MNS1052 – RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. What are the steps in hypothetico-deductive research? Explain them, use appropriate examples not
in the book. (6 marks)

There are the seven-step process in the Hypothetico-Deductive Method:

(1) Observation

Observation is the first stage, in which one senses that certain changes are occurring, or that some new
behaviors, attitudes, and feelings are surfacing in one’s environment (for example, workplace). When
the observed phenomena are seen to have potentially important consequences, one would proceed to
the next step

(2) Preliminary information gathering

It involves the seeking of information in depth, of what is observed. This could be done by talking
informally to several people in the work setting or to clients or to other relevant sources, thereby
gathering information on what is happening and why (for example, unstructured interviews). Then it is
followed by structured interviews- the interviews with a predetermined format. Additionally by doing
library research or obtaining information through other sources, the investigator would identify how
such issues have been tackled in other situations.

(3) Theory formulation

It is an attempt to intergrate all the information in a logical manner, so that the factors responsible for
the problem can be on conceptualized and tested. The theoretical framework formulated is often guided
by experience and intuition. In this step the critical variables are identified and examined as to their
contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved.

(4) Hypothesizing

It is the next logical step after theory formulation. Form the theoretized network of associations among
the variables, certain testable hypotheses or educated conjectures can be generated. Hypothesis testing
is called deductive research. Sometimes, hypotheses that were not originally formulated do get
generated through the process of induction

(5) Further scientific data collection

After the development of the hypotheses, data with respect to each variable in hypothesis need to be
collected. Further scientific data collection is needed to test the hypotheses that are generated
previously in the study.

(6) Data analysis

Data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses that were generated have been
supported. Correlations method will be used to analyze and determine the relationship between the two
or more factors in the hypotheses (for examples, stock availability and customer satisfaction)
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 (7) Deduction

Deduction is the process of arriving at conclusions by interpreting the meaning of the results of data
analysis. Based on deductions, the researcher would make recommendations on how the “customer
dissatisfaction” problem could be solved.

An example of the application of the Hypothetico-Deductive Method:

THE PROBLEMS IN THE EXCHANGE OF GOODS:

OBSERVATION

A group of students realize that the numbers of unused household appliances per family is increasing over
time due to the fact that those goods are no longer in use or just out of fashion. Meanwhile, the method of
trading directly between commodities is quite unpopular as it can be tiring to find a pair of persons with exact
goods to exchange. To resolve those not-in-use goods, there are not so many options, either the owner has to
sell the products, or just discard, dump them into the landfill. It is a waste that those properties are being
stored and thrown away or remain of no use, the price for second-hand items is not guaranteed to be high
either. Moreover, there are many unknown people who are demanding them.

INFORMATION GATHERING

This group of students interviewed a wide range of people of various ages and occupations to learn more
about this topic, and they discovered that the majority of respondents thought it was a waste to throw away
old items. However, it is still safe to use. It is also believed that they have difficulties trading goods with
people in need. This group also read research articles on the issue on the Internet. According to research,
numerous variables such as location, economy, trust, etc. hinder the exchange of commodities between
parties.

FORMULATING A THEORY

Based on all this information, the student group devised a hypothesis that integrated all of the important
elements that contributed to the parties' rapid and convenient exchange of products.

HYPOTHESIZING

The study team developed a number of hypotheses to test based on the aforementioned hypothesis, one of
which is: Using an e-commerce trading platform will facilitate the trade of products.

DATA COLLECTION:

This study team then created a questionnaire based on different factors influencing the exchange of
commodities between individuals, such as the frequency of using e-commerce platform, the trend of buying
used goods, the kinds of secondhand things which are bought, the way of dealing with old things…

DATA ANALYSIS:

The study team then examined the survey data to determine the influence of these characteristics on the trade
of products.

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DEDUCTION

Based on the findings, the study team infers or concludes that individuals prefer to utilize e-commerce trade
platforms that are easier to exchange, more convenient, and need less work and time to discover others who
have demand.

2. How can SPSS software be used to conduct the research? Please provide necessary examples. (4
marks)

SPSS or Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, also known as IBM SPSS Statistics, is a software package
used for the analysis of statistical data. Although the designation of SPSS reflects its original use in the field
of social sciences, its use has since expanded into other data markets. SPSS is commonly used in healthcare,
marketing and education research.

SPSS is a totally comprehensive system when it comes to analyzing data, and it can use any information to
tabulate reports.

Some of main functions of SPSS are:

- Import and clean the data

- Handle and manage data
- Summarize, synthetize, present data
- Analyze data

SPSS provides data analysis for descriptive and bivariate statistics, numeral outcome predictions and
predictions for identifying groups. The software also provides data transformation, graphing and direct
marketing features.

To illustrate the way that SPSS is used in conducting research, for example, a coffee shop want to find out
the difference of Customer Loyality base on Customer Profile (gender, education level), they have to carry out
a survey, gather data and import the data file to SPSS software to handle data.

After SPSS run the data, we receive the output results:

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For the difference of Customer Loyalty base on customers’ gender. As we can see figures of two tables in
above picture, there are different between two gender:

- Male : N=133, M=2.96, SD=0.684, t=-4.179

- Female: N=167, M=3.26, SD=0.55, t=-4.079

and the p-values = 0

we can conclude that female is more loyalty than male.

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For the difference of Customer Loyalty base on customers’ education level:

We have, the sigma 0.534 > 0.05 so three groups are not difference

In multiple comparisons of education level:

- High school < College (-0.36), High school < Graduate(-1.0005)

- College > High School(0.36), College < Graduate (-0.6402)
- Graduate > High School (1.005), Graduate > College (0.6402)

we can conclude that “Graduated Customers” group is the most customers loyalty.

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