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Unit 1 Introduction
Meaning of Research
Research means to search or study about phenomenon.The word research is composed by ‘Re’ and ‘Search’ where ‘Re’
means repeatedly or again and again and ‘search’ means investigate or find.Thus,to search again and again is
research.Generally,research is an effort to search new fact,knowledge,principle in scientific way.
Definition of Research
Research is a systematic,careful inquiry or examination done to discover new information or relationships and to
expand,verify existing knowledge for some specific purpose.The specific purpose may be academic (i.e. a problem of
theory) or applied (i.e a problem or practice) or both.In fact,research is an art of scientific investigation.According to The
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of current English,research is “a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search
for new facts in any branch of knowledge.”Some people consider research as a movement from known to
unknown.According to Clifford woody research comprises defining and redefining problems; formulating hypothesis or
suggested solutions;collecting;organizing and reaching conclusions;and at last carefully testing the conclusions to
determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.Research refers to a critical, careful and exhaustive investigation or
inquiry or examination having its aim the revision of accepted conclusions, in the light of newly discovered facts.
Nature of Research
The nature of research conducted even in a common topic may vary considerably e.g. the research work
conducted to evaluate human development,history,religion,culture etc.is considered as social research.This type of
research is useful to examine human behavior,festivals,language,tradition etc.The research work based on development
activities made by human beings like buildings,ornaments,equipment etc.are considered as a part of social research or
business research.The research work related to examine the chemical changes,physical changes,analysis of atom and
molecules etc.is called scientific research. Thus, the research work in common topic may be employed on the basis of
available resources in different ways and consequently leads to different results.
In social and business research, because of dynamic nature of society,the results of research in same topic for a
particular period of time becomes false for other period due to the factors like education, employment, development in
transportation, communication etc.Science is based on real and verifiable conclusions. Therefore once verified results
remain same for other time too.The social and business research lack the valid conclusions. Hence it is necessary to
employ scientific methods of research in the same topic.
Objective of Research
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures.The
main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet.The objectives of
research are listed into following groups
1)To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insight into it (exploratory or formulative research study)
2)To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual,situation or a group (descriptive research study)
3)To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else
(diagonostic research study)
4)To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship between variables (hypothesis-testing research study)
Types of Research:
A research can be performed for two purposes,first one is to solve a currently existing problem and second is to
generate new knowledge in a particular area.These are termed as applied and theoretical(pure) research.Basically a
research is either theoretical or applied in nature.However types of research is categorized as following ;
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Types of Research

From the viewpoint of

Application Objectives Inquiry mode

Pure Applied Descriptive Exploratory Quantitative Qualitative

1)Appliedvs Fundamental:
Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business
organization,whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalizations and with the formulation of a
theory.Applied research is also known as action research and the generalization can not acquire a universal validity.The
applicability of findings to another class problem and another area is quite doubtful and may produce wrong and
unverifiable conclusions.On the other hand fundamental research,also called basic or theoretical research,is a search for
broad principle and synthesis without any immediate utilization of objective.
2)Descriptivevs Analytical:
Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding inquires of different kinds.The main purpose of descriptive
research is the description of the state of affaires as it exists at present.It is also termed as ex-post facto research in social
science and business research studies.In this research researcher has no control over the variable;he/she can only report
what has happened or what is happening.On the other hand , in analytical research,researcher has to use the facts or
informations already available and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the material.
3)Quantitativevs Qualitative
Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount.It is applicable to phenomena that can be
expressed in terms of quantity.Qualitativeresearch,on the other hand,is concerned with qualitative phenomenon
i.e.phenomenon relating to quality.Forinstance,when we are interested in investigating the reasons for human behaviour
we perform ‘Motativation Research’, an important type of qualitative research.This type of research aims at discovering
the underlying motives and desires,using in depth interviews for the purpose.
4)Conceptualvs Empirical
A conceptual research is related to some abstract ideas or theory.It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers
to develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.Empirical research relies on experiences or observation alone,often
without due regard for system and theory.It is data-based research,coming up with conclusions somethings which are
capable of being verified by observation or experiment.
5)Other types of Research
There are various other types of research.On the basis of time,one time research is confined to a single time
period and longitudional research is is carried out over several time periods.Research can be field-setting research or
laboratory research or simulation research,depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried out.Research may
be clinical or diagnostic.Such research follows case-study methods or indepth approaches to reach the basic casual
relations.Historical research is that which utilizes historical sources like documents to study events or ideas of the
past,including the philosophy of persons.
Characteristics /Features of Scientific Methods
The chief characteristics of a scientific methods are:

1)Verifiability
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The conclusions drawn through a scientific method is subjected to verification at any time.The proposition is that
the phenomenon under investigation must be capable of being observed and measured.Incase,direct observation could not
be done,other method such as interviews can be utilized for verification.
2)Generality
Laws derived through scientific method are universal in their application.They are not limited to individual
objects or individual groups of objects.The individual groups or objects are considered as specimen or instances,andthe
relations discovered through these individual groups should be applicable to whole group called universe.
3)Predictability
The results of scientific methods can be predicted with sufficient accuracy.For example , one can say with
certainty that if water is heated to 1000C, it will vaporize,and if it is cooled to 00C,it will turn to ice.Predictability depends
on one hand upon the nature of the phenomenon and on the other hand upon knowledge of various causative factors.
4)Objectivity
The results obtained through a scientific method should be free from investigator’s own views,wishes of prevalent
notions i.e.they must be subjected to objective observations.The main criterion or objectivity is that all persons should
arrive to the same conclusion about the phenomenon.Fore.g.,when we say coal is black,it is objective statement because
coal will appear black to all people.But when we say coal is useful mineral,the statement may not be objective,for every
one may not agree to the statement.
5)System
In every scientific study,there is an accepted mode of investigation.The result arrive by means of a haphazard
method,eventrue,cannot be called scientific because its accuracy is purely accidential.
Process of Research
The process of research starts with some form of a problem or a question.Afterthen,on the basis of the study, a
hypothesis or a series of hypothesis are set up.These hypothesis can be tested against reliaty.Having formed
hypothesis,researcher seeks information or data which will allow him to test validity.The collected data would then be
analyzed to several statistical tests to determine whether the proposed answer holds true or not and with what degree of
confidence it can be accepted.The results of this analysis would be interpreted and communicated via reports,seminars etc.
Diagrammatic presentation of Research process

Research problem or question

Literature Review or pilot study

Conceptual frame work or model building Hypothesis/Assumed solution or answer

Information Gathering

Monitor and check Information

Hypothesis testing

Action Evaluation of Hypothesis/Tests/Interpretation/

Conclusion/Recommendations

Report Dissemination Accept/Reject hypothesis.

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Research Approaches:
There are two basic approaches to research ,they are quantitative approach and qualitative approach.
quantitativeThis approach can be further sub-classified into inferential,experimental and simulation approaches to
research.The purpose of inferential approach to research is to form a data base from which to infer characteristics or
relationships of population.This usually means survey research where a sample of population is studied to determine its
characteristics,and then inferred that the population has the same characteristics.Experimental approach is characterized
by much greater control over the research environment and in this case some variables are manipulated to observe their
effect on the variables.Simulation approach involves the construction of an artificial environment within which relevant
information and data can be generated.This permits an observation of dynamic behaviour of a system under controlled
conditions.
Quantitative approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and
behaviour.Research in such a situation is a function of researcher’s insights and impressions.Such approach to research
generates results in non-quantitative form and techniques of focus group interviews,depth interviews etc.are used.
Paradigms of Research:
Paradigm is a set of assumptions,concepts,values and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reliability for the
community that shares them,especially in an intellectual discipline.Paradigm are generally defines as a framework that has
unwritten rules and that directs action.It is the window we see the world,it consists of any invisible values and belief.A
paradigm shift occurs when one paradigm losses its influence and another takes over.Paradigm shift is fundamental
change in basic concepts and experimental practices of the scientific discipline.
Positivism and interpretivism philosophy in research paradigm
As a philosophy,positivism adheres to the view that only factual knowledge gained through observation(the
senses), including measurement,is trustworthy.In positivism studies the role of the researcher is limited to data collection
and interpretation in an objective way.In this type of studies research findings are usually observable and quantifiable.In
positivism studies the researcher is independent from the study and there are no provisions for human interests within the
study.Positivist studies usually adopt deductive approach, and relates to concentrate on facts.If we assume a positivist
approach to our study,then we are independent of our research and our research can be purely objective.In other
words,studies with positivist paradigm are based purely on facts and consider the world to be external and objective.
In interpretivism, the observer is a part of what is being observed, the human interests are the main drivers of
science and explanations aim to increase general understanding of the situations.The argument of interpretivists is that the
study of human beings is of a different order from the study of phenomenon in the natural world.This is because the social
reality is viewed by different people in different ways,which may constrain their thinking and reasoning about the
observed phenomenon.Forinstance,political parties which have different ideologies tend to have every different
perceptions of the role of government in people’s lives,and hence, have different opinions on how to solve social and
economic problems.
Business Research
Business research is an important branch of research and encircles market research,financial research,operations
research, accounting research and human resource research. Business research has been defined in many different ways,
according to Uma Sekaran andBougie“Business research is a systematic and organized investigation conducted to
resolve problematic issues in, or interrelated among, the different areas of management.” According to Donald
Cooperand Pamela Schindler, “Business research is a systematic inquiry whose objective is to provide information to
solve managerial problems.”
Business research has been basically conceived as the systematic and objective collection and evaluation of
information about specific aspects of business problems in order to assist managers to make effective decisions. Its main
purpose is to facilitate decision-making process and reduce uncertainty when business strategy is being planned, and to
monitor performance after the strategy has been put into operation.
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Role of research in Management

Research in management is broadly, a systematic activity directed towards investigating managerial or business
problems and results in an invention or discovery of management tools for problem solving and decision making.it gives a
detailed investigation of the existing problems, practices or processes. managers often need to understand the factors or
events that affect their organizations. The knowledge of research methods help them to identify the problems and find out
more about the situation before the problems get out of control. The manager’s job is to achieve targeted goals and degree
of success in this regard is directly dependent upon his right decision making capacity at right time. To determine required
information at different stages of management process by adopting suitable techniques of collection and analysis of
information(data).The stages of management processes are as follows;
1)Analysis: In this stage attempts are made to recognize opportunities and problems.
2)Planning: Planning involves development and selection from alternatives as necessary courses of action to achieve an
objective.
3)Execution: Execution is the implementation of analyzed and planned programmes in practice.
4)Control: In this stage performance against plans is measured.

Ethical concerns in Research

Ethics are norms or standards of behaviour that guide moral choices about our behaviour and relationship with
others. The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no one is harmed or suffers adverse consequences from research
activities. Ethical issues are considered in terms of participants (respondents), sponsor and researcher and team members
in terms of moral and legal ground. In the way of collecting data from respondents by experiment, interview, observation
or survey, the respondents have many rights to be safeguarded. In general, research must be designed so that a respondent
doesnot suffer physical harm, discomfort, pain, embarrassment or loss of privacy. Ethical issues are likely to occur at all
stages of the research project; when seeking access to information, during data collection, data are processed and analyzed
and when they are reported. The responsibilities of research work are of following types:
i)The researcher has a responsibility to him or herself to conduct research safely and sensibly
ii)There is a responsibility to all respondents to make sure that they understand what they are taking part in and how any
data will be used.
iii)There is a responsibility to any organization involved in research to informed of the nature of research and any relevant
implications, before they give permission for research.
iv)The researcher has a responsibility to his/her employer, educational institutions and to the community of scholars to
conduct the research according to accepted conventions.
Data gathered by using power and influence can be considered as an unethical practice, unethical behaviour of researchers
is a serious problem, such behaviour can damage the credibility of the research findings and also of the institution
sponsoring the project.
Values of Research for decision making
In the past, business organizations were viewed as economic entities, mainly with economic roles and purposes
and protections, tariffs, quotas and licenses were the vital elements of the economic system so the business environment
was simple, stable and predictable. Latter on due to open market, liberalization and deregulation of the economy forced
the business firms into the domain of freedom and competition. Consumers , environmentalists civil society and social
activists for ethics becomes active. These changing forces in business environment brought about significant changes in
attitudes and styles of operations of business firm .So, today, managers have more variables to consider than ever before.
Business firms today have become more concerned and conscious about the knowledge to understand the
changing dynamics of their business. In the modern business sectors, the management is even more aware of importance
of information and research. Managers today find knowledge of research methods to be of value in many situations. The
need to conduct research either for themselves or for others. The managers at lower levels have to conduct most research
activities by themselves but the higher -level managers, due to time boundary, often assign the job to others.
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Some problems of an organization are simpler. They can be studied, observed and analyzed by the manager
himself but in more complex situations, the management can constitute a research team of internal experts to study the
problems. Being insiders, the team would require much less time and resource to understand the functioning and work
systems of organization. In most complex situations, the management may need the assistance of outside research
agencies to identify and solve problems. Some organizations have their own consulting or research departments, which
might be called R & D department. Managers in this unit serve as internal consultants to the organization.
Approaches to Research
There are two different approaches to research, they are quantitativeand qualitative. Positivists believe in
quantitative approach, they seek facts or cause of social phenomena with a little concern for the subjective state of
individuals. Positivists philosophy thus assums that the research methods of natural sciences may be applied to social
sciences as well. This type of research depends on quantitative data which is in a numerical form and which can be
analysed or presented using statistics. On the other hand, interpretivists believe in qualitative approach to research. They
reject the principles of positivism.They believe that positivist approach to research is inappropriate for research in social
sciences. Qualitative philosophy of research thus tries to give people’s perspectives. It does not normally include
numerical measurements, rather uses either of written or spoken words. Exploratory research and case studies are
examples of qualitative research. The most used branches and methodological approaches to qualitative research are;
a)Ethnography: The purpose of ethnography is to provide a detailed, in depth description of everyday life and practice.
This approach to interpretive research provides a descriptive account of social life and culture in particular social system
based on detailed observation of what people actually do.
b)Phenomenology: Phenomenology is a study of human experience in every life. The phenomenological approach is
based in a paradigm of personal knowledge and subjectivity ,and emphasizes the importance of personal perspective and
interpretation about objects and events.
c)Hermeneutics: It is the study of theory and practice of interpretation of literary and religious texts. In behaviour and
social sciences, sometimes, the interpretation of non-lingual expressions is also involved.
d)Constructivism: This philosophy of research believes that meaning does not exist in its own right; rather it is
constructed by human beings as they interact and engage in interpretation.
e)Subjectivism: Subjectivism holds that knowledge is generated from the mind, without reference to reality. How
researchers see the world can also influence the research process. Since everyone has different mind so they experiences
events differently. Hence, subjectivities take a key role in the research process.
Nature and Types of Business Research:
The purpose of conducting research in management is to identify business problems or issues and to find out
solutions to such problems or issues. Research is also undertaken for many other purposes like model building, strategy
formulation, business process reengineering, and so on.
The purpose of marketing research is to help marketing managers make better decisions. Marketing research is commonly
used to determine which new competitive activities such as ,new products, advertising strategies, channel, and so on are
most threatening. Management research includes the study in wide variety of subjects like strategy formulation,
environmental scanning, organizational structure, staff policies and rules, system of job analysis, employee participation,
and so on. In finance and accountingarea, issues such as operation of banks and financial institutions, portfolio
management, sources and uses of funds, depreciation, budgetary system, inventory costing, transfer pricing etc. are
studied in order to improve the efficiency of finance and accounting functions. Similarly, Operation research seeks the
determination of the optimum course of action of a decision problem under the restriction of limited resources. In view of
the informational needs of managers ,we can identify four broad categories of business research;
a)Policy Research: This approach helps organizations to prepare mission statements which, besides setting broad
organizational targets, also outline the general values and parameters within which the organizations function. They
simply provide an indication for the stakeholders of the general direction in which the company plans itself moving.
b)Managerial Research: Managerial research is related to the specific problem of limited scope for which management
has need of additional information on which to base decision. This type of of research is focused on one particular
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activity, scheme or project launched by the management. When analysis of the on-going project indicates that all is not
going as planned, managerial research may be required to explain why something went wrong with the project.
c)Action Research: Action research involves a continuous gathering and analyzing of research data during the normal on-
going operations of an organization. It is designed to identify effective ways of dealing with problems in the real world. It
is thus concerned more with the execution of specific management program. Since it feeds simultaneous results into the
organization, it helps in changing its mood of functioning. The features of action research are;
i)Addresses practical problems ii)Generates new knowledge
iii)Enacts change iv)Is participatory
v)Relies on a cyclical process
d)EvaluationEvaluation : Evaluation research is oriented toward formal and objective measurement of the extent which a
given action, activity or program has achieved its original objective. Evaluation research is broken down into two types;
i)Formative Evaluation: A study which is primarily seeking to gather information during the process of implementation,
with a view to informing the development of the program is called formative evaluation. Its goal is to provide information
that aid the development of particular change intervention programs. Formative evaluation seeks answers to questions
about the process of implementation and how this relates to the achieved outcomes.
ii)Summative Evaluation: A study which is primarily seeking to gather information on the effectiveness of a program after
it has been implemented is termed as summative evaluation. It is also called outcome or impact evaluation. A summative
evaluation seeks answers to questions about what relationships exist between the goals of the program and its outcomes.
Scientific Thinking
Scientific thinking refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge or
correcting and integrating previous knowledge. This thinking process thus successfully leads to the most reliable answers
to questions and solutions to business problems.
Due to different level of understanding , our thinking may be biased, distorted, partial, ununiformed, or
prejudiced. Hence we interpret the world reality differently. Biased thinking also affects what we perceive, produce, make
or build. The quality of our activity, therefore, depends very much on the quality of our thought. Excellence of thought,
however must be systematically cultivated. Such thought is a creative and strategic process that involves constantly
assessing, reassessing and making decisions about the best possible means for obtaining trustworthy information, carrying
out appropriate analysis and drawing valid conclusions. So in every research activities we need scientific thinking to get
objective solution to a particular business problem.
Scientific thinking in management research:
Management research can be undertaken basically for two purposes. The first is to generate new knowledge
concerning management issues. The second is to understand and solve business problems and improve managerial
practices. Hence it is also application oriented. Management research in both these cases follows the same rigour as in
scientific research. The scientific application and the scientific way of doing research are thus crucial to managers to
generate credible data and knowledge and to make right decisions. However, depending upon the nature of issues under
investigation, management research also uses qualitative research methodology, which may not meet the criteria of
scientific research. Business researchers even in this case must be aware of the dependable outcomes of their research and
the unbiased answers they provide to business-related problems and issues.
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Unit :2 Literature Review and Theoretical framework

Research Problem
Research problem is a situation that needs a solution and is a description of an issue currently existing which
needs to be addressed.It provides the context for the research study and generates questions which the research aims to
answer.Sekaran and Bougie defines research problem as “any situation where a gap exists between the actual and the
desired ideal state.”The main function of formulating a research problem is to decide what we want to find out about.A
research problem thus identifies our destination,it should tell us what we intend to research.If the problem is stated
vaguely or if the wrong problem is defined then the rest of the research is completely useless.
Steps in Problem Formulation
The steps of problem formulation are;
Step 1:Select the broad problem area for our study:
The selection of the broad problem area and framing the research idea can emerge from our own unsystematic or
systematic observation and need to solve a practical problem.Unsystematic observation includes casual observation of
organizational or other social phenomena while systematic observation includes carefully planned personal observation,
published research reports, and our own previous or ongoing research.
Step 2:Perform exploratory Research
By performing exploratory research we may gain ideas or insights into the particular problem at hand.This preliminary
step of analysis may be accomplished through a situation analysis and informal investigation into the problem.The
situation analysis has vital role to obtain background knowledge of various conditions affecting the organization.The
informal investigation consists of talking about the problem with the concerned people within and outside the
organization.
Step 3:Identify and raise specific research issues and sub-issues
Identification of specific issues or problems for investigation would require the collection of some preliminary
information.The sources of such information could be our own observation of the situation, interviews ,library search and
published data.These preliminary searches would help us to define the problem more specifically.
Step 4:Translate the research issues into broad and specific objectives
Sometimes we may hand research problems, by translating the research issues into broad and specific objectives ,but we
have to make sure that these objectives can be attained in time available, and with financial and human resources and
technical expertise available.
We should not state the problem in terms of symptoms. If this happens, the study results would be superficial.
Characteristics of well formulated problem
Research problems are generally stated as questions, concerning the nature of the relationship between two or more
variables.Developing a problem statement includes some combination of the interested tasks like generation of an issue,
exploration of an issue and from that exploration determining worthwhile research questions.The characteristics of
problem statement are;
1)It should raise a question about a relationship between variables.
2)The relationship between the variables should be stated and explained clearly.
3)The problem statement should suggest a method of researching the question.
Examples:
a)To what extent do age, education, length of service, level of earning and place of residence of employees influence their
organizational commitment?
b)Do long work hours, lack of development opportunities and discrimination account for the lack of upward mobility of
women in civil service?
Research Questions
A research question is defined as a statement that identifies the phenomenon to be studied.It indicates the purpose
and motive of the research investigation.The objectives of a research can thus be mirrored by the research questions.These
questions directly link to all of the components of the research investigation.It is said that “a question well –stated is a
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question half answered”.Research questions keep us from getting lost or off-track when looking for information.We try to
find the answers to these questions when we do our research.Research questions help the researcher to focus the study
and give the researcher guidance on how to conduct it.
Research questions that are too general or too diffuse createdifficulties both in conducting the study and in clearly
connecting what we do to our purposes and existing knowledge.Precisely framed research questions,on the other hand,
can point the research to specific areas of theory that we can use as modules in developing an understanding of the
reality.Research questions are basically classified into three types;
Descriptive: When a study is designed primarily to describe what is going on or what exists.
Relational: When a study is designed to look at the relationship between two or more variables.
Causal: When a study is designed to determine whether one or more variables causes or effects one or more outcome
variables.
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a tentative generalization, the validity of which remains to be tested.In elementary stage, a hypothesis may
be any hunch, guess, imaginative idea which becomes the basis for action or investigation. According to Fred Kerlinger
and Howard B. Lee “A hypothesis is a conjectured statement that implies or states a relationship between two or more
variables.”SimilarlyJ.W. Creswell defines “A hypothesis is a formal statement that presents the expected relationship
between independent and dependent variables.” A hypothesis is thus a statement about the relationship between two or
more variables which needs to be investigated for its truth.
Functions of a hypothesis:
The functions of hypothesis are;
a)It provides a study of focus.
b)It tells the specific aspect of research problem to investigate.
c)It tells us what data to collect and what not to collect.
d)It enhances objectivity in a study.
e)It may enable us to add to formulation of theory.
Sources of Hypothesis
There are different sources which help in building a hypothesis.The sources are
a)General culture: In social studies a hypothesis may be formulated with the help of general pattern of culture.The culture
has a great influence upon the thinking process of people and hypothesis may be formed to test one or more of these ideas.
b)Theory: A theory gives us the basic idea of what has been found to be correct.The knowledge of theory leads us to form
further generalization from it.These generalization form parts of a hypothesis.
c)Analogies: A similarity between two phenomenon is observed at a circumstance. A hypothesis is then formed to test
whether two phenomenon are similar in other circumstances too.
d)Personal Experiences: Sometimes, the facts are there, but only a right individual see it in right perspective and
formulated a hypothesis.
Hypothesis Formulation:
There are two grounds on which a hypothesis may be justified,they are logical and empirical .Logical justification is
developed from arguments based on concepts and theories relating directly to the research problem.Empirical justification
is based on reference to other research found in the literature.Hence, in order to formulate a useful hypothesis, we need to
have good knowledge of the background to the subject and the nature of the problem or issue which is being addressed.A
hypothesis statement is derived directly from the statement of the problem.Hypothesis can be stated rather easily once the
research problem is known.The hypothesis is thus more operational than the problem statement.
Relation between research problem and hypothesis:
The problem asks about the relation between several facts or observations but the hypothesis suggests that the relationship
exists.Hypothesis should be stated in a very specific terms so that the means of investigating the hypothesis are included
in the statement.A problem is formulated in the form of question and serves the basis or origin from which a hypothesis is
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derived.A hypothesis is a suggested solution to a problem. A problem cannot be tested directly, whereas a hypothesis can
be stated and verified.Hence a problem cannot be scientifically solved unless it is reduced to hypothesis form.
Eg.Research problemWhat is the relationship between gender discrimination in Nepal before and after education?
Research hypothesisThere is a significant difference in gender discrimination in Nepal before and after education.
Types of Hypothesis:
The types of hypothesis are as following;
a)Descriptive and Relational Hypotheses
Descriptive hypotheses are in the form of propositions that only state the existence, size ,form or distribution of some
variable.These contain only one variable.Hence the relationship between variable cannot be stated and explored.These do
not fulfill the criteria of research hypothesis.
Eg.i)Tribhuvan University (case) is experiencing budget difficulties (variable).
ii)The Hetauda-Narayangadh sector of the East-West Highway (case) has a higher than average accident rates (variable)
A rational hypotheses describes the relationship between two or more variables with respect to some case.These are of
two types,they are
1)correlational hypotheses
When a statement describes the relationship between two variables, it is called a correlational hypothesis.A correlational
hypothesis states that the variables occur together in some specified manner without stating that one causes the other.
Eg.With education people’s political participation will increase.
2)Explanatory hypotheses
In an explanatory hypothesis, the implications of one variable on the other are stated.Such implication can be
unidirectional or bidirectional
Eg.i)The increase in age would lead to decrease in organizational commitment. (Unidirectional)
ii)The productivity of skilled workers will increase if the workers are given added pay for production in access of the
standard. (bidirectional)
b)Directional and non-directional Hypotheses:
The directional hypothesis indicates the particular direction of the expected relationship between two variables.In stating
the relationship between the two variables, the term such as “positive”, “negative”, “more than”, “less than” etc. are used.
Eg.Younger workers are less motivated than older workers.
The non directional hypotheses are formulated when there are no clue available about the positive or negative relationship
between two variables.
Eg.There is no relationship between educated and uneducated employees in their occupational commitments.
c)Null and Alternative hypotheses
A null hypothesis is a statistical hypothesis that is tested for possible rejection under the assumption that it is true.Null
hypothesis indicates a definitive, exact relationship between two variables.
Eg.No significant difference will exist between productivity of skilled workers on an incentives pal and productivity of
skilled workers on a regular wage plan.
An alternative hypothesis is complementary to null hypothesis.
Eg.Null Hypothesis:There is no difference between male and female statistically in their productivity.
Alternative hypothesis:There is difference between male and female statistically in their productivity.
Criteria of GoodHypothesis Statement:
Important features of good hypothesis statement are as follows;
i)Specific:The hypothesis should be specific it should not be too vague or general.
ii)Conceptually clear:The definitions and terms used in hypothesis should be commonly accepted terms not our own
creations and all terms and definitions should be clearly stated.
iii)Related to available technique:As a hypothesis has to be tested and verified, it should be so formed that it is easily
tested or verified by an available technique.
iv)Related to body of theory:It is desirable that hypothesis selected must be in continuation with theory already evolved.
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v)Capable of Empirical Test:The hypothesis should be such that it can be put to empirical test. It should not be moral
judgment, empirical test is necessary to achieve the objectivity.
vi) Simple: The hypothesis should be simple and to the point.
Utility of Hypothesis:
The hypothesis helps the investigator in the following ways;
-It gives points to enquire
-It helps in deciding direction in which to proceed.
-It helps in selection of pertinent facts.
-It helps in drawing specific conclusion.
Literature Review
After topic selection,the next step of researcher is to develop concepts and ideas about the selected topic by
reviewing all the relevant materials.In fact,review of literature begins with a search for a suitable topic and continues
throughout the duration of the research work.According to P.Haywood and E.C. Wragg: “A literature review is the
process of locating, obtaining, reading, and evaluating the research literature in the area of our interest”.Review of
literature is thus an essential part of all research studies.It is a way to discover what other research in the area of our
problem has uncovered.A critical review of the literature helps us to develop a thorough understanding and insight into
previous research works that relates to our study.It is also a way to avoid investigating problems that have already been
definitely answered.
Purpose and need of Literature Review
In any research, the previous studies provide the foundation to the present study and provide us with a handy
guide to a particular topic.In other words, there has to be continuity in research.This continuity in research is ensured by
linking the present study with the past research studies.The primary purpose of literature review are:
i)to learn how others have defined and measured key concepts
ii)to identify data sources that other researchers have used
iii)to identify potential relationships between concepts
iv)to identify researchable hypotheses
The purpose of literature review is thus to find out what research studies have been conducted in our chosen field
of study and what remains to be done.It keeps us up to date on current empirical or theoretical controversies in a particular
research area.Hence a literature survey helps us to avoid needless duplication of effort.Tobe a good literature review
following guidelines are needed;
i)It demonstrates that we know the field.
ii)It justifies the reason for research or it helps to identify gap which our research could fill.
iii)It allows us to establish our theoretical framework and methodological focus.
Steps in the Literature review process
Working with Literature

Locating Obtaining Reading Evaluating

Encyclopaedias Libraries Efficient & selective Reading Content analysis

Computer Catalouges Online Sources Keeping track of references Criteria of review

Journel indexes CD-ROM sources Annotating your Reference Critical Review

International Bibliographies Other sources Developing a structure Meta-analysis

Theoritical Framework
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A theoretical framework is the basis or foundation upon which the study is established.It is within the framework of this
theory that the entire study proceeds.Since the general process of research is to develop theories about problems and
questions, it is important that the theoretical framework be carefully developed and presented.A theoretical model may be
presented in graphic form,which reflects the variables or characteristics selected for inclusion in the investigation.
According to Sekaran and Bougie(2013) “describe theoretical framework as the foundation on which the entire thesis is
based,it is a logically developed,described and elaborated network of associations among variables that have identified
through such processes as interviews, observations and literature survey.These variables are deemed relevant to the
problem situation”.
The preliminary survey of literature and information provides a solid foundation for developing a theoretical
framework.The theoretical framework describes the relationships among the variables,elaborates the theory underlying
these relations and describes the nature and direction of the relationship.A good theoretical framework provides the
logical base for developing testable hypotheses.The components that should be incorporated in any theoretical framework
are:
a)The variables considered relevant to study should be clearly identified.
b)The discussions should state how two or more variables are related to each other.
c)If the nature and direction of the relation exists then identify whether it is positive or negative.
d)There should be clear explanation of why we expect these relationships to exist.
e)A systematic diagram of the theoretical framework should be given so that the reader can visualize the theorized
relationships.
Example of Theoretical framework:
Suppose we have selected “employee absenteeism” as the dependent variable for our study, the independent variables
having effects on absenteeism could be age, gender, marital status, seniority and place of residence of employee.
Explanation
The greater the age of employees, the higher is likely to be the rate of absenteeism among them because the older
people have greater chances of sickness than the younger ones.Female employee tend to have higher rate of absenteeism
due to their family preoccupations.Of the female employees too, married ones demonstrate higher rate of absenteeism
than unmarried males and females.Due to their home ties and social links,the employees coming from rural areas may
have higher absences as compared to their urban counterparts.The senior employees, who usually have served the
organization longer, are generally more committed to the organization than their younger counterparts.This is not only
because seniority carries with it some status and prestige but also because as one moves up in the organizational ladder,
there are more job-related responsibilities.Hence seniority of the employees would seem to have a negative correlation
with absenteeism.
Diagram of theoretical framework

Age

Gender

Marital Status Employee Absenteeism

(Dependent variable)
Seniority

Place of Residence
(Independent variables)

Research and Theory:

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Research is closely related to theory building.Research and theory are inseparable supplementary components of scientific
investigation. A theory provides a conceptual framework for research and research , in turn, contributes to the
development of theory. A theory has many components, they are;
a)Theory: A theory is a statement concerning the relationship between or among concepts.It consists of a set of
interrelated concepts and propositions that specify how variables relate to the phenomenon to be explained.The purpose of
theory is to define, establish ,and explain relationships between concepts or constructs.The linking of two concepts is
based on our perception, or the way we view the parts of the environment selected for observation.This perception of us
shapes how we formulate theory and interpret phenomena of interest.Theory construction thus serves an interesting role
between the researcher on the one hand and knowledge production on the other hand.Hence, the nature and quality of
knowledge are formally dependent on theory construction.
Example of theory formulation

Concept A Concept B

Job satisfaction leads to Higher productivity

Higher participation results in Higher job satisfaction
Higher income leads to Greater demand for goods
The following are the criteria which need to be met by theory;
-Definition of terms, concepts, or variable -Domain (where the theory applies)
-A set of relationships of concepts -Specific prediction
Classification of theory
Explanatory theory: It attempts to explain certain behaviour and performance.
Predictive theory: It characterizes conditions that are likely to lead to new situations and opportunities by way of
predicting outcomes.
Normative theory: It provides guidance for practice prescribing the right action in particular circumstances.
Grounded theory: It is generated from data that the researcher has collected.
b)Concept:A concept is a symbol representing an object.It is a property of an object or a certain phenomenon. In other
words, it is a generalized idea about an object that has been given a name. Concept like “democracy” , “leadership”,
“organizational justice” , “social mobility” etc represents some meaning under one general name.It is evident that each is
a word which represents an idea.Objects which can be seen, touched and felt are concrete concepts and those which
cannot be observed and felt are abstract concepts.
c)Construct: The abstract concepts are often called constructs. A construct is an image or idea specifically invented for a
given research.We can build constructs by combining the similar concepts. Constructs are thus complex and imply
condition of an organism whose existence can only be deduced from observable phenomenon, rather than by direct
observation.
d)Proposition: A proposition is a statement about concepts that may be judged as true or false if it refers to observable
phenomena.A proposition is thus concerned with the relationships among concepts or constructs.It explains the logical
linkage among these concepts or constructs.Since propositions are associations between abstract constructs they cannot be
tested directly but they are tested indirectly by examining the relationship between corresponding measures (variables) of
those constructs. Example of proposition is “An increase in student intelligence causes an increase in their academic
achievement.” This declarative statement does not have to be true, but must be empirically testable using data, so that we
can judge whether it is true or false. The empirical formulation of propositions, stated as relationships between variables,
is called hypothesis. Propositions are more abstract but hypotheses are more concrete and operational statements and are
built from specific variables.
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e)Operational definition:Concepts such as age, gender, academic qualification etc are relatively concrete properties but
constructs such as temperature must specify whether we plan to measure in Celsius, Fahrenheit or kelvin scale. A
construct such as income should be defined in terms of whether we are interested in monthly or annual income, before tax
or after tax income and personal or family income.There are many other types of concepts which are difficult to define
and measure, such as loyalty, responsiveness, job satisfaction, commitment, brand image etc.Therefore these abstract
concepts or constructs need to converted into specific variables.This process of conversion is called operationalizing the
concept.Therefore we must first define what we mean by the concept and then we develop indicators for the concept as it
has been defined.The operational definition specifies what must be done to measure the concept under investigation.Thus
using operational definitions allows us to measure precisely the states of the two variables in question and then to
determine whether the expected relationship exists between them.
f)Variables: A variable is an object, event, idea, feeling or any other type of category we are trying to measure. For eg., if
the weight of 50 objects were measured ,then weight would be variable. Hence, variables need to be identified to measure
the concepts or constructs. Variables that are superfluous and that are not directly related to the problem may mislead the
research work.Therefore, the variables should capture something about the concept.
g)Hypotheses and models: A hypothesis is a specific statement about a relationship that is subjected to direct empirical
test and a model is a specific implementation of a more general theoretical perspective. Modeltries to represent a
phenomenon and used to forecast a course of action.Models may be of different types;
Descriptive model: Descriptive models are frequently used for representing complex systems, for visualizing variables
and relationships in such systems.
Predictive model: It allows forecast of future events (e.g. a regression model)
Normative model:Normative models are used to guide our activities along commonly accepted norms or practices.
Where do Theory Come from?
A theory may be developed with deductive and inductive reasoning.The exercise of developing hypotheses from
theory is called deductive logic.Deductive reasoning is the logical process of deriving a conclusion based on a known
general premise or something known to be true and conversely, constructing theory or general principles from specific
observations is termed as inductive logic.
Theory and research are closely interlinked through these two logical methods.Theory provides a conceptual
model for research and research in turn contributes to the development of theory. Research initiates and tests an existing
theory.It reformulates, clarifies and refocuses a theory.
Reasoning Deduction vs Induction
Deduction is the research approach used to test a theory.It involves the development of a theory with a rigorous
testing.The stages involved in such research are;
i)deducing a hypothesis from the theory
ii)expressing the hypothesis in operational terms
iii)testing the operational hypothesis
iv)examining the specific outcomes of the enquiry
v)modifying the theory in the light of finding, if necessary.
Deduction is the process of drawing conclusions about a phenomenon based on theoretical or logical reasons and initial
set of premises.As an eg.If a certain bank enforces a strict code of ethics for its employees(Premise I) and ram Lal is an
employee at that bank (premise II), then Ram Lal can be trusted to follow ethical practices (conclusion).In deduction the
conclusions must be true if the initial premises and reasons are correct.This research approach is also called a top-down
approach.
The other approach to conducting research is induction.In this approach, the researcher tries to understand the
nature of the problem, gather the required quantitative and qualitative data ,and analyze them to draw
conclusions.Induction is thus the process of drawing conclusions based on facts or observed evidence. Hence developing
an understanding about the problem and making proper analysis of its different dimensions are strengths of inductive
research.The result of this analysis would be the formulation of a theory. For eg.If a firm spent a lot of money on a
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promotional campaign (observation I), but the sales did not increase (observation II) then possibly the promotion
campaign was poorly executed (conclusion).However there may be rival explanations for poor sales such as economic
recession or the emergence of a competing product or brand or perhaps a supply chain problem.This research approach is
also called a bottom-up approach.This is more open-ended and exploratory but deductive reasoning is narrower in nature
and is concerned with testing and confirming hypothesis.Itmeans,through deductive argument,we infer the particular from
general while through inductive argument we infer general truths from particular.
Steps in the process of Deduction and Induction
Deductive
Theory Hypothesis Observation Confirmation

Inductive

Theory Tentative Hypothesis Pattern Observation

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Unit: 3 Research Design:

Meaning of research design

The research design is a blueprint specifying the method to be adopted for gathering and analyzing data, it is a strategy of
obtaining information for the purpose of conducting a study and making generalizations about the population. In planning
a research investigation, choices have to be made about research strategy (experimental vs non-experimental), research
setting (laboratory vs natural setting), measures (questionnaires, observations, interviews), the data analysis strategies
(descriptive vs inferential statistics) and of other factors. A research design thus includes all these essential factors of an
investigation. The elements of research designs are i) the problem ii) the methodology iii) data gathering iv) data analysis
v)report writing.
Types of Research designs:
Research designs are classified into following five categories;
1)Exploratory research design
2)Descriptive research design i)Descriptive research
ii)Developmental research
iii)Case study research
3)Comparative research design i)Correlational research
ii)causal-comparative research
4)Interventional research design i)Lab-based experimental research
ii)Field-based experimental research
5)Qualitative research design.

1)Exploratory Research Design:

An exploratory research is defined as “ a study undertaken in areas where very little prior knowledge or information is
available on the subject under investigation”. It is thus the initial research conducted to study and define the nature of
problem. An exploratory study is undertaken when we do not know much about the situation at hand.In such cases,
extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity with the phenomenon in the situation. The main purpose
of exploratory research is to achieve new insights into a phenomenon. The purposes for exploratory research are
i)Diagnosing a situation
ii)Screening alternatives
iii)Discovering new ideas
An exploratory study is undertaken to orient the researcher and the study. It is, therefore, an important method of finding
out what is happening, to see new insights, to ask questions and to assess phenomena in a new light. It is particularly
useful if we wish to clarify our understanding of a problem.

2)Descriptive Research Designs

Descriptive research describes phenomena as they exist. Such studies involve the systematic collection and presentation of
data to give a clear picture of a particular situation. These studies attempt to obtain a complete and accurate description of
a situation. These studies are classified into following categories;
a)Descriptive Research:
Descriptive research is a type of study, which is generally conducted to assess the opinions, behaviors, or characteristics
of a given population and to describe the situation and events occurring at present. It does not necessarily seek to explain
relationships, test hypotheses, make predictions or to get at meanings and implications of the study. Hence, a descriptive
research is an extension of an exploratory research. It can be either quantitative or qualitative. This research involves
gathering data that describes events and then organizes, tabulates and describes the data collection. Descriptive statistics is
used to reduce the data to manageable form.
b)Developmental Research
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Developmental research is conducted for purpose of predicting future trends. It concentrates on the study of variables,
their rates of change, directions, sequences and other inter-related factors over a period of time. The various methods of
developmental research are;
Longitudinal study: It is the research where phenomenon are studied over time either continuously or repeatedly. This
type of study measures the nature and rate of change in sample at different stages of development. This occurs when data
are collected at two or more points in time from the same group of individuals. Because data are gathered at two different
points in time, it is not a cross-sectional or a one-shot study, but it is a study carried longitudinally across a period of time.
Longitudinal studies are mostly quantitative.
Trend Study: It is most common longitudinal study among others. When the data are collected at intervals spread over a
period of time, it is called a trend study. This type of research samples different groups of people at different points in
time from the same population. It is designed to establish patterns of change in the past in order to predict future patterns
or conditions. A trend study thus provides information about net changes at an aggregate level. Trend studies do not have
to be conducted by just one researcher, we may combine data from several studies of the same population in order to show
a trend.This type of study is particularly used to obtain and analysis social, economic and political data to identify trends
and to predict what is likely to take place in future.
Cohort study:Cohort study is a study of a specific group, such as those born on a day or in the particular period.This group
then forms a birth cohort or kindergarten cohort. Similarly a group of students graduating from a college in a year forms a
student cohort. There may be other kinds of cohorts such as disease cohort, education cohort, employment cohort etc. A
sample of the selected cohort group is then studies at different points of time. A cohort study is thus a systematic follow-
up of a group of people for a definite period of time. To form cohort studies, data are compiled for the same population
over time.
Panel Study: A panel is a group of individuals who have agreed to provide information to a researcher over a period of
time. In panel study we take the same people and study their attitudes towards a particular phenomenon over time. These
studies allow the researcher to find out why changes in the population are occurring. They measure the same sample of
respondents at different points in time. For example, if we are interested in finding out the general attitude towards single
parenthood, we would take a group of people and interview them at periodic intervals on the same subject and over a
number of years. Depending on the purpose of the study, we can use either a continuous panel (the same respondents
reporting on a regular basis) or an interval panel (reporting only when the information is needed)
Cross-Sectional Study: Cross-Sectional study involves observation of some items of the population all at the same time.
This study basically measures the rates of changes by drawing samples from a cross-section of society. It focuses on
comparing and describing groups. In this study, data are gathered just once, perhaps over a period of time, in order to
answer a research question. Such studies are also known as one-shot studies.
c) Case Study Research : The term case study usually refers to a fairly intensive examination of single unit. A unit may
be a person or a small group of people or single company. Case studies involve measuring, looking what is there and how
it got there. It enable us to explore, unravel and understand problems, issues and relationships in a particular situation. It
cannot, however, allow us to generalize our research, that is to argue that from one case study, the results; findings or
theories developed apply to other similar case studies.
The case study looked at may be unique and therefore not representative of other instances. However, it is
possible to select a number of case studies which will represent certain aspects or features of the subject matter that we are
interested in studying.This can lead us to develop an experimental design from which theory and generalization may flow.
Types of case studies:
Exploratory studies:It seeks to establish what is to discover significant variables and relation between them.
Hypothesis Testing: The relationship between variables is predicated from first type of the study. The second type of the
study tests their relationship. Here the researcher would be seeking data perhaps from a number of different case study
situations, aimed at proving or disproving the validity of the relationship (hypothesis).
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Steps in case studies:

There are number of specific steps in using the case study method,
First: The investigator determines the present situation
Second: Background information are collected
Third: The background information collected are analyzed for possible hypothesis. The hypothesis which clearly cannot
stand up to the evidence collected are discarded.
Fourth: The hypothesis developed is tested.
Fifth: The aim is to check that hypothesis tested actually work in practice.Some action, correction or improvement is
made and a check is carried out on the situation to see what effect the change has brought about.
Limitations of case study
The limitations of case study are,
a) A case study is more expensive because of its exploratory nature.
b) A generalization drawn from a single case cannot be applied to all cases in a given population.
c) There is some element of subjectivity. We must guard against permitting personal biases and standards to
influence our interpretation.
3)Comparative Research Designs.
A comparative study attempts to establish causes for certain problem. This is done by comparing two or more groups of
situations or variables. Comparative studies can be classified into two categories,
a)Correlational Research: Correlational research is used to obtain descriptions of phenomena. This technique is used to
ascertain the extent to which two variables are related. In a correlational research, the researcher’s main interest is to
determine whether two or more variables co-vary, and if so, to establish the direction, magnitude and form of the observed
relationships. Variables thus may be closely related, moderately related or completely unrelated. In general, the magnitude
of a correlation depends upon the extent which an increase in one variable is accompanied by an increase in the other. For
e.g., the early researches on cigarette smoking examine the covariance on cigarette smoking and a variety of lung
diseases. These two variables “smoking” and “lung diseases” were found to co-vary together.
Types of correlations
i)Positive correlation: An increase in one variable would result in an increase in another.
ii)Negative correlation: An increase in one variable would result in a decrease in another.
iii) No correlation: An increase or decrease on one variable would not determine increase or decrease in another.
b)Causal-Comparative research: This research investigates the possible causes affecting a particular situation by
observing existing consequences and searching for the possible factors leading to these results. This research is also
known as “ex post facto” research, this is because both the effect and alleged causes have already occurred and must be
studied in retrospect. In this type of research, the investigator takes one or more dependent variables and examines the
data by going back through time, seeming out causes, relationships and their meaning. In other words, we search the
likeliness and differences among our subjects to obtain clues about what might cause or contribute to the occurrence of a
particular phenomenon. Sometimes this research is also treated as a type of descriptive research since it describes
conditions that already exist.
Example: Suppose, it is proposed to study the influence of Boarding and Non boarding school education upon future
adjustability. We take an equal number of students in two groups, one group consisting of one type of education and other
consisting of other type of education. The groups are selected keeping in mind that other variables like age, economic
statue ,intelligence are matched in both cases. After 10 years(say), we shall again try to locate those persons and see how
they are placed in life. The difference between the two may be attributed to the nature of education received.
Statistics are extremely used in causal-comparative research. The most commonly used statistics are; pearson
product-moment coefficient, Spearman Rank order coefficient, Regression, t-test, chi-square, analysis of variance etc.
Characteristics of causal-comparative research
i)There is a control or comparison group
ii)There is an intact group.
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iii)The treatment is not manipulated, it has already occurred.

4)Experimental Research:
Experimental research refers to the part of research in which some variable are controlled while others are manipulated
and their effects on controlled variables are observed. The usual approach is to hold all variables constant except one. By
varying this one and monitoring changes in the output, the relationship between variables can be carefully studied and
documented. The purpose of experimental research is to investigate possible cause and effect relationships by exposing
one or more experimental groups to one or more treatment conditions and comparing the results to one or more control
groups not receiving the treatment. The experimental research technique consists three features namely identification of
the factors, replication of the experiment and quantitative measurement of the result.
Experimental research starts with the identification and analysis of a problem. Then we focus it by formulating
hypothesis by assuming the independent variable (X) is related to the occurrence of another condition, event or effect
(dependent variable).After then a researcher controls all the conditions except the independent variable, which he or she
manipulates.Then the researcher observes what happens to the dependent variable. These changes or effects in the
dependent variable may however have been caused by many other factors or alternative hypothesis. The purpose of
experimental design is therefore to eliminate all alternative hypotheses.
How is experimental research used in business?
Example: Assume an office has a great number of office assistants doing the same routine job. Management decides to
make a study of the effects of incentive pay. It separates the office assistants into two groups about equal in experience,
skill and previous production rates. Then one group is placed on an incentive pay basis. During the time length of the
study, the difference in two groups is noted. Because the incentive pay is assumed to be the only one variable, any
difference is attributed to its influence.
Types of Experiment:
i)Before-After Design without Control Group:
In such a design a single test group or area is selected and the dependent variable is measured before the
introduction of the treatment and after the introduction of the treatment. The effect of the treatment would be equal to the
level of phenomenon after the treatment minus the level of the phenomenon before the treatment.

Test area: Treatment introduced

Level of phenomenon Level of phenomenon
before Treatment (X) after the treatment(Y)
Treatment Effect = Y-X

The main difficulty of such a design is that with the passage of time considerable extraneous variations may be there in
the treatment effect.
ii)After - only with control group:
In this design two groups or areas (test area and control area) are selected and the treatment is introduced into test
area only. The dependent variable is then measured in both the areas at the same time. Treatment impact is assessed by
subtracting the value of dependent variable in the control area from its value in the test area.

Test area: Treatment introduced Level of phenomenon after

Treatment (Y)
Control area: Level of phenomenon
without Treatment (Z)
Treatment Effect = Y-Z
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The basic assumption in such a design is that the two areas are identical with respect to their behavior towards the
phenomenon considered.
iii) Before-and-after with control group:
In this design two areas are selected and the dependent variable is measured in both the areas for an identical
time-period before the treatment. The treatment is then introduced into the test area only, and the dependent variable is
measured in both for an identical time-period after the introduction of the treatment. The treatment effect is determined by
subtracting the change in the dependent variable in the control area from the change in the dependent variable in test area.

Time Period I Time period II

Test area: Level of phenomenon Treatment introduced Level of phenomenon

after
Before treatment (X) treatment (Y)

Control area: Level of phenomenon Level of phenomenon

Without treatment (A) without treatment (Z)
Treatment effect = (Y-X) – (Z-A)

This design is superior to the above two designs for the the simple reason that it avoids extraneous variation resulting both
from the passage of time and from non-comparability of the test and control areas.
5) Qualitative Research:
Qualitative research is an approach to gathering and analyzing information using both formal and informal techniques. It
involves the exploration and interpretation of perceptions, opinions, aspirations, behaviors, concerns, motivation, culture
or lifestyles of small samples of individuals. According to Uwe Flick “Qualitative research is an investigation of the
subjective meaning or the social production of issues, events or practices by collecting non-standardized data and
analyzing texts and images rather than numbers and statistics.” It is highly focused, exploring in depth, the attitudes of
people. This type of in-depth analysis provides insights into the problem under investigation. Hence, qualitative research
is all about exploring issues, understanding phenomenon and answering questions. In business, this design is particularly
used in organizational behavior, human resource management and marketing research. The reasoning process used in
qualitative research involves perceptually pieces together to make integrated wholes. From this process, meaning is
produced.
Assumptions of Qualitative Research:
The basic assumption of qualitative research are;
Research enables a holistic perspective.
Research incorporates an emergent design.
Research is descriptive.
Research is primarily concerned with process rather than outcomes.
Research involves fieldwork.
Research uses the researcher as the primary instrument for data collection and analysis.
The process of research is inductive.
Research is subjective in nature.
Types of Qualitative Research: Types of qualitative Research are;
i)Case Study: Attempts to shed light on a phenomenon by studying in-depth a single case . The case can be an
individual person, a group or an institution.
ii) Grounded Theory: Theory is developed inductively from a corpus of data acquired by a participant observer.
Theory generated only from the data collected in the study not come from other sources eg.
textbooks, researcher opinions etc.
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iii) phenomenology: Describes the structure of experience as they resent themselves to consciousness, without
recourse to theory, deduction or assumptions from other disciplines.
iv) Ethnography: We study the culture such as values, beliefs, behaviors, language etc. of distinct group within
society. The distinct group of people have usually been together over an extended period of time,
having similar beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, language.
v)Historical: Systematic collection and objective evaluation of data related to past events in order to
understand causes, effects or trends of these events that may help to explain resent events and
anticipate future events.
Features of qualitative Research:
The features of qualitative research lie in its inductive reasoning, its focus on specific situations or people and its
emphasis on words rather than numbers. The purposes of qualitative research are;
 Understanding the meaning of the events, situations and actions of the participants who are involved with and of
the accounts that they give of their lives and experiences. In a qualitative study, we are interested not only in the
physical events and behavior that is taking place, but also in how the participants in our study make sense of this
and how their understandings influence their behavior.
 Understanding the particular context within which the participants act, and the influence that this context has on
their actions. Qualitative researchers study a relatively small number of individuals or situations and preserve the
individuality of each of these in their analysis so that they (researchers) are able to understand how events,
actions, and meanings are shaped by the unique circumstances in which they occur.
 Understanding unanticipated phenomena and influences and generating new grounded theories about latter.
 Understanding the process by which events and actions take place. Qualitative research does emphasize that a
major strength of this research is in getting at the processes that led to these outcomes.
 Developing causal explanations. Qualitative studies study causation by showing a correlation between an earlier
event and a subsequent event.
Qualitative Research Design:
Design in qualitative research is an interactive process that involves tracking –back and forth between different
components of the design, assessing the implications of purposes, theory, research questions, methodology and validity
threats for one another.
An interactive Model of Qualitative research Design

Theory knowledge

Theoretical
Purposes Framework

Personal experience Preliminary Data

ResearchQu
estions

Funding Ethical Standard

Methods Validity

Feasibility
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This model presented here has five components.

Purposes: This component of the design seeks the answers to the following questions;

 What are the ultimate goals of the study?

 What issues is it intended to illuminate, and what practices will it influence?
 Why do we want to conduct it, and why should we care about the results?
Theoretical Context: This components of the design contains the theory that we already have or are developing about the
setting or issues that we are studying.
Research Questions: In this component we seek the answer of;
 What do we want to understand by doing this study?
 What questions will our research attempt to answer and how are these questions related to one another?
Methods: This component of design includes four main parts; our research relationship with people we study, our site
selection and sampling decisions, data collection methods , and data analysis techniques.
Validity: In this component we should keep in our mind that; What might we be wrong? What are the plausible
alternative explanations and validity threats to the potential conclusions of our study and how will we deal with these?
How do the data that we have or that we could collect, support or challenge our ideas about what’s going on? Why should
we believe our results?
The upper triangle in this model should be a closely integrated unit. Research questions should have a clear
relationship to the purpose of our study and the theoretical framework. At the same time, choice of relevant theory and
knowledge depends on the purposes and questions. Similarly in bottom triangle also should be closely integrated. The
methods we use must enable us to answer the research questions and also to deal with the validity threats to these answers.
Conversely, the relevance of validity threats depends on the questions and methods chosen.
The top part of the model is the external aspect of the design. It includes the goals, experiences, knowledge,
assumptions and theory that the researcher brings to the study. The bottom part is the internal aspect. It includes the actual
activities that we will carry out the processes that we will go through to develop and test the conclusions. The research
questions are the center or hub of the model. They connect these two halves of the design.
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Unit :4 Measurement, Scaling and Sampling

Variables:
Variables are the characteristics of persons, things, events, groups, objects, ideas, feelings, or any other type of
category we are trying to measure. A variable is a symbol to which numerals or values are assigned. In other words, a
variable can take on many values. For eg., age , weight, income, length of service etc. A variable is thus defined as
anything that can take on differing or varying values.
Examples:
 The productivity of employees differs ranging from very low to very high and hence is a variable.
 Sex is a variable. Sex of employees also differs. The two possible values of sex are either male or female.
Variables are symbolized by letters such as X, Y, Z etc. These letters are then specified by giving values. When the values
of all these variables are expressed in numbers, we call them numerical variables. Numerical variables can be continuous
or discrete. Continuous numerical variables are those, which can be expressed as fractions or in decimals. Discrete
numerical variables are those, which can take values as whole numbers.
Variables can also be quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative variables are also called categorical variables. These
variables generate quantitative data. For.eg. consider a study of guests at a hotel. We may be interested in the age of
guests, their average spending and length of stay. Each characteristics is a quantitative variable because the data that each
generates is numerical. Quantitative variables are measured on an ordinal, interval or ratio scales. On the other hand,
qualitative variables generate non-numerical or qualitative data. For instance, nationality of a college student is a
qualitative variable because nationality can be classified as Nepali, Indian, Chinese, American etc. Qualitative variables
are measured on a nominal scale.
Types of variables:
There are four main types of variables:
 The dependent variable
 The independent variable
 The moderating variable
 The intervening variable
Dependent variable: A variable is called dependent variable if its values depend upon the other variable(s). The
investigator is interested in measuring variability in the dependent variable by changing the values of other related
variables.
Eg. The concern of the marketing manager is consumer complaints. Any dissatisfaction of the consumer with the product,
may lead to consumer complaints. The marketing manager might want to know what accounts for the variance in
consumer complaints. The dependent variable in this case is consumer complaints.
Independent variable: A variable is called independent if it is not influenced by any other variable under study. It
influences the dependent variable. Any change in the independent variable, either positive or negative, leads to changes
increase or decrease in the dependent variable. In other words, any change in the dependent variable is due to change in
the independent variable.
Eg. The marketing manager believes that advertising has an influence on the company’s sales. Hence, any increase in the
expenditure on advertising would lead to some increase in the volume of sales. In this case, advertising is the independent
variable and the volume of sale is the dependent variable.
Moderating variable: A moderating variable is defined as one that has a strong contingent effect on the dependent-
independent variable relationship. It is a second independent variable because it is believed to have a significant effect on
the originally expected relationship. That is, the presence of third variable (moderating variable) modifies the originally
expected relationship between the dependent and independent variables.
Eg. A manager’s interest is to study and explain the relationship between training and productivity. The more the training
given to the workers, the greater the productivity. Thus,productivity is the dependent variable and training is independent
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variable. However, this positive relationship holds only with young workers. The training given to workers who are over
50 years of age may not lead to increase in productivity. Thus, age is the moderating variable.
A diagram showing the relationship between the dependent and independent variables with the presence of the moderating
variable

Training Productivity

Independent variable Dependent variable

Workers age over 50 vs

below 50 yrs.

Moderating variable
Intervening variable: If a variable influences the nature and degree of relationship between independent and dependent
variable then such variable is called intervening variable. A variable that is associated with the problem and with a
possible cause of the problem is a potential intervening variable. To give a true picture of cause and effect, the intervening
variables must be considered, either at planning stage or while doing data analysis.
Eg. The production manager of a factory is concerned about the job performance of workers. He or she believes that the
job performance of workers (dependent variable) can improve when they are given challenging jobs (independent
variable) .This is because such jobs tend to motivate workers (intervening variable) to work.
Measurement:
Measurement simply implies the assignment of numerals to object or events according to some rules or it is the method of
turning the series of qualitative facts into a quantitative series. Such numeral is a symbol used to distinguish objects or
events from each other and has no quantitative meaning unless we give such a meaning. Thus ,measurement can be
defined as the mapping of objects of one set to objects of other set. This can be illustrated from the following example.
Suppose a family consists of five persons and we want to map them by their gender. Assume that we have a prior
rule that allows unambiguously the determination of the sex and the rule is to assign a symbol if the person is a male and
another symbol if the person is a female. If the symbols used are 1 and 0 respectively, then we have two sets
A= { a1, a2, a3, a4, a5 } where ai ’s are the members of the family and B={0, 1}. If a1, a3, a5 are the males then the mapping
of the sets will be as:
a1
a2 0
a3
a4 1
a5

Importance of Measurement:
 Helps to identify variables
 Helps to measure
 Helps to scientific test
 Helps to increase reliability of research.
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Scaling:
A scale is a tool by which individuals are distinguished on the variables of interest to our study, in some form or the
other. The scale could be gross one in the sense that it would only broadly categorize individuals on certain variables or it
could be a fine-tuned tool that would differentiate individuals on the variables with varying degrees of sophistication. In
business research, there are four basic types of scales:
 Nominal
 Ordinal
 Interval
 Ratio
Nominal Scale: A nominal scale is one that allows the researcher to assign subjects to certain categories or groups.This is
the simplest and lowest form of data and it gives very basic information. This scale is usually used to obtain personal data,
where grouping of individuals or objects is required.
Eg. Gender male, female
Religion Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian
Occupation Teacher, Manager, Doctor, Businessman
All categories are mutually exclusive. Therefore, one cannot rank these .Nominal data results from qualitative variables.
The information that can be generated from nominal scaling is to calculate the percentages and frequencies. For eg. If we
interviewed 200 students in a campus, and assigned a code 1 to all male and code 2 to all female students, then computer
analysis of data might reveal that 150 were male and 50 were female. This frequency distribution tells us that 75% of
respodents are male and 25% are female. Nominal scale tells us nothing more than basic information. Chi-Square test is
the most common test applicable to nominal data.
Ordinal Scale: A scale is ordinal when objects can be assigned order on some characteristics but they cannot be assigned
values that represent degree of difference on that characteristic.This scale applies to data which can be ranked according
to value but cannot be given a particular numerical value which actually is descriptive of the data. For example, one can
rank drinks (coca-cola, tea, coffee, soda water, mineral water) in order of his or her preference from most to least
preferred.
Eg.Rank the occupations
Jobs Rank of social status
 Manager …………………….
 Doctor ……………………
 Engineer …………………..
 Professor …………………..
 Lawyer …………………..
The most common usage of ordinal scale is in obtaining preference measurements and provides more information
than the nominal scale. In ordinal scale, median is an appropriate measure of central tendency. Percentile and quartile
analysis are used for measuring dispersion. In most cases, rank-order correlations can be used.To these data, non-
parametric tests can be used.
Interval Scale:This scale assumes that the data have equal intervals. For eg. There are five persons who are all one
year apart in age. Ram, Shyam, Hari and Gopal are 4, 3, 2, 1 year older than Krishna. The important point is that we
cannot say that Ram is twice as old as Hari and four times older than Gopal.The reason is that we do not know what is
the age of the youngest person Krishna. The numbers of interval scale tell both position and distance. Thus, the
interval scale not only groups individuals according to certain categories and taps the order of these groups, it also
measures the magnitude of the differences in the performances among the individuals. So it is more powerful than the
nominal and ordinal scale.
Ratio Scale: The ratio scale is the most powerful of the four scales because it has an absolute zero origin and
subsumes all the properties of the other three scales.This allows the researcher to calculate the ratio of difference
between the age of the individuals. For instance, one can say that the boy who is 8 years old is twice as old as the boy
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who is 4 years old.Some example of ratio scales are actual age, income,the number of organizations an individual has
worked for.
Eg. How many children do you have? …………………….
How is your annual household income? …………………….
How long have you lived in Dharan? …………………….
Ratio scales are found more commonly in physical sciences than in the social science. Measurements of weight,
length, time intervals, area, velocity etc are ratio scale. Various types of statistical analysis and mathematical
operations such as geometrical mean harmonic mean ,coefficient of variation etc. can be done on ratio data.
Attitude Measurement:
An attitude is defined as a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favourable or disfavourable manner with
respect to a given object. An attitude is a point of view about a situation. People have certain feelings, perceptions and
behaviour towards other things, people ,places, and times. Thus attitudes are expressions of our overt feelings about or
towards an object, person, issue, event or behaviour. The reason for measuring such attitudes is to gain an
understanding of the reasons why people behave the way they do.Social scientists and researchers frequently desire to
know and measure people’s attitudes. These attitudes are measured by attitude scale.
Scaling is the branch of measurement that involves the construction of an instrument that associates qualitative
constructs with quantitative units. In short, the scales used in attitude measurement converts the qualitative data into
quantitative measures.There are three basic approaches to constructing a scale:
 Select a scale that has been previously developed and tested by other researchers.
 Develop a scale by either modifying an existing one or introducing a new set of items.
 Develop a new scale that is valid.Such construction of scale involves following steps;
1. Specify domain of the construct
2. Generate sample of items
3. Collect data
4. Purify measure
5. Assess reliability
6. Assess validity
7. Develop norms
Components of an attitude:
There are three components of an attitude which combine together to form an image of the object in the mind of
people;
Affective: This measures the feelings or emotions that people have towards an object.This component of an attitude is
related to the measurement of people’s like or dislike for a particular object.
Cognitive: This component measures the knowledge and beliefs.This is mainly related to the thoughts that people
have about the object.
Behavioural: This component measures predispositions to action, intentions and behavioural expectations.
Techniques of measurement:
There are four different mechanisms for measuring attitudes;
 Ranking: A task is given to the respondence to rank order over a small number of objects in overall
performance on the basis of some characteristics. After ranking, researcher builds idea about the attitude of
respondence towards the subject of interest.
 Rating: It asks the respondents to estimate the magnitude of a characteristic or quality that an object
possesses.
 Sorting: It might present the respondent with several concepts typed on cards and require that the
respondent arrange the cards into a number of piles or otherwise classify the concepts.
 Choice: It means the selection of a preferred alternative from two or more alternatives.
Construction of Attitude Scale:
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Based on the basic principles used in scaling techniques, researchers in business and social sciences have developed
several different types of scaling. A few examples of attitude scale measurement which are commonly used in business
research are as follows;
Likert Scale: Likert-type scales, also referred to as the summated ratings, are extremely popular means for measuring
attitudes.This is a self-report technique for attitude measurement in which the subjects are asked to indicate their degree of
agreement or disagreement with each of a number of statements. Respondents are asked to express agreement or
disagreement in a five-point scale. Respondents indicate their own attitudes by checking how strongly they agree or
disagree with statements. A subject’s attitude score is the total obtained by summing over the items in the scale.The
following table shows the items in a Likert scale to measure management problems in an organization.
Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree
My job is like a 1 2 3 4 5
hobby to me
I am often bored 1 2 3 4 5
with any job.
When an individual responds to these statements, he or she expresses his or her attitudes on a scale of 1 to 5. Each degree
of agreement is given a numerical value from one to five, with 5 being in strong agreement of the statements. These scales
can be arranged with many other similar items. Thus, a total numerical value can be calculated from all the responses.
When the items all are summed, the total number is an indication of some general attitude.
Construction of Likert Scale
 The investigator assembles a large number of items considered relevant to the attitude being investigated and are
either clearly favourable or unfavourable.
 The scale assumes that each of the items measures the same underlying attitude.
 These items are administered to a group of subjects representative of those with whom the questionnaire is to be
used.
 The responses to the various items are scored in such a way that a response indicative of the most favourable
attitude is given the highest score.
 Each individual’s total score is computed by adding his or her item score.
 The responses are analyzed to determine which items differentiate most clearly between the highest and lowest
qualities of total score.
 Any items that do not correlate with the total test score are eliminated from the scale.
 The items which differentiate best are used to form a scale.
 The items to be included in the final test are determined by analyzing the results of the pretest.

Semantic Differential Scale: Semantic differential scale is a type of survey question where respondents are asked to rate
their opinion on a linear scale between two points, typically with seven levels. Rating is done on bipolar scales defined
with contrasting adjectives at each end. This scale can be used to measure respondents attitudes and reactions toward
objects. A series of seven-point bipolar rating scales are constructed.Bipolar adjectives anchor both ends of the scale.
Eg. Please rate your supervisor on the following dimensions
Cooperative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Non-cooperative
Construction of Semantic differential scale
 Respondents are given a group of these scales and asked to check on each one point that indicates their opinion of
the subject in question.
 Each scale consists of two opposing adjectives, such as good/bad, happy/unhappy etc. which are separated by a
continuum divided into seven segments.
 It begins with the determination of a concept to be rated.
 The mean is computed and plotted as a profile or image.
 The person’s attitude would be the sum of the numbers corresponding to the positions checked on the individual
subscales (or average )
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Different formats of semantic differential scales:

Good - - - - - - - Bad
Harmful- - - - - - - Beneficial
Passive - - - - - - - Active
Stapel Scale: Stapel scale is a modified and simplified version of the semantic differential. The standard staple is
unipolar, 10-interval rating scale with values ranging from +5 to -5.However, any number of value can be used and they
can be all positive i.e.1 to 10. The staple scale places a single adjective in the center of an even number of numerical
values. It measures how close to or how distant from the adjective a given stimulus is perceived to be. The staple scale
produces results similar to the semantic differential and results can be analyzed in the same way.This scale can also be
administered over the telephone.
Eg.Select a plus number for words that you think describes the bank accurately.The more accurately you think the word
describes the bank, the larger the plus number you should choose. Select a minus number for words you think do not
describe the bank accurately. The less accurately you think the word describes the bank the larger minus number you
should choose.
+5 +4 +3 +2 +1 friendly staff -1 -2 -3 -4 -5

+5 +4 +3 +2 +1 Reasonable loan rates -1 -2 -3 -4 -5

Graphic and Itemized Rating Scales: In graphic rating scales, respondents are requested to select any one point in the
graph from a limited numbers.For eg. On scale of 0 to 10 how do you rate your departmental head?

Excellent All right Very bad

But in Itemized rating scale, rater select one of the limited numbers of categories that are ordered in terms of their scale
positions. Eg.How well is the new distribution channel working?
1 2 3
Not at all Some what Very much

Rank Order Rating scales: In this scale respondents are requested to rank order their preferences from most preferred to
least preferred. The rank order method requires the respondent to rank a set of objects according to some criterion. This
approach is purely comparative in nature.
Eg. Based upon test, rank the noodles by giving 1 rank to most preferable and 5 rank to least preferable
Noodles: Mayoj Wai-Wai Gol Mol Ra-Ra Ruchi
Rank: - - - - -

Numerical Scales: A numerical scale is an attitude rating scale very similar to a semantic differential scale except that it
uses numbers instead of verbal descriptions as response options to identify response positions.If the scale items have five
response positions, the scale is called a 5 –point numerical scale; if 7 response positions then is called 7-point numerical
scale and so on.
Eg. Extremely favourable 5 4 3 2 1 Extremely unfavourable

Payment system -----------

Working environment -----------
Team work -----------
Inter-departmental cooperation -----------
Other simple scale: Other frequently used scales are as follows:
i)Simple category questions: A simple category question is generally a YES / NO question.
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Eg. Do you perform the works as per company policy?

I) Yes II) No
ii) Multiple Choice questions: The multiple choice question consists of three or more exhaustive, mutually exclusive
categories. Multiple choice questions can ask for single or multiple answers.
Eg. Which biscuit do you like most?
a)Nebico Glucose
b)Hulas Glucose
c)Parle G Glucose
d)Other, please specify
For this type of question, it is important to consider including an ‘other’ category because there may be other particular
type of biscuit that we might have liked.
iii)Open-ended Questions: The open-ended question seems to explore the qualitative, in depth aspects of a particular topic
or issue. It gives a person the chance to respond in detail.
Eg. In your opinion what is the quality level of education provided by T.U.?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
iv)Demographic Questions:Demographic questions are integral part of any questionnaire. They are used to identify the
characteristics such as age, gender, income, race, geographical place of residence, number of childrens, and so on. It helps
us to clarify the difference between different categories of respondents.

Characteristics of a scale or good measuring:

A good scale has to have certain desirable qualities to judge their goodness in measuring the characteristics under study.A
good scale should be reliable and valid.
Reliability: A scale is said to be reliable when it gives the same measurements under similar-conditions. For example, an
economic status scale is reliable only if two persons with apparently same economic status show the same scores.
Reliability means dependability, stability, consistency, predictability and accuracy of the scale used. There are different
definitions of reliability, they are-
i)If we measure the same set of objects again and again with the same or comparable measuring instruments and we get
the same or similar results, the measurement is reliable.
ii)Reliability means measures obtained from a measuring instrument i.e. the true measures of the property measured. This
definition implies the accuracy of the scale.
iii) Reliability means absence of errors of a measurement in a measuring instrument. This definition helps to solve both
the theoretical and practical problems associated in the definition of reliability.
Tests of Reliability:
The methods used to test the reliability of a scale are:
i)Test-Retest method: In this method, the same test is given to the same people after a period of time. The essential
condition is that the same instrument is used under as nearly equivalent conditions as possible. The results of the two tests
are then compared and the degree of correspondence is determined. The reliability of the test (instrument) can be
estimated by examining the consistency of the responses between the two tests. If we obtain the same results on the two
administration of the instrument, then the reliability coefficient will be 1. A test-retest reliability of -1 means that those
that scored highly on the first administration and scored poorly on the second administration and vice versa. A test-retest
reliability of 0 means that there was no correlation between the first and second administration.
ii)Alternative-Parallel Form Reliability: According to this method, two forms of a scale (alternate and parallel) are
constructed and are administrated to the same population.If the results obtained by two methods show high degree of
silmilarity then the scale is considered reliable. The correlation coefficient in this case is called self-correlation and
indicates the degree of equivalence of the two forms of a test.
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iii)Split-Half Reliability:Here, the test is first divided into two equivalently halves and the correlation coefficients are
calculated for these half tests.This correlation is also called ‘split-half’ or ‘odd-even’ correlation, from which a reliability
(consistency) coefficient for the entire test may be estimated by the Spearman-Brown formula.
Validity:Validity indicates the degree to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure. That is a scale is
said to be valid when it correctly measures what it is expected to measure. There are three types of validity.
a)Content Validity: Content validity is the extent to which a measuring instruments provides adequate coverage of the
topic under study. It is basically judgmental. It is a qualitative measure of validity. It cannot be quantified with statistical
methods. The two most commonly used methods of content validation involves the use of logical and personal judgments
of groups of experts in the field. Content is the most common form of validation in applied research. For
example,Consider a series of questions that serve as indicators of employee dissatisfaction (don’t feel like going to office,
lost interest in work etc). If there were other kinds of common behaviours that make a person as dissatisfied that were not
included in the questionnaire ,then the questionnaire would have low content validity since it did not adequately represent
all facets of concept.
b)Construct validity: Construct validity seeks agreement between a theoretical concept and a specific measuring
procedure. The essence of this validity is its dependence on a theory and the examination of observed association is a test
of the theory as valid scale. Construct validity can be broken down into two sub-categories, convergent validity and
discriminate validity. Convergent validity is established when the scores obtained by two different instruments measuring
the same concept are highly correlated. Discriminate validity is the lack of a relationship among measures which
theoretically should not be related. It is established when ,based on theory, two variables are predicted to be uncorrelated
and the scores obtained by measuring them are indeed empirically found to be uncorrelated.
c)Criterion-Related Validity: Criterion-related validity is used to demonstrate the accuracy of a measure by comparing it
with another measure which has been demonstrated to be valid. This validity is established when the measure
differentiates individuals on a criterion it is expected to predict. The methods of assessing criterion-related validity are:
concurrent validity and predictive validity.
Concurrent validity is the extent to which one measure of variable can be used to estimate an individual’s current
score on a different measure of the same or a closely related variable.It involves assessing the extent to which the obtained
score may be used to estimate an individual’s present standing with respect to some other variable. Predictive validity is
the extent to which an individual’s future level on some variable can be predicted by his or her performance on a current
measurement of the same or a different variable. This validity involves assessing the extent to which the obtained score
may be used to estimate an individual’s future standing with respect to the criterion variable. Regression analysis can be
applied to establish criterion validity. An independent variable could be used as a predictor variable and a dependent
variable, the criterion variable. The correlation coefficient between them is called validity coefficient.
Problems in Measurement:
There are several factors, which lead to problems in measurement. These errors are mailnly respondent-related and
instrument-related or questionnaire-related.
Respondent-associated errors:
 Respondents may not understand the question. Under such circumstances, answer are likely to be given that do
not relate to the problem under investigation.
 Respondents may understand the question, may wish to answer, but may not remember the necessary information.
 Respondents may understand the question, have the information, yet be reluctant to give it, sometimes, personal
information must be obtained and the tendency may be to refuse to answer.
 Respondents may understand the question, may wish to answer but be unable to give it due to situations i)
Respondents may lack the the facility for expressing themselves or ii) the question may be asked of the wrong
people.
Instrument-associated Error: Instrument-associated errors are caused by faults in questionnaires rather than the
respondent. These errors are as follows
 Excessive length or monotony that bores and tires respondent
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 Ambiguous instructions on what is wanted or the terms in which the respondent is to respond.
 Poor choice of wording, in terms of the meaning that the research intended to convey or the terms of the
respondent’s vocabulary or concepts of words.
 Erratic or tactless sequence of questions.
 Excessive plumbing of memory or mental gymnastics entailed.
Sample and sampling:
A selection taken from a large group so that it can be examined to find out something about the large group is generally
considered to be sample. In many cases it is practically not possible to include all units of the populations for
investigations. Therefore, few of the population units have to be selected as a representative of the whole population. The
few selected units of the population is called sample.
Sampling is the process of obtaining data/information about an entire population by examining only a part of it
and the method of selecting the sample is called sampling technique or sampling design. Sampling design or strategy is
the way in which we design our sample plan and select our samples from the population. In designing a sample, we must
consider three things ; sampling frame, selection of sampling items and sample size.
Sampling frame: sampling frame is the list identifying each unit in the study population. All the elements in a sampling
population constitute its sampling frame.
Sampling items or unit: It is an element of our study that becomes the basis for selecting sample.
Sample size: The number of units in the sample is known as sample size, it should be determined.
Sample statistics: Sample statistics are the information obtained from the respondents selected for our study. Sample
statistics become the basis of estimating the prevalence of the characteristics in the study population.
Population parameters: Population parameters are the characteristics of the population estimated from the sample
statistics.

Objectives of sampling:
 To produce results at a relatively faster speed
 To obtain information when population contain infinitely many members and census is impossible.
 To economize money, time and effort.
 To make more logical when all the units of a domain are alike.
Steps to be followed in sampling or sampling process:
The steps to be followed in sampling are as follows;
Step I Define the population
Step II Specify the sampling frame
Step III Specify sampling unit
Step IV Selection of sampling method
Step V Determine of the sample size
Step VI Specify the sampling plan
Step VII Select the sample

Define the population: Population has to be defined in conjunction with the purpose of the study, Population is defined in
terms of
-Content (For example: all persons)
-Units (For example: family units)
-Extend (For example: the area covered)
-Time (For example: the calendar year)
Specify the sampling frame: A sampling frame is a means of accounting for all elements in the population. Once the
population is clearly identified, we can obtain a complete, accurate and up-to-date list of all the units in the population.
 P a g e | 32

Specify the sampling Unit: The sampling unit is the basic unit containing the elements of the population to be sampled.The
sampling unit selected is often dependent upon the sampling frame.
Selection of sampling method: The sampling method is the way the sample units are selected. There are several methods
or techniques of selecting samples.
Determination of the sample size: The size of the sample is an important factor to be considered in sampling. This is
because, the size has a direct bearing upon accuracy of estimation, cost and administration of the survey. Though, large
samples give smaller standard errors, they are, generally, difficult to manage. On the other hand, small samples tend to
give higher standard error but avoid unnecessary expenses. Therefore, an optimum sample size is required.
Specify Sampling Plan: The sampling plan involves the specification of how each of the decisions made thus far is to be
implemented.
Select the sample: The final step in the sampling process is the actual selection of the sample elements. Samples which
should represent all the elements of population are selected in such a way that they achieve the objectives of research.
Types of Sampling:
There are several methods of sampling, all these methods are categorized into two parts, they are , probability sampling
and non-probability sampling.
a)Probability sampling: Probability sampling is also known as random sampling since each unit of the population has
certain chance of being included in the sample.The advantage of probability sampling is that sampling error can be
calculated. Sampling error is the degree to which a sample might differ from the population.
i)Simple Random Sampling: It is the technique in which sample is so drawn that each and every unit in the population has
an equal and independent chance of being included in the sample. It may be simple random sampling with replacement or
without replacement. The selection can be made by 1) Lottery method 2)Use of table of random number.
1)Lottery method: Firstly we identify or mark each and every units of the population with a distinct number which is
recorded in a slip and then we put the slips in a bag and select the desired number of slips randomly as we need in sample.
2)Use of Table of Random numbers: Lottery method is quite time consuming if the population size is large. In this case we
can use this method. We have some random number tables such as “Tippet’s” random number table, “Fisher and Yates
Table” etc. These table are constructed by the digits 0,1,2,……9 with approximately the same frequency and
independently of each other. If we have to select a sample from a population of size N≤ 99 then we select items by taking
from 00 to 99 or by taking first two digits only and for population size N ≤ 999, we take first three digits etc.
ii)Stratified Sampling: If the population is heterogeneous with respect to variables or characteristics under study then we
divide the items of population into different homogeneous subgroups called strata. The strata should be non-overlapping
and sample is drawn independently from each subgroup. When stratified sampling design is to be employed, there are
three key questions which have to be addressed.
 The bases of stratification.(What characteristics should be used in strata?)
 The number of strata.(How many strata should be constructed ?)
 Sample size within strata (How many observations should be taken in each stratum?)
iii) Cluster Sampling: In this sampling the total population is divided into some sub-divisions, may not be homogeneous,
which are termed as clusters and then we take desired number of clusters by simple random sampling technique. We then
observe, measure and interview each and every unit in the selected clusters. The basic consideration of forming clusters
are
 Clusters should be as small as possible.
 The number of sampling units in each cluster should be approximately same.
iv)Multi stage cluster sampling: In this sampling ,we select sample in different stages. Firstly we select cluster (Say
village selection) after then we select some units of cluster from the selected cluster (say households selection) and finally
particular element (say person selection). The methods of selection in all stages should be simple random techniques.

(I) District (II) Village (III) n-Households

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v) Systematic Sampling: When the population size is larger it becomes very tiresome to use tables of random numbers to
select the sample. This sampling method involves the random selection of the first item and then the selection of a sample
item at every kth interval. The interval ‘k’ is fixed by dividing the population size (N) by sample size (n).Here we take a
random number between 1 and k, which determines the first member for the sample. Selecting every kth member after the
random start and doing this n-1 times determines the remaining n-1 members of the sample.
b)Non-probability sampling: Nonprobability sampling is described as those samples, which are not determined by
chance, but rather by personal convenience or judgment of the researcher. There is potential for bias in nonprobability
sampling . Some methods of nonprobability sampling are as follows;
i)Convenience Sampling: In this sampling interviewers will decide the choice of sampling units based on their
convenience. In most of the situations ● the sampling units may not be homogeneous ●many respondents will not fill
questionnaires ●some respondents will not cooperate in filling questionnaires etc. In these cases there will not be better
accuracy in terms of confidence level of result whatever may be the sampling techniques. To overcome such difficulties
this sampling method is used.
ii)Judgment sampling: It is a non-probability sampling in which the sampling units are selected on the advice of some
expert or by the intuition or opinion of the researcher itself. In the first stage, an expert who is familiar with the sampling
frame guides the researcher in selecting the sampling units and in second stage researcher applies his/her judgment in
selecting the units from the sampling frame.
iii)Snowball sampling: The snowball sampling is familiar to multi-stage sampling. Firstly certain number of sampling
units (respondents) are randomly selected and later, additional sample units are selected based on selected units. This
means that the initially selected respondents provide addresses of additional respondents for the interviewers.
iv)Quota sampling: The quota sampling is a non-probability sampling in which the population is classified into a number
of groups based on some criterion, say age of the members of the population, viz, old age, middle age and young age. Let
the proportion of old age is 20% ,middle age 50% and young age 30% then to select a sample of n units we select 0.2n,
0.5n and 0.3n individuals from old age, middle age and young age respectively by non- probability sampling technique
such as convenience sampling or judgment sampling. It may be biased because sample units are selected by personal
beliefs and willing of investigators.
Sampling and Non sampling errors:
A sampling error is the error, which is made in selecting samples that are not representative of the population.
This error is the difference between the sample value and the true value of the population mean. Since it is practically
impossible for a smaller segment of the population to be exactly representative of the population, some degree of
sampling error will be present whatever we select a sample. Increasing the size of the sample can reduce sampling error.
The error can be completely eliminated by increasing the sample to include every item in the population.
Non-sampling error is everything else besides the sampling errors that can inject inaccuracies and bias into the
results of a study. These errors include:
 Inaccurate reporting by the respondent such as biased guess, inaccurate memory, poor recall etc.
 Actually lying by the respondents.
 Poor sampling design. For example, the inability to locate proper respondents due to poor instructions.
 Misinterpretation of question due to ambiguous wording.
Guidelines for minimizing non-sampling errors:
 Keep the sample survey as easy to execute as possible.
 Restrict the questionnaire to data essential to the main issue.
 Pre-test the questionnaire.
 Make an effort to minimize participant’s fatigue.
 Establish procedures for keeping both respondent and interviewer involved in the study.
 Don’t ask respondents questions they really cannot answer.
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Unit 5 Data Collection:

Data(Meaning):
Data can be defined as the values collected through record-keeping or polling, observing or measuring. More simply, data
is facts, texts or numbers that can be collected. Hence, data should not only be thought of as statistics or quantitative. It
may take many other forms, such as transcripts of interviews, maps, photographs and videotapes of social interaction.
There are three categories of data; Subjective vs objective, qualitative vs quantitative and primary vs secondary.Data are
basically two kinds they are facts and opinions.
Facts: Facts usually describe tangible things. In other words, facts measure anything that actually exists or has existed. A
fact is thus described as a thing done on actual occurrence, a piece of information presented as having objective reality.
For example, The distance between Kathmandu and pokhara is 200 kilometers.
Opinions: An opinion is a view or judgment formed in the mind about a particular matter, a belief stronger than
impression and less stronger than positive knowledge. For example; I believe there is life on Mars. Opinions are the result
of people’s attitude, intentions, knowledge and motives and reflect their perception about something- what they believe
about it and what those beliefs signify.
Sources of Data:
Depending upon the nature of the information required, data are collected either from primary or from secondary
sources or sometimes from both sources.
Primary Sources: Primary data is original data gathered by the researcher for the research project at hand. Thus primary
data are first hand data and are fresh and original in nature. These types of data are obtained in the survey and enquiry
conducted by government, some individuals, institutions, organizations, and and researches through surveys and
experiments. So primary sources include interviews, questionnaires, observations, or experiments. Primary data are
obtained by;
 Conducting informal interviews
 Administrating schedules.
 Administrating mailed questionnaires.
 Making field observations.
 Conducting experiments in the laboratories.
 Using simulation or theoretical mode.
Example: An investigator wants to study the salaries of teachers working in a campus.Then, the data collected for this
purpose by the investigator himself or with the help of his representative, are primary data.
Merits/ advantage of primary data:
 More accurate and reliable information can be obtained
 A wide area can be covered with extensive enquires.
 It minimizes the errors.
 Additional supplementary information about the informant’s personal characteristics and environments can also
be obtained which may be useful while interpreting results.
Demerits/ Disadvantage of primary data:
 There is lack of time and money while collecting primary data.
 There is high degree of non-response error from illiterate respondents.
 There is chances of getting unreliable data in some situations because of biasness of the enumerator.
 It may be difficult to reach to the field for collection of primary data.
 There may be lack of expertise and trained manpower for preparing questionnaire and collecting data.
Secondary Sources: The secondary data are the data that have already been collected for a similar purpose. They may be
either published or unpublished. Published data may be available in the reports, books and journals related to the subject
matter of the investigations. Unpublished data may be collected from agencies developed to such similar works by making
special request to them. Secondary data are often needed for comparison purpose, therefore in analytical studies and
literature reviews, the secondary data play important role in narrowing the research problem and justifying the conclusions
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to be drawn from the recent study. The degree of accuracy of this type of data is comparatively less than that of the
primary data.
Sources of Secondary data: The sources of secondary data are classified as follows;
Published Sources:
 Government report and publications.
 Reports and publications of international organization (INGOs) such as UNDP, ADB, UNESCO, World Bank etc.
 Publications of semi-government organization.
 Private publications.
Unpublished Sources:
 Records maintained by government offices.
 Records maintained by research institutions, research schools etc.
 Records updated by the department institution for their internal purpose.
 Records maintained by private organization such as school, bank, hospital etc.
Computerized databases:
Use of computerized databases also provide extensive information for the researcher. These databases can be further
classified as online (internet) or offline (CD-ROM or Disk). Searches on computer databases are quicker to perform and
enhances conveniences cost-effectiveness.
Advantage of Secondary Data:
 Secondary data can be gathered much more quickly than primary data.
 Secondary data are less costly to collect. They are available at little or no cost.
 Certain types of information may be available only from secondary sources. For example, the census information.
Disadvantages of secondary Data:
 Inappropriateness. Secondary data may not be appropriate in solving the particular problem because the
information may be out of date. Rapidly changing attitudes, opinions and demographic characteristics of the
population quickly make secondary data obsolete.
 Lack of standard classification: It becomes difficult to compare meaningfully distinctions and similarities
between responses or data gathered in two different studies.
 Significant difference in units of measurement: Different projects use different criteria of measurements. These are
often not comparable and usable for the present research purpose.
 Lack of accuracy: Much of secondary data suffers from this limitation. Secondary data may be inaccurate because
of sample errors made by the researcher who collected and published the information. Data also may have been
made inaccurate by deliberate attempts to manipulate them to suit the needs of the original research project.
Use of Secondary data: The uses of secondary data are as follows;
i. For Reliability: Secondary data may be used to test the reliability of data collected by researcher. If the
primary data collected by the researcher and the secondary data are similar then the data collected by the
researcher is reliable.
ii. Supplement data: Secondary data are sometimes used to find the accuracy or inaccuracy of primary data. The
information collected by a researcher will be valid if the secondary information support them.
iii. Use of reference purpose: Before collecting information of any research, researcher should take reference of
secondary data to know the complete images of variables.
iv. For comparison: After collecting data, researcher should check the quality of data by comparing previous
data of similar projects.
Considerations For Data Collection:
The following criteria should be considered while making data-collection decisions;
 Cost
 Implementation time
 Availability
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 Response rate
 Technology available
 Sensitive questions
 Size and complexity
Methods of Collecting Primary Data:
Primary data are original data gathered by the researcher expressly to solve the problem under consideration. Such
data have not been previously collected or assimilated for any other projects. There are several ways of gathering primary
data. These data sources can be classified into three categories; questionnaire, interview and observation. For each of
these methods, there is a particular set of tasks to be performed. Different procedures should be followed depending on the
method of primary data collection used.
Questionnaire:
The main tool that is used in survey research is questionnaire. A questionnaire is a formal list of questions designed to
gather opinions from respondents on a given topic. Questionnaires collect data by asking people to respond to exactly the
same set of questions. The choice of questions will be influenced by the research questions and objectives and resources
available.
Questionnaire Design
A questionnaire can be designed to secure different types of primary data from the respondents such as intentions,
attitudes and opinions, activities or behaviour, and demographic characteristics. The keys to successful questionnaire
design are: order, wording, layout, length, and appearance. Good research is about asking the right people the right
questions, not much more and not much less. The questionnaire design that draws out accurate information, that can be
completed easily by the interviewer, that flows well, and that leaves the respondents feel satisfied for their worthwhile
participation in that research, can be described as an effective design.
i)Information Desired: We should make a plan for collecting only the necessary information from questionnaire.
Collecting unnecessary information may consume more of our time and resources and asking useless questions waste the
respondent’s time and may irritate them. We should also avoid questions that are too personal.
ii) Types and Form of Questions: Types of questions refers to whether the questions will be open-ended or closed. Form
of the questions refers to positively or negatively worded questions. The questionnaire should be laid out in such a way
that it is easy to read and responses are easy to fill it.
iii) Length: The length of the questions included in the questionnaire should be short. Long questions consume more time
of the respondents and may discourage the respondents to complete the questionnaire.
iv) Wording: The word used in the questions should not be ambiguous. To avoid ambiguity, we should use simple words
that are easily understood by people of any educational or cultural background.
v) Order: The related questions should be logically ordered. The sequence of questions can influence the results obtained.
Some general rules for ordering the questions are the following:
 Go from general to particular.
 Go from easy to difficult.
 Go from factual to abstract.
 Go from non-controversial to difficult ones.
 Start with closed format questions.
 Start with questions relevant to the main subject.
 Do not start with demographic or personal questions.
vi) Physical Appearance: In the questionnaire, the introductions, instructions, arrangement of questions, quality and size
of paper, quality of typing or printing, margins and spacing etc. should be attractive.
Principles of Questionnaire Writing:
Researcher should consider to certain guidelines while designing and administering the questions which are known as
principles of questionnaire. Major principles of questionnaire writing are given below:
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i)Clear and precise: A questionnaire designer should use those words and items that are more easily understood rather
than the words which are stressful and long.
ii) Use of natural and familiar language: Researcher should use simple and common language and should not use jargons
of the particular subject while designing questionnaire.
iii) Unbiased: Researcher should not use such words which show biasness. Use of the words like more, less, better, good
shows biasness of the researcher in the preparation of questionnaire.
iv) Avoid double-barreled questions: A double-barreled question combines two or more issues in a single question. Like:
Do you elicit information from parents and other teachers?. Such questions creates confusion in results. Thus, such
questions should not be included in the questionnaire.
v) State explicit alternatives: Whatever the alternatives are provided to the respondents, those alternatives must be clearly
express the views of the respondents. If the alternatives are not clear, it will be difficult to draw the results from the
responses. So, while providing alternatives in questions, they must be stated explicitly.
vi) Reliable and valid: The instruments that are used for collecting information must be valid and the results expected
from the survey should be similar to the actual results. It can be done through pilot survey.
vii) Length of the questionnaire: Respondents cannot give more time to researcher. So, unnecessary questions should be
avoided and only essential questions are to be included in the questionnaire.
viii) Match the objectives: Questionnaire should be designed in such a way that the researcher can obtain objectives of the
research through the analysis of responses collected. Thus, questions must match with the objectives of the research.
ix) Consider to participants: Researcher should decide participants before developing questionnaire. Structures and
languages of questionnaire depends on the quality and competence of participants. For example, if participants are top
level employees, words used in the question will be different than the words used for targeting lower level employees.
x) Pilot study and improving the questionnaire: Questionnaire should be finalized only after the incorporation of
suggestions of pilot study.
Contents or Components of Questionnaire Writing:
Parts of questionnaire are arranged in the following ways while preparing questionnaire;
a)Part incorporating explanatory information:
In this part, researcher provides information about the need of information, objective of collection of information, reasons
and guidelines for filling up the questionnaires. It helps to remove the confusions of the respondents and thus researcher
can collect quality information. Generally, researcher includes following information in this part while preparing
questionnaire;
 Introduction of researcher and research organization (if any)
 Main objective of research
 Guidelines to fill up the questionnaire
 Assurance of secrecy of responses provided by respondents
 Address to deliver the questionnaire
 Thanks for participating in the research work.
Example:
This study entitled expected training benefits and organizational commitment aims to see the impact of training benefits on organizations
commitment.This research is conducted as a partial fulfillment of BBA degree.
You have been selected as sample from the large population and your accurate response impacts on the result of research. Your responses will be
kept confidential and used only for purpose of this study. Your answers will be presented numerically and subjectively.
Please tick ‘√’ to the most appropriate option going through given questions and options.
I am pleased to you that you have provided time participating in this survey work and your response will be included in the research with due
importance. I am waiting for your answer. Yours
AnujShakya
Department Of Management, MMC Dharan
Phone: 98xxxxxxxx
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b)Main Part: It is a part which consists of number of questions and probable answers of those questions. In this part,
researcher enlists the questions for the collection of data with the purpose of solving the research problem.
Example:
i)Training is the regular activity of the organization
a)Fully agree….. b)Agree….. c)Undecided…… d)Disagree…….. e)Fully Disagree……
ii)Give your opinion on the effectiveness of training program provided by your organization.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
c)Part Incorporating personal information: This part usually covers socio-demographic variables. It facilitates to group
the answer of the respondents and study the pattern. These questions usually appear at the end of a survey questionnaire.
This part incorporates age, gender, education, marital status, family income, occupation, religion etc. Such information is
important to prepare profile of the respondents and determining significant differences between the different groups of
respondents.
Example:
Respondent’s Name (Optional): ……………………………………
Belonging Organization:………………………………………………...
Age: Less than 20yrs……… 20 to 30 yrs ……. More than 30 yrs……………
Qualification: More than Master level ……. Master level …… Bachelor level….. 12 class pass ….. SEE or under ……
Service tenure: Less than 5 yrs … 5 to 9 yrs …. 10 to 14 yrs … More than 14 yrs …..
Types Of Questionnaires:
The questionnaires can be commonly classified into two types: a) Self-administered b) Interviewer-administered. In self-
administered questionnaire, the answers of the questions are filled by respondents themselves, but in interviewer-
administered, the answers are filled by researcher or by any other interviewer after taking interview of the respondents.
Self-administered questionnaires:These types of questionnaire are again classified into three types:
i. Online Questionnaire: The on-line questionnaire is an electronic data collection tool, which allows can be directly
read and analyzed. If the target audience is relatively small and technically literate, the on-line questionnaire can
be useful as a stand-along research methodology. There are two basic types of on-line questionnaire, a)Form
questionnaire b)Interactive questionnaire. The form questionnaire is designed like a regular questionnaire, the
respondent completes each question and scrolls down to the bottom of the page. An interactive questionnaire is a
type where question are shown one at a time to respondents, who record their answers and are then presented with
a new question. There may be some problems in such questionnaire; first, identifying the initial sample base can
be difficult. Secondly, some e-mail may fail to be received due to incorrect e-mail address. Thirdly,
confidentiality issues are also associated with such system.
ii. Mail Questionnaire: In a mail questionnaire, researcher mail the questionnaires directly to the respondents. They
complete and return the questionnaire at their leisure. The questionnaire can cover a large population at a low
cost. Geographically, it can reach any area or place, where has a post office. There are no time constraints when
filling out the questionnaires and this gives the advantage of allowing the respondent time to consider his or her
answer. Another advantage is that it provides uniformity in the data collection. Interviewers usually do not ask
identical questions and respondents may feel more comfortable in filling a questionnaire out at their own choice
of time. The disadvantage of mail questionnaire is that those people who do respond may differ from the non-
respondents. This could reduce the validity of the questionnaire. The researcher would the ask what information is
this non-respondent group withholding. Another disadvantage of this questionnaire is that the respondents may
not understand some of the questions correctly. The only way to minimized this problem is by pre-testing the
questionnaire on a small sample of the population.
iii. Delivery and collection questionnaire: Here the researcher or his agent personally distributes the questionnaires to
the respondents and collect them after some time. The advantage of this method is that researcher personally
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know the respondents to whom the questionnaires were delivered. This form of questionnaire administration also
gives the opportunity to researcher to explain about any confusion in the mind of the respondent.
Interviewer-administrated questionnaire: These questionnaire are classified into two types:
I. Telephone questionnaire: In this questionnaire, researcher contacts the respondents and administers
questionnaires using the telephone. This method is little complex as compared to other methods in that it requires
our competence and ability to conduct interviews, ask questions, and properly record the responses in the blank
questionnaire forms. Proper wording of the questions and clear voice of the interviewer effect accurate
communication so that the respondent understands the question without ambiguity.
II. Structured Schedules: a schedule is a device consisting of a set of questions, which are asked and filled in by
interviewer in a face-to-face situation. This is a direct method of questionnaire administration. Following are the
features of a structured schedules:
a. The interviewer administers the schedule. The questions are asked to the respondent and the answers are noted
down.
b. The list of questions is a more formal document, the interviewer cannot change it.
c. The researcher, for appointments and for deciding the meeting places, contacts the respondents.
d. The interviewer can explain the questions, if the respondent fail to understand the question asked.
e. A formal briefing is done explaining all aspects of the research, using a detailed set of written instructions.
Pre-Testing or Pilot testing:
Pilot testing of questionnaire refers to the act of administering the questionnaire to a small group of sample so as
know that the respondents understand the questionnaire and questionnaire can collect intended information. Main aim of
pilot testing is to improve in the questionnaire so that questions can be modified and clarified. In pilot testing,
questionnaire is distributed to few respondents and asked to report the problems and inappropriate questions. As well pilot
testing evaluates the understanding of questions of the respondents and researcher improves in the wordings, sequences
and structure of the questions. It helps to make questions easier to understand to the respondents. Procedures of pilot
testing are as follows:
a. Selection of sample
b. Select the respondent for pilot survey
c. Asking to suggest
d. Administering the questionnaire
e. Check the indications
f. Modification
Questionnaire Administration:
Various methods can be used to approach to the respondents, send questionnaire and use of questionnaire. Questionnaire
can be administered personally or using surveyor. But the method of administration of questionnaire is decided by literacy
rate, confidentiality of information etc. If literacy rate is low, personal administration of questionnaire is better but if the
literacy is high, questionnaire can be administered by post or email. The researcher’s performance in questionnaire
administration can be measured with respect to following aspects:
a) Contact rate: A researcher requires contacting with the appropriate person for getting reliable information.
The more the contact rate, the higher the performance of the researcher.
b) Response rate: Non-response is also a great problem in the research. Ratio between the contact person and
number of response or answer is known as response rate. Low response rate decreases the reliability of the
research and findings of such research cannot be generalized. Thus, higher the response rate reflects the
higher performance of the researcher.
c) Completeness rate: Incomplete questionnaire returned to the researcher are useless for purpose of analysis.
The ratio of questionnaire obtained with the complete information is referred to completeness rate. If the
incomplete questionnaires are more, questionnaire administration is poor.
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d) Accuracy rate: Ratio of measurement of true value is known as accuracy rate. If the alternatives provided in
the questionnaire are not correct then such research does not reliable and accurate results and such
administration of questionnaire is considered as poor administration.
Advantages of a questionnaire:
 It is less expensive: Saves time, human and financial resources.
 It offers greater anonymity: As there is no face-to-face interaction between respondents and interviewer, this
method provides greater anonymity.
Disadvantages of a questionnaire:
 Application is limited: It can only be used to a study population that can read and write.
 Response rate is low: Questionnaires are notorious for their low response rates, people fail to return them.
 There is a self-selecting bias: Not everyone who receives a questionnaire returns it, so there is a self-selecting
bias.
 Opportunity to clarify issues is lacking: If respondents do not understand some questions, there is no opportunity
for them to have the meaning clarified.
 The response to a question may be influenced by the response to other questions.
Research Interview:
It is an important method of collecting primary data in research. It is a method where interviewer and interviewee
personally asks the questions and gives the answer. It is a medium of expressing internal interest, attitude and feelings.
Research interview refers to those interviews that are taken to meet the research objectives but all interviews are not
research interviews. Researcher asks questions on the issue of his or her interest and records the answers of respondents in
a paper or tape or videos in research interview. Research interview is always purposive and tries to collect the information
within the scope/area of research. Good research interview should possess following features:
 Questions should be purposive and in order.
 Interview should provide adequate time to interviewee so that appropriate information can be collected.
 Questions should be asked considering to the capacity of respondents.
 Interviewer should listen carefully to the respondents
 Interviewer should not give direction to the respondents.
Functions of Research Interview:
 It can serve as an exploratory device when a study is first being designed.
 Research interviews are used as a data collection instrument on the variables, which are being observed.
 Research interview is as a follow-up or as a supplement to the previous research findings.
Interview Schedules:
The interview research instrument is called an interview schedule. The schedule is a guideline which the interviewer
follows indicating which questions should be asked. The interview schedule can be classified as:
 Structured
 Unstructured
 Semi-structured
Structured Interview: The interviewer ticks appropriate answers on the structured interview schedule on which possible
answers are listed. The interviewer does not have the flexibility to change the questions, their formats, or order.
Unstructured Interview: The interviewer writes the responses of the interviewee either during the interview or after the
interview depending on the style of the interview. Unstructured interviews provide greater flexibility. Although the series
of questions to be asked and procedure to be followed are decided upon before hand, the interviewer is largely free to
arrange the form and timing of the questions. He or she can thus rephrase the questions, modify them and add some new
questions to his or her list.
Semi-structured Interview: The semi-structured interviews have the features of both the structured and unstructured
interviews. The researcher will have a tentative list of questions to be covered during the interview. However, these
questions may vary from interview to interview.
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Formats Of Interview Schedules:

There are three formats of interview schedules:
Structured Approach (Also called the fixed-alternative item interview)
Example: What factor does your company emphasize in the recruitment of employees?
i)Education career ii) Professional qualification iii) Potential ability iv) Work experience v) Personal qualities vi)
Other………
Unstructured Approach (Also called open-ended interview)
Example: Do you have any contacts with any members of the faculty outside of classes?
a.(If yes) How often is that?
What is the nature of your contacts (Social, counseling, and so on) ?
Are you generally satisfied with the amount of personal contacts you have with members of the faculty ?
b.(If no) What would you like to see done about it ?
Scale Item: This interview format uses a scale and asks the respondent to rank certain variable on a scale.
Example: How do you rate the Tribhuvan university central Library in relation to your need?

Terrible Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Very good Excellent

Principles and Guidelines for Interview:

Many things must be considered before the interview. Proper planning of the interview sites, respondent selection,
question selection and the type of interview are among the many aspects that demand proper preparation. The following
are basic interviewing principles and guidelines:
 Choose the setting. Ensure that the interviewees are comfortable.
 Explain the purpose of the interview
 Explain the terms of confidentiality
 Explain the format of the interview
 Indicate how long the interview usually takes
 Tell them how to get in touch with you later if they want to
 Ask them if they have any questions before you get started with the interview
 Ask for permission to record the interview
 Have integrity, be honest with the purpose of the interview
 Keep your opinions yourself.
Types Of Interview:
Research interview differs as per the structure of interview and objectives of the research. Generally, research interviews
are classified on the basis relationship between interviewer and interviewee. The most common classification of
interviews is: One-to-one and One-to-many. One-to-one interviews can be conducted either face-to-face or over the
telephone. The general practice is that most unstructured interviews are conducted face-to-face and mostly structured
interviews are conducted through telephone. The focus group interviews are example of one-to-many type of interviews.
Face-to-face interviews: Interview where interviewer talks to the respondents or asks the questions to the respondents
directly is known as personal or face to face interview. Personal interview is taken in the home of the respondents or place
of employment or in any other suitable places. This method is more applied when data is collected by applying survey
method. Interviewer can also collect information from no-verbal communication i.e. gestures and facial expressions. The
researcher should consider to the following points while using personal interview:
 Whether the personal interview is appropriate method for collecting data or not.
 It is expensive method. Thus, researcher should consider to the cost factor before applying it.
 Researcher should consider to the skill of interviewer.
 Researcher should consider to time limit. This method requires more time to collect data.
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 Researcher should consider to the biasness of surveyor. If surveyor is bias, they cannot collect appropriate and
reliable data.
Example:
 In- street interviewing
 Interviewing in colleges
 Interviewing in home
 In hall interviewing
 In office interviewing
Advantage:
i. It has possibility of clear answer.
ii. We can get information for non-communicating means ( by gestures and facial expressions)
iii. We can get detail information
iv. We may know the attitude of respondents.
Disadvantage:
i. Where more respondents are to be taken for the collection of data, personal interview method will be more costly
and time consuming. Thus it remains impracticable.
ii. Researcher should give training to the surveyor to reduce biasness which is very expensive.
iii. Respondents do not like to give interview to unknown person. Even they are ready, they may not provide real
information.

Telephonic Interview: In telephonic interviewing, the interviewer contacts respondents by telephone rather than by mail.
The questions asked are more or less of structured nature. The interviewer uses a structured interview schedule to be
administered. This type of interviewing is best suited when many respondents are to be researched over a wide
geographical area and the time available for interviews is very short. Because questions are asked verbally, the interviewer
must be careful about the use of words.
Advantages:
a. It is flexible
b. It takes less time , labour and cost
c. It is reliable method of data collection.
d. It has higher rate of response.
Disadvantages:
i. Researcher can conclude interview without providing pre-notice. Thus, there is chance of incomplete information.
ii. Researcher can understand many things from gesture and non-verbal cues but in this method that is not possible.
iii. Researcher cannot contact those who do not have telephone facilities. So the reliability of answer is questionable.
iv. Comprehensive answer requires various questions but more questions using telephone is not appropriate.
v. Chances of biasness of interviewer is high because they put biased questions to the respondent so as to develop
research results as intended.
Focus Group Interview: This interview pays attention on the experience of the informants and its possible effects. The
purpose of this interview is to focus on the certain issue and collect maximum information from the group of respondents
so that researcher can reach to the certain concrete conclusions. Generally interview is taken with the small group of 6 to 8
people. Focus groups have been extensively used in marketing research, in political campaigning and as part of public
policy and communications research.
Example:
 Assessing the impact of advertisements before going public.
 Developing community awareness to prevent HIV/AIDS.
 Investigating public attitudes and sensitivities towards growing unplanned urbanization in Nepal.
Observation:
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A method of collecting data where researcher observes, analyses and interprets the events or works personally is known as
observation. Researcher does not ask the questions but observes the events and keeps the record of important information
and facts. Besides, collecting data visually, observation involves listening, reading, smelling and touching. It provides
insight information about any product, subject or event which helps to understand about those product, subject and event.
This method is particularly suitable in studies which deal with those people who are not capable of giving verbal reports
or their feelings due to any reasons.
Methods or Types of Observation:
1.Structured and unstructured observation: When observation is made by characterizing style of recording the observed
information, standardized conditions of observation, definition of the units to be observed and selection of pertinent data
of observation then it is structured observation. When observation is done without any thought before observation then it
is known as unstructured observation.
2. Participative and non-participative observation: When the observer is a member of the group which he is observing
then it is participative observation. When observer is observing people without giving any information to them then it is
known as non-participant observation. In such observation, researcher watches the activities of the people without
involving their activities. For example; watching consumer’s buying behaviour sitting outside the shop.
3. Controlled and uncontrolled observation: When the observation takes place according to definite pre-arranged plan and
with experimental procedures then it is known as controlled observation. In this method, observer develops the plan for
observing the behaviour and undertakes the observation work. Generally, it is done in laboratories. When observation
takes place in natural condition then that is considered as uncontrolled observation. It is done to get spontaneous picture of
life and persons.
Advantage of observation System:
 Directness: One does not have to rely on reports but can obtain direct, first-hand information.
 Naturalness: It often permits the collection of data in typical behavioural situation.
 Limited demands: It requires less time of respondents than other methods.
 Simultaneous occurrence and recording: There is no necessary elapsed time between occurrence and recording of
the behaviour of interest.
 Completeness: Important data may emerge, which would otherwise have not been asked for or described by the
respondent.
Disadvantage of Observation System:
 Measurement of effort: ‘Posing’ may occur when it is known that behaviour is being observed.
 Unpredictability of occurrence: Some kinds of behaviour of interest occur only sporadically and are difficult to
time for observation.
 Privacy: Some kinds of behaviours are inaccessible to direct observation.
 Interpretive error: The margin of interpretive error is greater than in interviewing situations.
Data Analysis:
Data collected from different sources such as from primary and secondary, are evaluated and interpreted so as to achieve
the result. Such data are analyzed and interpreted using statistical, econometric and mathematical techniques which is
known as data analysis. First of all, raw data are to be arranged in a systematic order and they should be analyzed using
various statistical tools so as to reach the conclusion. Thus, data analysis is the process of gathering, arranging,
classifying, modeling and analyzing the data with the purpose of generating useful information.
Organizing and Preparing Data:
Data should be processed using specific techniques to draw the conclusion. Processing technique is used to make data
valid, simple and reliable. Data are, first of all, classified and grouped on the basis of its nature, quality and trends. To see
relationship between such data, data processing is essential. Data processing procedures are given below:
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Fig: Organizing and preparing Data

Editing Coding Classification Tabulation Summarizing of

data

Editing:
The process that detects errors in the raw data and rectifies the errors and simplifies to the act of coding is known as
editing. Especially, the data obtained from interview, observation and questionnaire should be edited. It ensures the
quality of the data. Sometimes respondents want to hide the real information or complete the questionnaire without
understanding them such data requires editing. For, example, in a questionnaire, a respondent may response as unmarried
in one question and may response having 2 children in another question. Then it is understood that the respondent is
married and needs to edit the data. Editing of data is made in field and in the office. They are known as field editing and
central editing respectively.
Objectives of editing:
 Accuracy of data
 Consistent with the intent of the questions and other information in the survey
 Data is uniformly entered
 Arrange to simplify coding and tabulation.
 It is complete
Criteria of editing:
Completeness: It is very common for a questionnaire to be returned with one or more specific questions unanswered.
Some questionnaires and interview schedules contain more missing data than others. This is known as item non-response.
The editors must decide what to do about such missing data either to be deleted or completed.
Consistency: Each questionnaire should be examined to determine if it is internally consistent. Respondents will
sometimes rush through questionnaires in an almost random manner. This tends to produce a number of inconsistent
responses. Such questionnaires should be examined carefully and deleted from the database if it appears that the
respondents were haphazard in completing them.
Accuracy: Accuracy of responses needs to be properly checked. It is sometimes possible to detect incorrect answers when
answers to two or more questions are inconsistent. The handling of such answers depends upon the nature of the
inconsistency.
Coding.
The act of assigning numbers or other symbols to the responses of respondents so that the responses can be grouped into a
limited number of categories is known as coding. Single code should be provided to similar information or data. Data
collected from observation techniques will not be similar and such unsystematic and different types of information should
be systematized. To systemized the data coding is essential. Nowadays, computer is used for coding of data. Instead of
entering the word male and female in response to a question that asks for the identification of one’s gender, we would use
numeric codes (for eg. 0 for male and 1 for female). Such process of providing 0 and 1 to male and female is known as
coding. Following rules are to be followed while coding:
 Coding should avoid unclarity and duality.
 All the codes used are to be defined
 Codes system should be developed while developing data collection design.
 Codes are to be recorded in code book
 It should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive.
Classification:
Classification refers to dividing of the data into different categories, classes, groups or heads. Analysis of data
requires that it be grouped into categories or classes. Classification becomes necessary when there is diversity in the data
collected for meaningful presentation and analysis. Hence, through classification, the complex and scattered data are
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organized into concise and logical forms. This allows us to make comparisons and generalizations. The rules of
classification are:
 Categories are set up according to research problem and purpose
 The categories are exhaustive
 The categories are mutually exclusive and independent
 Each category (variable) is derived from one classification principle
 Any categorization scheme must be on one level of discourse.
Tabulation:
Tabulation is the process of arranging data in a systematic manner into rows and columns. Rows are horizontal
arrangement and columns are vertical arrangement. It is the final step in collection and compilation of data. It is made to
simplify the presentation of data. It facilitates comparison between related information and facts.
Advantages of tabulation:
 Helps to make data easily understandable.
 Facilitates comparison.
 Saves time and energy.
 Avoids repetition.
 Can easily remember.
Main parts of a Table:
a. Number of the table
b. Title of the table
c. Column caption
d. Title of the row
e. Body of the table
f. Head note
g. Footnote
h. Sources.
Summarizing of Data:
Researcher, first of all, collects the raw data. Such raw data are edited, coded and classified into different groups. After all
these works, researcher presents the data in precise form so as to make easier for describing, analyzing and interpreting
the data is known as summarizing of data. Summary of data may be presented in the form of table, chart or in other form.
Data can be summarized in the following ways:
1) Presentation of data into Table.
a)Simple table
b)Complex table
i)Two way table
ii)Three way table
iii)Manifold table
2) Graphs and Charts
Types of Charts:
a) Bar Diagram
i) Simple bar diagram
ii) Sub-divided bar diagram
iii) Percentage bar diagram
iv) Multiple bar diagram
v) Pie chart
Types of Graphs
a) Time series graph
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b) Scattered diagram
c) Graphs presenting functional relationship
i) Linear relationship
ii) Non-linear relationship.
3) Statistical Techniques
a) Descriptive Statistics
i) Frequency
ii) Measurement of central tendency and dispersion
b) Inferential Statistics
i) Estimation statistics
(1) Confidence interval estimate
(2) Parameter estimation
ii) Hypothesis Testing
(1) Parametric test ( Z-test, t-test , F-test )
(2) Non-parametric test ( Chi-square test, Correlation, Regression Analysis, Time series Analysis)
Methods of Collecting Qualitative Data:
Qualitative data can be collected by following methods:
a)Depth Interview: Depth interviews are designed to find out underlying motives and desires. Depth interviews are taken
to explore needs, desires and feelings of respondents. Depth interview requires great skill on the part of the interviewer
and at the same time involve considerable time. Generally, participants are selected based on their experience, skill and
attributes so that they can give the response confining to the subject provided to them. It uses purposive sampling method
so that researcher can understand the analytical thinking and method of doing work. Interviewer also puts his opinion and
knowledge in the floor. It consumes more time to prepare for interview and analyze the opinion of the respondents. Open
questions are put in the interview and responses of respondents are recorded. Record of gesture and non-verbal
communication is also made. Steps to be followed in depth interview are;
 Formulating plan to conduct depth interview
 Determining the respondents based on their experience
 Preparing guidelines to take interviews of all types of respondents
 Providing introduction own self
 Taking interview and recording them
 Analyzing the data
 Preparing report
b)Focus Group Interview: This interview pays attention on the experience of the informants and its possible effects. The
purpose of this interview is to focus on the certain issue and collect maximum information from the group of respondents
so that researcher can reach to the certain concrete conclusions. Generally interview is taken with the small group of 6 to 8
people. Focus groups have been extensively used in marketing research, in political campaigning and as part of public
policy and communications research. It is more suitable for gathering information about specific issues particularly to
know the inner feelings and emotional attitudes of participants. The interviewer does not interfere often in the discussion,
he interferes when the discussion is derailed from the track to bring the discussion back to the main issue. Generally, such
discussion is recorded using tape recorder, videos etc. and time period of focus group discussion is 1 ½ hours to 2 hours. It
can be conducted using different methods:
 Telephone focus group
 Online focus group discussion
 Video-conferencing focus group discussion
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Analysis of Qualitative Data:

Data, which is expressed in subjective way or in language but not in numbers and collected through observation, is known
as qualitative data. Generally, qualitative data are collected from open ended questions or observation. The steps used in
process of analyzing the qualitative data are as follows:
a. Data reduction: Data are collected at first in large numbers. The inter-related data should be integrated and non-
related data is to be removed to reduce the data. Data can be reduced through tabulation, categorization, coding,
comparison, case analysis and integration.
b. Data display: Data are to be presented in a certain format for the integration of data. It helps to keep data in
condensed form so that data reduction and summarizing is possible. Data presentation is made preparing table,
figure, diagram and comparative matrix.
c. Drawing conclusions: The researcher should draw conclusions from the presentation and analysis of data. The
researcher should check biasness and reliability in data that reflects the reliability and validity of research.
Reliability can be increased taking feedback from external experts.
Methods of Analyzing Qualitative Data:
Qualitative data analysis is related to integration and classification of data and watching trend of the data. Some methods
of analyzing such data are as follows:
Content Analysis: Content analysis is a research technique for the systematic, objective and quantitative descriptions of
the content of data collected through interviews, questionnaires, schedules and other expression in written or verbal form.
It synthesizes the scattered information and data so that they can be analyzed and draw some information. The basic
method for content analysis is to organize notes by searching and determining exactly what type of information has been
collected. After deciding the main subjects to be included in the notes, these subjects should be listed and numbered. We
should then go back and reread the notes, placing numbers in the notes to indicate where these subjects can be found.
After then we should write a description about each of the subjects. These subject descriptions can be presented as a
summary of the data.
Features of Content Analysis: The content analysis has three important characteristics. These are as follows:
a. Objectivity: Analysis of content must be purposive and unbiased. All variables of content analysis must be
directed by certain method, rules and procedures. Researcher should, first of all, decide the method, rules and
process for the collection and classification of data and then he should collect and analyse the data so as to reduce
the impact of subjectivity or perception of the people.
b. Systematic: Content analysis should be logical and systematic. Data collected for content analysis are to be
classified on the basis of certain procedures or rules. Facts may be in favour of research issue or against it.
Researcher should analyse the data incorporating to both the types of data i.e. primary and secondary.
c. Generalizability: The findings drawn from the content analysis should be applicable in practice. The findings
should fit with a theoretical, empirical or applied context. Findings found from content analysis should be
applicable to large mass of the people or organizations.
Guidelines for Content Analysis: Following factors should be considered while conducting content analysis:
1. Clear operational definition of the units of analysis: The units that a researcher wants to analyze must be first
identified and defined clearly. Research questions must focus to such units. Such units should be operationalized.
Operationalize refers to define the concepts linking with theories.
2. Clear definition for the response category: Responses obtained from the respondents must be classified into
different groups and such groups must be able to present research objectives and they must be independent to
each other. Clear and appropriate classification is a pre-requisites for content analysis.
3. Analysis of material: Every material should be thoroughly observed and analyzed before developing categories of
data for content analysis. It will familiarize to the researcher with the data and information and helps to develop
categories. It helps to reduce surprise data and encountering with unfit data at the time of analyzing the
information or data.
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4. Decision on developing categories: First of all, researcher should decide about creation of classes of data. Such
classes of data must be independent. Researcher should consider to repetition of class, number of class and size of
classes. If classification contains repetition, large number and odd size of classes, it does not help to attain the
purpose of research. Thus, a researcher should take decision on developing categories.
5. Maintaining impartiality: Persons, who is involved in data collection, should not be involved in content analysis.
If the content analyst knows the purpose of study there is chances of biasness. Thus, a neutral person should be
used who does not know the purpose of content analysis while analyzing the content for the research work.
6. The validity of the content analysis should be assessed:The validity of the results of content analysis depends on
the materials analyzed. Researcher should put maximum effort to collect all the relevant materials. A content
analysis of a biased sample produces biased results.
Limitations of Content Analysis:
 Non-reliable result: All the information may not be collected so that such information may not represent to
the universe.
 Difficult to Categorize Data: Main base of content analysis is classification of responses into different
categories. But there is no any hard and fast rule for the classification of data.
 Difficult to get clear and appropriate information: Clear information is essential for content analysis. Surveyor
and various communication channel provides different types of information.
 Costly: Coding and decoding of data requires skilled manpower. Cost of skilled manpower is very high.
 Difficult to generalize: It is generally related to case analysis and other behaviour of particular group. It is
totally based on specific information obtained from specific group of people. So the results of content analysis
cannot be generalized.
Steps for Conducting Content Analysis:
i. Identify the essential data.
ii. Develop bases for tabulation.
iii. Develop bases for content analysis.
iv. Develop the layout for the construction of design.
v. Classify various variables into various groups.
vi. Establish procedures for the use of materials.
vii. Prepare outline of analysis and utilizing them.
Narrative Analysis:
A technique of recording and analyzing the information and subject based on the story of the respondents or people
related to an event or subject matter is known as narrative analysis. In this process, researcher requests to the respondents
to provide detail information related to a subject or events on the basis of observation or experience. There is no pre-
determined question and respondents are not asked to give the answers of the questions. Researcher may obtain narrative
data from response to open-ended question, the feedback from focus group, notes from field observation or the published
reports.
Elements of Narrative Analysis:
Narrative analysis contents the following elements:
1. Understanding Level: In narrative analysis, people tell the stories on the basis of experience about on a subject or
event. Thus, stories widen the understanding of people on such subjects or events.
2. Data collection: People exchange their stories in discussion, interview and focus group discussions. Such data can
be collected from the autobiography, individual letters and diaries and personal interviews.
3. Analysis: Data is analyzed with the close study of them. It can be analyzed by writing memo or summaries of the
stories.
4. People’s understanding over events: The analysis of contents, style, context and telling stories shows the people’s
understanding over any event or subjects, cultural context and their communities.
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5. Key actors and events: A key example of narrative is the autobiography or life history. In their bibliographies,
people identify key actors and key events that are often turning points. They include a variety of themes, some of
which, like belonging, remoteness, career and relations with others, are very common.
Steps for Narrative Analysis:
a. Obtaining data
b. Focusing on analysis of data obtained from autobiography, interview, focus group discussion etc
c. Codify data using sign or symbols to the classes of data
d. Identify the relationship among the various classes.

Thematic Analysis:
Theme refers to the main point or quality of a subject or event. A technique of qualitative data analysis that is used to
identify the major points of data, analyze them and prepare report is known as thematic analysis. Thematic analysis is a
work of searching theme of the data, event or subjects that is important for the description of the phenomenon.
Steps in Thematic Analysis:
The general steps in thematic analysis are explained as follows:
1. Reviewing the previous literature: The researcher should review the previous literatures related to concerned
subject or events for the thematic analysis. Such review helps to make familiar with the data. In this step,
researcher should translate, read and re-read the data and develop notes for various ideas found in the literature.
2. Generating initial codes: To collect the essential data, researcher should highlight the essential information or
data found in literature and prepare note of such data.
3. Searcher for themes: Researcher should identify the probable information. He should collect the codes and
essential data based on potential themes.
4. Reviewing themes: After collecting the themes, researcher should review the data and theme to find out whether
such theme is real or not.
5. Defining and naming themes: To process the theme, first of all, theme is to be defined clearly. Such themes
should be given name so that they can be easily identified.
6. Preparing report: Establish relationship of concept and their analysis with the literature review and research
questions.
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Unit 6: Writing Proposals and Project Reports

Topic selection:
A subject or issue or event, on which research is conducted, is known as research topic. Research can be conducted in
different events, activities and theories. Thus, topic of research concentrates on events, activities and theories. Generally,
researcher takes managerial problems, management theories or research topics of previous studies as research topic in
management research. Topic comes from unsolved problems like new product development or its marketing, role of
branding in sale of goods, policy formulation and their review, relationship of HR practices to performance etc. Research
topics can be selected from the following sources:
i. A researcher can select as topic to the problems of his/her own interest.
ii. Researcher finds out the research gap going through the books and previous research reports. Such gap is
considered as research topic.
iii. Researcher can take as research topic to the previous theories developed by various scholars so as to confirm the
results of the theories in the different contexts.
iv. Topic can be selected from the newspapers and articles. Articles and newspapers discuss the new methods and
ways in problem solving. Researcher can consider to the development of new instrument as research topic.
v. Researcher can select topic of research consulting to his/her supervisor in academic research but it is not good
way. It is better to select the topic on the basis of self study.
Factors to be Considered while Selecting Topic:
Researcher should consider to the following factors while selecting topics for research:
a. Brain storming: Researcher should, first of all, select few possible topics and have deep thinking over such topics
and should select better one.
b. Deep interest: Research is an irritating job. Thus, a researcher can complete research work in the topic or area
where he has keen interest. Deep interest makes research work more interesting and helps to complete the
research works in time.
c. Knowledge of general background: Researcher should take preliminary information about the research area and
issues. He has to find out whether the issue is researchable or not.
d. Worth: The issue whatever is selected as research topic must be valuable to the society or business sector. It must
be able to solve the burning issues of the society or business sector.
e. Manageable: The scope of the research topic should be manageable. If the scope of the research topic is vague
then such research cannot be completed. Topic must be manageable from the prospective of availability of time,
resource and data.
f. Flexible: The variable chosen for research should be changeable. Sometimes, it is necessary to change the
research variable due to pace of time or need of organization or availability of resources.
g. Make a list of keywords: After formulating research hypothesis, researcher should make a list of main words,
concepts and variables. Such key words help to collect further information and define the research topic.
Criteria of Good Research topic:
The research topic should be feasible, ensuring genuine interest of researcher and potentiality of enhancing understanding
of regarding the subject matter. Besides these major criterions some additional criterions are listed as follows:
i. It should express a relation between two or more variables.
ii. It should be stated clearly and unambiguously.
iii. Field of research must be the area of researcher’s interest and knowledge.
iv. Research topic must be practicable and manageable.
v. Variables included in the research topic should be defined and imply possibilities of empirical testing.
vi. Topic should cover the scope attainable within time, cost and knowledge.
vii. The topic should have easily attainable data source.
viii. The topic should match the career goal of researcher.
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ix. The topic should be from the area of interest.

x. The topic should contribute to the organization, society or business world.
Research Proposal:
The research proposal is a road map showing clearly the location from which a journey of research begin, the destination
to be reached and the methods of getting the destination. It provides the idea about the works to be done, how to do the
work, when to do and why to do the research and guesses the result of research in advance. It is a form of research design
which is the blueprint for conducting and controlling research work. It is also known as researcher plan or research
project. The research proposal serves as a means of communication between the researchers and other agencies or
stakeholders. It clearly states the methodology that will be used while conducting research. It means research proposal
clearly shows the data collection, analysis and interpretation methods. It also clarifies the scope of the research work. It
reflects the decision of researcher in the following area:
a. Selection of topic and specify the scope of research.
b. Methodology selected for conducting research.
c. Concept of research that a researcher wants to use while conducting research.
d. Data collection method and their validity and reliability.
e. Availability of data.
f. Probable problems and ethical issues in research.
Purposes or Functions of Research Proposal:
The purposes of research proposal are as follows:
1. To provide information: Researcher prepares proposal that provide information to the research committee which
evaluates and approves the research proposal. As well, researcher prepares research proposal to provide necessary
information to the funding agencies or sponsoring organizations.
2. To prepare plan: Proposal is a plan of research which explains about the purpose/objective, area, process and
estimated results of the research. It also makes easier to the work of research to be conducted in future.
3. To justify rational: Proposal is prepared to prove that the research is essential in the subject selected by the
researcher as topic. Such work increases the value of research.
4. To form base for contract: research should make contract with supervisor or university or college and funding
agencies before conducting research. Research proposal is a base for such contract. It provides macro information
about research to them and forms base to make contract.
5. To remind: Proposal reminds to the researcher about research objective, proposed methodology and research area.
Thus, it helps to the researcher to do the work being within the limit of research scope.
6. To inform research methodology: Researcher should use same methodology while conducting research included
in the research proposal. So, research proposal reminds to the researcher about the methodology so that researcher
do not violate the approved methodology.
Types of Research Proposal:
Internal and External Proposals:
Research proposals are prepared by the staffs and the experts. Employees of an organization prepare proposals to identify
problems and their analysis and interpretation as well to solve such problems. Such proposals prepared by employees are
known as internal proposal and the proposals prepared by experts to know the various elements/variables of the problem
or study over any subject rigorously is known as external proposal. The external proposals can further be divided into:
Solicited and Unsolicited proposals.
Solicited Proposals: It is a proposal that is prepared on the request of individual and organizations. In other words, a
proposal that is prepared on the request of sponsoring organization is known as solicited proposal. Generally, it
concentrates on identification of problem and objectives. It proposes the methodology to solve the problem. Solicited
proposal describes the problem in brief and overviews/reviews the objective of the research. Solicited proposal includes
the research design, qualification of researchers, time schedules, budget, essential resources etc. Sponsoring organizations
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determine the terms of references (TOR) while calling such proposals. Researcher should prepare proposal within the
limit of TOR.
Unsolicited Proposal: A proposal that is prepared by the researcher in his own interest not on the request of sponsoring
organization is known as unsolicited proposal. Researcher prepares the proposal and presents to the concerned
organization. These proposals lay greater emphasis on the problem statement and the research objectives. The methods
section of the proposal is elaborated and explained in greater detail. In addition, the qualification of the researcher, time-
schedule, budget and required resources are mentioned.
Academic Proposals: A proposal that is prepared to complete any academic degree is known as academic proposal. Such
proposal is prepared by the students of BBA, BBM, MBA, M.Phil, Ph.D. etc. The proposal may vary as per the need of
universities even though such proposal contains title of the research, background, statement of the problem, hypotheses,
research methodology, limitations of the study and references.
Structure/Components of Research Proposal:
Various information should be included in the proposal while preparing it. Design of the proposal may vary as per
objective and nature of the research. Even though, every proposal should follow certain design. The general outline of the
research proposal are as follows:
1. Title: Researcher should prepare appropriate title for the research. It should not be too long and too short. It
should reflect the entire subject matter of the research. Researcher should not use unnecessary words in title and
should be able to reflect the gist of the research. For Example: HR practices and organizational performance, brand
loyalty and demand of the product, effectiveness of VAT in Nepal.
2. Background of the study: It is the part of research proposal that provides general information about research title
in brief. Background of the study incorporates the following information:
 General information about the research title
 Relevant literature/reference materials in greater details.
 Reason of creating interest in this topic/issue
 Relevance/rational of the proposed study.
3. Objectives/Statement of the Problem: Main focus is given to the issue/problem in the research work because
research is conducted to so resolve such issues or problems. If the problems are vague and unclear, research
cannot give the answer of such problems. Example of problem: Do HR practices enhance performance of an
organization?
4. Theoretical framework: It develops the background for the statement of the problem. It clarifies the ways for the
study showing relationship between the variables under study.
5. Statement of Hypothesis: A declarative or clear statement that shows the relationship between the variables under
study is statement of hypothesis. Generally, researcher uses either research question or statement of hypothesis
while conducting research. The use of research question or hypothesis depends on research objective, research
design and nature of methodology and the audience of the research.
6. Definition of terminologies: Researcher should define the key terms used in research clearly and precisely. The
criteria used for operationalization of the concept should also be given in the proposal so that every one can
understand how these key terms can be measured.
7. Significance of the study: Researcher should include the relevance of the present study either that contributes to
the theory or helps to solve the problems of the society or enlighten the importance of methodological aspect of
the research.
8. Limitations of the study: The things or works which are not attempted by the researcher during the course of
conducting research is known as limitations of the study. It shows the area which is not attempted by the
researcher in this research work due to different reasons. For example: Larger sample is not taken because of time
and cost, Findings of the study may vary over time because of change in behaviour of people etc.
9. Research methodology: This title shows that how the researcher tackles the research problem in the future.
Researcher explains the activities which will be carried out by the researcher in the future while conducting
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research. This part shows which methods are used and why they are used in the research. This part of the proposal
includes the following topics:
a. Research Design: Researcher should clarify the research design that will be used to undertake the
research work in the future like either descriptive or historical or case study or ex-post facto etc.
Researcher should also give the reason why he uses any particular design, not other designs.
b. Population and sample: Researcher should clearly explain the area where research focuses and the sample
size and method of sampling. Researcher should decide the method of sample size determination, size of
sample and method of selecting sample.
c. Instruments: Researcher should explain the way of collecting primary and secondary data. For example,
researcher should decide whether to collect primary data using questionnaire or interview technique. As
well researcher should clear the instruments which are used in research and prove that such instruments
are valid and reliable.
d. Data collection strategy: Researcher should clearly state how they collect the data, the works that are
carried out to collect data and the time required to collect the data.
e. Analysis of data: Researcher should clearly explain the instruments that are used to test the hypothesis.
Researcher should also give the reasons of using such instruments in the analysis of data.
10. References: A list of literatures that is used while preparing proposal is to be prepared and listed at the end of the
proposal. Such list must be in alphabetical order. It includes published and unpublished literatures like books,
journals, theses ,newspapers, internet etc. Reference list is prepared based on the format developed by American
Psychology Association (APA) system in the academic sector of Nepal.
Project work:
The project work is an integral part of graduate and postgraduate programs in many universities. The students are required
to undertake fieldwork or project work on the approved topic. Students should spent a few weeks in the field to gather
information on the assigned topic using relevant instruments. The data thus gathered will have to be tabulated, analyzed,
synthesized and presented in the prescribed form. After data analysis, students have to write a research project report and
submit it for evaluation. This assignment is an off-the-classroom study project. It is an organized and data-based
investigation into a specific situation undertaken with the objective of gathering information that enables the student to
gain familiarity with the situation or reality and generate more knowledge about the phenomenon under investigation.
Purpose of Project Work:
The project work assignment has the following specific purposes:
i. Expose student to business or social reality by providing them the opportunity to get first-hand information and
actual knowledge about the working of an organization, a system or a situation.
ii. Promote student-centered learning by encouraging student to take the initiative to become self-directed learner
and critical thinker.
iii. Provide opportunity to student to work on those issues or problems, which are of particular interest to them.
iv. Develop interpersonal and communication skills by encouraging student to interact with the practitioners and
policy makers.
v. Develop data-processing and report-writing skills to explore, analyze and describe a business situation or social
phenomenon.
Research Reports:
Every research is conducted with certain purposes. The purpose may be to obtain details about event or subject,
solve the problem, developing new theories etc. A description is made after the completion of research work with specific
objectives including work procedures and result. Such description of research work is known as research report. Research
report provides information to the concerned parties regarding analysis of data and findings of the research work. In short,
research report presents the research findings and procedures to the concerned parties in scientific, systematic and well
managed way. It incorporates research objectives, various methodologies used in conducting research, research findings
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and the suggestions of the researcher to improve the deficiencies. A research report prepared by the students to complete
certain degree is known as thesis and the document prepared by the non-academic sector is known as report.
Different steps in Writing Report (Or Reporting Process)
The usual steps involved in writing report are as follows:
i. Logical analysis of subject matter: It is the first step which is primarily concerned with the development of a
subject. There are two ways in which to develop a subject a)Logically b) Chronologically.
The logical development is made on the basis of mental connections and associations between the one thing and
another by means of analysis. Logical treatment often consists in developing the material from the simple possible
to the most complex structures. Chronological development is based on a connection or sequence in time or
occurrence.
ii. Preparation of the final outline: Outline refers to the framework upon which long written works are constructed.
They are the tools to the logical presentation of the materials and a reminder of the points to be included in the
report.
iii. Preparation of the rough draft: This follows the logical analysis of the subject and the preparation of the final
outlines. In this stage, researcher will write down the procedures adopted by him in collecting the materials for his
study along with limitations faced by him, the technique of analysis adopted by him, the broad findings and
generalizations and the various suggestions he wants to offer regarding the problem.
iv. Rewriting and polishing the rough draft: Researcher tries to find out the weaknesses of the rough report. He has
to check the consistency of materials, layout ,the grammar, spelling and usage of language in the rough draft. He
has to improve those weaknesses if they exist as far as possible.
v. Preparation of the final bibliography: Bibliography is the list of the referred materials. It is a list of books,
articles, thesis and so on. The bibliography should be arranged alphabetically. A researcher should make the list
of bibliography in APA style.
vi. Writing the final draft: Finally, the researcher should prepare research report. It should be written in a concise
and objective style and in simple language, avoiding vague expressions.
Styles of Writing Research Report:
Report writing basically depends on individual art rather than in specified rules or style. Some basic guidelines of
writing report are as follows:
a. Clear writing: Researcher should use simple and clear words and sentences while writing report that helps to
understand report to the receiver easily. It is better to use short paragraph containing only one issue in one
paragraph. The words and sentences should expresses clearly the feelings of researcher wants to say. The report
must be written in same style and format from the beginning till the end.
b. Coincide with the study objectives: Main objective of research is to provide answer to the research questions
developed from research objectives. The report will be meaningless or worthless if it is not able to give answer of
the research questions.
c. Put concentration on grammar, spelling and terminology: Researcher should carefully check that the proper use
of grammar, spelling and terminologies.
d. Be selective: Researcher should not include everything what he knows. If unnecessary materials are incorporated
in the report then important material may be left. Thus, a researcher should make an appropriate judgment and put
the essential and important information only.
e. Be objective: Since subjective analysis may differ from individual to individual so Researcher should adopt
objective research method and analysis.
f. Draw conclusion: Conclusion refers to the decisions taken by the researcher based on findings of the research. In
academic research, drawing conclusions means developing new theories or justifying the same theory in the
different context.
Essentials of Good Research Report:
A good report must have the following qualities:
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1. Precision: The report writer should be clear about the purpose of writing report. It means that the report must
contain those things, which the writer is willing to describe. A report becomes a valuable document when it is
precise. Precision brings harmony and consistency to a report.
2. Accuracy of facts: Information obtained in a report must be based on accurate facts. Since, decisions are taken on
the basis of information, any inaccurate information will lead to wrong decision.
3. Relevancy: A good report should contain only the related and relevant information with the objectives. Irrelevant
information misleads the readers and concern authority.
4. Reader-Oriented: While drafting a report, it is necessary to keep in mind about the person who is going to read it.
That’s why, a good report is always reader oriented. Reader’s knowledge should not be influenced by the writer’s
emotion or goal.
5. Simple Language: A good report is written in a simple language avoiding vague and unclear words.
6. Conciseness: A good report should be concise (short) but it does not mean that a report can never be long. Rather,
it means that a good report is one that transmits maximum information with minimum words.
7. Grammatical accuracy: A good report is free from errors. Any faulty construction of a sentence may make its
meaning different to the reader’s mind.
8. Unbiased recommendation: Recommendation on report usually makes effect on reader’s mind. So, if
recommendations are made at the end of a report, they must be impartial and objective. They should come as
logical conclusion from investigation and analysis.
9. Clarity: Clarity depends on proper arrangement of facts. A good report is absolutely clear, define the sources,
state findings and finally make necessary recommendations.
10. Attractive presentation: Presentation of a report is also a quality of good report. A good report provides a catchy
and smart look that draws attention of the readers. Structures, context, language, typing and presentation style
should be attractive.
Contents or Components of Research Report:
Research report may vary as per the need and nature of research. So, there is no any fixed rule or format of research
report. Students have to prepare report in the format as prescribed by the university otherwise it may be rejected.
Generally, following format is used while writing research report

Preliminary Part Body of the Report Supplementary Section

1.Title page 1.Introduction 1.Reference materials

2.Recommendation Sheet 2.Review of Literatures or Bibliography
3.Viva-voice sheet 3.Research methodology 2.Appendix
4.Acknowledgement 4.Data presentation and
5.Executive summary/the synopsis Analysis.
6.Table of contents 5.Summary and Conclusion
7.List of tables and figures
8.Abbreviations and acronyms.
Preliminary part:
1.Title page: it is the first page of research report. It includes the following information:
i. Title of the research report/thesis
ii. Name of the researcher
iii. Name of the institution whom the report is submitted to.
iv. Degree for which the report is submitted
v. Name of the place and date when the report is submitted.
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Title should not be written in abbreviated form. Title must write in capital letters. All the information of this page is
centralized. First alphabet of all the information must be written in capital letter. All sentences must be in double space
and in pyramid style.
2. Recommendation Sheet: This sheet is to be attached to the thesis. It is prepared in the letter pad of the campus or
department/concerned institute. This page contains the signature of thesis supervisor, campus chief or department head
and head of the research department.
3. Viva-voice sheet: This sheet is prepared as per the format given by the campus/college. All the members of viva
committee puts signature after taking viva of the candidate after the acceptance of report.
4. Acknowledgement: First of all, researcher should write the selection procedures of research issues, purpose, a brief
background, scope, methodology and summary of the research work. After then, researcher also should thank to all those
who are directly or indirectly supported to him/her in preparing research report or thesis.
5. Executive summary/the synopsis: Executive summary is a summary of the total research work conducted by the
researcher. It is normally written on a separate page. It is a brief( one to two pages) overview of the research, it aims the
main conclusions. It is prepared after finishing the report writing virtually. In abstract, generally background of the study,
problem statement, research methods used for analysis and the major conclusions are included in logical order.
6. Table of contents: It is prepared in a separated page. It provides information about the layout of the report and provides
information about the placement of various heads and sub-heads and helps to locate materials within the report. All main
heads are written in capital letters and sub-heads in small letters. Each heads and sub-heads are followed by page
numbers.
7. List of Tables and Figures: Tables and figures are used in research report to present data or materials in appropriate,
concise and precise way. Every tables and figures must contain numbers. While providing numbers for tables and figures,
chapter number is written before decimal and table tables or figure number is written after the decimals like 2.1, Here 2
represents second chapter and 1 represents first table. If first figure is to be numbered in third chapter then figure number
will be 3.1.
LIST OF TABLES
Tables Page
1.1 Tax Paying population of Nepal …….
2.3 Position of total revenue …….
3.2 Position of indirect tax …….
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
1.2 Organizational Structure of the Municipality …….
2.4 Land Revenue Index in the remote Area …….

8. List of Abbreviations and Acronyms: Abbreviation means a shortened form of a word or phrase it may or may not be
popular in common tongue. Acronym means a word formed from the initial letters of a name, for e.g. TU for Tribhuvan
University, or by combining initial letters of a series of words for example ‘radar’, from radio detection and ranging.
Sample of abbreviation and acronyms used in a report:
ADB Asian Development Bank
CBS Central Bureau of Statistics
CDRD Central Department of Rural Development
CMF Central for Micro-Finance.
Body of the report:
1.Introduction: It is the first unit of the research report. First of all, the background of the topic is written in this unit. This
part contains the information regarding the introduction of sample organization, physical, environmental, financial,
business and human factors in brief. The situation on which study is conducted is also written in this unit. Generally,
following information is included in introduction:
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i. Statement of problem
ii. Objectives of the study
iii. Theoretical framework
iv. Variables
v. Research hypothesis
vi. Definition of the concepts
vii. Limitations of the study
viii. Organization of the study
a. Introduction
b. Literature Review
c. Research methodology
d. Presentation and analysis of the data
e. Summary, conclusions and recommendations.
2. Review of Literature: Researcher should include previous studies relevant to the problem and within the framework of
the theory.. In this chapter, all the materials are to be serially managed on the basis of time or relevance. Researcher
should include the surname of previous researcher, date of research, the topic of research and the major information. Only
the findings of the previous researches are included in literature review section. This part of the report helps to show the
rationality of the research and determine need and area of research. After presenting all the relevant literatures, researcher
should write concluding remarks. Such concluding remark helps to show the research gap and relevance of the research.
3. Research Methodology: The ways to fulfill research objectives are described in this section. The purpose of research
methodology section is to describe the nature of the research design, sampling and data collection and analysis
procedures.
4. Data presentation and analysis: This section is used to present data in a systematic and understandable way like table,
chart, figure, diagram etc. Such presented data are analyzed and interpreted using various statistical, financial and
mathematical tools. Researcher should state all those presentations and analysis of data in this chapter.
5. Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations:
 Summary: This part shows the importance of hypothesis to develop theory and contribution of such theories in
solving problem. This part also shows the entire works performed by the researcher since the beginning to the end
in brief. Basically this section shows the review of entire work of the researcher.
 Conclusions: In this section, researcher should briefly summarize his major findings and describe the implications
of these findings for decision making, solve the problem or meet the research objectives. Here, researcher should
freely express his logics so that the findings of the research can be generalized.
 Recommendations: Researcher provides suggestions to solve the problems in this section. But all research reports
do not contain recommendations. Generally, academic research reports do not contain recommendations.
Supplementary Section:
1.Reference materials or bibliography: At the end of the research report, list of reference material is prepared. It provides
information to the reader about the source of materials that are used to prepare report. Bibliography includes the list of all
materials referred but references include list of all materials used in the preparation of report. It contains books, articles,
reports, pictures etc.
2. Appendix: This part includes the long questionnaire, charts, figures, data and recommendation letter which are not
included in the body of the report. Researcher should not keep all left materials but should present relevant materials only.
If researcher requires to present more than one appendix then he has to give number as appendix A, appendix B and so on.
Appendix does not contain page number but if researcher wants then he can give Roman number like I, II, III etc.
Typing and layout of the research Report:
The following guidelines are to be followed while typing research report:
i. Paper: White A4 size paper is to be used for typing. The size of the paper should be 8.6 x11 inches. Single side
printing is essential.
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ii. Chapter Page: The chapter number is centered about two inches from the top of the page. Following the spaces
below should be the title of the chapter in capital letters. The first line of the text should begin four spaces below
that title.
iii. Margin: As the total pages are stitched on the left so it should have large margin at the left. In general, the page
margin is followed as Left margin: 1.5 inches, Right: 1 inch, Top: 1.3 inches, Bottom: 1 inch.
iv. Spacing: The text of the report should be double-spaced. Indented, quotations and footnotes should be single-
spaced.
v. Font and size: The report should be typed in Times New Roman using 12-point characters for the text and 14
point for the title. We can reduce the font size within tables or figures to fit within margin.
vi. Page number: The preliminary pages must have lower case Roman numerals starting with the abstract page that
is numbered “ii”. The title page is unnumbered, but the implied number is “i”. The lower case Roman numerals
are placed in bottom center. The first page of text (typically the introduction ) uses the Arabic number “1” and
pages thereafter carry consecutive Arabic numbers, including the pages in the Appendices and References. Arabic
numbers are positioned in the bottom centered. All page numbers should stand without periods, hyphens or dashes
vii. Proof-reading: The manuscript should read carefully so as to find out inaccurate statements, wrong entries,
omissions and inconsistencies. Such inconsistencies and inaccurate statement should be corrected properly.
Citation and References:
Referencing is a standard of acknowledging sources of information that is used in research. Citation is a style of managing
the information in the research report which was obtained from various sources. There are several methods of
documenting sources, some of such methods are as follows:
 American Psychological Association style (APA)
 Harvard style
 Modern Language Association style (MLA)
 American Chemical Society style (ACS)
But in the academic sector of Nepal, APA format is used. Citation style under APA is explained as follows:
1.Short citation: Under this method, researcher includes the saying or theories of others that is limited to three lines or
less than that or less than 40 words. While citing such information, researcher should use inverted comma (“….”) but
separate paragraph is not needed for short citation. Researcher, first of all, writes the surname of writer or previous
researcher, year of publication within bracket and materials or information within the inverted comma while including
short citations in the research report. Page number can be written at the end of the information. If it is essential to write the
saying developed by the same person, then only the name of the person and the materials is to be written but year of
publication is not needed.
Eg: Organizational commitment is the loyalty of the employees towards organization. Porter, Steer, Mowday and Boulin
(1974) defined organizational commitment as the “relative strength of an individual’s identification with an involvement
in particular organization”(P.232)
2.Long citation: If a citation has more than forty words or more than three lines then such citation is known as long
citation. Long citation requires separate paragraph while using it in the research report. Inverted comma is not used in
long citations. We should leave five spaces first then have to cite the long citation. We should write in single line space
and can write it in hanging form i.e. leaving some more space in left and right sides of the paper. While using long
citations, we should write the surname of the writer, year of publication and page number at the end inside the bracket.
Eg.
Pierce (1990) found that age was found to be positively correlated to the organizational commitment of
managers in service industries. Employees who have served in the organization for longer periods of time
were more committed to the system then those who just join the organization. But conflicting reports have
been found as to the association of gender with organizational commitment.(P.33)
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3. Use of ellipses: Sometimes researcher may not require entire quotation but he needs some part of it then he can omit
unnecessary part of the quotation and use necessary part only in the research report but he has to give three dots (…) to
give information that some part of the quotation is missing.
Eg. “…employees who had served in the organization for longer period of time were more committed to the system.”
4. Indirect quotations or paraphrasing: Use of summary of the quotations in the report is known as paraphrasing. It does
not require inverted comma. Name of writer and year of publication is essential while paraphrasing the quotations.
Eg. Adhikari (2003), Training in Nepal is just to comply with regulatory provisions but not for motivating the employees.
5. Footnote: Sometimes researcher uses footnote in research report. It is used to clarify the information written in the
main text of the report. Researcher can state such footnote at the end of the page with superscript numbers.
6. Citation style when there is one or more writers:
i. If single writer: We should write surname of the writer, date of publication inside the bracket and the materials
eg. Pant (2007) state that…………
ii. If two writers: We should write surname of writers at first and date of publication inside the bracket and materials
but if the same author’s name should again then first writer’s surname and et.al.
Eg.Pant and Wolf (1990) found that………….
Pant et.al.(1990) found that ………….
Generally ampersand (&) is used in between the name if the quotation is quoted in direct speech
Eg. Pant & Wolf (1990) states, “…………”
iii. Writer’s surname and date is written at the end if the quotation is in direct form or speech within inverted comma.
Eg. “Tenure is more important factor for building commitment.”(Pandey,2008)
If the name of the same writer is repeated in the same page, date of publication is not needed but if the date of
publication is different then we should write the date also.
If the writer is unknown then we should write anonymous word in place of name of writer and date of publication.
Like, Anonymous,2005
iv. If the name of writer is more than one then we should write the surname of the writers in the alphabetical order
and each name is to be separated with semi-colon.
Eg. The concept of job design (Chaudhary,1987; Maleku,1992; Uprety & Dhakal,2007
APA References Or Bibliography:
Guidelines Or Rules of APA References Or Factors to be considered for APA References
i. References should be managed in alphabetical order.
ii. We should write surname and first alphabet of first and middle name, the date of publication inside the bracket
and other information. Like, Harrison, A. (2014). Just-in-time manufacturing in perspective. New York: Prentice
Hall.
iii. We should use capital letters only for first alphabet of name and title of the reference materials.
iv. We should give double space in between two reference materials. The second line of a reference should be single
spaced.
v. We should arrange in order of dates if single writer has two works. Eg.
Koirala (2000)
Koirala (2010)
vi. If the writer is not given then we should arrange in order of first alphabet of the name of the books.
Referencing Style in the Reference List:
For Books:
If there is single writer:
Surname of writer, First alphabet of first and middle name, Published date inside the bracket, Name of the book, Address
and name of the publishes. Name of the book should be in italic font
Eg. Adhikari, D.R. (2005). Human Resource Management. Kathmandu: Buddha Educational Enterprises.
If the writers are two or more:
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Pant, P.R. & Wolf. (2002). Social Science Research and Thesis Writing. Kathmandu: Buddha Publication.
If the book is edited by others:
Pant, P.R. & Manandhar, N. (Eds.). (1998). Industrial relations in Nepal: A book of readings. Kathmandu: FNF and IRF.
Ross, A.M. (Ed.).(1996). Industrial relation and economic development. London: Macmilan.
Books with later edition
Sekaran, U. (1992). Research Methods for Business (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Encyclopedia
Sonar. (2004). Encyclopedia Britannica.
Books does not have published date
Robin, S. (n.d.). Management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishing.
Pamphlets or brochure
Pinnacle College (2010). Prospectus. Lalitpur: Author.
For Journal Articles:
Surname + First alphabet of First and middle name + Date of publication + Name of article + Name of journal +
Volume + Issue + Page Numbers
From monthly or weekly magazine:
Mishra, K, (2009, July). Managing a Business at the Time of Recession. Boss. PP. 22-35
Newspaper article
The Kathmandu Post (2010, Feb. 10). P.6.
Paper presented at a seminar
Sharma, B. (2007, June). WTO: Its impact on the education sector. Paper presented at the seminar of Association of
Business Students, Central Department of Management, Kirtipur, Nepal.
From personal e-mail
Bhattarai, A.P. (2009, July 10). Advertisement Program. A feedback.
Available e-mail: <Bhattaraip@yahoo.com.np> [2009, July 12].
If the journal articles on the internet are used.
Kharel, T.P. (2007). The Strategic Marketing in Nepal. The Banijya Sansar. [Online]
Available: <http://www.basan.org.np/7/1/>[2007, June 11]
If internet site is used
School of Administration [online] (cited 2008, January 7).
Available: <http://www.adm.co.np> [2008, February 9].
For home page:
Bhandari, C. (2008, March 26). Nepal’s culture and learning [Home Page of ABC institution]. [online].
Available: <http://www.abc.co.np> [2008, March 28].

Written by : Choodamani Bhattarai

Prepared by : Manish Babu Karki
Mahendra multiple campus, Dharan
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