MANAGERIAL VALUE OF BUSINESS RESEARCH

The prime managerial value of business research is that it reduces

uncertainty by providing information that facilitates decision making
about strategies and the tactics used to achieve an organizations
strategic goals. The decision-making process involves three interrelated
stages.
A.
Identifying the existence of problems and opportunities. Before any
strategy can be developed; an organization must determine where it
wants to go and how it will get there. Business research can help
managers plan strategies by determining the nature of situations by
identifying the existence of problems or opportunities present in the
organization.
B.
Diagnosis and Assessment. After an organization recognizes a problem
or identifies a potential opportunity, an important aspect of business
research is often the provision of diagnostic information that clarifies
the situation. Managers need to gain insight about the underlying
factors causing the situation. If there is a problem they need to specify
what happened and why. If an opportunity exists they may need to
explore, clarify, and refine the nature of the opportunity.
C.
Selecting and implementing a course of action. Business research is
often conducted to obtain specific information to help evaluate the
various alternatives, and to select the best course of action based on
certain performance criteria.
D.
Evaluation of the course of action. Evaluation research is conducted to
inform managers whether planned activities were properly executed
and whether they accomplished what they were expected to do. It
serves an evaluation and control function. Evaluation research is a
formal, objective appraisal that provides information about objectives
and whether the planned activities accomplished what they were
expected to accomplish. This can be done through
performance-monitoring research, which is a form of research that
regularly provides
feedback for evaluation and control of business activity. If this research
indicates things are not going as planned, further research may be
required to explain why something ³went wrong. ´

Definition of hypothesis
1. A supposition or explanation (theory) that is provisionally accepted in
order to interpret certain events or phenomena, and to provide
guidance for further investigation. A hypothesis may be proven correct
or wrong and must be capable of refutation. If it remains unrefuted by
facts, it is said to be verified or corroborated.
2. Statistics: An assumption about certain characteristics of a
population. If it specifies values for every parameter of a population, it
is called a simple hypothesis; if not, a composite hypothesis. If it
attempts to nullify the difference between two sample means (by
suggesting that the difference is of no statistical significance), it is called
a null hypothesis.
Problem Definition
Before the research of business issues/problems commences, it’s
important to create a problem definition and decision statement.
During problem definition, you engage in defining and developing a
decision statement. A decision statement expresses the critical
question or questions the research must answer. The problem
definition process involves various steps, such as understanding the
business issue and its key elements; identifying the problems caused by
the issue; writing the decision statement; determining the unit of
analysis and research variables; and writing the research questions or
hypotheses.
What is a research proposal?
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your
proposed research. It sets out the central issues or questions that you
intend to address. It outlines the general area of study within which
your research falls, referring to the current state of knowledge and any
recent debates on the topic. It also demonstrates the originality of your
proposed research.
The proposal is the most important document that you submit as part
of the application process. It gives you an opportunity to demonstrate
that you have the aptitude for graduate level research, for example, by
demonstrating that you have the ability to communicate complex ideas
clearly, concisely and critically. The proposal also helps us to match
your research interest with an appropriate supervisor.

What is the Purpose of Research Proposal?

The research proposal is a document covering the area of study and
that the research design is feasible. The proposal should include an
outline of the research objectives or hypothesis. And a brief account of
prior research in the topic area. Some detail of the proposed research
design and methods will be included in a research proposal. It should
need a proper time schedule. A research proposal should include an
outline of chapter headings. Means, introduction, literature review,
description of methodology research results, analysis, summary &
conclusions etc.
For writing a research proposal, you have to pin down exactly what it is
you plan to do. Begin to read the key texts/papers on the subject to get
more idea. Determine whether your ideas are practical/achievable and
if yes, you can select it. Think about planning and time management to
complete the research paper at the earliest.
For writing a research proposal, it needs a correct format and style. It
needs a particular format and structure and it needs to number all the
pages. Usually the research proposal structure is;
 *Title
 *Abstract
 *Introduction/Background
 *Problem Statement
 *Purpose/Aims/Rationale/Research Questions
 *Review of Literature
* Methodology
 *Significance/ Implications
 *Overview of Chapters
 *Plan of Work
 *Bibliography
The purpose of research proposal:
The purpose of research proposal is to give a basic idea to your
instructor about your research paper. But a proposal is not merely a
mini research paper. It should have a specific and narrow topic. The
topic should be interesting and original. Generally, the thesis statement
is in one or two sentences. The one-sentence thesis statement should
state the topic and the stance that you will take on that topic. It must
be argumentative. The part of the introduction of your research
explains the purpose for your study. It describes the goals and
objectives in your research proposal. Usually it is defined in terms of a
goal(s), the expected final product, result, or application of the
investigation process. It defines specific tasks through listing objectives
necessary to achieve that goal.
Types of Proposals
A proposal is a request for support of sponsored research, training or
other creative activity submitted in accordance with the funding
sponsor's instructions. Common proposal types include:
Pre-Proposal, Preliminary Proposal or White Paper:
This type of proposal is requested when a sponsor wishes to minimize
an applicant’s effort in preparing a full proposal. They are usually in the
form of a letter of intent or a brief abstract of what the PI plans to do,
how the PI will conduct the project and why this project has merit. A
pre-proposal establishes a foundation for discussion; it does not
commit the PI or the University to anything. However, since these
proposals often do become the basis for negotiation for funding, if a
budget is included in the submission, Proposal Services will route it for
the appropriate University signatures. When requested by the sponsor,
the pre-proposal may be used to determine how well the project fits
the agency’s priorities. Also, the preliminary proposal may determine
selection for the next stage of the application, help in the selection of
possible reviewers and possibly offer a chance for feedback to the PI.
After the preproposal is reviewed, the sponsor notifies the investigator
if a full proposal is warranted.
Formal Proposal:
Although the prescribed format of any of these proposals will vary, all
should be prepared in the same general manner. A formal proposal
normally fits into one of the following categories:
(i)Unsolicited Proposal. This type of proposal is submitted to a sponsor
that generally has not issued a specific solicitation but is believed by the
investigator to have an interest in the subject. The unsolicited proposal
is developed around general agency guidelines, within a specific subject
field, where the scope of the project is not limited by specific
solicitation guidelines. Unsolicited proposal may be submitted anytime,
although there may be target submission dates set to meet particular
review panel meetings.
(ii)Solicited Proposal. (Response to a specific program.) This category
can include Broad Agency Announcements (BAA), Requests for
Proposal (RFP) and Requests for Quotation (RFQ). A proposal
submitted to a specific program should conform to the solicitation
guidelines issued by the agency. Proposals submitted in response to a
BAA are usually accepted at any time during a specified time frame,
which may be as long as 2 or 3 years. To respond to an RFP or RFQ, the
proposed project would have to fit the needs described in the specific
work statement developed by the funding agency. A RFP or RFQ is
usually specific in its requirements regarding format and technical
content and may stipulate certain award terms and conditions. They
usually have a “hard” deadline; if the proposal arrives late, it normally
will not be considered. Also, most are one-time solicitations to fit a
specific need that is not expected to recur.
Continuation or Non-Competing Proposals. – This is a request for
financial assistance for a second or subsequent budget period within a
previously approved project period. This type of proposal confirms the
original proposal and funding requirements of the multi-year project.
Continued support is usually contingent on satisfactory work progress,
as verified in a required report, and the availability of funds.
Renewal or Competing Proposals. These types of proposals are
requests for continued support for an existing project that is about to
terminate, and, from the sponsor’s viewpoint, generally have the same
status as an unsolicited proposal. Competing continuation proposals
compete with other competing continuation, competing supplemental,
and new proposals for funds.
Supplemental Proposal. A supplemental proposal is a request for an
increase in support during a current budget period for expansion of the
project's scope or research protocol or to meet increased
administrative costs unforeseen at the time of the new, non-competing
continuation, or competing continuation application.

Unit 2
Exploratory research
Investigation into a problem or situation which provides insights to the
researcher. The research is meant to provide details where a small
amount of information exists. It may use a variety of methods such as
trial studies, interviews, group discussions, experiments, or other
tactics for the purpose of gaining information.
Conclusive Research
Conclusive research design, as the name implies, is applied to generate
findings that are practically useful in reaching conclusions or decision-
making. In this type of studies research objectives and data
requirements need to be clearly defined. Findings of conclusive studies
usually have specific uses. Conclusive research design provides a way to
verify and quantify findings of exploratory studies.
Conclusive research design usually involves the application of
quantitative methods of data collection and data analysis. Moreover,
conclusive studies tend to be deductive in nature and research
objectives in these types of studies are achieved via testing hypotheses.
The table below illustrates the main differences between conclusive
and exploratory research design:

Factor Conclusive Exploratory

To test hypothesis and To get insights and

Objectives relationships understanding

Information needs are loosely

Information needs a clearly
defined Research process is
formal and structured
Large representative sample
Characteristics Data analysis is quantitative
defined
Research process is
unstructured and flexible
Small, non-representative
sample
Primary data analysis is
qualitative
 Findings Conclusive Only tentative

Generally followed by further

Findings used as input to exploratory conclusive
Outcome decision making research

Descriptive research
Descriptive research is used to describe characteristics of a population
or phenomenon being studied. It does not answer questions about
how/when/why the characteristics occurred. Rather it addresses the
"what" question (what are the characteristics of Minnesota state
population or situation being studied?) [1] The characteristics used to
describe the situation or population are usually some kind of
categorical scheme also known as descriptive categories. For example,
the periodic table categorizes the elements.

Definition of Cross-Sectional Research

If you wanted to know if the percentage of women diagnosed with
breast cancer increases with age, how would you go about answering
this question? One way you could find the answer is to look at three
groups of women who are similar but of different ages. Let's say your
three age groups are 20-35 years, 36-50 years, and 51-65 years. You can
then calculate the percentage of women in each group that have been
diagnosed with breast cancer. This information can then be used to
answer your question.
This is an example of cross-sectional research. Cross-sectional research
involves using different groups of people who differ in the variable of
interest but share other characteristics, such as socioeconomic status,
educational background, and ethnicity.
In the example above, the variable of interest was age because you
wanted to see if any changes were noticed in groups of different ages.
By looking at similar women in different age groups, you can assume
that any differences between groups can be attributed to age
difference rather than another factor.
longitudinal design
A longitudinal design is a research study where a sample of the
population is studied at intervals to examine the effects of
development. In a longitudinal design, you have a group of people and
you study something about them. Then you collect their contact
information. After a set amount of time - be it weeks, months or years -
the participants are called and asked to return.
Tests are re-administered to see what changes are in the participants.
Let's look at some examples, and then we will discuss some benefits
and issues with this type of design.
Basis for
Exploratory Research Descriptive Research
Comparison

Meaning Exploratory research Descriptive research is a

means a research research that explore and
conducted for formulating explain an individual,
a problem for more clear group or a situation.
investigation.

Objective Discovery of ideas and Describe characteristics

thoughts. and functions.

Overall Flexible Rigid

Design

Research Unstructured Structured

process

Sampling Non-probability sampling Probability sampling

Statistical No pre-planned design for Pre-planned design for

Design analysis. analysis.

Unit 3
Sample design
A sample design is made up of two elements. Sampling method.
Sampling method refers to the rules and procedures by which some
elements of the population are included in the sample. Some common
sampling methods are simple random sampling, stratified sampling,
and cluster sampling.

Sampling Techniques and procedure

Various sampling techniques can be used depending on the type of
research to be conducted. The two major types of techniques are
probability sampling and nonprobability sampling.
Probability Sampling - any sampling procedure that specifies the
probability that each member of a population has of being selected.
Probability sampling techniques include:

Random Sampling - a group drawn from the population, with every

member of the population having an equal chance of being selected.
This is the most common and highly recommended technique.

Stratified Sampling - a group selected from a population that reflects

accurately certain segments of a population. In this type of sample,
certain segments or traits are identified as important to the research
and the sample selected is controlled to insure that those traits are
accurately represented.

Cluster Sampling - is used when certain groupings important to the

research are already established. This is frequently the case when
studying teaching techniques in classroom settings. Rather than the
sample of students being taught, the classes (groupings) of students
need to represent the larger population (i.e. all fourth grade classes).

Nonprobability Sampling - any sampling procedure that cannot specify

the probability that each member of a population has of being selected.
Nonprobability sampling is used when probability sampling is not
feasible. Nonprobability sampling techniques include: o Convenience
Sampling - a group of participants in a study are selected that happen
to be available. In educational research, convenient sampling is used
frequently by teachers who use their own classes for their research.
Findings from such research generally are limited to the population
studied and not extended to larger populations.

Judgmental Sampling - a researcher uses his or her judgment to select

a population that reflects an important aspect of the research (i.e. all
female valedictorians from the class of 1959 at the Bronx High School
Science). Judgmental sampling is generally more appropriate for
qualitative research than quantitative research.

Sample size determination

Sample size determination is the act of choosing the number of
observations or replicates to include in a statistical sample. The sample
size is an important feature of any empirical study in which the goal is
to make inferences about a population from a sample. In practice, the
sample size used in a study is determined based on the expense of data
collection, and the need to have sufficient statistical power. In
complicated studies there may be several different sample sizes
involved in the study: for example, in a stratified survey there would be
different sample sizes for each stratum. In a census, data are collected
on the entire population, hence the sample size is equal to the
population size. In experimental design, where a study may be divided
into different treatment groups, this may be different sample sizes for
each group.
Sample sizes may be chosen in several different ways:
experience – A choice of small sample sizes, though sometimes
necessary, can result in wide confidence intervals or risks of errors in
statistical hypothesis testing.
using a target variance for an estimate to be derived from the sample
eventually obtained, i.e. if a high precision is required (narrow
confidence interval) this translates to a low target variance of the
estimator.
using a target for the power of a statistical test to be applied once the
sample is collected.
using a confidence level, i.e. the larger the required confidence level,
the larger the sample size (given a constant precision requirement).
Issues in construction of questionnaire
Topics should fit the respondents' frame of reference, as their
background may affect their interpretation of the questions.
Respondents should have enough information or expertise to answer
the questions truthfully. Writing style should be conversational, yet
concise and accurate and appropriate to the target audience and
subject matter. The wording should be kept simple, without technical
or specialized vocabulary. Ambiguous words, equivocal sentence
structures and negatives may cause misunderstanding, possibly
invalidating questionnaire results. Double negatives should be
reworded as positives.
If a survey question actually contains more than one issue, the
researcher will not know which one the respondent is answering. Care
should be taken to ask one question at a time.
Questions and prepared responses (for multiple-choice) should be
neutral as to intended outcome. A biased question or questionnaire
encourages respondents to answer one way rather than another.[8]
Even questions without bias may leave respondents with expectations.
The order or grouping of questions is also relevant; early questions may
bias later questions. Loaded questions evoke emotional responses and
may skew results.
The list of prepared responses should be collectively exhaustive; one
solution is to use a final write-in category for "other ________". The
possible responses should also be mutually exclusive, without overlap.
Respondents should not find themselves in more than one category, for
example in both the "married" category and the "single" category (in
such a case there may be need for separate questions on marital status
and living situation).
Many people will not answer personal or intimate questions. For this
reason, questions about age, income, marital status, etc. are generally
placed at the end of the survey. This way, even if the respondent
refuses to answer these questions, he/she will have already answered
the research questions.
Presentation of the questions on the page (or computer screen) and
use of white space, colors, pictures, charts, or other graphics may affect
respondent's interest – or distract from the questions. Numbering of
questions may be helpful.
Questionnaires can be administered by research staff, by volunteers or
self-administered by the respondents. Clear, detailed instructions are
needed in either case, matching the needs of each audience.
Statistical techniques of data analysis
1. Mean
The arithmetic mean, more commonly known as “the average,” is the
sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of items on the list. The
mean is useful in determining the overall trend of a data set or
providing a rapid snapshot of your data. Another advantage of the
mean is that it’s very easy and quick to calculate.
Pitfall:
Taken alone, the mean is a dangerous tool. In some data sets, the mean
is also closely related to the mode and the median (two other
measurements near the average). However, in a data set with a high
number of outliers or a skewed distribution, the mean simply doesn’t
provide the accuracy you need for a nuanced decision.
2. Standard Deviation
The standard deviation, often represented with the Greek letter sigma,
is the measure of a spread of data around the mean. A high standard
deviation signifies that data is spread more widely from the mean,
where a low standard deviation signals that more data align with the
mean. In a portfolio of data analysis methods, the standard deviation is
useful for quickly determining dispersion of data points.
Pitfall:
Just like the mean, the standard deviation is deceptive if taken alone.
For example, if the data have a very strange pattern such as a non-
normal curve or a large amount of outliers, then the standard deviation
won’t give you all the information you need.
3. Regression
Regression models the relationships between dependent and
explanatory variables, which are usually charted on a scatterplot. The
regression line also designates whether those relationships are strong
or weak. Regression is commonly taught in high school or college
statistics courses with applications for science or business in
determining trends over time.
Pitfall:
Regression is not very nuanced. Sometimes, the outliers on a
scatterplot (and the reasons for them) matter significantly. For
example, an outlying data point may represent the input from your
most critical supplier or your highest selling product. The nature of a
regression line, however, tempts you to ignore these outliers. As an
illustration, examine a picture of Anscombe’s quartet, in which the data
sets have the exact same regression line but include widely different
data points.
4. Sample Size Determination
When measuring a large data set or population, like a workforce, you
don’t always need to collect information from every member of that
population – a sample does the job just as well. The trick is to
determine the right size for a sample to be accurate. Using proportion
and standard deviation methods, you are able to accurately determine
the right sample size you need to make your data collection statistically
significant.
Pitfall:
When studying a new, untested variable in a population, your
proportion equations might need to rely on certain assumptions.
However, these assumptions might be completely inaccurate. This error
is then passed along to your sample size determination and then onto
the rest of your statistical data analysis
5. Hypothesis Testing
Also commonly called t testing, hypothesis testing assesses if a certain
premise is actually true for your data set or population. In data analysis
and statistics, you consider the result of a hypothesis test statistically
significant if the results couldn’t have happened by random chance.
Hypothesis tests are used in everything from science and research to
business and economic