Research Methodology

Summary
Meaning of Research
• Search for Knowledge
• A scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a
specific topic.
• Art of scientific investigation.
• The process includes:
• idea and theory development
• problem definition
• searching for and collecting information
• analyzing data
• communicating the findings and their implications
Types of Research
• Primary vs Secondary
• In Primary research, the researcher
gathers information first-hand rather
than relying on available information
in databases and other publications.
• Secondary research involves
summarizing or synthesizing data and
literature organized and published by
others.
• Descriptive vs Analytical
• Descriptive research includes surveys
and fact-finding inquiries of different
kinds.
• In analytical research, the researcher
has to use facts or information already
available and analyze these to
evaluate the material critically.
• Applied vs Basic
• Applied business research addresses
a specific business decision for a
specific firm or organization.
• Example: Should the construction
industry implement digitalization in
business processes? What are the
factors that influence the safety
performance of construction projects?
• Basic business research (also called
pure research) is conducted without a
specific decision in mind that usually
does not address the needs of a
specific organization.
• Attempts to expand the limits of
knowledge in general.
• Not aimed at solving a pragmatic
problem.
• Example: Does employee tenure with
a company influence productivity?
• Quantitative vs Qualitative
• Quantitative research is based on the • Cross-sectional vs Longitudinal
measurement of quantity or amount. • Cross-sectional: the research is
• Qualitative research concerns qualitative
phenomena, i.e., phenomena relating to confined to a single time period.
or involving quality or kind.
• Longitudinal: the research is carried
• Conceptual vs Empirical
• Conceptual research is related to some on over several time periods.
abstract idea(s) or theory. It is generally
used by philosophers and thinkers to
develop new concepts or to reinterpret
existing ones.
• Empirical research is data-based research,
coming up with conclusions that can be
verified by observation or experiment.
Research Process
 Types of Variables (Latent)
Independent Variables

Effort Moderating
Variable

Academic Earning Dependent

Intelligence Variable
Achievement Potential

Mediating
Variable
Other types of Variables

• Control Variables
• This variable is held constant in a research study. It's not a variable of interest
in the study, but it's controlled because it could influence the outcomes.

• Manifest Variables
• A manifest variable is a variable or factor that can be directly measured or
observed.
 Literature Reviews
• It allow researchers to identify gaps in the literature, and critically
examine prior literature in a transparent, rigorous and replicable manner
(Snyder, 2019; Paul & Criado, 2020).
• The main purpose of a review article is to reconcile conflicting findings
and suggest novel and new directions for a given field of research

Types of Reviews
Domain-based: Framework-based review and Bibliometric review
Theory-based
Method-based
Framework-based Review
 Bibliometric review
•Analyse extensive published research using
statistical tools, thus figuring out trends and
citations and/or co-citations of a particular
theme by year, country, author, journal,
method, theory, and research problem.
• Software used: VoS viewer, Biblioshiny (R)
Steps in Bibliometric Study

Define Aim and Identify the Run Present and

Collect and
Scope of methodological Bibliometric review the
Refine Data
Research approach Analysis findings

Explore the state of Visualization, Metrics Extraction, Cluster

Bibliometrix in R
the art of predictive Identification and Content Analysis
[Performance
analytics research Scopus Database [Identifying High Impact Knowledge Sources,
Analysis &
on Built [613 entries] Exploring micro, meso and macro level
Knowledge
Environment [2012- Collaboration Pattern, Co-citation and
Mapping]
2021] Bibliographic Network Evaluation.]
Bibliographic
coupling
• Bibliographic coupling assumes that if two
citing documents share the same set of cited
documents, they are also intellectually similar.
• Bibliographic coupling helps uncover the
present state of development of the research
field under study. • Co-citation analysis uses the cited
references as the units of measurement. It
follows the logic that if two cited references
have some common citing sources, they
Co-citation share some intellectual similarities.
Analysis • Co-citation analysis helps explore the
knowledge foundation of a research field.
 Measurement Model & Structural Model
Structural
Model

Measurement
Model
 Measurement Model Assessment for Reflective constructs
Steps Metric Decision Rule
Indicator Outer Loadings Indicators with outer loadings:
Reliability • less than 0.4 must be deleted
• Greater than 0.7 are accepted
• Between 0.4 and 0.7 will be deleted gradually depending on the
values of reliability and validity
Internal Cronbach’s Alpha Cronbach’s Alpha must be greater than 0.7 and less than 0.95
consistency
reliability
Convergent Average Variance Extracted (AVE) AVE must be greater than 0.5
validity
Discriminant Fornell Larcker Criteria and Heterotrait- In the Fornell Larcker Criteria table, diagonal values must be greater
Validity Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) than the values in the corresponding rows and columns.
HTMT ratio must be less than 0.85.
Measurement Model Assessment for Formative constructs
Collinearity Assessment Variance Inflation Factor (VIF)- Outer Model VIF must be less than 3.33 and must not
be greater than 5
Convergent Validity Correlation between the construct and its global item Correlation must be greater than 0.7
Significance and relevance To check significance, P-value of outer weights must be less than 0.05, if it is not less then check
of indicator weights for P-value of outer loadings. If loadings are also not significant, then delete the indicator.
 Structural Model Assessment
Steps Metric Decision Rule
Collinearity Variance Inflation Factor (VIF)- Inner VIF must be less than 3 and must not be greater than 5
Assessment Model
Explanatory Power R2 and f2 R2 values of 0.75, 0.50, and 0.25 can be considered substantial,
and Effect Size moderate and weak
f2 values of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 are considered small, medium,
and large respectively
Significance and p-value P-value of path coefficients must be less than 0.05, then it is
relevance of path considered as significant
coefficients
Checking the Mediation Effect
• Check the significance of the indirect effect
• Check the significance of direct effect
• If the indirect effect is significant and the direct effect is not, then it is
full mediation.
• If both indirect and direct effect is significant, then it is partial
mediation.
• If the indirect effect is not significant and the direct effect is
significant, then there is no mediation.
• If indirect and direct effects are not significant, then no effect.
Form for collaboration and research