the nurses ( through a
questionnaire) to indicate how much emotional support they get
in the hospital and to what extent they experience stress. By
correlating the two variables, the answer is found.
In this case, beyond administering a questionnaire to the
nurses, the researcher has not interfered with the normal
activities in the hospital.
Excessive Interference
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In studies conducted to establish cause-and-effect
relationships the researcher deliberately changes
certain variables in the setting and interferes with
the events as they normally occur in the
organization such as participants seeking help from
an expert or the researcher in answering questions
in surveys or allowing certain groups to seek
questions and others not to .
Most organizational problems seldom call for a
causal study
Study Setting: Contrived and
Noncontrived
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Studies conducted to establish cause-andeffect relationship using the same natural
environment in which employees normally
function are called field experiments.
Experiments done to establish cause-andeffect relationship in a contrived
environment and strictly controlled are
called lab experiments.
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Example 6.15 Field Study
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This is a field study where the bank
manager has taken the balances in various
types of accounts and correlated them to the
changes in interest rates.
Research here is done in a noncontrived
setting with no interference with the normal
work routine.
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Example 6.16 Field Experiment
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The bank manager now wants to
determine the cause-and-effect
relationship between interest rate and
the inducements it offers to clients to
save and deposit money in the bank.
The researcher selects four branches
within 60/km radius for the experiment.
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Example 6.17 Lab Experiment
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To be sure about the true relationship
between the interest rate and deposits, the
researcher could create an artificial
environment by choosing, for instance, 40
students who are all business majors in their
final year of study and in the same age. The
researcher splits the students into four
groups and give each one of them $1000,
which they are told they might buy their
needs or save for the future, or both.
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Example 6.17 Lab Experiment
The researcher offers them interest on what
they save as followings:
 6% on savings for group 1.
 8% for group 2.
 9% for group 3.
 1% for group 4 ( the old rate of interest).
Here, the researcher has created an artificial
laboratory environment and has manipulated
the interest rates for savings. He also chosen
subjects with similar backgrounds.
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Unit of Analysis
If the researcher focuses on how to raise the motivational levels of
employees, then we are interested in individual employees in
the organization. Here the unit of analysis is the individual
(the data will be gathered from each individual).
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If the researcher is interested in studying twoperson interaction, then several two-person groups
also known as dyads, will become the unit of
analysis ( analysis of husband-wife, and
supervisor-subordinate relationships at the work
place. If the manager wants data from a sample of 10
pairs, he will have to deal with 20 individuals, a pair at a
time. The information obtained from each pair will be a
data point for analysis.
Unit of Analysis
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The unit of analysis refers to the level
of aggregation of the data collected
during the subsequent data analysis.
Individual
Dyads
Groups
Organizations
Cultures
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Groups as a unit of analysis
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A manager wants to see the patterns of usage of the
newly installed Information System (IS) by the
different departments of production, sales, and
operations personnel.
Here three groups of personnel are involved and
information from each of the three will be collected
and analyzed.
Time Horizon: Cross-Sectional Versus
Longitudinal Studies
Cross-Sectional Studies
A study can be done in which data are gathered
just once, perhaps over a period of days or weeks
or months, in order to answer a research question.
Example
Data were collected from stock brokers between
April and June of last year to study their concerns in
a turbulent stock market.
Longitudinal Studies
Studying people or phenomena at more than one
point in time in order to answer the research
question. They take more time and effort and cost
more than cross-sectional studies. However, wellplanned longitudinal studies could help to identify
cause-and-effect relationships.
Example: A marketing manager is interested in tracing
the pattern of sales of a particular product in four
different regions of the country on a quarterly basis
for the next 2 years.
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