1.

Yes, I agree with this statement. Research is a scientific approach of answering a research
question, solving a problem or generating new knowledge through a systematic and orderly
collection, organization, and analysis of information with ultimate goal of making the research
useful in decision making. It is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a
specific topic. Research comprises defining problems, formulating hypothesis, collecting,
organizing and evaluating data, reaching conclusions to determine whether they fit the
formulating hypothesis.

Systematic research in any field of inquiry involves three basic operations such as,

 1. Data collection-observing, measuring and recording information

 2. Data analysis- arranging and organizing the collected data in order to find out what
their significance and generalize about them
 3. Report writing -which is the final outcome of the research study which convey
information to the readers

Research is systematic, because it follows certain steps that are logical in order. These steps
involve,

 Understanding the nature of problem to be studied and identify the related area of
knowledge
 Reviewing literature to understand how others have approached or dealt with the problem
 Collecting data in an organized manner to arrive at valid decisions
 Analyze data appropriate to the problem
 Drawing conclusions and making generalization

Data collection is about finding facts, then data analysis and evaluating the results in order to
form a conclusion regarding the research topic. Therefore, I agree with the above statement
where research is much concerned with proper fact finding, analysis and evaluation.

2. 
There are two main types of business researches such a applied research and basic research.
Applied research is a research that is designed to focus on providing practical solutions to a
specified problem. Basic research is a research that is entirely theoretical and aimed at improving
or expanding the knowledge -base of a particular field of study. It is also known as fundamental
or pure research and it is a systematic investigation to achieve a more detailed understanding of a
research subject or phenomenon, not to solve a specific problem.

According to this scenario, as HR manager want to finding a solution for the high level
absenteeism and labour turn over within the organization , as it is a problem and want to be
solved, the best type of business research is Applied research as that research type help to solve a
current problem faced by the manager in the work setting, demanding a timely solution.
It is important to identify the most appropriate research type for solving business related
problems.
In this situation the managers should apply applied research as it helps organizations and
individuals to solve problems, unlike basic research because basic research is only simply
focused on expanding knowledge without providing solutions to existing problems. In this
scenario, If , manager selected the Basic research type, It may unsuccessful as basic research is
somewhat subjective in its approach, but applied research is an objective method of inquiry and
it is unbiased because it arrives at outcomes by subjecting empirical evidence to standardized
scientific procedures and this makes it a more valid research method. Therefore, selecting the
most appropriate research type is very important in solving business problems.

3.
In this contemporary business world, Manager Researcher Relationship and Managers who are
knowledgeable in Research are very important. Research is important to managers in numerous
ways, as it allows them to gather information that is essential to ensure business success.

When focus on manager researcher relationship, it often become necessary for managers to deal
with consultant. In that case, managers should interact effectively with consultants by
understanding the role of researchers as well as managers. When dealing with the issues in the
organization, managers must inform the researcher what kind of information may be provided to
them and what kind of information that not be provided. So managers have to be skeptical when
providing personal files of employees and the trade secrets for the researchers. In that case,
manager should be knowledgeable in research because the manager who has the knowledge
about the research can foresee more easily about what kind of information that researcher might
require when doing research. And also, the manager should make sure that there is congruence in
the value system of management and consultant. For that, having research knowledge helps
manager to identify and explicitly state, the values that the organization holds. Further, having
research knowledge help managers to build the rapport and trust between the two parties, which
motivate both parties to interact effectively.
Ex: If organization want to do a research on “why employees absenteeism rate increasing”? if
managers are dealing with the particular research group, managers have to maintain good
interpersonal relationships with the researcher in order to come up with effective solutions.
Otherwise, managers couldn’t get effective decisions by investigating the reasons to occur that
kind of problems.

And also, knowledge in research helps managers for,

 Testing new products- business research can test the possible success of fresh products.
As businesses need to know what kinds of services and products consumers want before
they produce them, research will help to reduce the risk as it helps to investigate customer
demands and what they want.
 In house research is required for professional and self-development of the workers
through training and mentoring. Businesses do researches in order to asses the
performance of the employees in the organization, departmental assessment and also the
wellbeing of the staff members.
 Research can also help in the recruitment of employees. Through proper research, HR
managers able to determine and recruit qualified manpower. Research for the right staff
members can be done in order to get right people for the companies.
 Undertaking research can help companies to avoid future failure. Carrying out research
help managers to take decision on determine whether now is the right time to expand into
 another market or not. So, in decision making in managers, research help them to make
appropriate decisions.
For all these to be done in the organization, managers have to have knowledge regarding
research.

.
4. Organizations get the help of internal as well as external consultants in change projects. There
are advantages as well as disadvantages of using them for the change projects and organizations
have to be skeptical in using an appropriate consultant according to a particular situation and the
context.
Internal consultants are the people who are part of the organization. Most of the time, they are
middle or upper level staff members with relevant skills.
There are advantages of using internal consultants/researchers for the organization. They are,
 Better chance of being readily accepted by the employees - As internal consultants are
already known people, employees readily accept them and it is easy to implement change
projects.
Ex: If organization want to solve an issue of employees not adopting to new finger print
signature system, If organization get the internal consultants to solve the problem, it easy
to solve it as employees are already known them, otherwise employees are feeling
uncomfortable in dealing with new people.

 Less time to understand the structure, the philosophy and climate, and the functioning
and work systems of the organization- Internal consultants have detailed knowledge of
the issue being discussed, organizational existing culture, the functioning and work
system. So, it is easy for them to deal with the issue as they are already familiar with it.
And also, it saves time to solve the problem.
Ex: If we consider the above example, As internal consultants already know the behavior
of people, culture of the organization, they can easily come up with solutions in order to
change people’s behavior in accepting the new technology of finger print system.
  Knowledge or relationships with many of the participants and stakeholders-
As internal people already know about the organization’s managers, employees and the
stakeholders, it is easy for them to deal with the problem because they can openly discus
with the relevant people . they have already build relationships, so it is easy to deal with
the relevant people in solving the issue.

 Cost considerably less than external team- Internal consultants have knowledge as well as
relationships with relevant people. So, the time to solve the issues are very low compared
to the external consultants. And also, it reduces the cost than hiring external consultants.

And also, there are disadvantages of getting internal consultants help. They are,
 Stereotyped way of looking at the organization and its problems- they do not look
creatively as external experts regarding the organizational issues.
 Influence the internal team to conceal, distort, or misrepresent certain facts-
As they are internal members, they can influence others in solving problems.

 Highly qualified internal research teams are not perceived as "experts"- most of the times,
internal members are not regarded as experts as they do not have more experience and
expertise like external consultants who dealing with the organizational issues everyday.
 Organizational biases- as they are internal parties, they may be biased when solving
organizational problems.
When focus on external consultants, organization has both advantages as well as disadvantages.
Advantages of using external consultants are,
 Wealth of experience from having worked with different types of organizations that have
had the same or similar types of problems – external consultants are the people who have
an expertise as well as huge experience. So organizations can take effective solutions
from then when compared to internal consultants.
 More knowledge of current sophisticated problem-solving models through their periodic
training programs, which the teams within the organization may not have access to –
external consultants are using sophisticated problem solving models and they can be
 applied to the organization, if organization can get the assistance from them to the issues
inside the organization.

And also, there are disadvantages of getting the assistance from the external consultants.
They are,
 The cost of hiring an external research team is usually high- organization have to incur
high amount of cost when getting externa consultants
 Charges additional fees for their assistance in the implementation and evaluation phases-
If organization want to get their assistance in implementation and evaluation process after
the problem solving, organizations have to pay additional fees for the service which
increases the costs further.

Scientific investigation
1.
A research problem is a preliminary step in conducting a research study. Research problem is a
question that researcher wants to answer or a problem that a researcher wants to solve. A
research problem helps to understand the research procedure in a better manner.
Ex:
Apparel industry is the country’s largest gross export earner which gives thousands of job
opportunities to the Sri Lankan work force. Thus, it in manufacturing sector this industry struck
from many accepts while directly espousing to the Virus. It has proved from the second wave of
pandemic where it identifies firstly from a garment factory. However, the industry is in challenge
on protecting the employees and carrying the manufacturing process under highly competitive
global market. It is obligatory requirement to consider on this problematic nature by focusing
from the HR practices. So, in this case researcher can construct research problems to investigate
about this phenomenon.

Accordingly, researcher can construct one or more questions to investigate. According to this
scenario,
EX: How do Sri Lankan apparel industry’s HR practices implement with COVID-19 pandemic?
EX: Why implementing new HR practices in Sri Lankan apparel industry with COVID-19
pandemic are challenging?
So, from the above research questions, researcher going to explore How do Sri Lankan apparel
industry’s HR practices implement with COVID-19 pandemic and also Why implementing new
HR practices in Sri Lankan apparel industry with COVID-19 pandemic are challenging.

2.
There are six main characteristics of hallmarks in scientific research.

Purposiveness- It mean manager has to start the research with a definite aim or purpose. In this
case manager have to have a definite purpose to find solutions for their increasing wastage of
raw materials and workplace accidents last two quarters of the year.

Rigor- A good theoretical base and sound methodological design would add rigor to the
purposive study. If manager based on the responses of just a few employees whose opinions may
not be representative of those of entire workforce.
According to this scenario, as external consultant, have to build a good theoretical design in
order to achieve the main purpose. Have to take opinions of a considerable number of employees
rather than taking the responses from just a few employees. If so, it facilitates proper data
collection and eliminates biasness.
Testability- Research should be based on testable assumptions/hypothesis developed after a
careful study of the problems involved. After studying carefully about the problem, (here,
increasing wastage of raw materials and workplace accidents), have to develop testable
assumptions rather than made assumptions on irrational basis.
Replicability –this mean having more faith in the findings if the findings are replicated in
another study. It demonstrates that the hypotheses have not been supported merely by chance,
but are reflective of the true state of affairs in the population.
Precision and confidence- precision refers to the closeness of the findings to “ reality” based on
a sample or it is the degree of accuracy of the results on the basis of the sample, to what really
exists in the universe. Confidence refers to the probability that the estimations that using are
correct.
Objectivity- it is the conclusion drawn through the interpretation of the results of the data
analysis should be objective, means that they should be based on the facts of the findings derived
from actual data, and not on own subjective or emotional values.
. This method constrained by the extent of existing knowledge mean that developing a
hypothesis and designing an experiment is based on current human knowledge. Human errors
also can be happened when recording observations or inaccurate use of measuring instruments.
Biasness and also research findings are limited by human ability to interpret the results. Thus,
these scientific investigations, it cannot be done as 100% scientific

3.

There are seven step process in the hypothetic-deductive research.

1.Identify a broader problem area:

Ex: If organization have identified the problem of increasing the employment absenteeism in the
production department, have to identify the broader area of how this has happened. Managers
should understand what is happening in the organizational environment.

2. Define the problem statement: To find solution for identified problems, a problem statement
that states the general objective of the research should be developed. In this stage, gathering
initial information about the factors that are possibly related to the problem will hep to narrow
the broad problem area and define the problem statement.

Ex: here, managers have to identify the main issue of the organization. Have to gather initial
information by engaging with subordinates as well as employees. According to the above
example, can build the problem statements such as,

What are the factors that influence for the absenteeism workers of production department?
What is the most influential factor effects on absenteeism of the production workers?

3.Develop hypothesis: In this step, variables are examined as to their contribution or influence in
explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved.

Ex: Here, can develop hypotheses such as,

Hypothesis 1: there is a positive impact between long working hours and employee’s
absenteeism

Hypothesis 2: there is a positive impact between supervisor pressure and employee’s

absenteeism,

4. Determine measures: in this stage, we have to determine measures to measure the variables in
the theoretical framework in order to test the hypothesis.
Ex: here can use measures to measure independent and dependent variables through
questionnaires with five-point Likert scales.
5. Data collection: In this stage, data with respect to each variable should be gathered.
Ex: here can use, questionnaire method as primary data collection instrument.

6. Data analysis: In this stage, the data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses
that were generated have been supported.
Ex: When it comes to quantitative data analysis, first researcher selects relevant statistical
techniques. In this situation, can use SPSS software like statistical software to analyze the data.

4.

The main difference between inductive and deductive reasoning is that inductive reasoning aims
at developing a theory while deductive reasoning aims at testing an existing theory.

Inductive reasoning Deductive reasoning

 Moves from specific observations  Moves from general to specific

to broad generalizations  Provides solid, repeatable
 Makes general, most probable conclusions
conclusions about evidence that
 has been observed  Moves from idea to observation
 Moves from observation to idea  Starts with a statement or
 Concerned with the generation of hypothesis and then tests to see if
new theory emerging from the data it’s true through observation.

5.
5.
Action research is a methodology of research that generally applied in the social sciences. It
seeks transformative change through the simultaneous process of taking action and doing
research, which linked together by critical reflection.
Ex:
If it is a school, school can use test scores on particular subjects in order to identify areas that
need improvement, and then determine a plan of action to improve student performance.