Nile University of Nigeria

Department of Business Administration

MBA 801 Research Methodology

First Semester: 2018/2019

The Research Design

1. What is research design?

A research design is a plan that shows how research is to be conducted successfully to a

logical conclusion. In other words, it is an arrangement of conditions for the
methodological and methods relating to the collection and analysis of data in a manner
that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure.
Others view it as the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it
constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis As such, the design
is said to represent a compromise dictated by mainly practical considerations. As such the
design includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis and
its operational implications to the final analysis of data. A researcher should always keep
in mind on: what is the study about? why is the study being made? where will the study
be carried out? what type of data is required? where can the required data be found?
what periods of time will the study include? What will be the sampled design? ; what
techniques of data collection will be used?; how will the data be analysed?; and in what
style will the report be prepared?

2. How to Formulate a Research Design

The starting point in research design formulation is to determine the framework that
guides how research should be conducted based on people’s philosophies and
assumptions about the world and the nature of knowledge. In addition, a research design
must contain:

§ Clear statement of the research problem.

§ Clear objectives derived from the research ideas
§ Must identify the research questions

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§ Specify the sources and procedure you intend to collect data
§ The population to be studied and how sampling can be obtained
§ Techniques to be used in processing and analyzing data
§ Other critical issues relating the study (such as, the constraints faced by the researcher
- access to data, time, location, funds, etc.
§ Ethical issues or reliability of information.

3. Types of Research Designs:

There are several types of research designs, depending on the types of research and
scope of the research. Some of these include:

i. Exploratory Research: This type of research design is:

v Where the research is working in an uncharted or under-researched area.
v Where the purpose is to better understand some groups, events or phenomena
about which little or no previous research has been done.

Generally, researchers requires skills in terms of the ability to observe, collect

information, and construct explanation, as such should be conducted in the best
possible way. The research problem is unstructured unlike in the other types of
research.

ii. Descriptive research: In descriptive research the problem is structured and

often well understood. But the researcher need to understand how to design
the research to achieve the aim through the process of collecting required data
to answer the question set out, especially where the descriptive studies may
include more than one variable.
iii. Causal research: In this type of research design, the problems under scrutiny
are structured as well. However, the problem here is how to deal with the
cause-and-effect. In this instance, the design should aim in isolating the cause
(s), and tell to what extent the cause(s)’ results in effect(s). For example: If a
dealer has reduced the price of cars by 10%, and the sales increased by 20%,
is the price reduction the cause of the increased in sales?

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 iv. Cross-sectional design - In this the type of design, the cause and effects
variables are measured at the same time. For instance, where the cause is
advertisement reading; as a variable and the effect is purchase: as another
variable, they are both measured at the same time. This type of research
design is also referred to as correlational research design.
v. Time series design: – The time-series design is used when to establish a stable
baseline. In other words, observing and establishing the normal fluctuation of
the dependent variable over time, such as 5 to 10 years. Note that time series
design can take the form of interrupted, simple, reversal (ABA) or multiple
time series, as such a researcher needs to specify which the time series
adopted.
vi. Case study design: This involves two discrete dimensions:
• Single case v. multiple case;
• Holistic case v. embedded case.
A single case is often used where it represents a critical case or, alternatively, an
extreme or unique case. Conversely, a single case may be selected because it is
typical or because it provides an opportunity to observe and analyse a
phenomenon that few have considered before in a particular organisation for
which they work. A case study strategy can also incorporate multiple cases, that
is, more than one case. The rationale for using multiple cases focuses upon the
need to establish whether the findings of the first case occur in other cases and, as
a consequence, the need to generalise from these findings.

vii. Ex-post facto design: this is a retrospective study, which investigates a

phenomenon or issue that has occurred in the past. Such study most often
involves secondary data. The variables here will not be manipulated, but only
to report what has happened in the past.

It should be noted that, various research designs are also possible with different
research types, since a research design is only tentative in the sense that as the
study progresses, new facts, new ideas and new conditions may necessitate a
change in the original paradigm or strategy. For instance, the other research

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 designs may include:

4). Importance of Research Design

The importance of research design include:

§ To facilitate the smooth sailing of the various research operations, thereby

making research as efficient as possible.
§ It stands for advance planning of the methods to be adopted for data collection
and the techniques to be used in their analysis, keeping in view the objective of
the research and the availability of information, time and money.
§ It has a great bearing on the reliability of the results arrived at and as such
constitutes the firm foundation of the entire edifice of the research work.
§ It helps the researcher to organize his ideas in a form whereby it will be possible
for him to look for flaws and in adequacies.

5). Methodological or strategic research design

Although, research design have grown over the years as computer technology has
advanced our data analysis and ability to analyze complex models and as individuals
have articulated new procedures for conducting social science research, an overview
of research designs in social sciences is often associated with the methodological
choice of the research. These groupings can be discussed under the following:

I. Quantitative Design
The quantitative strategies include:
v Experimental studies: An experimental study is a methodology used in physical
sciences to investigate the relationship between variables, where the independent
variable is deliberately manipulated to observe the effect on dependent variable.
Experimental studies permit causal relationships to be identified. The aim is to
manipulate the independent variable (for example noise levels in factor
environment) in order to observe the effect on the dependent variable (for
example the productivity of factory workers). This nature of experiment is
conducted in a systematic way in a laboratory. In fact, this is referred to as

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 hypothesis-testing research. Similarly, a research in which an independent
variable is not manipulated is called ‘non-experimental hypothesis-testing
research

It is also essential to understand that, experiments can be of two types viz.,

absolute experiment and comparative experiment. For instance, an experiment to
determine the impact of a fertilizer on the yield of a crop is a case of absolute
experiment; but where an experiment is to determine the impact of one fertilizer
as compared to the impact of some other fertilizer, and then the experiment will
be termed as a comparative experiment. Often, we undertake comparative
experiments when we talk of designs of experiments. Once the experimental
design is determine, the next step is to determine the sample design in line with
the experimental design already established.

v Survey design: The survey strategy is usually associated with the deductive
approach. It is a popular and common strategy in business and management
research and is most frequently used to answer who, what, where, how much and
how many questions. It therefore tends to be used for exploratory and descriptive
research. Surveys are popular as they allow the collection of a large amount of
data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way. Often obtained by
using a questionnaire administered to a sample, these data are standardized,
allowing easy comparison. In addition, the survey strategy is perceived as
authoritative by people in general and is both comparatively easy to explain and
to understand. Every day a news bulletin or a newspaper reports the results of a
new survey that indicates, for example, that a certain percentage of the population
thinks or behaves in a particular way.

A survey design provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends,

attitudes, or opinions of a population. In other words, it seeks to gain an
understanding of a particular facet of a defined population. From sample results,
the researcher generalizes or draws inferences to the population. A survey

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 methodology is designed to collect primary or secondary data from a sample of
individuals through their responses to questions, with a view to analyzing them
statistically and generalizing the results to a population. Thus, population is a
body of people or objects under consideration for statistical purposes, and sample
is a subset of a population. Regardless of the researcher’s scope, survey research
owes its continuing popularity or strength due its versatility efficiency and
generalizability features.

Steps in survey design

The first parts of the section, the researcher can introduce readers to the basic
purpose and rationale for survey research. This requires the discussion by reviewing
the purpose of a survey and the rationale for its selection for the proposed study.

Second, identify the purpose of survey research by generalizing from a sample to a

population so that inferences can be made about some characteristic, attitude, or
behavior of this population.

Third, indicate why a survey is the preferred type of data collection procedure for the
study. In this rationale, consider the advantages of survey designs, such as the
economy of the design and the rapid turnaround in data collection.
Fourth, specify the form of data collection, such as: mail, telephone, using an
Internet survey and administering it online, personal interviews, group
administration or structured questionnaire.

Five, regardless of the form of data collection, provide a rationale for the procedure,
using arguments based on its strengths and weaknesses, costs, data availability, and
convenience.

Generally, purposes of surveys can be divided into three types: descriptive survey,
analytical or explanatory survey, and concepts forming, each has its purpose:

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 v Descriptive survey – the purpose of descriptive survey is to provide an accurate
representation of phenomena at one point in time or at various times. For
example, it is common to find questions that are concerned with fact finding,
often involving issues relating opinion polls, consumer research, or that require
demographic data as, in cases of identifying the proportion of respondents in
different age categories, salary levels, educational levels or wealth categories.
There is almost no limit to the range of variables of this sort that could be
addressed through a research surveys. Such questions could be said to have a
descriptive purpose.
v An analytical or explanatory survey – this is conducted to determine whether
there is a relationship between pairs of variables or multiple variables. Such
studies need the researcher to develop a theoretical framework from the literature
so as to identify the dependent and independent variables in the relationship.
v Concept-forming survey – However, there is a third category of questions that
can be described as having a concept-forming purpose. This is often identified
after scrutiny of the literature to identify themes. In this case, the survey
questionnaire is to be designed to characterize these themes with a view to
develop the concept.

A survey methodology can also be sued in an interpretive study. In this case, selecting
a sufficient large and unbiased sample for the survey is not necessary, because the
aim of the research is not to generalize to the population, but to gain insights from the
cases in the sample. These aspects need proper understanding by the researcher,
because of its suitability under a positivist paradigm. Once the survey design is
completed, the researcher needs to proceed to design for the collection of data
through: questionnaires (postal or internet questionnaires), interviews (telephone or
face-to-face).

v Cross-sectional studies: A cross-section study is a methodology used to investigate

variables or a group of subjects in different contexts over the same period of time. For
example, in the investigation of economic characteristics in large organizations or
people. Typically, the organizations would represent a range of industries, and the

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 research would look for similarities and differences between industries. In studies
focusing on people, employees working in different parts of an organization might be
selected to ascertain similarities and differences between groups. For instance, in the
investigation of the relationship between labour turnover and productivity. Cross-
section studies are conducted when there are time constraints or limited resources.
The data are collected once, but its difficulty is in determining the sample that is large
enough to be the representative of the population. More so, many researchers find it
difficult to explain why correlation exists or its influence to the phenomena under
study.
v Longitudinal studies: A longitudinal study is a methodology used to investigate
variables or group of subjects over a long period of time. Although, longitudinal
study is often associated with positivist cum quantitative methodology, it can also be
used under an interpretive paradigm and focus on qualitative data. The aim of
longitudinal study is to examine the dynamics of a research problem by investigating
the same variables or group of people several times (or continuously) over the period
in which the problem runs. This methodology is very time- consuming and expensive.
One of the techniques used in analyzing data collected in longitudinal study is time
series analysis.

II Qualitative Research Design

Qualitative research is associated with interpretivism and social constructivism
philosophical assumptions. There are many methodologies linked to qualitative
research studies, and these include: Hermeneutics, phenomenology, ethnography, case
study, grounded theory, Action research, Archival, participatory, and feminist/gender
and ethnicity research studies.
v Hermeneutics design: Hermeneutics is a methodology that focuses on the
interpretation and understanding of text in context of the underlying historical and
social forces. It assumes that a relationship exists between the direct conscious
description of experience and the underlying dynamics or structures. Although,
hermeneutics is not a widely used methodology in business research, it is still

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 important if it can be explored since it has the advantage of flexibility in classifying
methods and value creativity.

v Ethnography design: This is a methodology that is derived from anthropology -

about the study of people, their societies and customs in which the researcher uses
socially acquired and shared knowledge to understand the observed patterns of
human activity. Ethnography provides insights about a group of people and offers
us an opportunity to see and understand their world. A considerable number of
disciplines have used ethnography, and business is no exception. Today, it is found
to be one of the greatest qualitative research methodologies used in social sciences.
It uses direct observation and participation techniques in understanding and
interpretation of the phenomena. Despite the advantages, ethnography methodology
users are require to build trust with the society they intend to study, become more
involved while maintaining an analytical perspective, develop strong contact with
the stakeholders and be ready for field work, especially when it requires taking
notes, drawing diagrams, or physical layouts.

v Participatory enquiry design: This methodology involves the participants as fully as

possible in the study, which is conducted in their own group or organization. The
participants also determine the progress and direction of the research, thus enabling
the researcher to develop questions and answers as a shared experience with a group
as co-researchers. In other words, the methodology is all ‘about undertaking research
with people rather than on people’. The objective of the methodology is to produce
high quality data, but also to address the philosophical arguments and the democratic
rights of individuals to participate in a study.

v Action research design: This methodology is used in applied research to find an

effective way of bringing about a conscious change in a partly controlled
environment. The main aim of action research is to enter into a situation, attempt to
bring about change and to monitor the results. For example, study aimed to improve
communication between management and staff in a particular organization, planning

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 of change in social systems, and thus is a suitable research and consulting strategy.
The methodology is sometimes referred to as ‘action science’. This methodology is
widely in business management.

v Case study design: A case study is methodology that is used to explore a single
phenomenon (the case) in a natural setting using a variety of methods or techniques to
obtain in-depth knowledge. However, the characteristics of this type of design, is that,
it does not commence with a set of questions, and the aims is not only to explore
certain phenomena, but also to understand them within a particular context. These
characteristics are linked to interpretivist assumptions. However, if you are taking a
more positivist approach, which is allowed in case studies, you might need to develop
a theoretical framework and specific research questions. The advantage of case
studies research is; it uses multiple techniques (both quantitative and qualitative) for
collecting data, which may be both qualitative and quantitative in nature. There are
different types of case studies research:
- descriptive case studies, where the objective is to be restricted to describing current
practice.
- Illustrative case studies, where the research only attempt to illustrate new and
possible innovative practices as may be adopted by particular companies
- Experimental case studies –examine difficulties in implementing new procedures
and techniques in organizations
- Explanatory case studies, where existing theory is used to understand and explain
what is happening
- Many others, such as opportunist case study, etc.

v Grounded theory – Grounded theory is a qualitative or interpretive methodology in

which a systematic set of procedures is used to develop an inductively derived theory
about phenomena. Grounded theory was conceived by Glaser and Strauss in 1967 as a
reaction to the positivist’s assumptions. It starts with a theoretical framework,
establishing hypothesis and collection of data that can be tested through the
hypotheses. According to Glaser and Strauss, such an approach could lead to early

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 closure where the researchers only collect data relevant to their theories and ignore
data that could be useful for explaining what was happening. The overall features of
grounded theory include:
- an initial attempt to develop categories that illuminate the data
- an attempt to ‘saturate’ these categories with many appropriate cases in order to
demonstrate their importance
- developing these categories into more general analytic frameworks with relevance
outside the setting, and
- develop a substantive theory derived from data. The substantive theory can also
lead the development of a formal theory after validation.

The grounded theory analytical procedure follows the coding of the data through the
open, axial and selective coding principles.

v Archival research: The final strategy we wish to consider, archival research, makes
use of administrative records and documents as the principal source of data. Although
the term archival has historical connotations, it can refer to recent as well as historical
documents. It is important that an archival research strategy is not conflated with
secondary data analysis, even though all research that makes use of data contained in
administrative records is inevitably secondary data analysis.

An archival research strategy allows research questions, which focus upon the past and
changes over time to be answered, be they exploratory, descriptive or explanatory.
However, your ability to answer such questions will inevitably be constrained by the
nature of the administrative records and documents. Even where these records exist,
they may not contain the precise information needed to answer your research
question(s) or meet your objectives. Alternatively, data may be missing or you may be
refused access or your data censored for confidentiality reasons. Using an archival
research strategy therefore necessitates you establishing what data are available and
designing your research to make the most of it.

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v Feminist, gender and ethnicity studies: there are a number of different perspectives
on social stratification. Feminist studies are a methodology used to investigate and
seek understanding of phenomena from a feminist perspective of the role of women in
society vis - a -vis men, while gender studies are concerned with the experiences of
both men and women. On the other hand, ethnicity studies focus on the experiences of
different ethnic groups in society. At a methodological level, a feminist perspectives is
concerned with challenging ‘the traditional research paradigm from the point of view
of the politics and ideology of the women’s movement’. Generally, feminist
perspective can be used in the following three principles:
- knowledge is grounded in the experiences of women
- the research benefits women
- the researcher immerse herself or himself in or exhibits empathy for the world being
studied.

Even though adopting a feminist methodological design can present both theoretical
and practical problems, the methodology brings a new perspective in research and
offer insights and understanding of problems that might otherwise be unavailable.

III Mixed Methods:

This is the general term when both quantitative and qualitative data collection
techniques and analysis procedures are used in a research design. It can be used as
quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures either at

the same time (parallel) or, one after the other (sequential) but does not combine them.
This means that, although mixed method research uses both quantitative and qualitative
at the research methods stage, quantitative data are analyzed quantitatively and
qualitative data are analyzed qualitatively.

IV. Triangulation

Triangulation is the use of multiple sources of data, different methods, and or more than
one researcher to investigate the same phenomenon in a study. This can reduce bias in
data sources, methods and investigators. In addition, the use of different methods by a

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 number of researchers studying the same phenomenon should lead to greater validity
and reliability compared if only one method was used. A simple example of using
multiple sources of data might be to ask many people to describe an event in the market
place or on celebration day. By collecting all these separate impressions, the researcher
could get a much richer picture of the way the participants experience the events.
Generally, triangulation in research studies can be analyzed in four main forms or
types:

• Triangulation of theories – A theory is taken from one discipline and used to

explain a phenomenon in another discipline. For example, a cultural theory in
Psychology can be used to address a situational issue in business management or
accounting.
• Data triangulation – data are collected at different times from different sources in
the study of a phenomenon.
• Investigator triangulation – different researchers independently collect data on the
same phenomenon and compare the results.
• Methodological triangulation – more than one method is used to collect and or
analyze the data, but it is important to choose them from the same paradigm, for
example, exploratory interviews to identify key issues and provide insights into the
issues before conducting a questionnaire survey.

Many researchers considered using triangulation, but unless you are part of the research
team, it is difficult to achieve triangulation by investigator. Also, some of the limitations
of methodological triangulation are that replication is more difficult, particularly if the
qualitative data are generated and data collection and analysis become more time
consuming and expensive.

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