Research Methodology

Sunil Kumar
July 2016

What is Research?
Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current
English lays down the meaning of research as
a careful investigation or inquiry specially
through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.
Redman and Mory define research as
systematized effort to gain new knowledge
Some people consider research as a
movement, a movement from the known to
the unknown.
2

Applicability in Businesses
Various business disciplines engage in business
research
Marketing: How to promote sales of a particular
product?
Finance: How can an investor find good stocks to
invest in? How can a company find cheap ways of
raising funds in the current market environment?
HR/Personnel: What kind of training is necessary for
employees? How can we retain our workforce better
when there are plenty of options in the market?
Operations: What is the reliability of a new process?
How to estimate the ramp up?
3

Characteristics of Research

Research is a systematic and critical investigation into a

phenomenon
It is a purposive investigation; it aims at describing,
interpreting and explaining a phenomenon
It adopts scientific method
It is objective and logical, applying possible tests to
validate the measuring tools and the conclusions reached.
It is based on observable experience or empirical
evidence
It is directed towards finding answers to pertinent
questions and solutions to problems
It emphasizes the development of generalization,
principles or theories.

Meaning of systematic
research
First, Literally re-search means search
again It denotes a patient study
wherein the researcher takes another
more careful look at the data generated
by research to discover all that he wants
to know about the subject.
Second, systematic means the data is
collected and analyzed in an organized
manner to attain the highest degree of
accuracy. i.e., the data is not intuitive or
haphazardly gathered;

Research Methodology

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve

the research problem
It is a science of studying how research can be done
scientifically
It includes both research methods and how to apply
research techniques
Research methodology implies not only the research
methods but also considers the logic behind the methods
we use in the context of our research study and explain
why we are using a particular method or technique any
why we are not using others so that research results are
capable of being evaluated either by the researcher
himself or others.
Eg. Why personal interview method was preferred
over mail questionnaire time constraint, smaller
sample, higher response rate.

What research comprises?

According to Clifford Woody research
comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypothesis or
suggested solutions; collecting,
organizing and evaluating data;
making deductions and reaching
conclusions; and at last carefully
testing the conclusions to determine
whether they fit the formulating
hypothesis.

Objectives of Research
The main aim of research is to find out the
truth which is hidden and which has not been
discovered as yet. The following are the
research objectives in to a number of broad
groupings:
To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to
achieve new insights into it, (exploratory or
formulative research studies).
To portray accurately the characteristics of
a particular individual, situation or a group
(descriptive research studies).
8

Objectives of Research cont.

To determine the frequency with
which something occurs or with
which it is associated with something
else (diagnostic research studies),
To test a hypothesis of a causal
relationship between variables
(hypothesis-testing research studies).

Motivation in Research
What makes people to undertake
research?
Possible motives for doing research may
be either one or more of the following:
Desire to get a research degree along
with its consequential benefits;
Desire to face the challenge in solving
the unsolved problems, i.e. concern over
practical problems initiates research;
10

Motivation in Research cont.

Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some
creative work;
Desire to be of service to society;
Desire to get respectability.
Many more factors such as directives of
government, employment conditions,
curiosity about new things, desire to
understand causal relationships, social
thinking and awakening, and the like may as
well motivate ( or at times compel) people
to perform research operations.
11

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making?
Identifying
Problems/Opportunities: Business
research is used to identify problems
or opportunities facing a firm
Example: A construction firm
(hypothetical) in Bangalore (Bangalore
Builders Inc.) relies on local labour from
neighbouring areas such as Anekal. A
manager looking after the availability of
labour finds out that during the last few
months it is getting difficult to attract 12

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making? (cont.)
Diagnosing
Problem/Opportunities: Business
Research is used to diagnose the
identified problem to get at the
cause of the issue
Example: The manager in the
construction firm finds out that due to a
program called National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA),
rural labourers are finding new work in
their villages that pay them more than 13

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making? (cont.)
Find Strategies to mitigate the
problem/Take advantage of
opportunities: A course of action
should be selected and implemented
to take care of the problem.

14

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making? (cont.)
Example: Continuing with our example,
the construction firm now collects
information on the amount paid to rural
workers from the NREGA program.
It determines that due to NREGA, the
workers are now better paid, and
therefore, cannot be retained at earlier
levels of wages.
It proposes an increment in wages.
15

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making? (cont.)
Evaluating a Course of Action:
Assess the strategy implemented
through analysis of data.
This could be done on a continuous
basis, in which case, this is called
performance-monitoring.

16

How can Research Assist Managerial

Decision Making? (cont.)
Example: Continuing with our earlier
example, the construction company now
wants to see if they have been able to
attract a labour force which has low
turnover.
It collects data to analyze this.
It finds that during the last 3 months, the
wage increment has resulted in a much
more stable labour force.
17

When to do Business Research?

Research is a resource consuming
activity
Therefore, the conduct of a research
must be justified through evaluating
its possibility, and potential benefits
and costs.
In particular, certain things need to
be kept in mind
18

When to do Business Research?

(cont.)
Time Constraints: If a decision
needs to be made immediately, and
the necessary research is time
consuming, management may
decide to not conduct any research.
While not ideal, sometimes this may
be the only course of action.

19

When to do Business Research?

(cont.)
Availability of Data: Of course, an empirical
analysis is subject to availability of data.
If there is a need for a research, but the data
for that particular line of research is just not
available, this might necessitate data
collection on the part of the researcher.
Sometimes logistical issues may even preclude
that possibility.
Example: Collection of data on demographic
characteristics of a war-torn nation may not be
possible due to very risky nature of the job.
20

When to do Business Research?

(cont.)
Benefits versus Costs: Even when
data were available, no research if the
costs of a particular line of research
outweighs the benefits accruing.
This situation could arise in many
situations, particularly when
collection of data is too costly, or
when the added information does not add
much value.
21

When to do Business Research?

(cont.)
Nature of Decisions: This is similar in
nature to the cost and benefit: some
decisions do not require extensive
research.
This is the situation when already a lot is
known about a particular business
situation, and conducting further
business research does not add much
value, but takes valuable resources away.
22

Lecture 2
Research Process

Information Set for Decision Making

Normally, decision making is done
under different types of information
sets
Complete Certainty: In these situations
The problem is well defined
The information to be collected is easily
available
The analysis design is also well known
Might not even need much research
24

Information Sets for Decision

Making
Uncertainty:
In this case, the problem is well defined
(objective of manager is well known)
Decision making has impact in the
future, so the outcome is unknown at
the time of decision making
Data collection may need additional
effort, and the analyses are frequently
more complex
25

Information Sets for Decision

Making
Ambiguity:
The problem itself is not very well
defined
Research needs to be conducted to
formulate the problem itself
This type of research carry high reward,
as clarity of objective needs to be
established before research could be
pursued
Mostly, exploratory research is
26
employed in these situations

Research Process
Research process consists of series of actions or steps necessary to effectively carry out
research and the desired sequencing of these steps. The chart given below well illustrates a
research process:
Research process in flow chart
FF
FF

Review the literature

Define
research
problem

Review
concepts
and
theories

Formulate
hypothesis

Review
previews
research
finding

Design
researc
h
(includi
ng
sample
design)

Collect
data
(execut
ion)

IV

Analysis
(Test
hypothesi
s if any)

Interpr
et and
report

VI

VII
II

where

FF

III

= feed back (helps in controlling the sub-system to which it is transmitted).

= feed forward (serves the vital function of providing criteria for

evaluation).

Various Steps regarding the research process

I) Formulating the research problem

5 ways to formulate the research problem:
1) Specify the Research Objectives
A clear statement of objectives will help
you developeffective research.
It will help the decision makers evaluate
your project. Its critical that you have
manageable objectives. (Two or three
clear goals will help to keep your research
project focused and relevant.)
28

Specify the Research Objectives cont.

2) Review the Environment or Context of the
Research Problem
As a marketing researcher, you must work
closely with your team. This will help you
determine whether the findings of your
project will produce enough information to be
worth the cost.
In order to do this, you have to identify the
environmental variables that will affect the
research project.
29

Specify the Research Objectives

cont.
3. Explore the Nature of the Problem
Research problemsrange from simple to
complex, depending on the number of variables
and the nature of their relationship.
If you understand the nature of theproblem as a
researcher, you will be able to better develop a
solution for the problem.
To help you understand all dimensions, you might
want to consider focus groups of consumers,
sales people, managers, or professionals to
provide what is sometimes much needed insight.
30

Specify the Research Objectives

cont.
4. Define the Variable Relationships
Marketing plans often focus on creating a sequence of behaviors
that occur over time, as in the adoption of a new package design,
or the introduction of a new product.
Such programs create a commitment to follow some behavioral
pattern in the future.
Studying such a process involves:
Determining which variables affect the solution to the problem.
Determining the degree to which each variable can be controlled.
Determining the functional relationships between the variables
and which variables are critical to the solution of the problem.
During theproblem formulationstage, you will want to
generate and consider as many courses of action and variable
relationships as possible.
31

Specify the Research Objectives

cont.
5. The Consequences of Alternative Courses of
Action
There are always consequences to any course
of action. Anticipating and communicating the
possible outcomes of various courses of action
is a primary responsibility in the
research process.

32

Various Steps regarding the research

process cont.
II) Extensive literature survey
Once the problem is formulated, a brief summary of it
should be written down. At this juncture the researcher
should undertake extensive literature survey connected
with the problem. For this purpose, the abstracting and
indexing journals and published or unpublished
bibliographies are the first place to go to. Academic
journals, conference proceedings, government reports,
books etc., must be tapped depending on the nature of
the problems. In this process, it should be remembered
that one source will lead to another. The earlier studies, if
any, which are similar to the study in hand should be
carefully studied.
33

Various Steps regarding the research

process cont.
III) Development of working hypothesis
After extensive literature survey, researcher should state in clear
terms the working hypothesis or hypotheses.
How does one go about developing working hypotheses?
Discussions with colleagues and experts about the problem, its
origin and the objectives in seeking a solution;
Examination of data and records, if available, concerning the
problem for possible trends, peculiarities and other clues;
Review of similar studies in the area or of the studies on similar
problems; and
Exploratory personal investigation which involves original field
interviews on a limited scale with interested parties and
individuals with a view to secure greater insight into the
practical aspects of the problem.
34

RESEARCH DESIGN

35

PROCESS OF DESIGNING & CONDUCTING RESEARCH

What--What was studied?
What about--What aspects of
the subject were studied?
What for--What is/was the
significance of the study?
What did prior lit./research say?
What was done--How was the
study conducted?
What was found?
So what?
What now?

1. Introduction,
Research Problems/
Objectives, &
Justification

2. Literature Review

3. Methodology
(Research sample, data
collection, measurement,
data analysis)
4. Results & Discussion
5. Implications
6. Conclusions and
Recommendations for
36
Future Research

RESEARCH DESIGN
RESEARCH DESIGN refers to the plan, structure, and
strategy of research--the blueprint that will guide the
research process.
Intriguing Observation,
Intellectual Curiosity

Refinement of theory
(Inductive Reasoning)

More Careful Studying

of the Phenomenon

Defining Research
Problem & Objectives

THE PROCESS OF

Building the Theoretical

Framework and the
Research Model

EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Testing Hypo.:
Data Analysis &
Interpretation

Developing Research
Hypotheses

Data Coding,
And
Editing

Developing Operational
Definitions for
Research Variables

Data Collection

Sampling Design

37

Formulation of the research design:

process

Once the research questions formulated.

The conceptual design thus developed
requires and entails specifications of the
variables under study as well as approach to
the analysis.
This might in turn lead to a refining or
rephrasing of the defined research questions.
Formulation of the research design is not a
stagnant stage in the research process; rather
it is an ongoing backward and forward
integrated process by itself.
38

Formulation of the research design:

process
Example: Organic food study
Formulated research problem was:
To investigate the consumer decision-making process for organic food
products and to segment the market according to the basket size.
Based on extensive review of the literature, it was found that organic
consumption is not always a self driven choice; rather it could be the
seller who might influence the product choice.
Thus, once the design is selected and a proposed sampling plan is
developed; the next step is the constructs and the variables to be
studied must be operationalized.
o Significance of the psychographics of the individual the attitude,
interest and opinion which were extremely critical.
This led to the revision of the research problem as:
To investigate the consumer decision-making process for organic food
products and to segment the market existing and potential
according to their psychographic profile.
39

Classification of the research design

Research Design

Conclusive
Research Design

Exploratory
Research Design
Descriptive
Research
Cross Sectional
Design

Causal Research

Longitudinal
Design

40

Exploratory Research
Design
Basic objective is to explore and obtain clarity about the problem
situation.
The essential purpose of the study is to
Define and conceptualize the research problem to be investigated.
Explore and evaluate the diverse and multiple research
opportunities.
Assist in the development and formulation of the research
hypotheses.
Operationalize and define the variables and constructs under
study
Identify the possible nature of relationships that might exist
between the variables under study.
Explore the external factors and variables that might impact the
research.
41

Descriptive research
designs
More structured and formal in nature.
Objective of these studies is to
provide a comprehensive and
detailed explanation of the
phenomena under study.
Descriptive research is further
subdivided into two categories:
Cross-sectional studies
Longitudinal studies
42

Cross-sectional studies
Two essential characteristics of cross sectional
studies
Carried out at a single moment in time and
thus the applicability is most relevant for a
specific period.
Carried out on a section of respondents from
the population units under study (eg.
Organizational employees, voters, consumers,
industry sectors). This sample is under
consideration and under investigation only for
the time coordinate of the study.
43

 If population is not of a
homogeneous nature and there is a
divergence in the characteristics
under study, thus it become essential
to study the sub-segments
independently. This variation of the
design is termed as multiple crosssectional studies.
When the data is obtained from
different samples at different time
intervals, the study is known as the
Cohort analysis.
44

Longitudinal Studies
A single sample of the identified population that is
studied over a stretched period of time is termed as a
longitudinal study design. There are certain
distinguishing features of the same:
The study involves the selection of a representative
panel, or a group of individuals that typically
represent the population under study.
the repeated measurement of the group over fixed
intervals of time.
Once the sample is selected, it needs to stay
constant over the period of study. That means the
number of panel members has to be the same.
45

Experimental Designs (CAUSAL RESEARCH)

What is an Experiment?
An experiment deliberately imposes a
treatment on a group of objects or
subjects(units) in the interest of
observing the response.
Experiments are used to infer causality where
the researcher actively manipulates one or
more causal variables and measure their
effects on the dependent variable i.e. to
identifying the cause-and-effect relationship.
The objective of an experiment is to
measure the influence of the independent
variables on a dependent variable while

Necessary conditions for inferring causality

1. Concomitant variation: It is the extent to which
a cause X and effect Y occur together or vary
together. Eg:
a strong association between the training
programme of salesmen and their increased
sales.
2. Time order of occurrence of variables: The
causal
variable must occur prior to or simultaneously
with the
effect variable .Eg :Sales training program
must be before or simultaneously with the

 Concepts in Experiments:
Independent variables: they are also known as
explanatory variables or treatments.
Test Units: Test units are those entities on which
treatments are applied.
Dependent variables: These variables measures the
effect of treatments(independent variables) on the test
units.
Experiment: An experiment is executed when the
researcher manipulates one or more independent
variables and measures their effect on the dependent
variables while controlling the effect of the extraneous
variables.
Extraneous variables: These are the variables other
than the independent variables which influence the
response of test units to treatments.

They are of two types.

Controllable extraneous variable
This is under the physical control of the
researcher. Eg Price of a product under
experiment
Uncontrollable extraneous variable
This may be factors in the macro environment
not in the control of the researcher. Eg. economic
condition of the market, competition, govt.
policies etc.,