Chapter 2

RESEARCH DESIGN
2.1 INTRODUCTION
A research design is a broad plan that states objectives of research project and
provides the guidelines what is to be done to realize those objectives. It is, in other words, a
master plan for executing a research project.
The word 'design' has different implications. However, according to the subject concern, it is
an example or a layout of examination venture's functions. It is the assertion of fundamental
components of an investigation that gives essential rules of leading the venture. It is same as
the blue print of engineer's work.
The exploration configuration is like wide arrangement or model that states how the whole
examination venture would be directed. It is beneficial that it should be in composed structure
and should be basic and plainly expressed. The genuine task is completed according to the
exploration configuration set down ahead of time.

2.2 MEANING
Research design means to the general procedure used to do explore that
characterizes a compact and sensible arrangement to handle set up research question(s)
through the assortment, understanding, investigation, and conversation of information.
The procedures and strategies consolidated in the plan of an exploration study will rely upon
the outlook of the specialist over their convictions in the idea of information (see
epistemology) and reality (see metaphysics), regularly formed by the disciplinary regions the
scientist has a place with.
The plan of an investigation characterizes the examination type (spellbinding, correlational,
semi-exploratory, trial, audit, meta-scientific) and sub-type (e.g., elucidating longitudinal
contextual analysis), research issue, speculations, free and ward factors, trial plan, and, if
relevant, information assortment techniques and a factual examination plan. An examination
configuration is a system that has been made to discover answers to explore questions.

2.3 DEFINITION
A research design includes the process and methods used to carry out scientific
research. The design defines the type of study (descriptive, correlational, experimental, etc.)
and sub-type (e.g., descriptive, longitudinal, case study), research question, hypotheses,
independent and dependent variables, experimental design, and, if relevant, data collection
methods and a statistical analysis plan.
According to Kerlinger, “Research in the plan, structure and strategy of study conceived in
order to get answers to research questions and also to control variance.”
 It is a thorough outline of how a study is going to take place. It will generally consist of how
data is to be collected, what tools will be used, how the tools will be used and the intended
means for analysing collected data.
It is the determination and statement of the general research approach or approach followed
for the specific task. It is the heart of planning. If the design sticks to the research objective, it
will guarantee that the client’s needs will be served. – David J Luck and Ronald S Rubin

2.4 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

 Dipak Kumar Roy (2021)

According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate will be
around 12% at the end of May 2021 which translates into a loss of job by 1 crore people
during the period due to the 2nd wave of corona pandemic. He also said that income of 97%
households have declined since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. The unemployment
rate stands at 12.4%, urban 15.1% and rural 11.2% on 3rd June 2021. We noted that small
towns and rural areas were not very affected by COVID 19 pandemic last year. But during
the 2nd wave, it has spilt over these areas also affecting employment situation. The
manufacturing and engineering sectors have largely been affected by the lockdown during the
2nd wave. The index of actual hiring has come down from 132 in July-September, 2020 to 60
in January-March, 2021. Though the automotive and FMCG sectors in tier-2 cities have
performed poorly, the recruitment situation in IT, Outsource, Technology, E-commerce,
Pharma and Health Care sectors in metro and tier-1 cities have started showing some
improvements (HR Firm, CIEL). Sri Aditya Mishra, CEO, CIEL, has said that though the
companies have the intent to hire in tier 2-3 cities, they have not been able to actually hire
due to the spread of pandemic to these markets also. According to him, the gap between the
intent of hiring and the actual hiring in these markets is 50%.

 Chloe Lane (2021)

The coronavirus outbreak has taken an unexpected hit to many industries around the world.
Some saw sales go up, others experienced a huge slump. Many non-essential businesses were
forced to close.
The retail industry has been impacted heavily by the coronavirus, with most non-essential
stores forced to close due to the introduction of lockdown. The industry has taken a massive
hit in overall sales, despite an increase in online shopping. Overall growth has slowed in the
retail industry, according to one report, but it has still grown by 4.1 percent this year. This is,
however, significantly lower than growth in other years.
There has been a huge shift to online shopping. Worldwide online traffic for supermarkets
has increased by an incredible 135 percent, with retail tech increasing by 129 percent. Most
of the sector’s growth is in food and grocery stores, as fashion retail outlets struggle.
According to the report, food and grocery stores in the UK have beaten their expected growth
of nearly three percent in 2020 and are now expecting a growth of 7.5 percent.
  Bulbul Dhawan(2021)

Coronavirus pandemic brought the economy of India to a halt over the past one year, and
numerous people have lost their jobs, especially women. A recent study in Delhi found that in
eight months, the unemployment rate in the national capital increased by 17%, with about
83% of women respondents choosing to permanently opt out of participating in the
workforce. A similar trend has been observed throughout the country, and this at a time when
the participation of women was already declining in the workforce with each passing year.
As per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) estimates, between mid-2016 and
early 2020, the female labour participation rate, which is the percentage of women working
out of all women falling in the working age, fell from 16.4% to about 11%. And now, it has
been estimated that this number might have further been pushed this figure down to 9% due
to the pandemic.

 Shishir Prasad (2021)

India is still not out of the woods as far as unemployment is concerned after a year when the
lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of deadly COVID-19 on March 25 last year as
pandemic-induced job loss has not tapered off consistently.
The data showed that the unemployment rate had peaked to 23.5 per cent in April and
remained at 21.7 per cent in May. It started tapering off from June onward when it was
recorded at 10.2 per cent in the month and further improved to 7.4 per cent in July. However,
the unemployment rate again rose slightly to 8.3 in August and improved to 6.7 per cent in
September last year, as per CMIE data. In October, unemployment again rose slightly to 7 per
cent and then eased to 6.5 per cent in November last year as per the data. The CMIE data
showed that the unemployment rate had risen to 9.1 per cent in December 2020 and improved
in January to 6.5 per cent. They were of the view that the farm sector has done well which
engages over 55 per cent of the country's population but there is a need for improvement in
hiring in urban and industrial areas. They opined that the government has taken many steps to
boost fresh hiring in the country but repeated policy interventions and monitoring of existing
schemes and initiatives at the ground level are required to achieve consistent improvement in
the employment scenario in the country.

 Maria Cotofan, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Marta Golin, Micah Kaats, George Ward
(2021)

Global growth is estimated to have contracted by almost 5 percent in 2020, representing the
largest economic crisis in a generation. At the beginning of the year, at the onset of the
pandemic, consumer spending began to decline dramatically, most notably in retail and
recreation. By April, visits to restaurants, cafes, shopping centres, theme parks, museums,
 libraries, and movie theatres had declined globally by almost 60 percent and by more than 80
percent in many European countries. By December, almost 15 million airline flights had been
cancelled, an average of 50,000 per day. While the global economy began to rebound in the
summer, many countries were gripped by a second wave in the autumn and winter. A full
return to pre-pandemic levels of stability still appears to be a long way off.

Such dramatic economic downturns have had profound effects on the global labour market.
As of January 2021, more than 90 percent of the world's workforce lived in countries where
business closures were still in place for at least some economy sectors. Unemployment has
also increased in many countries affected by the COVID-19 crisis, though unemployment
figures alone do not capture the full extent of the labour market impact for two primary
reasons

 Susan Lund, Anu Madgavkar, James Manyika, Sven Smit, Kweilin Ellingrud, and

Olivia Robinson (2021)
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labour markets globally during 2020. The short-term
consequences were sudden and often severe: Millions of people were furloughed or lost jobs,
and others rapidly adjusted to working from home as offices closed. Many other workers
were deemed essential and continued to work in hospitals and grocery stores, on garbage
trucks and in warehouses, yet under new protocols to reduce the spread of the novel
coronavirus.
This report on the future of work after COVID-19 is the first of three MGI reports that
examine aspects of the post pandemic economy. The others look at the pandemic’s long-term
influence on consumption and the potential for a broad recovery led by enhanced productivity
and innovation. Here, we assess the lasting impact of the pandemic on labour demand, the
mix of occupations, and the workforce skills required in eight countries with diverse
economic and labour market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the
United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost
half the global population and 62 percent of GDP.

 Nicole Bateman and Martha Ross (2020)

COVID-19 is hard on women because the economy is hard on women, and this virus excels
at taking existing tensions and ratcheting them up. Millions of women were already
supporting themselves and their families on meagre wages before coronavirus-mitigation
lockdowns sent unemployment rates skyrocketing and millions of jobs disappeared. And
working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities
in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents
work outside the home. Of course, the disruptions to day-care centres, schools, and
afterschool programs have been hard on working fathers, but evidence shows working
mothers have taken on more of the resulting childcare responsibilities, and are more
frequently reducing their hours or leaving their jobs entirely in response.
Problems facing women in the labour market have never been hidden, but they have been
inconvenient to address because they are so entrenched in the basic operations of our
economy and society. The low wages associated with “pink collar” occupations have long
 contributed to the feminization of poverty, and the chronic shortage of affordable, high-
quality childcare reflects outdated notions of women’s societal roles, how the economy
functions, and child development.

 Nick Wilkinson (2020)

Many businesses in the developing world have reopened following the end of lockdown
restrictions. However, low demand is dragging on revenues and profitability, slowing any
corresponding recovery in labour activity and employment. The nature of the shock means
women’s employment is likely to be disproportionately affected, threatening to reverse
progress in gender equality.
Containment measures have forced many businesses to close throughout the pandemic. In the
developing world, many firms and workers operate in a large informal sector, often outside
the scope of formal social protection, making them particularly vulnerable to restrictions
imposed as part of the response to COVID-19. Six months into the pandemic, the hope for a
V-shaped recovery has faulted in many respects, one of which being the return to work and
economic activity. This not only threatens the livelihoods that are dependent on this work, but
also gender equality, with a disproportionate effect on women’s employment.

 Koustav Das (2020)

While economic growth in India had been falling since the beginning of last year, the
coronavirus shock in 2020 had an overwhelming impact on India’s economy and jobs.
Even after unlocking the economy, there has been no improvement in the salaried jobs space.
The government has cited the unprecedented economic crisis behind the job situation in the
country. Unemployment in the country had been a problem since 2017-18. A government job
survey, whose publication was delayed just ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha election, showed how
the country’s unemployment reached a four-decade high of 6.1 per cent in 2017-18.
Data show that despite India’s rapid growth before 2019, salaried jobs grew at a snail’s pace.
Salaried jobs grew from 21.2 per cent in 2016-17 to just 21.6 per cent in 2017-18. India was
clocking a real Gross Value Added rate of 6-8 per cent per annum all this while.
By FY20, India had over 7.8 crore entrepreneurs. But surprisingly, the increase in
entrepreneurship did not add more salaried jobs which remained steady at 8.6 crore. This
indicates that much of the entrepreneurship growth in India was self-employed and consisted
only of very small-scale businesses. The government after coming to power in India had
introduced several schemes to promote entrepreneurship in the country including the flagship
‘Make in India’
 Anushree Sharma (2020)
We are now sitting at the cusp of the year 2020. The year that actually made sense to what
disruption really means and why agility and adaptability will be the key to surviving any
disruption.
One of the biggest impacts this crisis brought was on employment across the geographies.
According to the recent update by the International Labour Organization (ILO), between
April-June 2020, the world lost almost 400 MN full-time jobs due to the pandemic. Almost
59 percent of full-time jobs have been exterminated in the APAC region, while South Asia
accounted for 110 million of the total 235 million full-time jobs lost this quarter.

 Marta Fana, Sergio Torrejón Pérez and Enrique Fernández-Macías (2020)

The COVID-19 crisis hit the world in the first quarter of 2020. Since January, when the first
cases were notified, the number of contagions and deaths has been continuously increasing,
and confinement measures and restrictions on economic activities have been implemented in
most countries from late February to halt the spread of the virus. After periods of several
weeks in which the most restrictive measures were implemented, these measures started to be
softened progressively in most countries in May. Although the pandemic is still present and
continues evolving, the first available studies on its economic and employment impact seem
to converge around similar conclusions: the impact of the crisis is being clearly asymmetric,
with the most vulnerable countries and segments of the workforce being hardest hit by the
pandemic. In particular, precarious and vulnerable workers are over-represented in activities
related to entertainment, hospitality and tourism, and more generally low productivity
services which are facing the hardest short-term impact in the COVID crisis due to both the
economic lockdown and the confinement measures. An important point to emphasize is that
the employment and economic impact of the COVID crisis in each country will in the
medium-long term be much less determined by the strictness of the confinement than by
structural and institutional differences such as economic specialisation, social protection and
labour market regulation. As a result, the Mediterranean countries are not only severely
affected by the crisis, but also worse prepared than other EU countries for the large-scale
transition to telework triggered by the crisis.

 Josh Cunningham (2020)

The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is dealing a severe blow to state
economies, businesses and workers. First and foremost, states are strengthening their health
care capacity in the event that demand for medical services surge. Ensuring there are enough
licensed health care professionals is a key component in this preparation. 

States are also restricting access to in-dining restaurants, theatres, concert halls, some retail
stores and other non-essential businesses where large groups of people risk coming into close
contact with one another. Additionally, public health officials and experts have warned Public
to stay home as much as possible and avoid doing anything that requires close contact with
others. Many other businesses have voluntarily closed to protect their employees and the
public as a whole. Perhaps the most visible closure has been the nearly universal shutdown of
 the professional sports industry. Those exposed to the virus are being advised to self-
quarantine for at least 14 days presenting financial challenges for workers without paid sick
leave.

 International Labour Organisation (2020)

As a result of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, almost 1.6 billion informal
economy workers (representing the most vulnerable in the labour market), out of a
worldwide total of two billion and a global workforce of 3.3 billion, have suffered
massive damage to their capacity to earn a living. This is due to lockdown measures
and/or because they work in the hardest-hit sectors.
The first month of the crisis is estimated to have resulted in a drop of 60 per cent in the
income of informal workers globally. This translates into a drop of 81 per cent in Africa
and the Americas, 21.6 per cent in Asia and the Pacific, and 70 per cent in Europe and
Central Asia.
Without alternative income sources, these workers and their families will have no means
to survive.

2.5 TITLE OF THE STUDY

“A Study on Impact of COVID-19 on Employment Opportunities”

2.6 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

 To analyse the Employment and Unemployment rate.

 To understand the issues faced by local worker during lockdown situation
 To analyse the impact of COVID 19 on company/firms
 To know if the Impact of COVID 19 on employees was positive or negative.

2.7 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Through this study the aim is to analyse the problems or issue faced by the
local worker or an employee of a company from lockdown, global pandemic,
health care, lack of financial savings etc. and analysing whether the employees
of a company see this pandemic situation positively or negatively. And how
much is Employment and Unemployment rate important for a Nation.
2.8 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study shows that the local workers and employees and even companies
have been affected by COVID 19 in a negative way over positive way. The
reason behind why public feel that they have been affected more negatively as
per our survey made in Bengaluru South, J.P. Nagar is because public was
 restrained by the limitations implicated by the Authorities through lockdown
and safety measures for months and most of the respondent faced
Unemployment and financial instability. Hence this study shows that the
impact of COVID 19 on Employment was negative

2.9 NEED OF THE STUDY

The contribution that this study tends to make is to understand the situation of a local worker,
an employee or a company was devastated during the period of COVID 19. Also it helps to
understand about Employment and Unemployment rate. The panic among the public during
COVID 19 was so massive that it made the jobs of the authorities to control the situation
more difficult day by day. The financial growth of every individual was on hold for a very
long period. Overall the study focuses on the situation of local workers, employees and
companies during COVID 19 Pandemic.

2.10 RESERCH METHODOLOGY

The study is based on primary and secondary data.
 Primary data: primary data is being gathered using questionnaire methods. Through
google forms
 Secondary data: secondary data is gathered through the wellspring of web, articles,
reports, magazine, papers, diaries, observational technique and determined information.

Research type: Descriptive type of research

Sample sizing: The sample size for the study is 100
Sampling Technique: For the Study sampling technique used is conveyance sampling.

2.11 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Due to my personal health during the working period of the study there was a time delay in
the research.
2. The sample size was limited to 100
3. The response given by the respondent may not be 100% satisfying.
4. Data collection is bounded

2.12 CONCLUSION
Employment has become one of the basic need for living. People all around try their best to
gain a single opportunity on employment. That is what gives a reputation in a society. But the
COVID 19 pandemic changed everything. This chapter is aimed to investigate the impact of
COVID 19 on local workers, employees and even companies. We can conclude with that the
impact of COVID on employees, workers and companies is highly negative.
2.13 CHAPTER SCHEME
The whole project “Impact of COVID-19 on Employment Opportunities” is a
descriptive and is divided into chapters for evaluation. The chapter scheme is as follows:
CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION
The chapters consist introduction part including: Human Resource
Management(HRM) its introduction, meaning, definitions, history of HRM, nature of HRM,
features of HRM, objectives of HRM, importance of HRM, scope of HRM, function of
HRM, recent trends in HRM etc. and about COVID 19 its introduction, meaning and some
definitions with history of COVID 19, symptoms of COVID 19, preventions from COVID
19, the adverse impact of COVID 19 etc. and about employment opportunities its
introduction, meaning and some definitions followed by history of employment, types of
employment, importance of employment, difference between employment and
unemployment, adverse impact of pandemic on employee skills, role of employment in
Indian economy and conclusion.

CHAPTER 02: REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Second chapter deals with the research design which includes: Introduction,
meaning of research design, definition of research design, review of literature, title of the
study, objective of the study, statement of the study, scope of the study, need of the study,
research methodology, limitations of the study, conclusion, chapter scheme.