Chapter 3 ppt
Unit 2
Research design is a plan for getting from your original question or hypothesis to obtaining
workable results from your research, on which you can base defensible conclusions
Components of The Process of A Research Design
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Research Philosophies
Research Approaches
Research Strategies
Time horizons
Research philosophy is a term relating to the development of knowledge and the nature of
that knowledge
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Positivism can be defined as “research approaches that employ empirical
methods, make extensive use of quantitative analysis, or develop logical calculi
to build formal explanatory theory
the researcher is independent of the subject of the research:
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the researcher does not affect the subject of the research
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the researcher is not affected by the subject of the research
Focus on
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highly structured methodology and methods (e.g., questionnaires) to facilitate
replication
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observations can be quantified; this permits statistical analysis
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Interpretive research is concerned with the meanings that people attach to norms,
rules, and values that regulate their interactions.
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Realism is an attempt by some researchers in social sciences to adjust Positivism to
studies of social phenomena
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Direct realism: It says that what you see is what you get: what we experience through
our senses portrays the world accurately.
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Critical realism: critical realists argue that we experience are sensations, the images of
the things in the real world, not the things directly. Critical realists point out how
often our senses deceive us.
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Ontology describes our view (whether claims or assumptions) on the nature of reality,
and specifically, is this an objective reality that really exists, or only a subjective
reality, created in our minds.
Chapter 3 ppt
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Axiology – studies judgements about value
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Pragmatism holds that the most important determinant of the epistemology,
ontology, axiology adopted is the research question.
 Go to page 13,14 in PPT
Research Approaches Deduction & Induction
1. Deduction
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Explaining causal relationships between variables
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Establishing controls for testing hypotheses
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Independence of the researcher
2. Induction
Building theory by –
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Understanding the way human build their world
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Using more qualitative data
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Using a variety of data collection methods
 Go to page 17,18 in PPT
 Research strategy is a methodology that helps the researcher to investigate the
research issue in a systematic way.
 Research strategies are classified as:
 Experiment
 Grounded theory
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Ethnography
Action research
Survey
Case study
 Archival research
 Experiment :measuring the effects of manipulating one variable on another variable.
 An experiment will involve:
 Definition of a theoretical hypothesis
 Selection of samples from know populations
 Random allocation of samples
 The two main variables in an experiment are the independent and dependent
variable.
Chapter 3 ppt
 An independent variable is the variable that is changed or controlled in a
scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable.
 A dependent variable is the variable being tested and measured in a scientific
experiment
 A case study is an intensive study of a specific individual or specific context.
 A case study can be categorised as: Single case v. Multiple case
 A single case is often used where it represents a critical case or, alternatively, an
extreme or unique case.
 A case study strategy can also incorporate multiple cases, that is, more than one case.
 Ethnography :Derives from the field of anthropology. The idea is to interpret the
social world the research subject inhabits and the way in which they interpret it.
Ethnography: key features
 Takes place over an extended time period
 Is naturalistic
 Involves extended participant observation
 Grounded theory: Collection of data starts without the formation of an initial
theoretical framework.
Grounded theory: key features
 Theory is built through induction and deduction
 Helps to predict and explain behaviour
 Develops theory from data generated by
 observations
Archival research: key features
 Uses administrative records and documents as the principal
sources of data
 Allows research questions focused on the past
 Is constrained by the nature of the records and documents
 Action research is collaborative: it involves those responsible for action in improving
that action.
Action research: key features
 Involves practitioners in the research
 The researcher becomes part of the organisation
 Promotes change within the organisation
 In business research, the most common method of generating primary data is the
survey
 A survey is
 a research technique in which a sample is interviewed in some form or the
behavior of respondents is observed and described in some way.
Chapter 3 ppt
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Survey: key features
Popular in business research
Perceived as authoritative
Allows collection of quantitative data
Census
Investigation of all individual elements that make up a population
Page 42
Group selected for the sample
Primary Sampling Units (PSU) : A unit selected in the first stage of sampling.
Secondary Sampling Units: A unit selected in the second stage of sampling
Tertiary Sampling Units: A unit selected in the third stage of sampling
Systematic Errors
 Nonsampling errors
 Unrepresentative sample results
 Not due to chance
 Due to study design or imperfections in execution
Two Major Categories of Sampling
 1. Non-probability sampling
 Probability of selecting any particular member is unknown
 E.g :- Judgment/Purposive,Quota,Snowball
 2.Probability sampling
 Known, nonzero probability for every element
Convenience Sampling Also called haphazard or accidental sampling
Study from 50-59