Session 1

The nature of business research

•For managers, the purpose of research is to provide knowledge regarding all functional areas of
the organization, the product, customers, employees, the market, the economy, or another
area of business interest.

The ultimate goal of business research is to supply accurate information that reduces the
uncertainty in managerial decision making/ helps managers make informed decisions.
Business research helps decision makers shift from intuitive information gathering to systematic
and objective investigation

What is Business research ????

•It is a systematic collection, analysis , and interpretation of information (data) with a clear
purpose

•1)To solve a business problem (Applied Research)

•2) To add to the available knowledge regarding a particular business area (Pure/
Academic research).

Some commonly researched areas in business

•1.Employee behaviors such as performance, absenteeism, and turnover, counter productive

work behaviors.

•2. Employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and organizational commitment.

•3. Supervisory performance, managerial leadership style, and performance appraisal

•systems.

•4.Study the impact of job sharing, flexitime, flexiplace, and part-time work.

•5. Research into leadership positions, salaries, and leadership styles.

•6. Employee engagement /motivation……….

•7. How to increase business performance.

•8- Study consumer behavior…………………………………………………………

 Session 2

Philosophy behind quantitative research (social and pure sciences)

•Quantitative approach is emerged from positivist paradigm with emphasis on “rationality,
objectivity, prediction and control” while gathering research data.
• Assumption is that there is one reality, which exists and can be validated through the senses”
•“All human behavior is objective and measurable”.
•The researcher needs to develop the instrument or tool to measure the phenomenon of concern
while researcher remain detached from the study in order to prevent personal values and
biases to influence the study results.
Research is driven by numerical data collection than it is subjected to statistical analysis and is
generalizable to a larger population.
Quantitative Research
•Quantitative research is mostly conducted in the social sciences using quantitative data from the
research study.
•The quantitative data is analyzed by using different statistical techniques.
•The results hence obtained are considered to be more objective and generalizable to a bigger
population.
•It deals with larger samples…usually in hundreds.

Philosophy behind qualitative research (Social sciences)

•It places significant importance to the subjectivity. The assumption is that every individual
perceives, interprets and experiences a situation from their own point of view hence there is
no single reality but multiple realities for any phenomenon (relativism/subjectivism).
•Qualitative researchers believe that “truth is both complex and dynamic and can be found only
by studying persons as they interact with and within their sociohistorical settings”. Hence, its
highly contextualized.
•Researcher interacts with the participants, explore perceptions, feelings, thoughts, beliefs,
expectations, and behavior to obtain knowledge about the phenomena of interest so
researchers has an active part in the study.
•Data is collected through in-depth conversations, diary keeping, extensive interviewing,
extended observation, and focus groups interviews to acquire insights regarding these
subjective realities which are NOT GENERALIZABLE to different contexts or cultures.

Qualitative Research….subjectivity
•Qualitative research is a type of social science research that collects and works with non-
numerical data.
• Verbal data written/obtained by the researcher through
observation/interviews/questionnaires. Audio or video recordings carried out by the
researcher in natural settings.
•Small data
• The researcher seeks to interpret meaning from this verbal data that help understand social and
psychological aspects of human life. The results are highly subjective and usually not
generalizable to larger population.

When to use it:

•To test theories/ assumptions.
Example Baby boomers have more brand loyalty than millennials.

•To determine causes and effects of certain variables of interest.

Will job rotation cause stress/work-overload in employees
•When you have to make conclusive statements (more useful for decision making). Facts and
figures.
•
•Whether customers are satisfied with our service.

•When the results of research need to be generalized………………………………

•Consumer satisfaction from test launch of a product………..may call for quantitative research.
 When to use qualitative research
•Researchers make use of qualitative research techniques when they need to gather in-depth
insights into a human problem/human behavior.
•Study the behavior of new interns.
•Studying your product/brand or service to strengthen your marketing strategy.
•Understanding purchase behavior.
•Exploring market demographics, segments, and customer groups for a new business idea.

Which research method is more suitable?????

•A company’s director wants to have an in-depth knowledge of the attitudes of company’s
employees about the company’s practices.

•A restaurant manager wants to see the response of the customers on the opening of their new
branch. He believes that a good research will enable him to decide whether they can open a
new branch.

•A doctor wants to see what are the effects of a certain medicine on the blood pressure of the
patients.

•A researcher is interested in knowing reasons for employee turnover. She believes that her
research work could be generalized to organizations of all types.

Exploratory Research
•Exploratory research is conducted to clarify ambiguous situations or discover potential
business opportunities
•As the name implies, exploratory research is not intended to provide conclusive evidence from
which to determine a particular course of action
•Usually exploratory research is a first step, conducted with the expectation that additional
research will be needed to provide more conclusive evidence
•Exploratory research is particularly useful in new product development.
•
•The research into consumer behavior.
The research into the effects of social media on consumer’s intention to buy

Descriptive Research
•As the name implies, the major purpose of descriptive research is to describe characteristics of
objects, people, groups, organizations, or environments.
•
•It describes certain aspects of a collected samples usually in % form. For example in a survey
conducted to see the popularity of a soft drink, a descriptive research might be conducted to
see what percentage of customers like it, whether men preferred it over women/ which age
bracket favored it most.
•Unlike exploratory research, descriptive studies are conducted after the researcher has
gained a firm grasp of the situation being studied.
•Example: the popularity of a TV channel/ population census / Covid vaccine

Causal Research
•Causal research seeks to identify cause and- effect relationships
•
•Whether variable A causes any effect (positive or negative) in variable B?
•
•The different types of research discussed here are often building blocks—exploratory research
builds the foundation for descriptive research, which usually establishes the basis for causal
research.

Session 3

1- Identifying problem area

•Applied Research
•A difference between the current condition and a more preferable set of conditions in any
business area
• Areas in which improvement is required
•Basic/pure Research
•Gaps in the literature
•Which could be filled in by the researcher
•To provide a new application of an already established theory
•New insights into a theory and practice.

Sources of information for problem statement of Applied Research

Applied Research

•Information about organization/ industry

•Prevailing knowledge on the topic
•Business Research journals
•Business magazines
•Other printed sources

2- Define the problem Statement (Applied Research)

A problem statement is a brief overview of the issues prevalent in a particular business/
business sector which drives the researcher for in-depth study and analysis, so as to understand
and solve them. It clearly states the research questions and the research objectives which
correspond to each research question. Hence, it is a starting point to clearly frame and
focus a problem and makes the first half of a research proposal.

Key Elements
•Overview of the issue (5 W’s)
•Formulation of Research objective/s
•Formulation of Research question/s

•What - What is the problem? - What is the impact of the problem?

•Who - Who does the problem affect?... Specific groups, organizations, customers, employees,
etc.
•When - When did the problem occur?
•Where - Where is the problem occurring? Only in certain locations, departments, products,
customers, employees, etc.
•Why - Why is it important that we fix the problem? - What impact does it have on the business
or customer

Research Objective
Clearly identified in problem statement (Introduction) of a pure/ applied research.

It refers to a broader question a study wants to investigate.

Example- What factors lead to the entrepreneurial intentions of young graduates of business
schools.

Research Question
A narrower question extracted from the objectives and focuses on the relationship of study
variables.
It pinpoints exactly what you want to find out and gives your work a clear focus and guide
our thinking and reading.
RQ-1 How does exposure to business education relates to EI in young graduates?.
RQ-2 Are high unemployment rates related to EI?
Research proposal

•The research proposal is a written statement which includes

•1- a problem statement

•2- Research methodology and details samples and procedures that will be used during each
stage of the research process.

•3- A schedule of costs and deadlines.

•The research proposal becomes the primary communication document between the researcher
and the research user.

2-Definition of Problem Statement (pure/academic research)

•5 important components of a pure research problem statement

•Background/context
•Objective
  Gap
•Should clearly indicate the variables of interest and their proposed relationship
•Contribution/s

Sources of information required to form a problem statement of pure research

Basic/Pure Research

•Available Information on the topic from relevant literature.

•
•Books
•Research Journals…….
•Working Papers from reputed business schools/ universities.
•Internet
•Other Sources (business magazines/ journals)
•PhD Thesis
•Google Scholar (research search engine)

Session 4

Hypotheses development
•What is a hypothesis?
•A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction of your expectations about the relationship among
the variables of your study and is formulated for empirical testing. Hypotheses are essential
for Quantitative research as they provide clarity, specificity and focus to the problem.
•A researcher should have sufficient information of a problem/phenomenon to state a
hypothesis
Hypotheses formulation in pure research
•In pure research the information behind hypothesis formulation comes from a detailed literature
review.

What is literature Review (LR)

The selection and evaluation of available information on the investigated topic/ variables. This
information (ideas, data, and evidence) provides insights and explanations to the
investigated topic and provides the theoretical basis for the proposed relationship of
variables in form of hypotheses

Why is it important?.......
•It provides a researcher with a good theoretical basis to start the research with and is equally
important for pure and applied researches to add theoretical rigor and unbiases to the
research.
•in Applied research it provides the basis for making informed decisions by benefiting from
existing knowledge
•Gives direction to our research by taking help of existing knowledge.
•Gives fresh and diversified insights to a topic of investigation.
•You know what has been done w.r.t a particular area so a literature review saves from
duplication of effort.
•Awareness of relevant terminology and keywords.

Ethical issues in citing/ reporting literature

•1- purposeful/ unintentional representation of other researchers’ work

•2- Plagiarism: the use of another’s original words, arguments or ideas as though they were your
own.
•Turnitin (software to identify plagiarism)

What is a hypothesis
•Hypothesis is a formal statement that presents the expected relationship between an
independent and dependent variable.

• A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction of your expectations about the relationship

among the variables of your study and is formulated for empirical testing. Hypotheses
are essential for Quantitative research as they provide clarity, specificity and focus to
the problem.

Importance of Hypothesis
•This allows a researcher to:
• Stay in line with the research objectives
• Identify the key concepts /variables involved in the researc
• Identify a clear and testable relationship among study variables
•A problem cannot be scientifically solved unless it is reduced to hypothesis form.

How to form hypothesis

•1- A simple hypothesis states whether there is a positive/ negative relation between an
independent/ dependent variable.
•There is a lot of stress experienced by employees in a political environment.
•H: organizational politics has a positive relation with stress/
• organizational politics is directly related to stress
•Employees who are supported by their organizations have a lesser tendency to leave their
organizations.
•H: Organizational support has a negative relation with turnover intensions/
Organizational support is indirectly related to turnover

Study Variables
•IV(independent variable) (Cause)
•DV(dependent variable) (Effect)
•Moderator Variable
•Mediator Variable
•Control Variable
• ( IV ) higher IQ leads to higher performance (DV)
• (IV) Hours of study has a positive relationship with exam scores (DV)
Ways in which moderator can effect IV and DV relation

•A moderator can change the strength of relationship of an IV and DV either at high or low
value or both.
• High/low value of moderator can weaken /strengthen a relationship between IV and DV.
• unemployment (+) stress , extra income(-)

•High value of moderator can strengthen a relationship between IV and DV.

• IQ (+) performance, motivation (+)

Types of moderators
1. Personal moderators
Examples:
•Age
•Gender
•Motivation
•Commitment
•Personality

Contextual mode
Examples
•Organizational Culture
•Organizational support
•Organizational Politics
•Abusive supervision

Mediator Variable (intervening variable/ explaining)

WHY a relationship holds
Example
•More study hours lead to …………?……………..better scores
•higher IQ leads to………………………….. higher performance
•Online sites lead to…………….. ? ? ? ........... Impulse buying

2- A null and alternative hypothesis

•A null and alternative hypotheses is an alternate form of simple hypothesis and usually stated in
experimental studies.
•
•The null hypothesis, H0 simply states there is no relationship between two variables / no
difference between two groups.
•Alternate hypothesis H1 is the opposite of null hypothesis.
•H0 There is no relationship between stress experienced on the job and the job satisfaction of
employees
•H1 Stress experienced in the job has a negative relationship with job satisfaction of employees

Null/alternative hypotheses for comparison of 2 groups

Comparison is usually on the basis of mean scores
•We want to compare two groups of employees on the basis of whether or not a computer
tutorial made any difference on the performance.
•H0 There is no difference between computer handling skills of employees who attended a
special tutorial and those who did not attend a tutorial.
•H1 Employees who attended special tutorial will show better computer handling skills than
those employees who did not attend it.

Correlational Hypothesis
•Describes a relationship between two variables. The relationship suggested may be positive or
negative but there is no cause and effect relationship.
•Education of a person has a positive association with their capability.
•Motivation is associated/ correlated with satisfaction.
•Stress is positively associated with absenteeism.
•Organizational support is negatively associated with performance

Session 5

measurement of variables,
•Measurement of the variables is an integral part of scientific research. Unless the variables are

measured in some way (which is valid and reliable), we will not be able to test our

hypotheses and find answers to our research questions.

Quantification/ operationalization of variables of study to measure them

• Easily measurable variables ( Age, gender, qualification, weight , height etc)
•Abstract concepts, hard to define or measure ( Loyalty, personality, anger, love , power,
learning etc).
•Reduction of abstract concepts into visible behaviors/measurable form is called
operationalization.
Aggression (verbal, behavioral)

•What are some observable behaviors related to aggression?????????

•Shouting, aggression, abusive language, breaking things, sulking,
Operationalization of a construct
1-Start with an operational definition: An operational definition entails a concise description of
concepts/behaviors associated with a specific variable to facilitate the collection of meaningful
and standardized data.

Give a clear definition of at least your IV , DV and mod, med (literature review).

2-Choose the scale (from available literature)/ design scale items/

•Already available scales Lucky you J

•Develop your own scale (a rigorous process in academic research)

In applied research, questionnaire could be self developed/ templates are available/ready made
scales/ survey monkey. com

Example
•To operationalize the concept of customer satisfaction, Write down any 5 behaviors/ attitudes
which come in your mind.
•ANSWER:
•Gr-1 repeated visits, consistently high ratings, recommending our products, lesser complaints,
long term customers.
•Gr-2 positive reviews, frequent visits, recommendations, good mood
•Frequency of site visits.
•Gr-3 rebuy, pos reviews, social media following, lesser complains
•Refer the brand

Scales
•There are four fundamental levels of measurement on which variable could be measured.
•1- Nominal
•2- Ordinal
•3-Interval
•4-Ratio
•Different measurement levels are used to capture data in the form of surveys and questionnaires.
Nominal and Ordinal scales
•Nominal ( categorical scale) scale, is used for labeling variables into distinct classifications and
doesn’t involve a quantitative value or order.
•Male Female
•Muslim, Non Muslim
•“Apple” “Samsung” “Q Mobile”

•Ordinal Scale not only assigns labels to the variables but also measures the rank or order of the
variables. It does not tell the distance between them.
•Low-income, middle-income, high-income
•Undergrad grad post-grad
•How satisfied are you with our services?
•Very Unsatisfied – 1
•Unsatisfied – 2
•Neutral – 3
•Satisfied – 4
•Very Satisfied – 5

(An absolute zero is the defining characteristic which differentiating between ratio and interval
scales).
•Interval scale is defined as a numerical scale where the order of the variables is known as well
as the computable difference between these variables. Relative differences, No naturally
occurring 0 point.

•80 C----40 C is the same as 70C and 30C

•IQ/ Personality 30 score (A) – 60 score (B)

•????

•The Ratio Scale is the highest level scale that allows the researcher to classify or identify the
objects, rank-order the objects and compare the intervals or differences.
•Naturally occurring 0 point/ absolute meanings
•
•Family members (>70)
•What is your weight in kilograms?
•Income

• Nominal Level

•Dichotomous scale yes /no, male /female

•
•Category Scale Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta
•
•Semantic differential scale (attitudes, opinions/ mood)
•
motivated………………………….not motivated

Rating scales (opinions and attitudes) at interval level of measurement

•Numerical Scale How satisfied are you with our new package plan?
• Extremely satisfied 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Extremely
Dissatisfied

•Itemized rating scale

(with anchors)

The measurement of attitudes

Ranking scales ordinal level
•Forced choice
•The forced choice enables respondents to rank objects relative to one another, among the
alternatives provided. This is easier for the respondents, particularly if the number of choices
to be ranked is
limited in number.
•Rank the following news channels that you would like to buy in the order of preference,
assigning 1 to the most preferred choice and 5 to the least preferred.
•
•Geo News, ARY News, Express News, Dawn News, Neo News

Goodness of a scale ....validity and reliability (psychometric properties)

•Validity (accuracy) is a test of how well an instrument that is developed measures the
particular concept it is intended to measure. In other words, validity is concerned with
whether we measure the right concept.

•Content validity Face validity

•Predictive Validity

•Convergent validity Discriminant Validity

·Content validity ensures that the measure covers the whole domain of the variable of interest
·
· includes an adequate and representative set of items that tap the concept.
•Example:
•Intelligence ( verbal, analytical, math metical, memory)
•
•SAT test/ GMAT/GRE