business research and process design

8/11/2019 Business Research and Process Design

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Business Research Process Design 1

Business Research

Process Design

C h a p t

e r 2



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Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this chapter, you will be ableto:

Understand the steps in conducting research

Understand the types of research

Learn the purposes and methods of conductingexploratory research

Learn about descriptive research and the types ofdescriptive research

Have a preliminary idea about causal researchEstablish a dierence between exploratory research,descriptive research, and causal research



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Introduction

Research is all about nding something, theabsence of which may distort our ability to taeinformed decisions !"woah et al#, $%%&'#

(he ability to tae an informed decision isgenerated through a systematic study that isconducted through various interrelated stages#

)ll the steps in a research are interrelated and noindependent activity is launched withoutconsidering the decisions on the previous stages#

*ne has to really understand that, from problemidentication to presentation of ndings, every stepis interlined and interrelated#



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Business Research Process Design

) research design is the detailed blueprint used toguide a research study towards its ob+ective#

) good research is conducted using 10 steps-# .roblem or opportunity identication$# /ecision maer and business researcher meeting to

discuss the problem and opportunity dimensions0# /ening the management problem and subse1uentlythe research problem

2# 3ormal research proposal and introducing thedimensions of the problem

4# )pproaches to research

5# 3ield wor and data collection6# /ata preparation and data entry7# .erforming data analysis&# 8nterpretation of result and presentation of ndings-%# 9anagement decision and its implementation#



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Figure 2.1: :usiness research process design



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Step 1: Proble or Opportunit! Identi"ication

(he process of business research starts with theproblem or opportunity identication.

)ctually, the management of the company identiesthe problem or opportunity in the organi;ation or in

the environment# (he management can identify thesymptoms or the eects of the problem, but tounderstand the reasons of the problems, asystematic research has to be adopted#

(his re1uired research should either be executed bya business research rm or a business researcher#



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(he decision maer contacts the business researchrm and then discusses the problem or opportunity

with the business researcher# (he researcher can only suggest solution to a

problem, but the actual decision is taen by thedecision maer#

Step 2: Decision #a$er and Business

Researcher #eeting to Discuss the Proble orOpportunit! Diensions



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(he management problem is concerned withthe decision maker and is action oriented innature# 3or example, the management problem

oers a psychological pricing to enhance the1uantum of sales# (his management problemfocuses on the symptoms#

esearch problem is somewhat informationoriented and focuses mainly on the causes and not

on the symptoms# (his is to determine theconsumer<s opinion on psychological pricing and toestimate their purchase behaviour for thepsychological price being oered#

Step %: De"ining the #anageent Proble and

Subse&uentl! the Research Proble



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"ow, the researcher prepares a formal proposal ofthe research and develops the approaches to theresearch problem# (he rst part is to develop a

theoretical model to 1uantify an attitude# 3or example, to estimate the =buying intentions> for

a particular product, rst, the researcher has toprepare a theoretical model to measure an attitudelie buying intentions#

Step ': (oral Research Proposal and

Introducing the Diensions to the Proble



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Figure 2.2 : (heoretical model to measure the buying intention



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(raing )!potheses

Hypothesis - =:rand image> has a signicant linerimpact on the buying intention#

Hypothesis $ =:rand awareness> has a signicantliner impact on the buying intention#

Hypothesis 0 =.rice> has a signicant liner impact

on the buying intention#

Hypothesis 2 =)vailability> has a signicant linerimpact on the buying intention#

Hypothesis 4 =)fter?sales services> has a signicantliner impact on the buying intention#



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(he researcher can also test the combined impactof these ve variables on the buying intention# (heproposed multiple regression model will be

!ypothesis ": )ll the ve factors in combinationhave a signicant linear impact on the buyingintention#



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Step *: +pproaches to Research

(he research approach is formulated is the nextstep#

8n the light of the =type of data,> 1uestions areframed and scientically placed in the1uestionnaire#

(his chapter is based on the research designformulation, @hapter 0 deals with measurement andscaling, @hapter 2 with the aspects of the1uestionnaire design in detail, and as a next step, asample si;e is determined and a sampling techni1ue

is selected in @hapter 4#



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,!pes o" Research

)ll researches can be broadly classied into threegroups exploratory research, descriptive research,and causal research#

(hese three methods dier in terms of dierent

aspects of conducting the research#



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Figure 2.#: @lassication of dierent types of research



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-.plorator! Research

)s the name indicates, exploratory research ismainly used to explore the insight of the generalresearch problem# (his is used for the followingpurposes

)# *btaining :acground 8nformation

:# Research .roblem 3ormulation or /ening it 9ore.recisely

@# 8dentifying and /ening the Aey Research Bariables

/# /eveloping Hypotheses



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Figure 2.$: (he rened theoretical model to measurethe buying intentions !obtaining inputs from

exploratory research'



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#ethods o" Conducting -.plorator!

Research



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Secondar! Data +nal!sis

(he secondary data are not only used for problemunderstanding and exploration but are also used todevelop an understanding about the researchndings#

@hapter 5 exclusively deals with this topic#



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-.pert Surve!

(o get the authentic information about the problem,the researchers sometimes consult the experts ofthe concerned eld# (hese experts provideauthentic and relevant information useful for theresearch, which otherwise is diCcult to obtain#



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(ocus /roup Intervie0s

(he focus group interview is a 1ualitative researchtechni1ue in which a trained moderator leads asmall group of participants to an unstructureddiscussion about the topic of interest#



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Depth Intervie0s

) depth interview is a probing between a highlysilled interviewer and a respondent from the targetpopulation to unfold the underlying opinions,motivations, emotions, or feelings of an individualrespondent on a topic generally coined by the

researcher#



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Case +nal!sis

) case study research method actually combinesthe record analysis and observations from individualand group interviews# (he case studies becomeparticularly useful when one needs to understandsome particular problem or situation in great depth

and when one can identify the cases rich ininformation#







Projective ,echni&ues

.ro+ective techni1ue is achieved by presenting therespondents with ambiguous verbal or visualstimulus materials, such as bubble cartoons, whichthey need to mae sense of by drawing from theirown experiences, thoughts, feelings, and

imagination before they can oer a response# 8n the eld of business research, the pro+ective

techni1ues are broadly classied as wordassociation, completion tas, construction tas, andexpressive tas#







Classi"ication o" Projective ,echni&ues

%ord &ssociation: Dord )ssociation Dordassociation provides a techni1ue that facilitates thestudy and shading of attitudes, which cannot beordinarily uncovered through standard interviewmethods#

8n the word association techni1ue, the respondentsare re1uired to respond to the presentation of anob+ect by indicating the rst word, image, or thoughtthat comes in his or her mind as a response to thatob+ect#

'ompletion (ask: 8n a completion task, therespondent is presented with an incompletesentence, story, argument, or conversation andased to complete it# 8n the eld of businessresearch, the two widely used completion tas

techni1ues are sentence?completion tas and story?com letion tas#







'onstruction (ask : @onstruction tas is related to the

completion tas techni1ue with a little dierence# 8n theconstruction task techni)ue, the respondent ispro*ided with less initial structure as compared withthe completion tas where the respondent is provided

with an initial structure, and then, he or she completesthe tas#

8n the eld of business research, third?person1uestioning and bubble drawing !cartoon testing' aretwo commonly used construction techni1ues#

+pressi*e (ask: 8n epressi*e task techni)ue, therespondents are asked to role-play, act, or paint aspecic !mostly desired by the researcher' concept orsituation# 8n the roleplaying techni1ue, the participant is

re1uired to act someone else<s behaviour in a particularsetting#

Classi"ication o" Projective ,echni&ues







Descriptive Research

)s evident from the name, descriptive research isconducted to describe the business or maretcharacteristics#

(he descriptive research mainly answers who, what,when, where, and how ind of 1uestions#

8t attempts to address who should be surveyed,what, at what time !pre? and post?type of study',from where !household, shopping mall, maret, andso on', and how this information should be obtained!method of data collection'#

8t can be further classied into cross-sectionalstudy and longitudinal study.







CrossSectional Stud!

'ross sectional research design involves thecollection of information from a sample of apopulation at only one point of time#

8n this study, various segments of the population aresampled so that the relationship among thevariables may be investigated by cross tabulation!imund, $%%6'#

Fample surveys are cross?sectional studies in whichthe samples happen to be a representative of thepopulation#

(he cross?sectional study generally involves largesamples from the populationG hence, they aresometimes referred as =sample surveys#>







Longitudinal Stud!

Longitudinal study involves survey of the samepopulation over a period of time#

(here is a well?dened dierence between a cross?sectional study and a longitudinal study#

8n a longitudinal study, the sample remains thesame over a period of time# 8n a cross?sectionaldesign, a representative sample taen from thepopulation is studied at only one point of time#







Causal Research

@ausal research is conducted to identify the cause?and?eect relationship between two or morebusiness !or decision' variables# 9any businessdecisions are based on the causal relationshipbetween the variables of interest#

)s discussed, the descriptive research is able toanswer who, what, when, where, and how ind of1uestions but not the why/ part of the 1uestion#

(he causal research is designed to address the whypart of the 1uestion#







(able 2.2 ) relative comparison of exploratory

research, descriptive research, and conclusive research







Step : (ield 3or$ and Data Collection

@hapter 5 is exclusively based on secondary datasources# (he researcher has to also decide whetherhe or she has to go for a survey or has to adopt theobservation methods and decide whether theresearch will be based on the eld data collection or

it will be a laboratory experiment# @hapter 6 is based on survey and observation

techni1ues, @hapter 7 introduces the variousdimensions of experimentation, and @hapter &focuses on eld wor and data preparation process#







Step 4: Data Preparation and Data -ntr!

)fter eld wor, the collected data are in rawformat#

:efore performing data analysis, it is important fora researcher to structure the data#

(here is a specic scientic procedure to deal withthe missing data and other problems related to thedata?collection process# @hapter & details all theseaspects of data preparation#







Step 5: Data +nal!sis

)fter feeding the data in the spreadsheet, dataanalysis is launched# 'hapters 10 to 1 presentvarious sophisticated statistical analytical techni1uesto execute the data analysis exercise# (hese includeunivariate statistical analysis, bivariate statistical

analysis, and multivariate statistical analysis#







Step 6: Interpretation o" Result and

Presentation o" (indings

8t has been already discussed that after applyingdata analysis techni1ues, a statistical result isobtained#

(here is need to interpret the result andpresent the non-statistical ndings derivedfrom the statistical result# ) meaningfulinterpretation of the result is a silful activity and isan important aspect of research#

(he researcher has to determine whether the resultof the study is in line with the existing literature#






Step 17: #anageent Decision and

Its Ipleentation

)s the last step of conducting a research programme,the ndings are conveyed to the decision maer afterconsultation with the research programmer#

(he decision maer analyses the ndings and taesan appropriate decision in the light of the statisticalndings presented by the researcher#

(his is not a formal part of the research process#Here, it is included as a step of the research process,

because it is the decision maer who will ultimatelytae the decision and is the managerial implication ofthe research programme#

business research and process design

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