Chapter 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Research Design Fundamentals
Explain how a study is created based upon a description
of the business decision involved.
Describe the role of theory and science in business
research.
Describe the three basic business research designs.
Explain the roles of exploratory and confirmatory
research.
Explain the roles of qualitative and quantitative research.
Provide a description of basic qualitative research
techniques.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
1
The Basic Research Process
Phase I – Formulation:
Decision Making
Process
•
Develop Theory
•
Research Questions
•
Hypotheses
•
Study Design
Phase III – Analytical
•
Analyze Data
Phase II – Execution
•
Draw Inferences
•
Design Data Collection Devices
•
Interpret Results
•
Collect Data
•
Acknowledge
•
Check for Errors
•
Code Data
•
Store Data
Limitations
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
2
THEORY AND SCIENCE
Theory – a set of
systematically related
statements, including some
law-like generalizations that
can be tested empirically.
Law-like generalizations are
expectations of what will
happen under specified
circumstances that allow
predictions of reality.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
3
The Role of Theory in Business Research
The Fuel for Research
 Theory offers explanations and predictions.
 Normative decision rules suggest what should be
done when faced with a situation described by a
theory, but there are many gaps in knowledge used
to develop normative decision rules.
Theory is Practical
 Narrows down things to be studied.
 “Law-like generalizations” provide hypotheses.
• Hypotheses based on theory determine what
must be measured.
 Theory-based versus intuition-based explanations.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
4
The Scientific Method
Theory
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
1.
Observation
2.
Discovery
3.
Develop Hypotheses
4.
Data Collection
5.
Analysis
6.
Conclusions
5
Problem Formulation
Determine the purpose of the research.
Understand and define the complete problem.
Identify and separate out measurable
symptoms to determine the root problem
versus easily observable symptoms.
Determine the unit of analysis = individuals,
households, businesses, objects, geographic
areas, etc., or some combination.
Determine the relevant variables, including
specifying independent and dependent
relationships, constructs, etc.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
6
Law-Like Generalizations
Research Question – states a
general proposition.
Is gender related to job
outcomes?
Hypothesis – formal, specific
statement of some
unproven supposition that
tentatively explains certain
facts or phenomena.
Female service employees
report higher job
satisfaction than male
service employees.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
7
Research Questions Lead to Hypotheses
Research Question
A Corresponding Hypothesis
•
Does advertising influence sales?
•
Advertising is related positively to
sales.
•
Is sales territory size related to •
customer service ratings?
Sales territory size is related
negatively to customer service
ratings.
•
Do flexible schedules
increased labor efficiency?
create •
Business units using flex-time
have lower unit labor costs than do
those using standard schedule
procedures.
•
Does package color affect product •
quality ratings?
Consumers rate products with blue
packages as higher in quality than
products in orange packages.
•
Is geographic region related to •
beverage consumption?
Southerners drink more beer per
capita than do people from the
north.
Is an employee’s gender related to •
satisfaction?
Hair, job
Babin,
Money & Samouel, Essentials
Female employees report higher
job satisfaction than do male
8
employees with the same job.
•
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
Rigor of Science
1. Data represent facts about
hypothesized variables.
2. Data are analyzed to determine
consistency with prediction.
3. If data and prediction are consistent –
hypothesis is supported.
4. If data and prediction are inconsistent
– hypothesis is not supported.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
9
“Good” Science is . . . .
Empirical
Replicable
Analytical
Theory Driven
Logical
Rigorous
FLAT OR
ROUND
?
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
10
PARSIMONY
Parsimonious research – means
applying the simplest approach
that will address the research
questions satisfactorily.
Complex
Pragmatic
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
11
Types of Research Designs
Exploratory
Descriptive
Causal
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
12
Research Design Objectives
1. Exploratory – to formulate the problem,
develop hypotheses, develop constructs,
establish priorities for research, refine ideas,
clarify concepts, etc.
2. Descriptive – to describe characteristics of
certain groups, estimate the proportion of
people in a population who behave in a given
way, and to make directional predictions.
3. Causal – to provide evidence of the
relationships between variables, the
sequence in which events occur, and/or to
eliminate other possible explanations.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
13
Exploratory Research Designs
1 of 3
Exploratory research is useful
when:
• Decision maker has little
information.
• Research questions are vague.
• Decision making is in
discovery phase.
Basic
Business
Research
Designs
Literature reviews
Unstructured Interviews
Depth interviews
Focus groups
Delphi technique
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
Projective techniques
14
Descriptive Research Designs
Descriptive research describes a situation:
• Structured interviews are often used.
• Studies are:
• Cross-Sectional – provide user with a
snapshot at a given point in time.
‫ ٭‬example: sample surveys
• Longitudinal – describe events over time.
‫ ٭‬example: panel data
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
15
Causal Research Designs
Causal research tests whether or not some event
causes another:
• Experiments are used to test for a causal
relationship.
• A causal relationship means a change in X
(the cause) makes a change in Y (the effect)
occur.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
16
Causal Designs
Does one thing cause another? In
testing cause and effect relationships
researchers look for four conditions:
1.
Time Sequence
2.
Covariance
3.
Nonspurious Association
4.
Theoretical Support
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
17
Experiments
Potential causes are “controlled” by using
experimental designs and manipulation:
Manipulation – the causal variable is altered
over different conditions.
• Lab experiment – manipulation takes
place in artificial setting.
‫ ٭‬maximizes control.
• Field experiment – manipulation takes
place in the relevant business context.
‫ ٭‬increases representativeness.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
18
Comparing Field & Lab Experiments
Goal/Benefit/Outcome
•Best Experimental
Approach
Comment
•Maximize Internal Validity
•Lab Experiment
•Researcher
has
maximum
control of external influences.
•Maximize External Validity
•Field Experiment
•The natural setting is more
realistic but subject to influences
that cannot be controlled.
•Most ‘Believable’ Results
•Field Experiment
•Study seems less contrived.
•Costs the Most
•Field Experiment
•Implementation in the field is
more difficult than implementation
in a lab. The scale of the project
is larger.
•More Flexible Design
•Field Experiment
•Changes can be made as the
study progresses.
•Relatively Timely (can be
carried out in a shorter period of
time)
•Lab Experiment
•Implementation in the lab is
usually a small-scale project.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
19
Experimental Designs
Between Subjects Designs
• Every “subject” receives one level of
experimental treatment.
Within Subjects Designs
• Every “subject” receives multiple levels of
experimental treatments.
• More prone to demand effects = things that
allow subjects to guess the hypothesis.
Factorial Designs
• Two or more experimental treatments
controlled at the same time.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
20
Between and Within Subjects Treatment Assignments
“Between Subjects”
Manipulation:
Treatment 1
Level A
Level A
“Within Subjects”
Level B
Level A
Level B
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
21
Exploratory and Confirmatory Research Purposes
Exploratory research seeks to:
 Discover issues.
 Generate ideas.
 Develop research hypotheses.
Confirmatory research seeks to:
 Test specific hypotheses.
Both types of research require
data.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
22
Data
Data = information recorded to represent
facts:
 Objective Data – data that is independent of
any single person’s opinion.
 Subjective Data – two types:
• Data that are an individual’s opinion.
• Researcher dependent data.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
23
More on Data
Primary Data - collected for the purpose of
completing the current research project.
Secondary Data – collected for some
other research purpose.
 Saves money and time
 Does it fit the purpose?
 Is it of high quality?
ciber.bus.msu.edu/ginlist
www.standardandpoors.com
www.census.gov
www.usadata.com
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
24
Still More on Data
Qualitative Data = descriptions of things made
without assigning numbers.
 result from unstructured interviews –
researcher interpretations needed.
Quantitative Data = measurements in which
numbers are used directly to represent properties
of things.
 ready for statistical analysis.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
25
Qualitative Research
Searches academic & trade/professional
literature.
Discovers and identifies ideas, thoughts,
feelings, etc.
Exploratory research design.
Uses open-ended, unstructured, probing
questions in interviews and focus groups and
generates qualitative data.
Provides preliminary insights and
understanding.
Limited ability to generalize findings, typically
because samples are small and non-random.
Improves conceptualization.
Facilitates drafting questionnaires.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
26
Quantitative Research
Validates facts, estimates, relationships,
predictions, etc.
Descriptive and causal designs.
Mostly structured questions.
Larger samples.
Ability to generalize is good with proper
sampling design.
Uses quantitative data.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
27
Comparing Qualitative and Quantitative Data
Description
• Purpose:
• Properties:
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
• More useful for testing.
• More useful for discovering.
• Provides summary information
on many characteristics.
• Provides in-depth (deeper
understanding) information on
a few characteristics.
• Useful in tracking trends.
• Discovering ‘hidden’ motivations
and values.
• More structured collection
techniques and objective
ratings.
• More unstructured collection
techniques requiring a subjective
interpretation.
• High concern for
representativeness.
• Little concern for
representativeness.
• Relatively short interviews
(1 to 20 minutes).
• Relatively long interviews
(1/2 to many hours).
• Interviewer is passive.
• Interviewer is active and should
be highly skilled.
• Large samples (over 50).
• Small samples (1-50).
• Results objective.
• Results subjective.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
28
Summary
Introduced the basic business process.
Described the role of theory and science in
business research.
Described the three basic research designs.
Discussed exploratory versus confirmatory
research.
Compared and contrasted qualitative and
quantitative research and data.
Hair, Babin, Money & Samouel, Essentials
of Business Research, Wiley, 2003.
29