Research Method MODULE

Oromia Public Service College, Department of Accounting
OROMIA PUBLIC SERVICE COLLEGE
RESEARCH METHOD
ACPF 551
(3-Credit hours)
January 2012
Batu, Orromia, Ethiopia
Table of Contents
RESEARCH METHOD Page 1

General Introduction.....................................................................................................2
The Purpose of the Module............................................................................................2
CHAPTER ONE: FUNDAMENTAL OF RESEARCH METHOD.................................4
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Objectives..............................................................................................................................4
1.1. Meaning of Research...............................................................................................5
1.2. The dimensions of research....................................................................................9
1.3. Motivation of Doing Research................................................................................9
1.4. Types of Research..................................................................................................10
1.4.8. Action research......................................................................................................15

1.5. Research and Scientific Method...........................................................................16
1.6. Research Process...................................................................................................18
1.7. Criteria of Good Research....................................................................................19
Summary.............................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESIS FORMULATION. 23
2.1. What is Research problem?..................................................................................23
2.1.1. Defining the Research Problem............................................................................24
2.2. Techniques and Approaches to problem Definition...........................................26
2.2. Problem Formulation, Research Question and Hypothesis...............................27
Summary.............................................................................................................................31
Self Assessment Questions..................................................................................................32
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH PROPOSAL.........................................................34
Introduction.........................................................................................................................34
3.1. What is Research Proposal...................................................................................34
3.2. Functions of Research Proposal...........................................................................34
3.3. General Format of Research Proposal................................................................38
Self Assessment Questions..................................................................................................41
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN (PLANNING OF RESEARCH PROJECT)43
Introduction.........................................................................................................................43
4.1 Meaning of Research Design.....................................................................................44
4.2 Finding a good research question or problem.....................................................45
4.3. Important Concepts Concerning Research Design.............................................45
4.4. Methods of Designing a Research Proposal........................................................47
CHAPTER FIVE: SOURCES AND METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION...............58
Introduction.........................................................................................................................58
5.1. Primary Data.............................................................................................................59
5.2. Collecting Secondary Data....................................................................................74
5.3. The Use of multiple Data Collection methods.....................................................76
Summary.............................................................................................................................76
Self-Assessment Questions.................................................................................................77
CHAPTER SIX: SAMPLE DESIGN AND PROCEDURE...........................................80
Introduction.........................................................................................................................80
6.1 Some fundamental Definitions..................................................................................80
6.2 The Need for Sampling..............................................................................................81
6.3 Sampling Procedure..................................................................................................82
6.4 Sampling Techniques................................................................................................84
6.5 Selecting appropriate techniques for different research studies...........................91
6.6 Assessing representativeness of samples and generalizability from samples........92
Summary.............................................................................................................................93
Self-Assessment Questions...........................................................................................93
CHAPTER SEVEN: DATA ANALYSIS (AN OVERVIEW)........................................97

Introduction.........................................................................................................................97
7.1. Data Processing and Analysis...............................................................................97
7.2. Choosing appropriate ways to present data......................................................103
7.1. Descriptive and Inferential Analysis..................................................................108
7.2. Types of Relationship among the Different sets of Variables..........................113
7.5. Analysis of Data using Statistical Software.......................................................119
Summary...........................................................................................................................121
CHAPTER EIGHT: INTERPRETATION AND REPORTING THE RESEARCH RESULT
..................................................................................................................................125
Introduction.......................................................................................................................125
8.1. Meaning and Techniques of Interpretation.......................................................126
8.2. Organization and Types of Reports...................................................................127
8.3. Purpose of writing research report....................................................................129
8.4. Mechanics of Writing a Research Report..........................................................130
8.5. Steps in writing a Report....................................................................................131
8.6. Presenting results................................................................................................132
References……………………………………………………………………………………. 145
General Introduction

Dear students, this course is introductory courses that basically designed for beginner
who learn research method for first time to provide them with a preliminary knowledge of
research method that will equip them with the art of using different research methods,
techniques in solving research problems. The course covers scientific inquiry;
experimentation; survey; fact finding, design of questionnaire and interpretation of data;
and formulation of management research project by students.
Here, as a student of this Research Method Course, you will be wearing two hats. One hat
or role is that of a student who wishes to pass exams in this area, so you will need to learn
enough about research methods to write an assignment of appropriate standard and/or to
pass the examination. This is your academic role, and this means we must look at research
methods from an academic point of view. So we will be looking at research methods
literatures as your additional references, in order that you can use it to help you understand
all the chapters in this module, and use the literature in your exam assessment. You may
continue your studies and do further academic work at a higher level; again you will need
to use research methods ideas and theories from the literature directly in that study.
Yet, there is also another hat that you be wearing, that of manager, research consultant or
practitioner working in your employer organization, for which this short module aims to
prepare you. So while you are working on this module, you will need to imagine yourself
in the role of manager, needing to answer questions in real-time, carry out research to
solve vital economic and social problems that you are supposed to act on them.
The Purpose of the Module
This Research Training Module is developed by ABUGIDA Educational Consultancy and

Training Plc for use by distance students in Orromia Public Service College’s Accounting
and Public Finance Department degree courses within the public. The Module is a
response to the call by Accounting and Public Finance Department in the Public Service
College for a distance education and training program for students to be equipped with
basic research mythologies who reach higher studies without experience or training in
research methods.
This module is designed with the intended purpose to develop the distance student’s ability in
scientific analysis and to provide opportunity for application of concepts and tools in the study of
economic and social problems. It is simple and a practical, down-to-earth guide for students who
are interested to conduct research. It is aimed at those new to research and assumes no prior
knowledge of the issues covered.

In this respect, the Module meets two needs: it saves time by cutting down on duplication
of research courses across the different programmes in the colleges; and they serve as a
standard to ensure a minimum level of research training for students undertaking higher
studies. By using relevant Module students should be able to develop a basic
understanding of methods appropriate to their own research.
Students using the Module are not assumed to have any prior knowledge of research
methods. They are, however, expected to have developed a certain level of general
academic skills. This includes well-developed writing abilities, knowledge of sources of
information specific to their discipline, a broad knowledge of theoretical and empirical
developments within their discipline, and a detailed knowledge of an area of study within
the discipline that will be the focus of their research.
The Module also appeal to those people who have already Conducted some research and
who are interested in finding out more about other research methods that are available to
them
Moreover, the Module itself can be used in both on and off-department courses. They are
designed for maximum flexibility so that they can be employed in as many different ways
and adapted to as many different individual needs or course structures as possible. Each
one is divided into discrete sections that include advice on further reading and exercise
questions to test the student's grasp of central issues. This means that they can be used
either in specific courses or distributed directly to students for their own consultation.
General Objectives
Primary objective of this module is to help students getting a preliminary knowledge with
the art of using different research methods, techniques in solving research problems.
Specifically, it covers scientific inquiry; experimentation; survey of data; fact finding,
design of questionnaire and interpretation of data; and formulation of management
research project by students. It provides distance students at Public Service College of
Orromia (PISCO), a foundation for thinking and reasoning scientifically, develop a step-
by- step overview of the research process, explain how to propose a research project and
set the stage for ethical awareness and responsible decision making. The specific
objectives of this course are too;
 Make the students aware of research methodology,

 Give and insight them into various tools and techniques of research,
 Help them apply various methodologies of social research to solve practical and
common business problems,
 Provide orientation to students to prepare a research design/proposal and
 Push them emphasize on applied approach based on practical application that give
students a basic understanding of the scope of Research.

CHAPTER ONE: FUNDAMENTAL OF RESEARCH METHOD

UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
1.1. Meaning of Research

1.2. Types of Research
1.3. Motivation of Doing Research
1.4. Research and Scientific Method
1.5. Research Process
1.6. Criteria of Good Research.
Summary
Self-Assessment Questions
Introduction
Dear Students, in this chapter you will be introduced to an overview of a research method.
We shall start by looking at what constitutes ‘research’ at a fundamental level and then we
are going to see the concepts, types and elements of a research method. Next we will look
at the various reasons that people give for doing research and, in particular, look at the
distinction between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research.
Towards the end of the chapter you will be informed with the main criteria that make your
research a good research and will be encouraged to decide upon your own research
project. However, even if you are not yet ready to choose a research project, this module
will provide you with a good background understanding to research in practical work
environment.
Objectives
The major objectives of this chapter are to:
1) Introduce you to the concepts of research method in the context of public financial
management.
2) Help you to think in a critical way about what research is, the range of activities it covers
and why people do it.
3) Make you aware of the importance of the socio-economic context in which practical
research takes place.
4) Help you think about how these matters relate to you and your own work situation.
5) Help you to begin to plan a research project based on your own context and you will also
continue to develop and refine this project as you work through the other chapters of the
module)

1.1. Meaning of Research
Dear Students, over the decades there has been a great deal of discussion on what
constitutes research, how it should be conducted and whether certain methods are ‘better’
than others. This has not been still solved among scholars and researchers across different
disciplines and areas of researches.
However, to restrict ourselves within the scope of this module, research may be described
as the deliberate study of other people or some other things for the purposes of increasing
understanding and/or adding to knowledge. This deliberate study could cover many
different areas and discussion issues. As a researcher, you might be interested in attitudes
and behavior your customers in the product markets– why do they think in a certain way
and why do they behave in a certain way when they different product categories? Or you
might be interested in numbers – how many people use a particular service? Perhaps you
need to try to predict how this number of people could be increased so that you can obtain
marketing budget to successfully run for your service. Or you might be fascinated by
changes of economies, or social dynamics within or out of your nearby communities and
have a burning desire to record the historical development the new circumstances and pass
it on to others.
Activity 1: Understanding the Meaning of the word “Research”
Dear students, before doing physical activity it is advisable to warm up our muscles. We
hope that what you are about to do will be a gentle stretching for the brain exercise. When
this module writer came to write this section of the module, he realized that ‘What is
research?’ is quite a difficult question to answer! So the writer wants to start with what you
think it is.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________.
Again, just imagine that you are compiling a dictionary to look up the meaning
different words for your purposes. The next entry is the word ‘research’. Explain the
meaning of the concept using fewer than 20 words/ please put your explanation here;
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___________________.
Activity 2: Do we consider ourselves as researchers?
Dear students, do we consider ourselves as researchers? Please think for a moment and try
to recognize what makes each of us a researcher.

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_____________.
Most of us are researchers most of the time. We don’t necessarily think of ourselves as
researchers but research is really about collecting information that tells us about something
and it helps us make informed decisions. For instance, if we want to buy a CD at the
lowest price, we will go to several shops to compare prices.
We do also other similar activities every day, whether it’s reading a newspaper or listening
to the radio. Perhaps we want to know which club is leading a weekly match in Ethiopian
or European football league, and want to find out more about what won which in this
match, or we need to read a company’s notice board to find out more about a job vacancy.
Perhaps we’re enquiring about a higher institution to pursue our distance education, or the
best price for buying a new laptop computer. Most of these processes involve research at
some level. In fact, some people might argue that merely observing what is going on
around us is a form of research – a way of gathering data or information which we then
organize in a coherent way, so that we can act.
However in the most profound sense, Research simply means trying to find answers to
problems or questions, or an activity every one of us does all the time to learn about the
world around us. Of course what we call Research (as in ’basic research methods’) is a
more formal way of going about asking questions.
We usually begin with something very specific we want to know. Then we ask the
question or questions in a structured way. This structure is called a methodology.
Research methodology is the philosophy or the general principle which will guide your
research. It is the overall approach to studying your topic and includes issues you need to
think about such as the constraints, dilemmas and ethical choices within your research.
Research:-A systematic investigation and study in order to establish facts

and conclusion.
Research methodology:- is the philosophy or the general principle which
will guide your research
Research methods versus research methodology
Many authors use these terms interchangeably, but there is a correct way of using them.
As students of "Research Methods", we must know the difference.
? What is it? What do you think about their difference? Please write here your points
that think they differentiate them.
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_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________.

Research "methods" usually refers to specific activities designed to generate data (e.g.
questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observation) and research "methodology" is
more about your attitude to and your understanding of research and the strategy you
choose to answer research questions. In research, there are a lot of different kinds of
methodologies, and some of them can be very complicated. However, there are some basic
ones that have been tried and tested, and which can be easily learned.
Dear students please keep in mind that your research methodology is different to your
research methods – these are the tools you use to gather data, such as questionnaires or
interviews, and these will be pointed out in the remaining Chapters of this module.
Research methodology–is the philosophy or the general principle which

will guide your research.
Research methods – these are the tools you use to gather data, such as
questionnaires or interviews
Dear Students, let’s move on by seeing what ‘the experts’ come up with. When we were
searching for reference we looked in the Chambers English Dictionary it gave this: ‘A
careful search; investigation; systematic investigation towards increasing the sum of
knowledge. But that is just one definition in one dictionary in one language. The next
activity goes a little further:
Activity 3: Part One- the definition of “Research” in English language
1) Look up the word ‘research’ in any other English dictionaries that you have to hand.
2) Are there any noticeable differences or nuances in the definitions? Which do you think
is best? I particularly like ‘a course of critical or scientific enquiry’ (Shorter Oxford
English Dictionary).
Activity 3: Part Two- the definition of “Research” in other language
1) See how the English word ‘research’ is translated into Amharic or Oromiffa language.
Then take the word(s) offered as translations for ‘research’ and look up their meaning
in either of these languages dictionary.
2) What is the origin or etymology of the word in your language? For example the French
(Recherche) and the German (Erforschung) are very similar to the English with the
idea of search and search again.
3) Are there any linguistic or cultural connotations that would suggest that research is
understood differently in your community? For example in some religions ‘research’
might exclusively refer to the detailed examination of sacred scripts. In others
‘research’ might refer only to procedures in the natural sciences.
Activity 4: Reviewing what you have learned from your activities

Dear students, would you please review what you have leaned from those activities above?
Let you put your points here:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________.
The word ‘research’ then, at least in the English language, is a fairly general term
suggesting a process of rigorous enquiry in the pursuit of knowledge. For the moment
let’s acknowledge that the verb ‘to do research’ is not quite as straight-forward or as
self-explanatory as certain other verbs such as ‘to drive a car’ or ‘to kick a football’. I
want to move on to look at your underlying ideas, preconceptions and stereotypes
concerning ‘research’.
Activity 5: Working on imaginary example using the word “Research”
Dear Students read through the seven imaginary examples below. Some use the word research
and others don’t. For each example, note down:
Case details Is it a research? Why? /Why not?
1. I am thinking of buying a new bicycle, so

I need to do a little research.
2. The lab worker is testing blood samples
to see which show signs of anemia.
3. The last time I baked some bread it did

not raise. So this time I am trying a
different batch of yeast.
4. As the unit’s administrator, I have gone
through the records and noted that the
amount of photocopying has gone down
since staffs have been using email, so I
have decided to get rid of one of the
copying machines. I will see what the
records show next year.
5. Professor Mathews is in the library
reading some journal articles.
6. I have talked to a number of students on
my course and women seem to find it
more difficult than men. So now I try to
give them extra support. I will see if it
makes a difference.
7. Dr. Gemechu’s Educational journal
article on distance education brings

together evidence from numerous studies

that she has carried out. He concludes
that distance education is frequently just
as expensive as face-to-face teaching.
If you meet somebody who says that they are a police officer or a rocket scientist or a
car mechanic, then you form a fairly accurate picture of what their job entails.
However, if a person says that they do research, the image you conjure up may be
vague or wildly inaccurate. This is because the term ‘research’ is used in a variety of
both work and non-work situations. The following activity is designed to explore the
different dimensions involved.
1.2. The dimensions of research
Dear Students, it is clear that research varies a lot. For example, some research involves
collecting new data, some does not. Reflect on the seven cases, and on your own experience,
and note down other dimensions of variability that seem important.
Let’s now take stock. If we accept that all of the cases in the last activity were examples of
‘Research’, using its broadest definition, what have we established so far, the next point to
help you to explore the different dimensions of this diversity.
While neither side is absolutely right or wrong about what constitutes ‘research’ – they both
have some valid points – we would agree that many carefully controlled lab-based
experiments add little to the understanding of real-life learning situations. (For example,
while it may be of interest to know that prospective buyers can learn well from radio
programmes on particular new shopping product (a product that buyers exert extra effort to
collect information about the product before they decide to purchase it), it is more important
to know that most of the radios supplied are broken or have flat batteries). Also, while
people can attempt to apply the methods and standards of the natural sciences to
environmental learning, this should not exclude other approaches that can offer valuable
insights. (For example, an in-depth interview with one student can be highly illuminating).
To summarize the point, in this section you have been encouraged to think of the concept of
‘research’ as problematic. It has a variety of meanings and forms. Even in the realms of
academic research there is no agreement as to what really constitutes research.
1.3. Motivation of Doing Research

Dear Students, in this section we will consider the various purposes of research in order to
explore why people do research.

There are many reference books on how to do research but they tend to pay relatively little
attention to the question of why we should do it. Let’s reflect upon this for a moment by
considering how some people might answer the question ‘Why do you do research?’
Let us see before London 2012 Olympics games is about to start and during the games
over 3,000 drugs tests of athletes were carried out. If these researchers were asked why
they are doing it, the answers would be clear ‘Certain substances are prohibited. Any
athletes found to have taken them will be banned.’
Nigatua from Police University College might say that she is doing the prison research
because her Dean asked (told?) her to do it. But she also hopes to use this research as the
basis for her application to continue for a Masters Degree thesis.
Fatuma who is working in Orromia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office might say
that research is needed because the growing numbers of AIDS orphans in the region
means that alternative modes of schooling are needed.
So the question ‘Why do research?’ can be answered many different ways. The word
‘why?’ is so broad that answers can legitimately vary from ‘in order to get promoted’ to
‘to increase the sum of knowledge’; from ‘because I was told to’ to ‘in order to combat the
pandemic disease’.
We want to narrow the discussion to outcomes, and to societal rather than personal
outcomes. The dictionary definition of research that we have looked at gives the purpose
of research as ‘Research can be done either to answer questions, or to increase a sum of
knowledge. This leads to the next question – ‘Why do we want to answer questions or
increase the sum of knowledge?’ One way to answer this question is to take the commonly
made distinction between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research.
We all have different reasons for conducting research. Some of us might have to undertake
a project as part of our course work. Others might have to conduct a study as part of our
employment. Some of us may be fascinated by something we’ve observed and want to
find out more.
1.4. Types of Research
While we have broadened out the term research to cover a range of activities and
purposes, we have tended to treat it as a homogenous whole when it comes to actually
carrying it out. However, within the field of research there is a range of methods,
sometimes based on fundamental differences about what constitutes ‘reality’ and how we
can ‘know’ anything. In this section you will see the major categories of research on basis
of these classification methods and the types of research group under each major category.
Dear students, type of research that we have today can be determined on the bases of the
classifications used such as based on their purposes; the way they are used; time range
taken in research process ; the type of data used as inputs for analysis; and so on.

1.4.1. Basic research versus Applied Research
‘Basic’ research or ‘pure’ research tends to be associated with ideas and theories whereas
‘applied’ research is to do with action and practicalities. However, it is easier to give
extreme examples than to provide precise definitions. In a hard science such as physics
you might have ‘pure’ research into the basic structure of matter and ‘applied’ research
into how to build a faster computer. In a business research a ‘pure’ researcher might be
looking at the history of taxation whereas an ‘applied’ researcher might be measuring the
effects of taxation on the overall performance a country’s economy.
Table 1: Characteristics of pure and applied research
Pure research Applied research

Developing theory Using theory or a theoretical
No clear practical uses/policy relevance Clear practical use/policy relevance
Driven by thoughts/ideas Driven by data
Guided by intellectual curiosity Guided by research commissioners
Open-ended Has time and money constraints
Aimed at peer group Aimed at decision-makers
In the table above an attempt is made to list some of the characteristics that each type of
research tends to have. The list is not exhaustive but it should be sufficient to help you with
the next activity.
Activity 5: write down difference between pure and applied research

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1.4.2. Exploratory versus Explanatory Research
Exploratory Research: A research method mostly uses inferential statistics-confidence

interval estimation. It is most frequently used to answer exploratory research questions,
such as "what is the average cycle time," or "what is the average profit contribution?"
Explanatory: - Explanatory research questions are frequently answered through the other
method of inferential statistics - the testing of hypotheses, or hypothesis-testing.
1.4.3. Deductive versus Inductive Research

Deductive Research:-a deductive approach of a research begins by looking at theory,
produces hypotheses from that theory, which relate to the focus of research, and then
proceeds to test that theory. But that is not the only way to use theory in research.

Inductive Research: - an inductive approach starts by looking at the focus of research (the
organization, a business problem, an economic issue etc) and through investigation by
various research methods, aims to generate theory from the research
1.4.4. Positivist versus Interpretivist

Positivist: a positivist approach is usually associated with natural science research and
involves empirical testing. Positivism states that only phenomena which we can know
through our senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste) can really produce "knowledge". It
promotes the idea of experimentation and testing to prove or disprove hypotheses
(deductive) and then generates new theory by putting facts together to generate "laws" or
principles (inductive). Positivists suggest that this kind of research can be "value free" (but
see our discussion on this above). Finally positivist research is about objective rather than
subjective (normative) statements and only the objective statements are seen to be the proper
domain of scientists
Interpretivist: contrasting this with the idea of "interpretivism", this is much more common
in the social sciences, in which business and management belongs. Because business and
management involve people as well as things, the interpretivist argument promotes the idea
that subjective thought and ideas are valid. An interpretivist researcher aims to see the world
through the eyes of the people being studied, allowing them multiple perspectives of reality,
rather than the "one reality" of positivism.
1.4.5. Observational Research versus Experimental Research
Observational research-it involves watching or observing various behaviors and patterns.

Perhaps you want to find out how many cars of a particular make use a specific intersection.
To do this you might stand at the intersection at a particular time of day, and record the
makes of cars. Perhaps you want to monitor the number of people entering a particular shop
at specific times of the day, recording their behaviors, and whether or not they buy anything
or are just browsing.
Experimental Research-More complicated forms of quantitative research are experimental

research or. It is also called mathematical modeling research. It usually involves large sets
of data that involves the process of developing equations and using statistical techniques to
understand the relations between the data (example, data from a computer at a check-out
counter in the super market).
It is a process of manipulating one variable to see the impact on other variables. For example,
it is sometimes used to assess the impact price changes might have on sales by changing the
price of one product in one store and leaving the same product at the original price in other
stores. By comparing the sales figures, deductions can be made about the impact a price
change might have on the sale of the product generally.
With all kinds of research, it is important to be as specific as possible, and to explain your
assumptions. Remember, your research results might not tell you everything but they will be

valuable for what they do reveal. In the example of the marketing research, we might be able
to conclude that consumer sensitive products didn’t feature prominently in the commercial
newspapers during the monitored period. We might want to find out the reasons for this and
decide to interview the newspaper editors. By doing this, we would be doing some
qualitative research.
Activity 6: Differentiating the difference between observational and experimental

researches.
Try to think of different examples to those given above and describe the difference between
observational and experimental researches. Give one example of each type of study.
1) Difference between the two methods
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2) Example of experimental research
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3) Example of observational research

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1.4.6. The Quantitative versus Qualitative Research
Dear Students, the essential difference between the qualitative and quantitative
approaches is in their outputs. Put at its simplest, quantitative research is about measuring
things in a way that can give meaningful numerical results. It is what researchers in the
physical sciences do all of the time. Qualitative research aims for a subjective
understanding of a situation using non-numerical results. So where do these different
ideas take us in relation to understanding qualitative and quantitative research strategies?
We can use the other concepts above to help us build a picture.
Quantitative research (the word ‘quantitative’ comes from the word ‘quantity’) involves
information or data in the form of numbers. This allows us to measure or to quantify a whole
range of things. For example: the number of people who live below the poverty line; the
number of business organizations between specific amount of business working capitals that
pay taxes for the town municipality ; the average spending power in a community; or the
number of business men who have access to banking services in a village or town.
A quantitative approach to research is likely to be associated with a deductive approach to
testing theory, often using number or fact and therefore a positivist or natural science
model, and an objectivist view of the objects studied.
A qualitative approach to research is likely to be associated with an inductive approach to

generating theory, often using an interpretivist model allowing the existence of multiple

subjective perspectives and constructing knowledge rather than seeking to "find" it in

"reality".
In current business and management research, you are likely to find a mix of both
quantitative and qualitative strategies, looking at observable objective facts where they
might be seen to exist, through the use and manipulation of numbers, and looking also at
the perceptions of those involved with these "facts". So in a practical sense, we try to use
the best of both worlds to investigate the messy reality of people and organizations.
Activity 7: comparing quantitative and qualitative research
Do you prefer the idea of conducting quantitative or qualitative research? Write here
why and why not.
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________________________________________________________.
What are the characteristics of qualitative research?

What is your response? Without thinking too long about it, list the key characteristics that
come to mind when you think of qualitative research.
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_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________.
Those who have some prior knowledge of research may define qualitative research a little
differently – seeing it less in terms of its data and more as having as its primary concern the
attempt to see things through the eyes of others – particularly those at are at the receiving
end of services or educational programs. That is to say, its defining characteristic is that it
is primarily concerned with interpretation, and with the ‘meanings’ that social acts,
programs or events have for those who take different roles in relation to them.
Some qualitative researchers see qualitative research as essentially ‘local’, rather than being
concerned with generalisation in terms of theory or policy. What qualitative research does
best, they argue, is describe particular circumstances in detail, allowing the reader to ‘get
close’ to events and think how they might react in circumstances like those described.
No hierarchy of understanding is implied here – your response is valid in itself and in its
own terms. Perhaps you came up with quite different ideas.
The aim of qualitative research is to deepen our understanding about something, and
usually this means going beyond the numbers and the statistics. Qualitative research helps
us to give reasons why the numbers tell us what they do. It is often contrasted to
quantitative research – and they are very often used together to get the ‘bigger picture’ of
what we are trying to find out. Qualitative research helps us ‘flesh out the story’.

Whereas the former approach has its roots in the natural sciences, what we have termed the
‘understanding’ approach draws more on anthropology and uses a variety of ‘qualitative’
methods. These might include some or all of the following:
Activity 8: Advantages and disadvantages/problems of the qualitative or

‘understanding’ approach
Dear students, just as you did with the experimental and observational approaches spend
about ten minutes trying to list the advantages and disadvantages/problems of the
‘understanding’ approach.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
_________________________.
1.4.7. Survey Research

We have put in ‘surveys’ as a special category because, while they represent a research
methodology, they can also be used to answer questions both from the ‘measurement’ and the
‘understanding’ perspective.
Essentially, surveys are a tool to ask a standard set of questions to a representative population.
They are very flexible. They can be sent through the mail or electronically. They can be
carried out by an interviewer who notes down the respondents’ answers on a form or you can
get students to fill in surveys during a class.
If you asking the farmers to say how much maize they produced then you are using a
measurement technique. If you ask them why they did not use the chemicals then you are
getting in to understanding. Some purists refer to all surveys as ‘qualitative’ as they rely upon
the subjective answers of respondents.
Please you should note that, though, that there are different ways of thinking about what
qualitative research is, and that your views might change as you learn more about them.
1.4.8. Action research

Action research is a complex research process that has been used in a wide variety of
education, social welfare and educational settings. Basically it involves undertaking research
into one’s own practice with the aim of improving it. In principle it could be carried out by any
individual or group, but here we are going to concentrate on professional staff working in
education.
Action research is unlike other forms of research in two ways. Firstly, the researchers are
directly concerned with the social situation they are investigating, instead of standing outside
it and looking in. However, to help them think more clearly and avoid bias, they often use an
outsider as consultant or ‘critical friend’. Secondly, while most research tries not to affect the
situation being researched, action research aims to intervene and to change part of the process.
These changes are then monitored and analysed to form part of the findings.

1.4.9. Case Studies

Case studies are intended to provide a focused assessment of causal relationships,
contributory or otherwise, between the intervention and specific outcomes or impacts. In
order to conduct a case study it is necessary to have 1) specific needs or issues of certain
individuals or groups; 2) allocation of several activities to address these issues; 3) response
to the need or issue.
1.4.10. Mixed Method Approach
A research model does not need to use a single methodology. In most cases the most relevant
methodology in the field of conflict transformation is a mixed methods approach where
quantitative methods like surveys are combined with interviews and storytelling. This
accommodates the need for both “objective data” (breadth of an issue) and the “human
element” (depth of an issue).
1.5. Research and Scientific Method
Dear Students, in the previous sections you have learnt that the different types research
methodologies. This classification of research is not just a matter of methodological
preference but involves quite complex questions about research. In this section we discuss
research as scientific method in relation to research processes, as we have said, methods
are not simply technical, they involve different ways of understanding the world, and as we
shall emphasise here, different roles within it.
? Is research a scientific inquiry? What do you think about the daily news you hear on
the radio and you see on television and other news media all the time?
For instance, when you see someone, often a journalist is asking a few people in the
street their view of a Government policy, or a product or service, or a current high
living cost people in the town. Do you think this a scientific research which is being
conducted formally in a systematic manner? Please put your reaction here;
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
______________________________________.
This is quite different from the kind of scientific research we are discussing in this
module. In scientific business, and for academic research, the questions we ask must
be valid and fair, relating directly to our need for information, in other words our
research must have a clear objective purpose. The researcher is not collecting
information for its own sake.
As researcher, we must also collect that information (data) in a fair and systematic
way. For example, we should think about who we ask for information, and how
they will understand our questions. If we cannot ask everyone involved, then we
must be able to justify why we ask only a certain section of that population. We
must also analyse our data with great care in a systematic way. The rigour of our
analysis will have a major effect on whether our research results are valid or not.
for example, if we are trying to determine which of a range of new technologies to
invest in, then it will be very important that we don't skew our results towards a
technology created by someone we know, or that we don't miss out certain relevant
technologies, as these inaccuracies will lead to a poor investment decision.
Hence, a thorough understanding the scientific principles and procedures of Research
Methods helps us to be specific about the research we discuss, and to make sure that
research comes from a valid source and was collected and analysed appropriately.
Activity 9: Research methods as an area to study

Dear Students, after you have worked through this section, please try to put your
understanding:
1) about a research as a scientific method in relation to research process
2) of different scientific methods in research that involve different ways of understanding
the world,
3) About research methods that match your research project.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________
Dear students, as students of a Research Method, you are supposed to have one stone to kill
two birds at a time. One to play your role as a student who wishes to pass exams in this area,
so you will need to learn enough about research methods to write an assignment of
appropriate standard and/or to pass your examination. This is to meet your target as you play
your academic role your college, and this means we must look at research methods from an
academic point of view. All academic work must take account of published literature
(textbooks, journal articles, professional articles, relevant website information, company
literature etc). So we will be looking at research methods literature, in order that you can use
it to help you understand the chapters in this research method course, and use the literature in
your assessment. You may continue your studies and do further academic work at a higher
level; again you will need to use research methods ideas and theories from the literature
directly in that study.
But, there is also another target you are supposed to meet like as a manager, research
consultant or practitioner, for which this short module also aims to prepare you. So
sometimes in this module, you will need to imagine yourself in the role of employed or self-
employed manager, needing to answer questions in real-time, carry out research to answer
vital questions for the business you are in.
Activity 10: Research methods as a scientific area to study

What are the differences between your two research roles, between your research study for
academic purpose and your research for your daily business purpose? Think a while and list down
your role as a student and your role as a decision maker in your organization.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________.
Although we did not discuss ‘scientific methods’ in detail here, you will know, if you have
read the methodological literature, that what is at stake here are different views about science
and the scientific method. The commonly held idea that science is simply a question of
collecting facts and using these to deduce and test hypotheses fails to hold in many areas of
social science (as well as in many areas of natural science itself).
Tempting as it is to wander into these questions of philosophy, we need to move on, but you
should be aware that we have polished over some major questions here!
Scientific Method:-the essence of scientific method of research can be
defined as a methodological and systematic approach to the acquisition of
new knowledge.
1.6. Research Process

This is a document which sets out your ideas in an easily accessible way. Even if you have
not been asked specifically to produce a research proposal by your academic research
advisor or your employer organization, it is a good idea to do so, as it helps you to focus
your ideas and provides a useful document for you to reference, should your research
wander off track a little
Activity 11: Identifying the logical steps to be followed in a research
Dear Students for most types of research you will need to produce a research proposal.
So, where do you begin or what will be your starting point? Where are you going then? ,
and where would be your final point or destiny?
Please think a moment and try to map out your step-by-step journey from initial point up
to final destiny in research process.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________.
A key to successful research is a systematic and orderly approach to the data collection
and analysis of data. Whether a research program is conducted in Ethiopia or in Kenya
The research process should follow these steps.
 Define the research problem and establish research objectives

 Determine the sources of information to fulfill the research objectives

 Consider the costs and benefits of the research effort
 Decide the methodology and methods to be used to collect different types of data.
 Gather the relevant data from secondary or primary sources or both
 Analyze and interpret and summarize the results
 Effectively communicate the results for decisions markers
1.7. Criteria of Good Research
Dear students, always have an important decision in mind when you are doing your
research. You are too busy to waste time collecting information to help make a decision
that is not vital to your business or worse yet – collecting information with no purpose in
mind. With a clear decision in mind, you will be able to keep your research focused.
Activity 12: So what makes a ‘Research’ a good research?
Would you please put your evaluation criteria that you think they are important to make
one research effort a good research?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________.
A “Good” research uses systematic procedures to collect and analyze data, which may
include: The researcher is open to new and unexpected findings.
 The research is unique, or offers new insight or development.

 The title, aims and objectives are all clear and succinct.
 Comprehensive and thorough background research and literature review has been
undertaken.
 There is a good match between the issues to be addressed and the approach being
adopted.
 The researcher demonstrates relevant background knowledge and/or experience.
 Timetable, resources and budget have all been worked out thoroughly, with most
eventualities covered.
 Useful policy and practice implications.
Summary
In this chapter we have begun to explore the fundamental concepts of a research method
that we should examine them as a ‘Research Practitioner’ or beginner/novice researcher.
We have seen those fundamental concepts of a research by looking at the ideas from your
perspective as a ‘practitioner researcher’, since that is the type of research that you are
most likely to be doing. This will help you to locate yourself in the research spectrum. We

then have moved on to ask what constitutes ‘research’ at a fundamental level and looked at
how it should be viewed in the field of business. Then we have looked at the various
reasons that people give for doing research, the major types of research , in particular, look
at the distinction between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research. Finally, we have shortly described
the steps that we should follow in the research process and the key features that a good or
a quality research has to fulfill.
In this chapter you have been encouraged to think of the concept of ‘research’ as
problematic. It has a variety of meanings and forms. Even in the realms of academic
literatures/writers or authors in the field, there is no agreement as to what really constitutes
research.
Research can be conducted for the various purposes either to explore or discover
completely new knowledge or/and to add more information and improve the existing ones.
here, many experts and practitioners have been arguing that, in either of cases, the purpose
of doing a research falls under ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research and argue that all research
falls somewhere on a continuum between these two extremes.
There are different types of research. But, these different types of research we have at
hand is based on their purposes, use or timeline, applications, the applicable methods and
techniques of data collection , and some other parameters to implement the research
process. to mention some of them pure or applied research, exploratory or explanatory
research, quantitative, or qualitative research, experimental or observational research, case
study, action research, etc.
Finally, research is not one time event. it is a scientific endeavor which has its own
systematical and formal procedures and logically interlinked steps, that a researcher has to
follow to implement his/her research. And hence, the quality of one’s research is evaluated
based on the fulfillment of these scientific parameters and the applicability of the research
to the reality on the ground.
Self Assessment Questions
Part I-Multiple choice questions

Try the multiple choice questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter. Once
you have completed the test, go and check your answer against correct answers given
on the back of this module as an answer keys.
1) Data collection process for leading, controlling and allocating of organizational

resources describes which one of these?
a) Accounting c) Research
b) Banking d) Management
2) Management research is simply systematic research to find out things about

business and management" (Saunders et al 2006). Which of these does it concern?

a) Marketing planning. c) Production planning.

b) Human resources. d) All of the above
3) A research study was carried out to see whether people notice web addresses on
television adverts/announcement. This is an example of
a) Applied research. c) Neither.

b) Pure research. d) both
4) A research study was carried out to see how many people bought a product using
the free phone number and how many using a paid-for phone call. This is an
example of:
a) Pure research. c) Neither.

b) Applied research. d) both
5) A supermarket manager wants to know whether employees feel comfortable working

in the cold food department. This is an example of:
a) Management consultancy. c) Marketing research.

b) Employee research. d) None of these.
6. Research goes through distinct phases. Which one is in the WRONG position?
a) Reporting d) Determine information gathering

b) Critically review literature. techniques
c) Formulate your research question.
e) None of the above
Part II-True or false questions:
Try the true or false questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter. Once you
have completed the test, then to get your results try to see your answer against the answer
keys which are given on the back of this module.
1) Interpretivism is an understanding of a research philosophy that advocates that it is

necessary for the researcher to understand differences between humans in our role
as social actors
a) True b) False
2) Research is something that people undertake in order to find out things in a

systematic way, thereby increasing their knowledge.
a) True b) False

3) Research is a multi-stage process and will involve both reflecting on and revising
stages already undertaken and forward planning
a) True b) False
4) The term 'research methodology' refers to the theory of how research should be
undertaken
a) True b) False
5) Research is just collecting facts or information with no clear purpose
a) True b) False
6) Most research can ignore theory and concentrate practical issues
a) True b) False
7) A research not only needs to provide findings that advance knowledge and
understanding, it also needs to address scientific issues and practical human
problems
a) True b) False
8) You will probably revisit each stage of the research process more than once
a) True b) False
9) Pure research is better than applied research
a) True b) False
10) Pure research is usually done for long term benefits
a) True b) False
11) Firsthand knowledge creation is research of an applied nature, governed by the

world of practice and highlighting the importance of collaboration both with and
between practitioners.
a) True b) False

CHAPTER TWO: RESEARCH PROBLEM AND HYPOTHESIS

FORMULATION
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
2.1. What is Research problem?

2.2. Techniques and Approaches to problem Definition
2.3. Problem Formulation, Research Question and Hypothesis.
Summary
Introduction
Dear Students, this chapter will enable you to explore different ways of generating research
questions and to work out your focus, in the light of competing priorities such as finance,
time constraints and institutional goals. You will begin by looking more closely at the area or
problem that you wish to research, relating your own research objectives to those of others in
your institution, possibly you research work financier(s) and other interested individuals and
organizations. After determining your guiding research questions, you will go on to find out
more about possible sources of finance for your study.
In this chapter, we will try to see what a research problem is all about, techniques and
approaches to a problem definition, and finally how to formulate a research questions and
hypothesis.
Objectives
When you have worked through this unit, you should be able to:

1) Develop appropriate research questions, both individually and collaboratively with your
classmate;
2) Identify whether your research questions fit with your any specific sponsoring/financier
institution’s or organization’s priorities, if there is any;
3) Narrow down your focus to a single guiding research question; and
4) Analyze and compare different kinds of research questions, in relation to the kind of
research approach that they suggest.
2.1. What is Research problem?

Dear Students, before you start to conduct the actual research process you should identify
the research problem- or a problem statement(a recognized problem in need of a solution)
or develop a research hypothesis (keep in mind that a hypothesis is not a foregone
conclusion but a testable scientific idea that will it in detail later). It is also important to be
realistic from the outset about the impact of your research study. It may be unlikely that
your research study will result in a major breakthrough that can address a larger scientific
question.
2.1.1. Defining the Research Problem

The research process should begin with the definition of the research problem and the
establishment of the specific research objectives. A major difficulty here is converting
series of often ambiguous research problems into highly draw and achievable research
objectives.
As a researcher you should ask yourself a question “What is the problem for which a
solution is being sought?” It is very important that a real-world problem must exists for
which there is currently no effective solution. It should be an academic problem, i.e. one
that requires academic research to be performed. Industry problems seldom make good
academic research problems. Trying to solve a problem a specific organization is
experiencing has too narrow focus. The problem should be wide enough to apply to a
whole industry. The project goal would be to solve the problem.
If possible, refer to other researches that have been done in this area. The solution must
have academic, social and practical value. End this section of with a single statement that is
the problem statement. Make this statement bold so that it stands out.
? What is real challenge in defining a research problem?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
___________________.
In this initial stage, researchers often embark on the research process with only a vague
grasp of the total problem. A research problem that is too broad and a research problem
that is too narrow are both considered poorly defined research problem.
Activity 1: Spot the shortcomings in designing a research problem

Have a look at the statement of a research problem below and see if you can spot any
potential problem. What questions would you ask to make the researcher focuses in on
his/her proposed research study? Do you have any suggestions for the improvement of this
statement?
Statement: This research aims to find out what people think about television.
Dear Students, please look into the points to be considered when you define your research
problem:
This research aims to find out what people think about television. This proposed research
study is both broad and obscure. My first two questions would be: what people and what
television? Then I would ask: what is the purpose of this research? Who would be interested
in the results? TV companies already employ market researchers to conduct a great deal of
research into public viewing, and they have much larger budgets available to them. There’s
little point in repeating research if it cannot be improved upon.
However, if the researcher has an interest in this particular issue, or is perhaps on a media
studies course, there are a number of ways in which this research could become more
manageable.
The researcher could focus in on a particular type of programme and/or a particular type of
person. For example, he/she could decide to show a distance education programme to
potential distance students and find out what they thought about the programme in a series of
focus groups. Or he/she could choose children’s programming and find out what teachers
think about the educational value of these programmes. Or he/she could ask business people
what they think about a programme aimed specifically at the business community. Finally,
maybe he/ she could ask fellow students to keep a diary of their television viewing over a
week and then interview them about their viewing habits. There are many different
possibilities within this field. The researcher needs to decide exactly where his/her interests
lie and focus in on those interests.
? What might be special about business research? Please put whatever your thought tells
you here.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
Dear Students, if we contrast research in business with, for example, research into
chemistry, one particular issue is clear: business research is not a single pure academic
discipline like chemistry. If we conduct research in the field of chemistry, we will
certainly have to know a lot about chemical concepts, the laws of chemistry and the
history of scientific development in chemistry as well as the context of current chemical
research. There will be much to learn about the field before we could become successful
researchers in that field, contributing to new knowledge

However, in business the issues are not so narrowly focused. We will need to understand
things about people as managers, staff, customers and owners, about business entities such
as companies and partnerships and co-operatives, about economies and how they affect
business operations, about products and services and how they vary over time, how they
can be produced efficiently, about money and what regulates its availability, how it
produces profit, and Governments and how their policy affects business operations,
customers' income and needs etc.
We can see that business is an umbrella term for many different things, and involves a
number of different academic disciplines, such as mathematics, psychology, sociology,
physics, economics, politics, history and language. So when we research into business or
management, we will be drawing on a number of different disciplines and domains.
Business research is multi-disciplinary. Business research can also be conducted at
different levels. We may want to find a way to predict when a particular project might
move to the next stage of the product life cycle. This could involve a substantial piece of
work involving customers, competitors and markets as well as product strategies for
resource use, marketing and sales. We could try some trend analysis and aim to forecast
future growth or decline in sales of our product against the competition, we could do some
desk research into government policy affecting this market, we could interview
experienced managers in the field to find out their subjective views about the product's
predicted life. This is a complex piece of research, since there are so many variables and
stakeholders involved in influencing a product's life cycle.
Alternatively, we may want to find out how sales have changed over a period of five
years. This will involve "fact finding", and may be simple to collect from financial
statements, and be expressed in a clear chart showing sales figures over time. But what if
there were major changes to products or services during that time or a move of premises?
Which did make a cause for a slump in sales during a short period? Or a re-branding
exercise? We would have to decide what depth or what level to use for our research, and
for this we would need to know its purpose.
It will be helpful to understand relevant theory, in order to interpret the "facts" that we
find. Usually business research will be conducted to achieve a practical outcome, and that
practical outcome will be best understood in a context. A theoretical context, for example
industrial sociology, or economics, may help us to analyze a situation more effectively and
critically. It may even help us to challenge or move that theory forward.
2.2. Techniques and Approaches to problem Definition
Dear students, you are expected to conduct or prepare an academic research report at the end
of your graduation as a partial fulfillment for the requirement for Accounting and Public
Finance Degree. Thus, when you plan to conduct your research you should state briefly and
concisely the main research question or hypothesis upon which your research thesis is based.
This is will be done during the designing of the Research Proposal which is an initial plan

about how that question or hypothesis will be answered or tested in a project report or
research thesis.
Techniques and Approaches to Problem Definition is about a rationale for your research.
Why are you undertaking the project? Why is the research needed? This rationale should
be placed within the context of existing research or within your own experience and/or
observation. You need to demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about and that
you have knowledge of the literature surrounding this topic. If you’re unable to find any
other research which deals specifically with your proposed project, you need to say so,
illustrating how your proposed research will fill this gap. If there is other work which has
covered this area, you need to show how your work will build on and add to the existing
knowledge. Basically, you have to convince people, i.e., interested individuals or
institutions of your research proposal that you know what you’re talking about and that the
researches important.
There is no point in writing about what is already known. Research aims to make a difference
to what is known. Often this involves locating a gap in the in any specific field of research, a
weakness or a deficiency, and mapping a new direction for thinking. A research topic needs
to be transformed into a research problem or question before you have the basis of a viable
thesis. A good research question needs to be specific, to set boundaries to the project
(perhaps of time, space, limits to materials to be considered). The nature of the problem to be
solved will suggest the methods to be used for data gathering and analysis. One of the most
common challenges facing new researchers is finding a narrow-enough and do-able focus for
their investigations, and in humanities theses, the focus is commonly continually refined and
renegotiated as you write the thesis.
It is wise to bring an open mind to your topic. Flexibility in framing your research question
will allow more freedom to explore and increase the chances of real discoveries. Your
research question ideally needs to be framed as a genuinely open question to which you do
not necessarily know the answer before you begin. If working with a hypothesis, it is equally
important to know that it may be confirmed or disconfirmed. Either way you have a thesis to
argue and defend. The more nuanced, equivocal and interpretive your findings are (provided
you write lucidly rather than confusedly about them and address the evidence), the more
sophisticated your writing is likely to be.
The useful approaches the problems definition is breaking the main hypothesis into sub-
questions or secondary hypothesis. It is useful to break the topic down into its component
parts; that is, to identify the sub-questions or secondary hypotheses that need to be considered
in order to reach a conclusion about the principal research question or hypothesis. These
should be listed in your Research Proposal in the most systematic order you can devise. This
task of identifying the sub-questions will enable you to structure your thesis in a logical
fashion and to avoid collecting data and writing sections which in the end are not integral to
the main argument and possibly not used in the dissertation.

It is worth reciting the stages required to develop such questions and sub-question because it
will demonstrate how the structure of the dissertation (and of the Literature Review) is
generated from that process.
Having derived these sub-questions directly from his/her main research question, the
researcher also then develops other sub-questions which point the research more directly at
his/her initial interests discussed earlier.
2.2. Problem Formulation, Research Question and Hypothesis

This process may produce fewer useful ideas, but even if one is generated, it may have
proven its worth. Equally, focusing on anomalies and by-products, or looking at a problem
from the vantage point of another discipline in which you may have expertise, might
provide a useful generator of ideas for research.
Understanding and anticipating the influence of multifactor on the research outcomes

require critical way of thinking. Isolating the different factors impacting on your research
outcomes and asking the right questions are crucial steps in the problem formulating
stages.
Activity 2: Identify the kind of business problems that need research study
? What kind of business problems might need a research study? Let you try what
you know pleas.
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
_____________________________.
Most work in business organizations, in whatever sector or ownership will require

research activities. We have already discussed the idea of business research in the context
of this module is likely to involve some theory or concept as well as purely practical
questions such as "how does the product range compare in terms of contribution to
profit?" Or "which method of training has produced more output?” or “A coaching method
or group training course?"
Both these questions have potential for theory application as well as simple numerical
survey, but some research problems are more obviously underpinned by theoretical ideas.
For example, those which seek to generalize or to compare one organization with another:
"what are the most effective ways of introducing a new employee to the organization?" or
"how do marketing strategies differ in the service sectors?"
Here, your Research Proposal invites you to outline the topic you wish to investigate, and
to think about why it is worthwhile to study the topic. It is also an opportunity to formulate
as clearly as possible what your main research question is (the research
question/hypothesis), and to break it down into the component parts (the sub-questions)

which will translate in time into the body (or substantive) chapters (or sections in the case
of exegeses) of your thesis. In this way, you will begin to forge a sense of the structure of
the thesis.
2.3.1. Developing a Research Hypothesis
When we try to develop a research hypothesis, we start with a belief, claim, prediction, or
assertion (hypothesis) about the parameter of interest. Then we gather sample
information/data through appropriate sampling methods (we will see sampling methods in
chapter five of this module), compute sample statistics (mean, median, etc in chapter six),
and make a conclusion about that hypothesis.
2.3.2. Null and Alternative Hypotheses
A research hypothesis is generally what the analyst tries to prove or support by gathering
evidence. In statistics, this is called the alternative hypothesis, also known as the research
hypothesis (symbol H1). The hypothesis that complements the alternative is called the null
hypothesis (symbol H0), or hypothesis of equality. The statistical hypothesis statements are
written as follows:
Ho: this is the null hypothesis (non-directional hypothesis)

H1: this is the alternative hypothesis( positive or negative hypothesis)
The null hypothesis (Ho) is a non-directional hypothesis that contains the equal sign, thus it is
sometimes referred to as the hypothesis of no difference or no effect.
The alternative hypothesis (H1) is directional hypothesis that can be referred as the hypothesis
of making difference or has effect. It stands against the null hypothesis either in positively
or negatively. This hypothesis has to be tested through factual evidences so that we either
reject or fail to reject the null.
If we reject the null hypothesis, we do so in favor of the alternative because the evidence we
have gathered supports the alternative. If we fail to reject the null hypothesis, we have
insufficient evidence to support the alternative. Thus the null hypothesis "presumes
innocence until proven guilty."
In all statements of hypothesis tests, the alternative hypothesis:
1) Does not contain the equal sign.

2) Is the conclusion supported (must be true) when the null hypothesis is rejected
(proven to be false).
? How do we know whether to fail to reject the null hypothesis, or to reject the null in favor
of the alternative?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
_______________________.

? While many hypothesis tests are supported by observation, we obviously need more
precision in making the decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
Does the researcher affect the results of research? please put your opinion here:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________
Researchers try very hard to be objective and balanced in their enquiries and their writing.
However there is no such thing as totally impersonal objective research. Imagine a scientific
model, which sets out a hypothesis or a contention such as "H1: this new computer keyboard
will improve typing speeds" and then seeks evidence to prove or disprove the hypothesis,
(this is usually referred to as deductive research). This could be considered the closest to
"objectivity", especially when it is possible to experiment on one group and have a "control"
group of similar subjects for comparison. For our hypothesis, we could divide all the
keyboard users in our organization into two groups, time their typing speeds on the old
keyboard on a particular task and then, from the speeds produced, set up two groups, each of
which had a similar profile of typing speeds. Then we give a new task at the same time to
each group, giving one group the new keyboard. Measure the results to test the hypothesis.
This sounds pretty objective.
Activity 3: In what way could we say that we as the researchers will influence
the results of the research?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________
Because researchers are people, not machines, not only will their method of research affect
their results, but their values will also affect results. The researcher's mindset and personal
values and experience will provide a filter for which method they use and what they see in
the research results. In our example, can you see any possibility of bias in the research
method? Can you see any assumptions or values? Can you see any ways in which we might
look for particular results to confirm what we think?
Just to illustrate this idea a little further, imagine a company in which profit levels are falling.
The finance director may see a financial problem here and will research sales and cost trend
data, looking for that financial problem. The marketing director will look for problems in the
marketing strategy, or more likely the way other people in the business have prevented the
marketing strategy from being carried out effectively. The non-executive director may see an
industry trend as the problem, and will research professional literature to underpin his or her
idea. Each is likely to find the problem they look for, and they may all be right to some
extent.
In business research, we must try our hardest to look for possible bias in both how we
conduct the research and in what we think we have found. But since we cannot eradicate all

bias, we must also be explicit about the perspective which may color our research, so that
readers of
While you are formulating your research question and hypothesis, it good to follow the
following procedures:
Initial bibliographic search: The Research Proposal also involves the beginnings of your
Literature Review. In this, you document what is already known about the research
question and evaluate its uses for your thesis. You do this with a view to finding a place
for your thesis and its arguments in an existing field of scholarly debate. You will need to
work out what materials you can access and what you will need for your thesis to precede
in a well-resourced way. You may need to enlist the support of your supervisor in ordering
materials for the library.
Designing Research Methodology: The research approaches to be deployed in the

process of your research implementation should be clearly presented in your research
Approach. The methodology to prove your research questions or research hypothesis
should be clearly shown on your research methodology.
Determining sources of information: the type of information needed that will answer
your research question or hypothesis. You should determine the sources of information
that you are going to collect either your primary or secondary data or both to justify or test
your research hypothesis. This is very important to validate or invalidate your research
hypothesis (null or alternative hypothesis).
To summarize the point, research activity is the process that follows a logical progression,
which has certain stages, and this process would apply whether your research is for an
academic purpose or a business purpose. However, sometimes it could give us a rather
misleading impression, when we stick to one type of steps to conduct any of our research
activities.
Let's take just two of the early stages: formulating the research topic and critically
reviewing the literature, formulating the research topic, as we have seen above can take
quite a time
Summary
The most important issue in any research endeavor is a clear understanding of the research
problem. It is almost impossible to go further into the research activities without a clear
clue what is going to be researched. The saying goes that “knowing what is really the
problem is considered as solving the problem by half”. So, it is necessary to carefully
understand the research problem from the outset before we go further into our research
work.
A research problem is anything which is questionable around us or in our living world or

universe that needs an answer is a research problem. To make it more practical, it is a
problem for which a solution is being sought.

Therefore, a researcher should ask himself/herself a question “What is the problem for
which a solution is being sought?” Hence, before he/she tries to conduct a research, it is
very important that a real-world problem must exists for which there is currently no
effective solution.
A research usually starts with clear definition of the research problem- i.e., with a clear
statement of the research problem. When choosing an area for research, a research work in
a business for instance, we can start either with a broad area of management, which
particularly interests us e.g. marketing or operations management, or we start with a very
practical question like those in the last paragraph, which need answers to help with
managerial decision-making. Refining from this point to a researchable question or
objective is not easy. We need to do a number of things: Narrow down the study topic to
one, which we are both, interested in and have the time to investigate thoroughly. This is a
technique of identifying a research questions or developing a research hypothesis.

Part I-Multiple Choice Questions
1) Carefully study the stages below. Do they refer to Induction or Deduction?

Observations made, Theory developed, Hypothesis worded, Hypothesis tested on data
and Theory revised
a) Induction. c) both of them

b) Deduction
2) Idea generation by two or more people thinking as freely as possible to generate and
shape our research question is formally known as:
a) Learning the Situation. d) Brainstorming.

b) Applying a Research. e) Variable relationships
c) gap analysis.
3) These research tasks are slightly out of order. Which one should be moved? The study
asked 2000 people about new year shopping in Merkato Gebya
a) The costs of research were d) Secondary sources consulted.

calculated. e) The questionnaire was written.
b) Tables produced. f) People interviewed
c) A timetable was created
4) Which word fills all the blanks in this extract: We talk about generating __________,
testing_______, rejecting ________.
a) objectives b) hypotheses

c) questions d) aims
5) Projects do go wrong. In one case a student could not analyze the data collected; he
was not capable. Which ONE of the following would have been realistic and would
have helped the most with this problem?
a) Using SPSS. d) Regular meetings with the

b) Being less ambitious. supervisor.
c) Asking for the deadline to be e) Using a Gantt chart
changed.
6) What is 'a possible explanation that we may or may not agree with'?
a) The hypothesis. c) The objective.

b) Grounded theory. d) The research question
Part II-True or false questions

Try the true or false questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter. Once
you have completed the test, then to get your results try to see your answer against
the answers given under self-check question on the back of this module as an answer
keys.
1. In most studies objectives are best set after deciding on methodology
a) True b) False
2. It is a good idea to generate numerous ideas and develop them before choosing one in
particular.
a) True b) False
3. It is unacceptable to take a previous study and repeat some aspects
a) True b) False
4. A hypothesis is a proposition.
a) True b) False
5. It is generally accepted that 'research objectives require more rigorous thinking which
derives from the use of more formal language.
a) True b) False
6. An academic study may be considered valid if the only literature selected is newspaper
material.
a) True b) False
7. The technique of brainstorming can be used to generate and refine research ideas.

a) True b) False
8. The dissertation's study of the relevant previous published research should inform the
research question(s) and objectives
a) True b) False
9. The overall purpose of a research is to establish new facts not develop new theories.
a) True b) False
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
3.1. What is Research Proposal?

3.2. Functions of Research Proposal
3.3. General Format of Research Proposal
Summary

Introduction
In this chapter you will see how to develop your research idea into a proposed
study through comparing the different research approaches. Within the research
proposals you will try to analyse the two contrasting plans for your own research,
and you will also see how to identify issues around two plans.
3.1. What is Research Proposal
Therefore, Research Proposal is a preliminary stage in your research work that describes
your research plan how you are going to handle your research topic in question. It contains
an Introduction, a Literature Review, and a Discussion of the Methods of Analysis.
Activity1: Identification of the different functions of research proposal
Dear Students before you start to conduct a research you start to think about your
research, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Ask questions such as Why have I
decided to do some research?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________.
3.2. Functions of Research Proposal

Dear Students, writing the Research Proposal is the first formal stage in writing the
preliminary chapters of your research work (which will include an introduction, a
literature review, and a discussion of the methods of analysis). It will become part of the
parcel of writing you will present for your confirmation (of application) class. It justifies
to your research advisor or supervisory panel that you have a viable topic, provides
evidence of your ability to key into what is already written about your topic, and
demonstrates your plan of research and your readiness to undertake the thesis. It follows in
some respects the model that professional researchers use in applying to funding bodies
for research, and it will usefully become part of the introductory apparatus of your thesis.
Now, let’s see the major functions of one’s research proposal.
3.2.1. Identification of Research Problem
A search Proposal will start with Identification and brief description of the research
problem. The proposal has to contain a clear research topic or a problem statement defined
in a clear and concise manner.
A research problem/problem statement aims at: What is the problem for which a solution
is being sought? It is very important that a real-world problem must exists for which there
is currently no effective solution. It should be an academic problem, i.e. one that requires
academic research to be performed. Industry problems seldom make good academic
research problems. Trying to solve a problem a specific organization is experiencing has

too narrow focus. The problem should be wide enough to apply to a whole industry. The
project goal would be to solve the problem.
If possible, refer to other research that has been done in this area. The solution must have
academic, social and practical value. End this section of with a single statement that is the
problem statement. Make this statement bold so that it stands out.
3.2.2. Description of the Research Topic/Problem
It is the introduction of the statement of problem/research problem supplies sufficient

background information to allow the reader to understand and evaluate the proposal of
your work without needing to refer to previous publications on the topic. Choose
references carefully to provide the most important background information. The following
questions should be addressed in this section:
 What is the general technical/application area in which you will be working? (For
example project management, financial risk management, information
management for taxation, e-commerce). Reference should be made to any
standards or de facto theories in the area.
 What is the general problem that you are trying to solve, and how did the problem
arise? Provide proof that this is indeed a problem by using references. This should
lead to the more detailed problem statement in the next section.
 Why is its solution interesting or worthwhile? What benefits would there be to
solving this problem? What value would it have to the specific research
community, the industry, society, South Africa or the world?
 What will be the contribution or significance of your research if it is successful?
How will it contribute to the existing body of knowledge in this field? Why should
anyone be interested in your research?
In this section you should show your motivation why this would be a good research
project.
3.2.3. Reviewing of Related Literature
In this section of the proposal, you should show where in current literature the problem
was first recognized as well as what serves as the foundation for your research proposal.
The more references you can find that relate to the given problem statement, the more
credibility it will have. This will give the reader an idea whether you have done your
“homework” and know enough about the topic to start with the research project. A basic
understanding of the field is required. Any fundamental theories relating to your research
proposal should also be stated, for example, if your research topic is project management,
reference should be made to current standards, best practices and any de facto documents.
3.2.4. The Delimitation of the Scope of the Research

A scope statement is a paragraph used to develop and confirm a common understanding of

the project scope. It should include:
• Research Proposal justification – Why are you doing it?

• Brief descriptions of the research project’s products – What will the research
deliver, for example a model, framework, method, prototype?
• Summary of all project outputs (by-products) – Apart from the product as
mentioned above, what else will be delivered by the research?
• Statement of what determines project success – How do you know the research
was successful? What will you use as a measure?
• Exclusions – is there anything that is explicitly excluded from the project, i.e. that
you will not look at or take into consideration?
• Assumptions – Do you start the research project using any assumptions due to a
lack of facts?
3.2.5. Determining the Research Objectives
The project scope statement is broken down into several project objectives that each relate
to the project scope. If all the objectives have been met then the research would have been
successful. The objectives will also help you identify the chapter framework as each
objective will be addressed by at least one chapter. It is important to keep in mind that an
objective must be measurable.
It is therefore necessary that show how you will measure whether an objective has been
met or not. You should have at least five objectives.
3.2.6. Presenting the Research approach
The approach refers to the research method that you will use. This has to be a formal,
scientifically recognized method. The questions that should be answered in this section
are:
• How will you accomplish your objective? What will you do? Will you follow a
quantitative of qualitative approach? Will be using action research, grounded
theory or another methodology?
• Give a brief summary of what this method entails (the process or steps) and
motivate why it is suitable to your research problem?
• What equipment or other resources will you need?
• What possible problems/ constraints you expect to face with?
• How to tackle those possible constraints during your actual research time
• With what other people or groups will you be collaborating, e.g. professional
bodies, companies, other colleges/ universities, other departments in the same
university?
3.2.7. Presenting the Layout of the Research
This section should give a brief outline and short description of the chapters of the
dissertation/thesis. Each chapter should be linked to a research objective.

The following structure might be used:
i. Chapter 1 – Introduction (based on the content of this proposal)

ii. Chapter 2 – Background / Overview (summary of literature review)
iii. Chapter 3 – Research methodology (explanation and motivation of research method
to be used)
iv. Chapters [n] – The body of the research
v. Chapter [last chapter – Conclusion (Show how the objectives were achieved)
vi. For each chapter, a brief description should be given to explain the intended content .
1. Project plan
This part of your proposal should contain a month-by-month breakdown of what you
intend to do to achieve your project objectives and milestones. Making a schedule of the
principal activities and events is a good way of showing the readers that you is taking a
systematic approach to planning your work. You need to take into consideration times that
you will not be able to work on your research, for example holidays or other
commitments. The project plan should also include activities such as proof reading of your
final document, writing articles and putting the whole document together.
3.2.8. Setting Tentative Timeline

In the Proposal, the research methods or techniques to be deployed are described, though
the introductory sections of the thesis will be revised often as the analytical chapters are
written. The proposal also sets an approximate time-line for the completion of the work.
The research timeline acts as a guideline for research activity and will inevitably be
modified as the student develops expertise and gains detailed knowledge of the area under
study. Allow at least one month for final revisions and checking as this always takes
longer than expected.
3.2.9. Identifying the Limitations or constraints
Document the limitations that could prevent you from successfully completing this
project, for example a lack of reference material or limited access to required resources.
Another constraint might be the amount time you have available to do research.
3.2.10. Listing of References / Sources of Previous works on the Topic
A List of resources and links you will use and why they will benefit your research. You
should list all pertinent papers or reports that have been consulted when you have prepared
your proposal. Also list all relevant standards or de facto documents for the field you are
going to do research in.
? Dear Students, Why do you think a Research Proposals fail? please try to put your
thought here:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________

Dear Students, the reasons why mostly research proposals fail mainly include the
following:
 Aims and objectives are unclear or vague.

 There is a mismatch between the approach being adopted and the issues to be
addressed.
 The overall plan is too ambitious and difficult to achieve in the timescale.
 The researcher does not seem to have conducted enough in-depth background
research.
 Problem is of insufficient importance.
 Information about the data collection is insufficiently detailed.
 Information about the data analysis method is insufficiently detailed.
 Timescale is inappropriate or unrealistic.
 Resources and budget have not been carefully thought out.
 This topic has been done too many times before – indicates a lack in background
research.
3.3. General Format of Research Proposal

Analyse the structure of a research proposal and identify the elements that could be
included in your own. (e.g. problem formulation and overall aims, literature review,
justification of research approach, methods of data collection and analysis, reporting, time
scale/schedule of activities, cost estimation, dissemination strategies). Identify and review
the relevant literature in an appropriate form for your proposal, including becoming
familiar with academic referencing conventions.
You will begin by looking at the purpose of writing a research proposal and analyzing the
key elements of a research proposal. When you present your research proposal, you will
begin with the research topic. It is the title of your research proposal. You research title
should be short but descriptive enough so that anyone reading it would know what to
expect.

Example-A
Introduction
 statement of the problem
 research questions/hypotheses
 theoretical perspective
 definition of terms
 delimitation and limitations of the study
 significance of the study
Review of the literature
Methods
 research design
 sample, population and subjects
 instruments and materials
 variables in the study
 data analysis
Example -B
Title and title page

Abstract
Introduction
 area and topic
 background and context
 statement of purpose (or aims)
Research questions
 general
 specific
Conceptual framework, theory, hypotheses (if appropriate)
The literature
Methods
 design – strategy and framework
 sample
 data collection – instruments and procedures
 data analysis
Significance
Limitations and delimitations (if appropriate)
Consent, access and participants’ protection
References
Appendices

Summary
A research proposal is the preliminary of a research project that one has to show how to
implement his/her research approaches. It shows the methodology and procedures to be
used by the researcher to achieve the purpose and the specific objectives of one particular
research.
Therefore, while we are preparing a research proposal, we will try to perform the
following major functions
We choose a topic context where we can find some access to practitioners if possible;
either a direct connection with an organization or professional body, or a context which is
well documented either on the web or in the literature.
We identify relevant theory or domains of knowledge around the question for reading and
background understanding. Write and re-write the question or working title, checking
thoroughly the implications of each phrase or word to check assumptions and ensure we
really mean what we write. This is often best done with other people to help us check
assumptions and see the topic more clearly. Use the published literature and discussion
with others to help us narrow down firmly to an angle or gap in the business literature,
which will be worthwhile to explore.
Identify both the possible outcomes from this research topic, both theoretical and practical.
If they are not clear, can we refine the topic so that they become clear?
We can start with a broad idea of an issue or area for research such as the impact on an
organization of flexible working, and this goes through much iteration before it turns into
a working title and clear set of research questions. Often the working title does not get
finalized until very near the end of the research, when the process and outcomes are
clearer, but because this is the first thing which appears in the process it can seem, often
wrongly, to be a first stage. At best, the first stage is a tentative idea, sometimes a leap in
the dark, an idea we want to test out. All it needs to do at this stage is give us a direction
for research and some ideas about what to read and where to look for information. Much
later, the research topic will be the label given to the completed research and will be how
others navigate their way to our work, so by then it must be clear and precise.
Critically reviewing the literature is important to know the visible gap or gaps that need to
be filled, and how these gaps should be filled before developing a research questions or
testable hypothesis. Hence, we must read what is published on a topic before we can begin
to formulate clear ideas about how to proceed with primary research and what questions
still need answers. However there is no one set time period in which we read the literature.
We read as early as possible to get an idea of what is published, but we must keep on
reading throughout the research as new items may be published in the area, and the
primary research may lead us to form new questions of the literature, which involve new
literature searches.

However, when we write up a research proposal, it is likely that the literature review will
appear to be an early and separate stage in the research process. Here you should notice
that in reality, it is iterative and "messier" than this.

1) What is the main advantage of producing a written research proposal?
a) Informs all interested parties. c) Helps with credibility.

b) Helps the institution. d) Helps keep people employed
2. What helps to agree timing, agree resource allocation and also draws boundaries?
a) The final report. c) The proposal.

b) The observation form. d) The questionnaire
3. All of these may appear in a research proposal, but which one will ALWAYS appear?
a) Marketing objective. c) Research objective.

b) Creative objective. d) Business objective
4. The timing section of a report will NOT include:
a) deadlines for ending data c) deadlines for submitting the final

collection. report.
b) progress report dates. d) guidelines on ethics

keys.
1) An extensive list of references at the end of the research proposal shows that is used
theory effectively.
a) True b) False
2. Common verbs in research objectives are: to identify; to establish; to determine; and

to develop.
a) True b) False

3. In most studies objectives are best set after deciding on methodology
a) True b) False
4. The research objective will start with the word TO and a verb.
a) True b) False
5. Research objectives will start with one of the words: what, why and how
a) True b) False
6. It is generally accepted that 'research objectives require more rigorous thinking
which derives from the use of more formal language'
a) True b) False
7. The proposal will talk in the past tense; the final report is written in the future tense.
a) True
b) False

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN (PLANNING OF RESEARCH

PROJECT)
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
4.1. Meaning of Research Design
4.2. Important Concepts Concerning Research Design
4.3. Features of Research Design
4.4. Forms of Research Design
4.4.1. Research Design for non-experimental Research
4.4.2. Research Design for Experimental Research
4.4.3. Case Study Design
Summary
Introduction
Dear Students, in the previous chapters, you have seen what a research proposal is all
about and some of the functions of research proposal to be considered while we are
writing a research proposal. You have also seen the flow of the research proposal and the
types of formats or the layout of a research proposal.
In this chapter, you are going to be introduced some of the issues that may arise in relation
to you as a researcher and your research design based on your chosen research topic and
approach you have adapted to for your own purpose. Whilst issues such as validity,
relevance, reliability, bias, sample and causality will be discussed in more depth later, you
need to start thinking about these concepts when you are planning and designing your
research. The aim of this unit is to encourage you to develop a research from your research
question and to look critically at the inherent advantages and drawbacks of your chosen
research approach
Objectives
When you have worked through this chapter, you will be able to:
1) Understand the meaning of research design

2) Understand how the concept of ‘bias’ relates to your own proposed research
project.
3) Compare different kinds of research approaches and analyse the pros and cons of
each.
4) Develop concrete ideas for a research approach around your research questions
5) Equip themselves with the idea of a possible structure for your own research
proposal, and will have reviewed the relevant literature
4.1 Meaning of Research Design
The most important way of getting your research answer or answers is to return to your
research question. What did you begin by asking? The research question will be a good
guide in helping you arrange your research results.
Activity 2: Generating Research Questions
Dear Students, before you decide on your research question, this activity can help you to
explore a variety of questions around your topic and begin to work out how they fit
together.
1) Write down one word that describes your overall research area (e.g. ‘System of
Taxation’). Put this in a circle in the middle of your page.
2) Now reflect on your experience in this area and use arrows to indicate the various
issues that emerge.
3) Try to find out about any previous research done in this area (both locally and
internationally, as reported in journals, websites etc). If you have access to the
Internet, there are several websites containing summaries of completed research
projects in different areas.
4) At this stage, you do not need to read the research in depth, just get an idea of the
topics and questions that have already been researched.
What questions have already been asked in your area? Map them on your diagram.
5) Use your diagram to find out:
 Are there any gaps in this research area?
 Is there any previous research that you can build on?
 Which questions seem more/less important to you?
 Which questions seem more/less important to your employer? Your organisation?
Your government? Potential funding agencies?
In later in this chapter, we will be looking in greater detail at the implications of adopting
certain research approaches and the kind of research tools you may choose to use.
However, at this stage of preparing your proposal, you can begin to explore different ways
of designing your research around your research question(s) and decide which you think

would be most appropriate. You may find it useful to look back at chapter one which
introduced several types of research, including action research and different kind of
research tools such as surveys, interviews, and documentary analysis and focus group
discussions.
4.2 Finding a good research question or problem
You may spend a lot of time exploring and refining your research question, but you should
not feel this is time wasted. This is an important first step as a researcher – to begin to
understand your perspective on a problem, your assumptions and perhaps how you might
see the problem as an outsider. These extracts from Kumar (1999) stress the importance of
getting your research question or problem right:
‘A research problem is like the foundation of a building. The type and design of the
building is dependent upon the foundation. If the foundation is well-designed and strong,
you can expect the building to be also. The research problem serves as the foundation of a
research study: if it is well formulated, you can expect a good study to follow.’
‘You must have a clear idea with regard to what it is that you want to find out about and
not what you think you must find.’
‘The formulation of a problem is like the ‘input’ into a study, and the ‘output’ – the quality
of the contents of the research report… is entirely dependent upon it.’
(Kumar, 1999, p. 36)
Activity 3: sum up your research proposal in one sentence
? Discuss your sentence with your tutor or research advisor and revise if there is any
confusion.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________.
If the answer to this question is because you have been told to do so, either by your
instructor/research advisor or by your immediate supervisor, you need to think about how
you’re to remain interested throughout your research project. Research can be a long
process and take up much of your time. It is important to stay interested in what you’re
doing if you are to complete your project successfully. However, if you want to conduct
some research because something has fascinated you, or you have identified a gap in the
research literature, then you are lucky and should not have a problem with motivation.
4.3. Important Concepts Concerning Research Design
Dear Students, in most research fields such terms as systematic, observable,

measurable,reliability,validity,generalizability,credibility,transferability,dependability,conf
ormability and some other terms which have not been mentioned here are key concepts

that you have to know as researchers. Here, we will try to see the criteria of two key
concepts of validity and reliability in the context of business research
4.3.1. Reliability
Another term for reliability is consistency or repeatability over time. Reliability is required
of research studies. We must try to design research which is auditable i.e. transparent and
clear so that the reader can either undertake the same method themselves and produce the
same results, or at least the method is clear enough to instil confidence in the reader that
the results were not fudged in any way. (Triangulation will help here).
Make sure you understand the concepts of participant error, participant bias, and observer
error and observer bias.
Triangulation:The use of more than one method in collecting data on a

particular event
4.3.2. Validity
There are three main ways of characterizing validity in research studies. It is important
that research methods have "face validity" and "construct validity" and "internal validity".
Face validity means effectively that the non-researcher or lay person can broadly see that
this is a valid method of researching this question "on the face of it" it makes sense as a
method. Face validity is important to encourage participation in surveys or interviews, as
well as other experimental or research designs.
We want to be able to answer the question "why do you want to know that?”
Construct validity is a more complex idea and means that the method must actually
measure what you think it measures. There are, for example, statistical ways of checking
surveys and questionnaires to check that the questions are really asking what you think
(factor analysis and item response theory). Construct validity is particularly important in
questionnaires which are not administered face to face by a researcher but sent by post,
email on done online, as there is no chance then to discuss and clarify the meaning of a
question. Sometimes results can be invalidated because respondents have misunderstood a
question and answered in a way which was not intended. This is also referred to as
"measurement" validity.
We can illustrate this idea by the famous IQ test which was intended to measure
intelligence (IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient) but includes items which bias towards
particular ethnic groups and educational norms. Or we could ask the question, do

examinations test knowledge? Is their measurement validity strong? Or do they actually

test something else, for example examination technique?
Internal validity relates to causality, i.e. does factor X cause factor Y to happen? It is
sometimes easy to assume causality when in fact there is only association of two factors.
For example, does strong motivation cause or lead to effective teamwork, or does effective
teamwork lead to or cause strong motivation? In this case causality can work either way or
may be quite independent concepts. We cannot assume causality either way.
For example, in business research it is easy to make assumptions about a factor (or
"independent variable") causing an effect (or "dependent variable). To test internal validity
we have to ask the question, does the independent variable account completely for a
change in a dependent variable, or are other factors affecting this outcome. Usually in
business organizations, there are very few simple cause and effect relationships. Does a
performance bonus make someone work harder?
Other kinds of validity which are sometimes talked about include: external validity (this is
more often called generalizability, i.e. can we generalise the results of our study to other
contexts or situations?) and ecological validity (this relates to whether the act of
researching a situation itself has an effect on that situation; it may be that findings from a
business research study are clear within the study, but when applied to a different
"ecology" i.e. outside the research study in "real life", they no longer apply).
. Activity 4: Discuss the following key terms in research with your classmates:-
Systematic, observable, measurable, data, variables, qualitative, quantitative, reliability, validity,
generalizability, credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
4.4. Methods of Designing a Research Proposal
Dear students, this activity is intended to lead you on from your research questions to think
more deeply about how you intend to go about your research and to compare two possible
courses of action. When you start to think about your research design, a useful way of
remembering the important questions to ask is to think of the following ‘WH’ questions:
 What?
 Why?
 Who?
 Where?
 How?
 When?

By answering all of these questions, you will get to the nuts and bolts of a story in a few
sentences or paragraphs. The point of this is that all the most essential information is at the
top of the story, making a newspaper easy to scan for a reader.
The Ws and an H formula is a useful tool to apply to many situations, and it helps you to
remember to ask the most essential questions. Thinking about these questions will help
you plan your research, although you might want to consider them in a different order.
Once you have thought about these five ‘WH’ questions, you can move on to think about how you are going to collect your data.
Once you have
thought about these five ‘WH’ questions, you can move on to think about how you are
going to collect your data.
What?
You need to ask: What is your research? Or, What do I want to know? This question
needs to be answered as specifically as possible. One of the hardest parts in the early
stages is to be able to define your research proposal; so much research fails because the
researcher has been unable to do this. A useful tip is to sum up, in one sentence only, your
research. If you are unable to do this, the chances are your research topic is too broad, ill
thought out or too obscure.
Why?
Why do you want to do the research? What is its purpose? Okay, you might have been told
to do some research by your instructor or by your work supervisor, but there should be
another reason why you have chosen your particular subject. It might be solely to do with
the fact that you are interested in the topic. This is a good start as you need to be interested
in your research if you are to keep up your enthusiasm and remain motivated. Or you
might have identified a gap in the research literature – this is good as it shows you have
carried out careful background research. Or perhaps you want to try to obtain funding for a
particular service or enterprise and you need to do some research first to find out if there is
demand for what you are proposing.
Whatever your reason, think very carefully about why you are doing the research as this
will affect your topic, the way you conduct the research and the way in which you report
the results. If you’re doing it for a university dissertation or project, does your proposed
research provide the opportunity to reach the required intellectual standard?
Will your research generate enough material to write a dissertation of the required length?
Or will your research generate too much data that would be impossible to summaries into
a report of the required length? If you’re conducting research for funding purposes, have
you found out whether your proposed funding body requires the information to be
presented in a specific format? If so, you need to plan your research in a way which will
meet that format.
4.4.1. Deciding on a research question
Once you have thought about these five ‘WH’ questions, you can move on to think about how you are going to collect your data.

The first and most important thing to do when planning research is to properly understand
and clarify what it is you want to know why you want know.
By understanding what it is you want to know – some people call this the research
question – you will be able to answer all of the other questions that are necessary to plan
your research properly, such as:
- How do I find out what I want to know?

- Where can I get the information I need, or who do I need to ask?
- When will my research be done by?
- And why? (or finding the right answers to the research question).
When you are formulating your research question, you need to bear in mind the purpose of
your research. You need to ask yourself:
Who will be reading and acting on your research? (e.g. is it the community, a donor, or a business?)
- Who will be reading and
acting on your research? (e.g. is it the community, a donor, or a business?)
- What do they need to know to inform their decisions?
- What decisions does the research need to inform?
4.4.2. Conducting a local information scan

Once you have decided on your research question (or questions) it is useful to conduct a
local information scan. What information do you already have access to? You may want to
surf the Internet, or ask a few experts in the field you are researching, or perhaps you need
to speak to a few people in your community. This will help you see what information is
already out there, and help you refine your research question. Sometimes you may find
that research has already been done in the area you want to work in. Then you may decide
to ask a different kind of question, or focus on specific areas of research.
A local information scan needn’t take up too much of your time, just enough for you to get
your bearings on your research topic. Once you have conducted a local information scan,
take another look at your research question. Should it be changed or refined in any way?
4.4.3. Reviewing Theoretical Framework
It is important to refer theories that your research topic is based upon them .Some people
insist on a theoretical framework for research. What social, scientific or economic theory
are you going to use to understand or interpret your research results?
Theory:-An assumption or speculation of something developed based on

scientific investigation or long research process.
Theoretical Framework:-The systematic statement of rules and principles to
be followed while we are doing something which we put our bases of theoretical
Who will be reading and acting on your research? (e.g. is it the community, a donor, or a business?)

evidences for proofing or justification purpose.
It is important to remember that we inevitably bring some sort of theory to our

interpretation of research results, even if we aren’t aware of it, or can’t name it. For some
research, a clearer understanding of theory may be necessary. However, a lot of basic
research can be conducted without necessarily venturing into this sometimes complicated
world.
If you want to develop a theoretical framework for your research, speak to an expert in the
field and find out what might be a good one, and where you can read more about it.
Alternatively, visit a library, or do some background research on the Internet. If a good
theoretical framework exists, you should be able to find a lot of information on it easily.
How? Where? Who?
Who?
Who will be your participants? (In this training module, people who take part in research
will be called participants or respondents, rather than ‘subjects’. At this stage of the
research process, you needn’t worry too much about exactly how many participants will
take part in your research as this will be covered later Chapter Six about representative
sampling.
However, you should think about the type of people with whom you will need to get in
touch with and whether it will be possible for you to contact them. If you have to conduct
your research within a particular time scale, there’s little point choosing a topic which
would include people who are difficult or expensive to contact. Also, bear in mind that the
Internet now provides opportunities for contacting people cheaply, especially if you’re a
student with free internet access.
How?
Here, you should ask yourself:
• How do I find out what I want to know?

• Where can I get the information I need, or who do I need to ask?
By constructing your research question or questions, you will have decided quite
specifically what it is you want to know. You will also have decided the kinds of
information that will be necessary for the research results to inform a decision or a number
of decisions.
How do I find out what I want to know?

Now that you are clear on what kind of information you are looking for, you need to
decide on a methodology by asking:
• Do I need quantitative or numbers information?

• Or do I need qualitative or explanatory-type information?

• Or do I need a combination of both?

• Will case studies be helpful in properly understanding and presenting the research
findings?
• If I need quantitative data, will I conduct a survey or develop a questionnaire?
• If qualitative information is needed, will I interview people or conduct focus groups?
• Will I conduct site visits or observation?
• Given the research topic, will I conduct participatory research?
Where?
Where can I get the information I need, or who do I need to ask?

Once you have decided on a methodology, you need to decide where you are going to find
the information or who you are going to speak to. Thinking about this question in
geographical terms will help you to narrow down your research topic.
• Are you going to search the Internet, or visit a library?

• Are there other information resources you have access to (e.g. pamphlets or booklets)?
• Do you need to speak to people in a community? Or individuals or experts who do a
particular kind of work?
You should already have some idea about this having conducted your initial information
scan. Also, you need to think about the resources in terms of budget and time that are
available to you. If you’re a student who will not receive travel expenses or any other out
of pocket expenses, choose a location close to home, college or university. If you’re a
member of a community group on a limited budget, only work in areas within walking
distance which will cut down on travel expenses. Also, you need to think about where
you’ll be carrying out your research in terms of venue. If you’re going to conduct
interviews or focus groups, where will you hold them? Is there a room at your institution
which would be free of charge, or are you going to conduct them in participants’ own
homes? Would it be safe for you to do so?
Would you be comfortable doing so? If you’ve answered ‘no’ to either of these last two
questions, maybe you need to think again about your research topic. Think very carefully
about whether your chosen topic and method might have an influence on personal safety
At this point, you may want to build a simple table, setting out the most appropriate
methodologies, and where you are going to find the information, as well as some of the
challenges you may have to overcome.
Background research:-most research involves some form of background

research. You have already done part of this in your information scan, but you
will need to do some more thorough research into your research topic to
understand and collect information that already exists.
Like an information scan, background research can involve a number of things:

• Online research;
• Visiting a library to discover more about what you are researching;
• Speaking to experts who can give you an overview of your research topic;
• Reading various literatures, such as pamphlets and booklets.
Sometimes you may find that there is a lot of background information on the issue you are
researching. Because all research has time limits, you need to keep your research question
clearly in mind and decide as you go along whether the information you have found is
relevant to your research needs.
It is a good habit to record or store the information you collect in a systematic way. You
may want to keep a book with details such as title, publisher, date of publication, place of
publication and authors’ names, or you may want to bookmark the relevant websites you
find on your Internet browser. This is important because if you are going to use any of the
information you find, you need to reference it to show where you got it. Referencing can
take up a lot of time if you have forgotten the source of a quote or idea.
When conducting background research, be critical! Some information you find on the Internet, in pamphlets or in libraries may not be that reliable.
Whe
n conducting background research, be critical! Some information you find on the Internet,
in pamphlets or in libraries may not be that reliable.
Check and ask:
• Does this look like a reliable source of information?

• Is it an official website or from a recognizable organization? Or does it look a bit
suspect?
Only use information that you think is reliable and accurate. Double-check the facts if you
have to!
Where to find information

There are many places to find information. Some ideas have been listed below:
• Internet (general searching/specific websites);
• Pamphlets/promotional material;
• Conferences;
• Experts (you may want to develop a database of experts in various fields);
• Magazines;
• E-newsletters;
• Keeping track of published research (usually by signing up to mailing lists or
e-newsletters, but keep an eye on the media as well; a lot of research – especially
social research – will be written about in newspapers and magazines).
When?
You need to ask: When do all the different parts of the research need to be done?
When conducting background research, be critical! Some information you find on the Internet, in pamphlets or in libraries may not be that reliable.

Proper Planning: Proper planning means a more efficient research process,

less time and money required to conduct the research, and a happier research
team!
Now that you have a good idea of what your research is all about, you need to plan it so
that everyone in your research team knows what’s expected from them and when. It is also
important to plan so that things that need to be done first - which other parts of the
research are dependent on - are done in time. One way to do this is to develop a research
work plan.
There are many ways to develop a work plan, but the simplest is to use a table.
1. Begin by listing all of the work areas in your research and be specific;
2. Put them in order of priority: Which ones need to be done first?
3. Try to estimate the time that you will need to accomplish each research activity;
4. Build a calendar, cross-referencing your work areas with the dates, as in the example
below. Depending how specific you want to be, you calendar might work in days,
weeks, months or even hours!
With most research, things can take a little longer – or if you’re lucky a little shorter – than
you anticipated. So plan for unexpected events and leave a little spare time in your work
plan. With time and experience, you will develop a much better idea of how long things
will take.
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7
Writing the Proposal
Develop data collection tools/
survey questionnaires
Background research
Conduct interviews
Report back to the research
advisor or the organization
Conduct surveys
Collate results
Analyze results
Fill in any gaps
Write report
Edit report
Submit final report to the
research advisor or the
organization

Now that you have developed a work plan, be sure to circulate it to all the members of the
research team, and to discuss any queries they may have. Also share it with the people you
are doing the research for, if appropriate. It will give them confidence that you are
thinking clearly about the work you have to do.
Getting the answer for your questions
Now that you have posed your research question, and planned your research well, you
can go about collecting your data. This is best done methodically, continually measuring
your performance against your work plan, and making adjustments where necessary.
When problems are encountered (and you will encounter them), they need to be solved,
or alternative courses of actions.
4.4.4. Looking at the practical constraints

When you are deciding on the path that you intend to take, you need to take into account
all these factors, particularly:
 What resources do you have at your disposal? There is no point deciding to do a

large-scale district survey with a ten person team, if you have no budget or free
time.
 Which approach do you feel most comfortable with – both ideologically and in
terms of your existing skills? If you decide to do complex statistical analysis, you
will need access to the resources to develop these skills if you do not already have
them. Qualitative approaches may seem appropriate but often require more thought
about how the data will be used – particularly if your colleagues or policy makers
are more familiar with quantitative approaches and value tables of statistics above
in-depth ethnographic analysis!
 What is the overall purpose of your research and how do you intend the findings to
be used? You need to take into account how your research is intended to be used.
For example, if you conduct an in-depth analysis of a specific course, are you in a
position to implement or suggest any changes?
 What kind of role will you adopt within the research and how does this affect bias
within your study? For example, you may decide to do a large scale study rather
than a case study of your own institution because of concerns about your bias as an
insider and the need to triangulate your perceptions. Your contrasting plans may
have differing ethical implications too (e.g. that you can protect the identity of
informants in a large scale survey but less so in a case studies of one institution).
Activity 5: Working out which way to go next
1) Go back to your research questions and write down your main or guiding question.
2) Think of two completely different ways of investigating this question – the most

Obvious contrast might be a large scale survey or an in-depth case study. But you
might think of other contrasting approaches that are appropriate to your topic. Call
these two alternative approaches Plan A and Plan B and write these headings on two
separate sheets of paper. For each approach (A and B), note down:
• Who will you be researching?
• How many people/groups do you aim to cover?
• Where will you be conducting the research?
• Over what time period?
• How will you be conducting the research?
• What tools might you use?
• How do you see your role?
• Will you be the sole researcher (or who else might be involved?)
• What kind of data do you expect to collect and analyse?
• How does this relate to your research question?
• How will this data be used later?
• What kind of bias can you predict within your research study?
1. A student plans a research project; it is called A description of International Business

Model. On the limited information we have (the title), which ONE of these best applies
to the idea?
a) It is wide. c) It has an acceptable purpose.

b) It is narrow. d) It has an acceptable method
2. A Research Design do go wrong. In one case a student could not analyze the data
collected; he was not capable. Which ONE of the following would have been realistic
and would have helped the most with this problem?
a) Using SPSS. d) Regular meetings with the

b) Being less ambitious. supervisor.
c) Asking for the deadline to be e) Using a Gantt chart
changed.
3. Which one is important in research design?
a) the specificity of the research top d) all of them listed above are
b) the scope of the research important for one’s research
c) researchability of the issue to be endeavor
undertaken
4. Projects do go wrong. In one case a student was indecisive and collected anything, just
in case it came in useful: web sites, photocopies, brochures. The questionnaire even
included irrelevant questions, just in case the information could be useful. Which ONE

of the following would have been realistic and would have helped the most with this
problem?
a) Setting a clear objective.

b) Regular progress reports to the supervisor.
c) Using a Gantt chart
d) Being less ambitious
5. The research study does go wrong. In one case a student's conclusion was not
acceptable. She jumped to that conclusion because it seemed to her to be the right
answer. Which ONE of the following would have been realistic and would have
helped the most with this problem?
a) Being less ambitious. d) Working closely with the

b) Using SPSS. information collected.
c) Regular progress reports to the e) Asking for the deadline to be
supervisor. changed
6. One is among the main ways of characterizing of the research studies in order to
evaluate them that measure what they intended to measure?
a) construct validity c) internal validity

b) data reliability d) a and b are correct

keys.
1. If a study is reliable it means that it measures what we think it should measure
a) True b) False
2. Validity means that if we repeated the study we would get the same result
a) True b) False
3. Proper planning our research process saves our money and time resources
a) True b) False
4. Validity and Reliability are the most important concepts for designing a research
study.
a) True b) False
5. Sometimes it is advantageous to conduct a research process without going through

any research designing process.

a) True b) False
6. ‘WH’ questions such as what? Why? Who? Where? How? and When? are very
helpful in designing a research proposal.
a) True b) False
7. A research designing varies based on the types of research approaches we have adapted
to our study.
a) True b) False

CHAPTER FIVE: SOURCES AND METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
5.1 Primary Data
5.1.1 Primary Data Sources
5.1.2. Primary Data Collection Method
5.1.3. Primary Data Collection Tools
5.2. Secondary Data
5.2.1 Secondary Data. Source
5.2.2 Secondary Data Collection Method
5.3. The Use of multiple Data Collection methods
Summary
Introduction
Dear students, one major step in the a researcher’s engagement in a study is to collect the
necessary information that will enable him/her reach a solution for the problem he/she has planned
to deal with.
In previous chapters of this module, you have got some insight about basic concept and
elements of a research method. By now, we hope you are in a position to explain the
meaning of research, develop your own research problem and formulate hypothesis.
Beyond this, it is hoped that you have understood how to write a research proposal and
design a research proposal for different purposes and now you can also realize how to plan
a research project.
In this chapter we will describe some aspects of the data type which are useful which you
need to conduct your study and how to identify the different sources of data, the type of
data and the useful methods of data collection for your study based on the data type you
need to include in the study.
Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
1) Identify the type of data needed in a research and categorize them into primary and
secondary data based on their sources.
2) Determine the appropriate data collection methods or techniques to be used for each
category of data type.
3) Understand the type of and methods of preparing data collection instruments/tools.

7. Primary Data
Primary data are raw data which are collected from their source originally by the data collector for
the first time. They are raw data that need to be processed into useful form of information by the
researcher to make decisions on the outcomes of his/her research process.
Primary data-data collected specifically for the particular research project at

hand
Where is the best place (and who are the best people) to get the information you really
need?
Dear students, do you remember what you have learned in the previous chapters about the
ways of acquiring knowledge. Of course, here the type of knowledge required is a sort of
information useful for solving problems you have identified and planned to make an
investigation. But how can we get this information? In this section attempts will be made
to answer this question.
This is where many people get lost in their research. What do you really need to know to
be able to make your business decision? Do you need to know a little about a bunch of
things, or a lot about a few things? What kind of information do you need? Numbers?
Opinions? And how much is enough? (A good rule of thumb is, the more important the
decision, the better the information you should collect.) How you answer these questions
will have a big impact on where you are going to have to go to get your information, and
how you are going to get it.
5.1.1 Primary Data Sources
Primary data collection involves the study of a subject through firsthand information such
as observation and investigation. This is what you will be doing with your main project,
but you may also need to conduct primary data for your research work, especially if you’re
unable to find any previously published material about your topic. Primary research may
come from your own observations or experience, or from the information you gather
personally from other people, as the following example illustrates.
For example the marketing researcher may question the firm’s sales representatives,
distributers, middlemen, and/or customers to get appropriate market information. In most
primary data collection, the researcher questions respondents to determine what they think
about some topic or how they might behave under certain condition.
5.1.2 Primary data collection Methods
To collect primary data one or more of the following methods may be adopted:
i. direct personal investigation (interview)
ii. indirect investigation
iii. information obtained from correspondents and local reports

iv. questionnaires
a) Direct personal investigation: in this method informants are directly contacted by the
statistician and first hand information is obtained. The method is likely to be more
accurate and there is a possibility of getting supplementary information which may
prove to be useful. The statistician can adapt his language and technique to the nature
and status of the respondent/informant.
The method may, however, prove to be costly and time consuming unless the area or the
number of items to be covered is small. Personal bias is likely to enter the results. The
method, if properly used, is convenient for some intensive surveys.
b) Indirect investigation: In this method third parties or witnesses having information are
interviewed may be because direct sources do not exist or do not respond for some
reason or other.
c) Questionnaires: A questionnaire is a list of queries designed to elicit the required
information in the form of short answers filled in to the blank spaces besides the
questions either by the interviewer or by the informant. This method is used when the
area to be covered is vast. It is cheap and quick. There are limitations, however. Usually
the response is poor. Very few questionnaires may come back. Moreover, the accuracy
of the information supplied is difficult to verify.
? What options do you have to collect your information? Put any options that come to
your thought here.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
______________________
5.1.3 Primary Data Collection Tools
After the study design has been finalized, and the type of data needed have been identified,
the issue of how the data will be collected needs to be addressed. Many researchers collect
data through the use of a questionnaire or form. A questionnaire or form is a type of data
collection instrument and provides a structure to the data collection process.
a) Survey
A common way of conducting quantitative research is using a survey. Surveys usually
involve filling in a questionnaire. The usefulness of a survey is that the information
you get is standardized because each respondent – the person who fills out the
questionnaire – is answering the exact same questions. Once you have enough
responses to your questionnaire, you can then put the data together and analyze it in a
way that answers your research question – or what it is you want to know.
It is important to realize that quantitative research does not necessarily mean that
respondents will give numbers for their answers to your questions. Sometimes they
may answer a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, as in: ’Do you have a computer?’ Sometimes

they might write down an answer, a word, a sentence, or a paragraph to describe

something, as in answers to: ’What is the brand or make of your computer?’ and
’Please describe in detail what you use your computer for.’ Other answers may
involve numbers, as in: ’How many computers do you have in your business or
organization?’
How these varied responses become numbers is in the way they are analyzed. From
the example questions above, one might be able to say: 20 out of the 30 (66%)
respondents use a particular brand of computer, while 5 (16%) use another. The
remaining five respondents all used different brands of computers which you would
list. You might then want to provide some examples of how the computers are used.
Surveys – Surveys can be conducted in a number of ways. The

most important thing is to think clearly through the kind of
questions you want to ask, and to make sure that the responses will
answer your research question. When you get your responses, you
need to be sure of exactly what they are (and aren’t) telling you.
Respondent–The person who completes the questionnaire or form is

known as the respondent.
For example: Here is an imaginary example of how the answers to surveys need to be
treated carefully.
Recent research by the Human Resource Management Study in a one Beer Producing
Factory has shown that more than three-quarters of the factory’s employees are opposed to
the need for social security insurance the factory’s employees, and that a similar number
support the medical benefits.
In response to the question ‘Do you think it is important or not important to have social
security insurance for the factory employees?’ the research found that 78% of respondents
said it is very important to have social security insurance for the factory employees.
However, as the researchers pointed out, the answer only reflects an attitude, but does not
necessarily mean that the respondents will act on their attitudes.
Besides being very careful about the kinds of questions we ask, and what the answers
are telling us, it is often helpful to limit the kinds of answers respondents can give.
You may want to phrase the questions in such a way that tick boxes can be used, so
‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers are possible, or the respondent fills in numbers instead of
descriptions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Survey Data Collection
Advantages of surveys Disadvantages of surveys

• Good for comparative analysis. • Responses may not be specific.

• Can get lots of data in a relatively short space
of time. • Questions may be misinterpreted.
• Can be cost-effective (if you use the Internet, • May not get as many responses as
for example). you need.
• Can take less time for respondents to
complete (compared to an interview or focus • Don’t get full story
group).
b) Questionnaire
There is a subtle difference between a questionnaire and a form and in some cases the two
are mixed together. Generally, a questionnaire asks for information using specific
questions (For example, How old are you?), whereas a form provides a basis for recording
information next to key words or statements (example age). In this section we will look at
four methods of data collection via questionnaire or form. These are:
1) Self-completion questionnaire;
2) Interview ; telephone, personal, or face to face interview; and
3) Personal observation
The first three of these methods all use questionnaires or forms to collect the data.
Questionnaires/forms are also often included in diaries, to add structure. We will address
each method in turn, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each.
1. Self-completion Questionnaires
A self completion questionnaire is a questionnaire that is sent or given to a respondent for
completion and return. There are four main types of self-completion questionnaire:
(a) Postal Questionnaire:-The questionnaire is posted to the respondent, asking
him/her to complete it and post it back. The respondent may be encouraged to
complete and return the questionnaire by enclosing pre-paid envelopes or offering
an incentive.
(b) Drop-off and pick-up questionnaires:-The questionnaire is delivered to and
collected from the respondent by field staff.
(c) Computer assisted self-interviewing (CASI):- The questionnaire is filled in by
the respondent on a PC or laptop in the presence of an interviewer. The interviewer
is present only to explain the purpose of the questionnaire and to explain any
questions or concepts that the respondent requires clarifying.
(d) Electronic self-completion questionnaire:-The questionnaire is sent to the
respondent in an electronic format, such as floppy disc or via the internet, and the
respondent completes the questionnaire electronically.
Advantages and disadvantages of Postal Self-completion Questionnaires

Advantages Disadvantages
• Large numbers of questionnaires can be • Response rates are usually extremely low,
sent out at relatively low cost. This is generally lower than 20%. Response rates
because it is cheaper to post a depend on factors such as the
questionnaire to the respondent than to questionnaire’s length, presentation and
conduct a personal or telephone subject matter, the incentives offered,
interview ease of completion and respondents’
• The survey can be widely spread, as the vested interest in participating.
cost of postage remains the same for • The results may be unrepresentative of
posting a questionnaire locally or the whole population, with some groups
nationally. more motivated to return questionnaires
• The questionnaires can include visual than others.
prompts, products for trial, and can be • The data collection process could take a
useful for asking the sorts of questions long time since the questionnaires need to
unlikely to be easily answered on the be distributed to respondents, completed
telephone (e.g. where a lot of and then returned to the survey centre.
quantitative (numeric) detail is
required.)
e) Questionnaire Design
Questionnaire design forms the central role in the data collection process as the
questionnaire is often the first point of contact with the respondent. Good questionnaire
design is crucial in terms of:
• encouraging the respondent to participate in the data collection; and
• Eliciting the required information from the respondent in a valid way.
Activity1: Identifying the appropriate data collection tools
Let’s say that you want to study the attitude of employees in a given private organization
towards the deduction of pension from their monthly employment salary to be submitted
to the private employees’ pension fund agency. How are you going to get information for
your purpose? Can you put some of the appropriate methods to collect the needed data for
your study?
The main objectives of a questionnaire are to:

• obtain accurate information from respondents;
• provide a logical structure to the questionnaire/ interview so that it flows smoothly;
• provide a standard form on which responses can be recorded; and
• Facilitate data entry and processing through the use of coding.

Questionnaires can be classified in terms of the nature of questions that are going to be
forwarded to the respondents.
? In what way do you think questionnaires should be designed? How do you present
each question in your questionnaires to your target respondents? Please put your
thought here.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________.
Designing a questionnaire is considered by some to be a simple task – how hard can it be

to write a few questions? But producing a good questionnaire requires careful thought,
thorough planning and specialist knowledge. A well designed questionnaire should
achieve all of the above objectives. Throughout this next section we will consider the
principles of questionnaire design for self-completion questionnaires. However, candidates
should note that many of these principles can be applied to interviewer led questionnaires
also. For interviewer led questionnaires, instructions to the interviewer must also be
included. A template of both interviewers led and self-completion questionnaires can be
found in the appendix.
Principles of Questionnaire Design

When designing a questionnaire there are some general principles that should be
considered.
1) Establishing the objectives of the data collection
When researchers design a data collection the first step that they will take is to decide
what they want to learn from the data collection as this will determine the objectives of the
data collection. The objectives help researchers decide who they need to collect data from
and the data required. If data collection objectives are unclear it is highly likely the data
collected with be unclear. The more specific the objectives, the more usable the data
collected.
When we establish our objectives, we should list them, split them into topic areas and
then design questions based on these topics.
1) Overall layout of the questionnaire: Before you start to think about the questions
that you will ask it is important to consider what the overall layout of the
questionnaire will be. Ideally you want to ensure that the questionnaire is kept short
and simple. This can be achieved by:
2) Minimizing Clutter : All questionnaires should be kept as uncluttered as possible.
Nearly all aspects of the questionnaire will require some response from the
respondent. This might simply be that they have to read the instructions or questions,
or they may have to assimilate what is needed in a response box. The more cluttered a

questionnaire is with text, graphics and symbols, the greater the burden on the
respondent. White space within a questionnaire should be maximized; not only does it
make the questionnaire easier to read but it is thought that it will also help to relax the
respondent.
3) Questionnaire / Section Title: The first thing that the respondent will read is the
questionnaire title. It will set the tone of the questionnaire and inform the respondent
of its relevance to them. Titles should also be used throughout the questionnaire, in
order for respondents to distinguish one section from the next. All titles should be
clear and easily understood.
4) Accessibility and clarity: We all have a different perception of what we see;

therefore we should consider this within our questionnaire design and ensure that it
is accessible/easy to understand for all respondents. We often assume the level of
comprehension of our respondents and that all are at the same level. This is often not
the case and care must be taken to ensure that all respondents can understand what is
being asked of them.
5) Wording: The major problem faced when designing questionnaires is designing

questions that the respondent can understand and interpret in the way in which we
desire them to. The following should all be considered:
6) Terminology: When designing a questionnaire you should always use language and
terminology that the respondent is familiar with. Therefore you should look to:
• avoid jargon, shorthand or uncommon words;
• avoid ambiguous words that do not have a specific meaning, for example the
words ‘often’, ‘usually’ and ‘frequently’ have no specific meaning and should be
made more specific;
• avoid words which can be misinterpreted;
7) Question Structure: As well as considering the terminology of questions we should
also consider their structure.
 ‘Least Read’ – respondents only read as much of the question as they think is
necessary. It is therefore important that questions are structured so respondents are
more likely to read the whole question before they answer it. As a guide, keep
questions short and concise.
 Multi-part questions will only lead to confusion. Even though they may appear to
save space they should be avoided.
 Double-hollowed questions that ask the respondent for two pieces of information
at the same time may confuse respondents. Some respondents may only answer one
part of the question whilst others will answer the other part.
 Leading or biased questions will force a respondent to answer in a certain way
thus biasing the response. Questions should be worded in a neutral and balanced
way to guard against response bias.

8) Layout of the Questionnaires: The layout of the questionnaire should be inviting

and interesting and should provide a clear and logical path for the eye to follow.
Throughout the questionnaire this layout should stay consistent to help respondents
navigate through the questionnaire. Much of this can be achieved through the
effective use of blank space so that it is clear and easy to read. There should be more
space between the questions than there is within them (this helps the respondent to
group question parts together). Questions, response options, response boxes and
instructions should be laid out in a standard format. Where appropriate there should
be enough space made available for the respondent to write their responses.
9) Question numbers in Questionnaires: Question numbers are the main tool the
designer has to help respondents progress through the questionnaire in the desired
sequence. Therefore they need to stand out from the rest of the text on the page.
Question numbers should:
• Have a simple sequence of numbers
• A combination of numbers and letters should be avoided as this can confuse
respondents.
• Question numbers should always be displayed consistently throughout the
questionnaire.
10) The order of Questions: The questions and sections within a questionnaire should be
ordered in a logical manner that makes sense to the respondent. For example, all
demographic questions such as age and sex should be contained within the same
section. The respondent should be able to work through the questionnaire without
having to look back or forwards for references. It is also sensible to ensure that
questions are ordered in a way that minimizes the need for routing or filtering to other
questions. You should ensure that the questionnaire starts with easy or less sensitive
questions to encourage the respondent to participate. Respondents are more likely to
answer sensitive questions, for example, those relating to income or alcohol
consumption, if they are placed towards the end of the questionnaire rather than at the
beginning. As a whole, the questions should be grouped into topics in a logical
sequence and should flow easily.
11) Routing or Filtering: Routing questions can be used to guide respondents to

questions that are applicable to them and to ensure that they do not respond to
questions that are not applicable. The use of routing should be kept to a minimum,
respondents can find them difficult to follow and they can disrupt a respondent’s flow
through the questionnaire. Where routing is used, instructions should be included that
aid the respondent and these should be placed with the appropriate questions rather
than with the general instructions for the questionnaire.
12) Front Page: The front page of a questionnaire should contain all of the information
that the respondent will need to know to complete the questionnaire. However, we
should ensure that respondents are not overloaded with information as this can be
confusing.

The front page should act as an introduction or covering letter and should inform the
respondent of: Who is conducting the data collection activities; Why they have been
selected to take part; Whether the data collection is compulsory; Confidentiality; Who
should complete the questionnaire; How and when they should return the
questionnaire; What the data collected will be used for, i.e. the objectives of the data
collection; and
Contact details for advice and further information. Where possible, questionnaires
should be personalized. This can be done by using the name and address of the
respondent and including a signature of the person responsible for the data collection.
13) Instructions for the Respondents: A respondent needs to know how to complete a
questionnaire. As such, the questionnaire should include some clear guidance on how
to complete it. Instructions should be presented where they are needed and before the
respondent is required to put pen to paper. For example, where a question requires a
tick or cross in a box the respondent should be informed of this. Instructions that are
presented away from the questionnaire, for example in a booklet or on a separate
page, can confuse respondents and will often be forgotten. Instructions should also be
repeated throughout the questionnaire to remind the respondent.
There may be cases where specific instructions are needed for a particular question.
Where this is the case the instructions should be integrated into the question. If this is
not possible, they should be placed immediately after the question but before the
respondent is required to respond.
14) Question Styles: There are many types of questions available for a questionnaire.
Two such types are open and closed questions. The type of question used depends on
the data required. By using a variety of question styles the respondent will become
more interested and engaged in the data collection.
a) Open-ended Questions
Open questions require the respondent to produce their own answers. In a self-completion
questionnaire respondents write in their own answers constrained only by the space
available. In an interview, the interviewer writes down the respondent’s answer verbatim.
Open questions are used when rich, detailed information is required from the respondent.
They provide a source of qualitative data, where qualitative data refers to descriptive
rather than numeric data.
Let’s assume that a theatre director wants to know what the audience thought of his latest
play. He designs a questionnaire and distributes them to the audience to complete. An
open question that he could have asked is: What did you think of tonight’s show?
b) Closed-Ended Questionnaires
Closed questions offer respondents a choice of answers, or response categories. Some

closed questionnaires require ‘yes/no’ answers; others provide a list of possible choices.

Closed questionnaires tend to be used when high level, quantifiable data is required.
Quantifiable refers to data that is numeric or can be summarized in numeric form.
In relation to the theatre directors questionnaire above the question, “What did you think
of tonight’s show?”, can be changed into a closed question by offering the audience a set
of response categories and asking them to choose one. For example:
What did you think of tonight’s show? (Please tick one box only)
a) Very good 
b) Good 
c) Poor 
d) Very poor 
e) No opinion 
The advantages and disadvantages of open-ended and closed-ended questions should be

balanced against the response that we require before we decide which type of question to
use.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Questions

 They allow an unlimited  Different respondents give different degrees of

number of possible detail in their answers making them difficult to
answers. compare.
 Respondents can answer  Responses may be irrelevant or buried in useless
in detail and can clarify detail.
responses.  Comparisons and statistical analysis can be
 Unanticipated responses difficult and indeed there is a methodological
can be discovered. argument against converting qualitative data into a
 They enable adequate quantifiable form.
answers to be given to  Coding of responses can be time consuming and
complex issues/questions. difficult especially where responses are incomplete
They encourage creativity, or unclear. Questions may be too general causing
self-expression and respondents to lose focus.
richness of detail.  A large amount of respondent time, effort and energy
 They reveal a respondent’s is required to answer open questions Response boxes
logic, thinking process and for open questions often take up a lot of space on a
frame of reference questionnaire.
 Articulate and highly literate respondents have an
advantage over those who are less literate
Compare the above with the advantages and disadvantages of closed questions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Closed Ended Questions
 Misinterpretation of a question may go

unnoticed.
 They are easy and quick to answer.
 They force respondents to give simplistic
 The answers of different answers to potentially complex questions.
respondents are comparable
 It can be confusing for the respondent if
 Responses are easier to code and many response categories are offered
analyze compared to open (especially where the categories are read by
questions. an interviewer).
 Response categories can clarify the  The response categories can suggest ideas
question meaning to respondents that respondents would not otherwise have
 Respondents are more likely to considered thereby influencing their
respond to closed questions that response.
relate to a sensitive topic than they  Respondents with no opinion or knowledge
are to an open question on the

same topic. may just choose a category anyway.

 Less articulate or less literate  A respondent’s desired answer may not be
people are not disadvantaged by listed and as such they may feel forced to
closed questions. choose an available category instead of
their preferred option. (This problem
should not occur if an ‘Other’ category is
provided.)
Activity 2: Designing a questionnaire
Assume that you are employed in the marketing department of Oromia Region’s
newspaper “Magalata Oromia” that published Monday to Saturday. Your paper is running
a prize draw. In return for supplying data about themselves and their reading habits,
readers aged 18 or over will be entered into a draw to win a valuable prize. You have been
asked to design the form to be used in the newspaper as an entry to the draw.
The form has to elicit the following information:
Name, address including postal address, telephone number, email address, age group, on
which days the reader usually buys “Magalata Oromia”, which other regional newspapers
are bought regularly during the week by the reader and which regional Sunday newspapers
are bought at least once a month.
1) Design a form that could be used for this purpose. Marks will be given for clarity of
layout and ease of use by the readers.
2) Use the space provided to design your form.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______
c) Interview
An interview is a research method designed to draw out details of a participant’s

perspective. During the interview, the person being interviewed is considered the expert
and the interviewer use techniques to learn as much as possible from the respondents
regarding their perspective. The purpose of an interview is to elicit details of a
participant’s perspective on a research topic.
Interviews are generally conducted face-to-face, and involve one interviewer and one
participant.
Preparation for interview

Activity 3: Planning for an interview
What things should you include in your interview plan? Please think about it and put your
thought here.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
______________.
Dear students, before the beginning of your interview, there should be a plan for
interview. When you are planning interview you have to decide on:
 What kind of data you need to get through interviewing your target respondents
 Whether need to use structured or unstructured procedures to collect the right data.
 How to record the interviews (by writing responses, using tape recorders, etc)
Before the interview, the interviewer prepares for the interview. The interviewer
familiarizes herself with the interview questions and guidelines, and also prepares
the materials, equipment, and space needed for the interview.
At the beginning of the interview, the interviewer obtains informed consent from
the participant. Throughout the interview, the interviewer ensures to address all
questions or topics listed in the interview guide. The interviewer uses listening
skills and probing questions to elicit details from the participant. The interviewer
takes notes throughout the interview to supplement the recording.
Interview can be conducted in two ways: through telephone or face –to- face or
both.
Personal (Face to Face) interviews
Personal interviews can be conducted in the respondent’s home or workplace, or in locations such
as shopping malls, or even simply on the street. Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)
involves the interviewer using a laptop to record the respondent’s answers. The questionnaire is
programmed onto the laptop using specialist software. This software enables the interviewer to
record the responses and then routes the interviewer automatically to the next appropriate question.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Personal Interviews
• CAPI allows for a more efficient data  As with CATI, the cost of setting up and
collection process since validation checks and maintaining the questionnaire software and
coding can be done at the time of interview. computer technology is high.
Also, the electronically held responses can be  Making contact with the desired respondent
transferred back to the data collection centre may be difficult, as the respondent may not

quickly following the interview. be home when the interviewer calls.

• The response rate is usually high for personal Repeated attempts to contact should be
interviews as the respondent typically finds it made but these will inevitably increase
difficult to refuse an interviewer face-to-face costs.
compared to over the telephone.  Interviewer bias may occur if the
• Data quality tends to be good since the interviewer is poorly trained. The
interviewer can probe for more complete interviewer may consistently misinterpret
answers from the respondent and can complete responses or give misleading guidance. Bias
validation checks at the time of interview. As may also be introduced through the
the interviewer is present to answer queries, interviewer appearance, gender, age,
more complex questionnaires designed to elicit ethnicity and tone of voice.
detailed information can be asked.  Compared to self-completion and telephone
• Visual aids, or ‘flash’ cards can be used to help interviews, personal interviews are
the respondent to answer certain sensitive expensive. This is because there is the added
questionnaires, for example, questionnaires cost employing and training interviewers for
regarding sexual behavior or alcohol/drug the survey, along with paying for the
addiction, interviewers travel and subsistence costs.
• Since only the interviewer need understand the Such costs may be minimized depending on
questionnaire structure, complex routing and the sampling method used
filtering may be used in the questionnaire
Note:- Interview can also be conducted through telephone. A trained interviewer

telephones a respondent and uses an interviewer-led questionnaire to conduct an
interview over the phone.
Telephone interviews should be kept relatively short; a common rule of thumb is

usually 20 minutes at the most. If longer interviews are necessary it is always sensible
to set appointments to call back
d) Observation
In our everyday life we are all observes. We constantly observe the physical
environment and the people around us. Our everyday observation will enable us to
effectively participate in the world around us to gain knowledge about the
environment and to improve and refine our life decisions in this world.
When we come to observation in a research, it is similar to our daily experiences but

it is done formally in systematic and scientific manner. Research observation is not
usually done simply to enable the researcher improve his/her participation in the
world he/she lives. It is done with the aim of producing knowledge about specific
issues which can be used in a variety of ways. The researcher conducts .his/her
observation process in systematically arranged and organized manners.

What were those things you have observed on your way to your college in the past
two-to-three days? Can you remember one?. But, have you had a plan while you did
this observation?
There are many reasons why we use observation as a data collection tools. For example, it
may be unethical to impose the treatment that we want to investigate, or, we may be in a
position where we can only observe behaviors. In cases like these we use observational
studies as an alternative.
While we collect data though Observational techniques, we observe the natural

characteristics of a group of units in their natural environment. As such, an observational
study imposes no treatment on the group being observed and confounding factors are not
controlled for. If they were, then it would be similar to imposing a treatment and as a
result the study would no longer be observational, it would be experimental.
Here, as observational studies simply observe something as it is found the results are more
reliable than experimental studies. This is owing to no artificial manipulation to control for
confounding factors or a treatment being imposed. However, in an observational study it is
more difficult to determine ‘cause and effect’, as nothing is controlled for and there could
be many factors at play that will determine results.
Observational studies are often found in the medical or psychological fields where, for
ethical and practical reasons, there are strict rules regarding what can and cannot be ‘done’
to subjects. For example, we couldn’t impose smoking on a group of subjects to determine
its effects on health, but it is possible to observe a group of subjects who already smoke
and record the effects that this has on health. It is also in field of marketing research.
Activity 3: The applicability of observation in Business Research
For example, you want to gather data/information from market areas in your town to
know how different buyers behave when they buy two or more different specific products.
How do you collect the required data? What is purpose of collecting data about buyers
from this market? Please think over it for a while and put your responses here.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Observational data collection activities are not limited to sight alone but are conducted in
combination with other senses. Observational studies do not need to physically observe the
research situation to ascertain the cause and effect. Consider the smoking example again:
it would be difficult to observe a sample of smokers over a set period of time going about
the daily routine and recording what we observe. How would we ascertain what effect this
had on their health?

What we could do instead is to define a population of interest. From this population we

could, by using medical records or otherwise, ascertain who smokers are? Who aren’t, and
assign them to groups respectively. When we have formed two groups we could use the
medical records again to observe any differences between the healths of smokers to non
smokers.
When reporting our observations it is essential that we state what other factors could
influence our results. With the smoking example factors such as age, diet, lifestyle,
medical history etc could all affect a person’s health. But we should always remember that
we cannot control for any of these effects.
Activity 4: Rethinking on your research topic
1) Dear Students before you start to conduct a research you start to think about your
research, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Ask questions such as Why have I
decided to do some research?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________.
2) Describe the difference between observational and experimental studies. Give one
example of each type of study. Discuss one advantage and one disadvantage of
observation.
a) Example of observational study
b) Advantage of experimental study over observational study
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________.
5.2. Collecting Secondary Data

There are also times when we do not need to conduct a data collection at all, as we can
make use of data that have been already collected by another organization. That is we
make use of administrative data. This is called secondary data.
Secondary Data:-These are data which have been collected already by some other
researchers or research agencies which are called secondary sources. If these data are
need by the researcher and which are available, the researcher can consult these secondary
sources.
Secondary Data: these are data which have been collected already by
some other researchers or research agencies which are called secondary
sources
5.2.1 Sources of Secondary data

Secondary data are obtained from official, semi-official or unofficial sources. It may be in
a published form (E.g. various publications of government, local bodies, chamber of
commerce, journals, newspapers etc appearing with different periodicities) or unpublished
form (E.g. manuscripts, records of government and other bodies, business houses, etc).
Secondary data are more of administrative in nature. Administrative or ‘admin’ data are
data which have been collected in order to carry out an administrative process rather than
for the sole purpose of producing a statistical output.
Example: The main data sources used in compiling the Trade and Industry Business
Register (the list of businesses in the Ethiopia) are administrative:
 VAT registration data from Customs and Excise

 PAYE data from Inland Revenue
 Company details from Trade and Industry Bureaus
These data sources are routinely collected and stored by other organizations. Example,
Administrative data is becoming more popular within official Statistics. The Central
Statics of Ethiopia(CSA) for example relies heavily on Administrative data from Local
Authorities, the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and the Department
for Transport to name but a few. Data taken from these organizations is passed through
rigorous quality checks to ensure that it is fit for purpose.
5.2.2 Secondary Data Collection Method
Unlike primary data collections, data collection from secondary information sources is
straightforward. You go to the source (library, resource centre or website) and ask for the
information. With primary information sources, deciding upon the right method is a little
more involved. while we are gathering information from correspondents and local reports
such as public information on newspapers and annual reports of some government
departments, regular reports by international, reports on research magazines, etc, we use
different secondary data collection methods which is adapted when information is to be
collected at regular intervals from wide areas.
When considering your options (primary or secondary data collection methods), always
remember to keep your business decision, timing and the information you really need
clearly in your mind. These will help you to make the best decision.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Secondary Data Advantages
• Costs are reduced as the data has • The data have been collected for
already been collected. some other purposes than what you
• The data is already available. want it for and it may therefore have
• There is reduction in respondent burden important data missing.
as a new data collection does not need • The data may be restricted due to

to be conducted. legal and policy reasons. Examples

of restrictions include the Data
Protection Act, Human Rights,
Administrative Law, etc.
• The data will not have been
produced for statistical purposes, and
it therefore often fails basic
statistical criteria (e.g. definitions
may not be consistent over time).
• The data will not have been
produced for statistical purposes, and
it therefore often fails basic
statistical criteria (e.g. definitions
may not be consistent over time).
• The required data may be collected
from different sources of data hence
it may be difficult to merge all of the
data together for the same unit.
Activity 5: Pilot testing of data collection instrument/tools
As part of a nation-wide study into the health of the elderly population, medical investigators
intend to question a large number of old people in great detail about their previous medical history.
The investigators ask for your advice regarding the use of a pilot questionnaire.
(a) What is the role of a pilot questionnaire in formulating a main study questionnaire?
(b) State three advantages of using a pilot questionnaire with reference to the study described.
5.3. The Use of multiple Data Collection methods

In recent years, more and more researchers seem to have come to the conclusion
that it is better to select a variety of data collection methods when approaching a
problem, rather than any one single method. This is particularly the case when
attempting to make the research more comprehensive and complete.
Multiple data collection methods are needed because different facets of the
problem are best addressed in different ways, and you are more likely to describe a
complex social phenomenon accurately if you set about measuring it from several
different points rather than just one.
Activity 6: the use of mixed method approach for data collection

If you used a mixed method approach, what reasons would you give to justify this choice?

What other types of practical constraints can you think of that might have an effect on
designing your data collection instruments?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
________________________________________
Summary
In this unit we have given a broad introduction to the main types of data, the
sources of each type of data and the data collection methodologies for each broad
category of data type. We have said that choices can be made for both theoretical
and practical reasons. We recommend multiple data collection tools whenever
possible to make your study more complete.
Overall, the type of data and their respective sources can be broken down into two kinds:
primary and secondary. Primary sources are those people and organizations in your
marketplace, for example, your potential customers, suppliers, and competitors. Secondary
sources are reports, articles, and statistics about the people in your research areas.
While there are exceptions, it is usually safe to start with your secondary sources, because
the information’s usually readily available at low or no cost. Once you have gotten what
you can from the secondary sources, ask yourself the question, “Do I really need more
information to make my decision?” If you really do, turn your attention to your primary
information sources to get the last vital pieces of information you need. But often you can
get what you really need from secondary sources.
The real challenge for you with secondary information sources is not having too little
information. You will likely be faced with a large amount of information for any decision.
The real challenge will be to selectively pick the best from what is available. And it is
always a good idea to use at least two good sources of information for any decision, and to
make sure that these different sources agree with each other.
If you have done things right up to this point, selecting your sources – primary and
secondary – should not be too hard. You will know what decision you are trying to make
and when you need to make it, and you will know what information you really need to
make that decision. And if you can explain this to the reference librarian at your local
library, they will get you pointed in the right direction. It is worth noting that many people
go “researching” way before they really know what they are researching – and they waste
a lot of time in the process.
Self-Check question
1) What are the two broad categories of research data?

2) What are the main sources of data for each category?
3) Do you understand the appropriate the methods to be used for data collection
purposes?
4) Can you identify the advantages and disadvantages of the different data collection
methods?

1) Which ONE of these is an example of processed data?
a) Customer comments. d) Commercial TV recordings of

b) Number of visitors to a store. shopper visits
c) Tables from surveys
2) Which ONE of these is an example of raw or primary data?
a) An annual company report. d) A report on a specific industrial

b) A transcript from a group. sector
c) A report on qualitative focus
groups.
3) What are secondary data?
a) Unimportant data. c) Ordinary data.

b) Ordinal data. d) Existing data
4) Secondary data are LEAST helpful in a research to:
a) evaluate new products. c) Develop questionnaires.

b) interpret tables. d) formulate hypotheses
5) Secondary data cannot help:
a) to decide on sampling. c) to give direction to primary data

b) to observe retail behavior. collection.
d) to create research instruments
6) The mistake when using secondary data effectively is:
a) to assume it is right. c) to combine it with other data.

b) to locate it via people. d) to evaluate its usefulness
7) Which ONE is a disadvantage of secondary data?
a) Already exist. c) Addresses a fresh topic.

b) Fast to obtain. d) Inexpensive
8) Which ONE is an advantage of secondary data?
a) Already exist. c) May not be accurate.

b) May be outdated. d) Expensive.

9) Experimentation, questioning and ______ are considered as primary methods.
a) multiplication c) observation
b) weighting d) Sampling
10) What is described here? Indexes, citations to articles, summaries of abstracts
a) Ratio data. c) Secondary data.

b) Primary data. d) Tertiary data
11) in terms of protecting a respondent's privacy which is the odd one out?
a) Workplace interviewing. c) Street interviewing.

b) Door-to-door interviewing. d) Home interviewing
12) Trained interviewers do not:

a) record answers.
b) probe.
c) interview the correct sample.
d) pass on respondent details
13) Similar respondents are often chosen for group discussions because:
a) they are random. c) they are representative.

b) they will believe in research. d) they will talk to each other
14) When a study has been conducted and is available for others to see, it becomes:
a) Secondary data. c) primary data

b) Ordinal data.
Part II-True or False Questions

1) Observation is used only in qualitative research. a) True b) False
2) Well managed observation can be both valid and reliable. a) True b) False
3) The best action research is carried out with postal questionnaires. a) True b) False
4) Secondary data are used principally in both descriptive and explanatory research.
a) True b) False
5) Sources such as voice and video recordings, pictures, drawings, films and
television programmes, may not be called secondary data. a) True b) False
6) Continuous and regular surveys are those surveys, excluding censuses, which are
repeated over time. a) True b) False
7) Primary data becomes secondary data. a) True b) False
8) A disadvantage of secondary data is that it is produced for a reason that does not
match your need. a) True b) False

9) Secondary data that fails to provide you with the information that you need to
answer your research question(s) or meet your objectives will result in invalid
answers. a) True b) False
10) Observation forms look like questionnaires. a) True b) False
CHAPTER SIX: SAMPLE DESIGN AND PROCEDURE
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction

6.1 Some fundamental Definitions

6.2 The Need for Sampling
6.3 Sampling Procedure
6.4 Sampling Techniques
6.5 Central limit Theorem and Sampling Theory
Summary
Introduction
Dear Students, as you continue planning your research project you need to think about
how you’re going to choose your participants. By now you should have decided what type
of people you need to contact. For some research projects, there will be only a small
number of people within your research population, in which case it might be possible to
contact everyone. This is called a census. However, for most projects, unless you have a
huge budget, limitless timescale and large team of interviewers, it will be difficult to speak
to every person within your research population.
In this chapter, you will see the logic behind the need of sampling and how sample
subjects will be selected to include in your study.
Objectives
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
1) Define terms related to sampling

2) Understand the need of taking sample
3) Recognize the methods of taking samples
4) Describe the steps involved in sampling
6.1 Some fundamental Definitions
Dear students, when you are conducting researches you cannot always include all subjects
of the study (people, or things) that are available in the area where the research will be
conducted. You will take only part of them. However, sometimes there are special cases
or requirements that you are forced to include all subjects of the study; i.e., member of the
study population in your study. This called a Census.
A census is a special type of survey where data is collected from all the units/members of
in the population of interest. Usually when we think of a census we can think of the
Ethiopian population census which Central Statistics of Ethiopia (CSA) has been
conducting every after ten years of the subsequent population census.

However it is important to note that a census is not just limited to this one case, rather it is
any survey where data is collected from all the units within the population of interest. For
example, if we were interested in the views of all distance students in the Public Service
College of Orromia(PSCO) about college’s educational qualities, and we surveyed all
distance students currently enrolled in PSCO, we would be conducting a census.
The term census comes from the Latin word censere, meaning ‘to assess, or tax’. The
earliest recorded census dates back to 500 B.C. Government officials, called censors,
made a register of people and their property. One purpose was to identify persons for
military service. The other was to place a value on property so that taxes could be
collected.
Census: - a census is a special type of survey where data is collected from

all the units/members of in the population of interest.
6.2 The Need for Sampling
Dear students, before we go to the detail aspects of sampling processes, we have to be

clear with the very reasons for the utilization of only limited number of subjects when
conducting research. Therefore, the advantages and the procedures of sampling will be
discussed this section. Let’s assume that you need to know the reaction of businessmen in
the town you live about the tax collection system currently in use by the tax
administration authority.
? Can you collect your data from all of the businessmen in your town? Why? Please
try to explain with your own reasons.
Have you tried? Well, it is practically impossible to collect data from all individual
businessmen in the town. To solve the problems you need to take only some individuals as
a sample from the population.
Population is any collection of specified group of humaneness or non-human beings such

as objects, educational institutions, geographical areas, etc. a population with finite
number of members is a finite population and population with infinite number of
members is infinite population. On the other hand, a sample is a group of subjects selected
from a population to be included in a study. Members of a sample are active participants in
the study.
In most cases, researchers will not be in a position to collect information from every
member of their selected research population. Either the group is too large, too dispersed,
or costs and time restrictions will be prohibitive. The alternative is to gather information
from some members of that population who are selected in ways designed to ensure that

their responses and characteristics are representative of the whole. This is the purpose of
sampling.
Population: - a collection of specified group of human or non-human

beings.
Sample: - a group of subjects selected from a population to be included in
a study
6.3 Sampling Procedure
Sampling is the process by which a relatively small number of individuals or events is

selected and studied to find out something about the entire population from which it was
selected.
Can we take each and every subject of the study population for our study? Why?
Researchers overcome this problem by choosing a smaller, more manageable number of

people to take part in their research. This is called sampling. In quantitative research, it is
believed that if this sample is chosen carefully using the correct procedure, it is then
possible to generalize the results to the whole of the research population. For many
qualitative researchers however, the ability to generalize their work to the whole research
population is not the goal.
Instead, they might seek to describe or explain what is happening within a smaller group
of people. This, they believe, might provide insights into the behavior of the wider
research population, but they accept that everyone is different and that if the research were
to be conducted with another group of people the results might not be the same.
Sampling procedures are used every day. Market researchers use them to find out what the
general population thinks about a new product or new advertisement. When they report
that 87% of the population like the smell of a new brand of washing powder, they haven’t
spoken to the whole population, but instead have contacted only a sample of people which
they believe are able to represent the whole population. Your system of sampling should
enable you to select individuals that will be most useful for your study. For this, there are
three important steps.
6.3.1 Defining Population.

In order to select samples, the first you have to know very well about your population. If
you want study about the Automobile brand preference of car buyers living in Addis
Ababa, your population will be all people in Addis Ababa who can afford buy automobile.
If you want to know the academic achievement of female students in Orommia Public
Service College, your population may be all female students of Orommia Public Service
College. So first clearly state your population.
6.3.2 Determining Sampling Frame

Once the researcher has selected the population to be studied, the next step will be to get a
complete list of the members of the population. This is most possible if the population is
finite and small, otherwise you will simply indicate the total number of the population.
Sampling frame tells you that total size of the population and helps you decide the number
of samples to taken and the type of sampling to be used.
For example you are interested to study the organizational tax payers’ understanding
about the purpose of paying government tax in your town; the sampling frame is the list of
all organizational tax payers in your town.
? In a study about market problem of maize producer farmers in a particular rural
kebele, what will be the sampling frame?
Have you got it? Okay, that is the list (name) of all maize producer farmers in that
particular kebele.
Sample Frame: the total size of the subject of the study or the size of
population to be studied.
Sample Size: the number (amount) of sample units, cases, or events to be
taken from sample frame or from a population to be studied.
6.3.3 Selecting a Representative Sample
After defining the population and getting the complete list of all members, the next step is
selecting samples from the sample frame. Here you will identify the subjects who will
actively engage in the study.
In selecting individual members to be included as samples of the study, the sample

subject should be representative of the population.
Let’s say that you want to study the reaction of businessmen toward and a new tax
payment provision in a town X, which they are 60 in number. For your study let’s say that
you have taken three (3) businessmen as samples, and their reaction to the provision was
positive, that is they support the provision of the new tax payment in the town.
? Can you say that the reaction of the town X’s businessmen is generally positive? Why?
Again, a representative sample should be maintained in relation to the different variables

that may influence the result of the study.
For example, let’s say that you want to study the reaction of businessmen in your town
about the use of cash register machine. Then assume that you took only those
businessmen who have been engaged in retailing trailing trade as a sample and you found
that these businessmen have a negative reaction towards the use of cash register machine
for their sales records.

? Can you generalize that all businessmen in this town have negative reaction towards
the use of cash register machine for their sales records? Why?
Have you thought about it? Okay, good. It is difficult to generalize in this way. This is
because most retailers in this town might have less awareness about the purpose or the
importance of using cash register machine than other businessmen engaged in other
business areas. So, you cannot generalize the result to other businessmen who have been
engaged in other business areas such as wholesaling, manufacturing and service sectors in
the town.
Therefore, in order to make generalization based on the sample result to all businessmen in
this town, you have to take representative sample of businessmen from each area of
business that encompass retailing, wholesaling, manufacturing and service rendering
sectors in this town. Also, the educational background of the businessmen and other
related factors may influence the reaction of your respondents towards the use of cash
register machine in your study town. So, sample should be constituting respondents of
businessmen from various educational backgrounds and other different determining
characteristics.
Whatever the sample size, it is unlikely to give a totally accurate generalization about the
population. This is because you now have both sampling error and measurement error.
However, in some cases a sample study will actually give a more accurate estimate of the
population parameter than would a census. If a census requires a large team of data-
collectors then lack of close supervision may lead to greater measurement error. The trick
is how to maximise accuracy while minimising costs, and, if possible, to be able to
estimate how accurate your results from a sample are likely to be.
6.4 Sampling Techniques
Dear students, in the previous sections you have seen about the need of sampling and
steps it involves. Then, it is necessary to learn about the different ways or techniques of
taking samples from a target population to be studied. The next section is about the
common techniques of taking samples from the study population from which you collect
research data.
Dear Students, there are two broad classes of sampling techniques – probabilistic and
non-probabilistic samples. Two broad categories of sample design, each with their own
strengths and weaknesses with the former you can calculate the likely error in your
estimate of the population values or parameters
6.4.1 Probability sampling

In this sampling method, each member of the population has a predetermined chance
(probability) of being included in a sample. It is used to ensure that every member of a
population has an equal chance of selection, or if this is not possible, it at least permits

researchers to calculate the error in their sample. The basic principle is random selection.
Names are selected at random from a reliable and comprehensive register of the research
population - known as a sampling frame. The other three types of probability sampling
methods listed above are simply refinements of this basic principle, designed to fit the
type, distribution and accessibility of specific research populations. There are different
techniques of selecting a probability sample. Let’s see them one-by-one.
Simple random sampling:The fundamental method of probability sampling is simple
random sampling. This means that every member of the population has an equal and
independent chance of being selected.
Let’s say that there are 15 traders in your localities who have a weekly ‘Equib’ (ዕቁብ). At
first, let’s say these traders wanted to decide who should take the first weekly ‘Equib’.
? In your experiences, in what way should mostly a person who will take the ‘Equib’ be
determined? Please, let you think a while over it.
Have you thought about it? You are very good. As we most Ethiopian know, mostly, in
‘Equib’ the name of the ‘Equib’ members are written on the pieces of paper and these
pieces of paper will be properly folded and put in a container. After a total mixed up and
shaking of these pieces paper together, a draw will be taken out. Then the person who will
take the weekly ‘Equib’ can be known in this way.
Simple random sampling can be conducted in a similar fashion. Here, every member in a
population will have an equal chance to be selected. If for instance, you are planning to
select 10 members from the population of 100 members, every member will have 10 th of
100th (10/100) or one- tenth (1/10) of chance to be included in the selection.
Activity: Calculating the chance (the probability) of being included in a sample
Please look at the following two simple cases and calculate the chance to be included in a
selection process in these two scenarios
1) If 10 persons are first to be nominated from 200 ‘Edir’ members for the selection of a
chairman for your ‘Edir’ in your community where you are living now, what will be
the chance (probability) of every member to be part of the first 10 nominees? And
what will be the chance of these nominees to select as a chairman of this ‘Edir’?
2) In football match, between to opponent teams in Addis Ababa National Stadium, let’s
say, between “Ethiopian Buna Football Club” and “St. George Football Club”, the
referees (the main, and the two sidelines ‘Dagnas’) flip a coin in front of the two
team leaders before starting the first half of the game in order to decided the team
who plays from left to right and from right to left. What would be the chance of each
football team to play from left to right or right to left in the first half of the game?
There are three mechanisms to conduct simple random sampling procedures.

1) Using lottery method

This is similar to what you have seen above about ‘Equib’. Let’s represent the size
of a population by letter ‘N’ and a sample size by ‘n’. Take n number of sample
from population of ‘N’ by using a lottery method. Please follow the following
steps:
i. Assign all members of the study population from 1 to N.
ii. Prepare a ticket (equal pieces and write numbers with an equal number digit/s on
the ticket from 1 to N.
iii. Wrap each ticket carefully.
iv. Takeout ‘n’ number of ticket randomly
v. The members of population who contain the number drawn will be samples for
your study. For example let N=90 which is a size of the study population; and
n=20, a sample size to be selected. Here, you will give numbers for each member
of the population from 1 to 90.
vi. Then you will write these numbers on the each piece of paper: 1; 2; 3; ...90 and
you will properly wrap them for next draw. Finally, you will ask someone to draw
20 tickets. The twenty tickets may contain the following random numbers
6;11;14;19;20;22;27;30;8;44;50;57;60;61;63;69;72;75;83;84; and 88. Therefore,
members containing these numbers will be your sample of the study population.
1. Using Random Number Table
Simple random sampling can also be conducted by using a table containing random
number; it is called a random number table. To select samples from the study
population, a list of numbers that are assigned for all members of the population will
be selected as a sample from it randomly. This can also be done by using the
computerised random number generator in Excel. The following table shows the
partial list numbers on a random number table
Table 6.1. Partial list random number on a random number table
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 16376 39400 53537 71341
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 91782 60468 81305 .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 53498 18672 ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 31016 71194 ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 20922 ..... ..... .....
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 18103 ..... ..... .....

..... ..... ..... ..... ..... 59533 ..... ..... .....
Let’s look at the following steps to select a sample using a random number table.
i. Assign numbers for members the study population from 1 to N.

ii. Use a random number table and select any number from anywhere on the number
table starting from any raw or column on the number table and move to any
direction that you want. For example, you can take the number coinciding to the 4 th
row and the 6th column, which is 16376 which is your starting point.
iii. The number of digits you will read depends on the total number of the study
population=N, let’s say if it is N=90; you will read two digits, if N=150, you will
read three digits and so on.
iv. The number of digits you will read will be selected randomly. For example; if
N=150 you start from with the first three digits (163) or middle three digits (637)
or the last three digits (376).
v. Then begin to read in any direction to the right { } or to the left{ } or up{ }
or down{ }
vi. Ignore those numbers that are greater than N and those which may appear two
times.
vii. Stop counting after you get the required number of sample subjects (n). For
example, N=150(total population); n=20(sample size); let’s take 16376 as a
starting point and consider the last three digits (376), and read downward. The first
number is 376; which is greater than 150. So, you will leave it. Also 782,498,533
are greater than N. So, your subject holding 016,103 will become your members
for sample selection. You will proceed to the next sample selection activities until
you will get 20 subjects.
? From the above random number table, continue reading to identify the remaining
18 subjects to be included in your sample.
Systematic random sampling
This is where you pick the first unit of sample at random and takes, say, every tenth
unit of sample. This increases your sampling error slightly and can be dangerous if your
sampling frame is arranged in a particular order such as boy, girl, boy, girl. However, it
is simpler to use if you are instructing the data collector or the field workers for
instance, which students to pick in a class of 3 rd year Accounting and Public Finance
Students.

Here, you will begin with a list in which all the numbers will be arranged in alphabetical
or some other order. To select a sample of size ‘n’ first, you should find “ K’ which is
K=N/n.
Take a number between 1 up to K. Then begin to take every Kth elements for your sample.
For example, assume that from 70 number of your study population you want to take10
respondents as a sample. So, K=70/10=7.
Then, you may take 5 as a starting point and you will take every 7 th member i.e., the
5th,12th ,19th , 26th ,33rd , 40th, 54th ,61st , and 68th members will be included as your sample.
? Can you list the number of members you will take if you start with the 2 nd member in
the above example? Please try to work on it?
Stratified random sample: The population is divided into non-overlapping groups or
strata in this case the population can be classified into different strata say based regions,
sub-cities, woredas, kebeles or based on other classification parameters– and individuals
are selected at random from within each stratum. For example depending on the tax payers’
levels classification, you can classify business organizations into three strata as follows.
A-level Tax Payer business organizations
B-level Tax Payer business organizations
C-level Tax Payer business organizations
i. Count the total number (population) of business organizations in your town
ii. Count members from each stratum. For example, let’s say a total number
(population) of business organizations in your town are N=150, from this
population the following share of population is contributed by each level of tax
payers (stratum).
Type of Tax Payer Number of business organization in the
category
A-level Tax Payers 10
B-level Tax Payers 20
C-level Tax Payers 120
Total N=150
iii. Determine the proportion which is n/N. Let the sample size required is 30, so n=30
and proportion will be 30/150=0.2. Then multiply this proportion by the number of
members in each stratum. This will give you the number of members from each
stratum to be included in your sample.
A-level Tax Payers 10*0.2 =2

B-level Tax Payers 20*0.2 =4

C-level Tax Payers 120*0.2 = 24
iv. After determining the numbers to be taken from each stratum, you can employ
simple or systematic random sampling to select the specific size of sample units.
Dear students you should note here that if you use proportionate stratified random
sampling, the sampling fraction is the same within each stratum and the sample will
match the population. However imagine that some of the regions are very small. Then
you should use disproportionate stratified random sampling. In this case, the sampling
fraction would be larger in the smaller woredas or kebeles.
Cluster sampling: Cluster sampling is another form of probability sampling. This is used
when the members of the population can be grouped into different clusters due to the greater
number of its members. Here one selects units randomly, and then you take all elements of
those units as your sample. For example, you might pick certain of your classes at random
then study all of the learners in those classes. This can cut down on the costs of a survey but
it does increase sampling error.
i. For example, your target study population can be clustered by age, sex, area (zones,
woredas, or kebeles), etc. Let’s say you want to study the work performance of civil
servants in Orromia Regional Government Bureaus/Offices in Adama Town. To do
this;
ii. First you define the clusters in terms of sectors, Education, Agriculture, Industry, Health
sector Bureaus/Offices.
iii. You will take randomly one or two sector bureaus/offices from above clusters
bureaus/offices.
iv. If the member of the selected clusters is small in number, you can include all of the
population members in your study. But, if the number of members is many in number
you select sample units for the selected cluster through the use of the above three
random sampling techniques.
Sample Frame: the total size of the subject of the study or the size of
population to be studied.
Sample Size: the number (amount) of sample units, cases, or events to be
taking from sample frame/population to be studied.
6.4.2 Non-probability sampling

It is nonrandom sampling-sampling techniques used to select elements from the population

by any mechanism that does not involve a random selection process are called non random-
sampling techniques.
Non-probability sampling differs from probability sampling in that it does not involve
random selection. This form of sampling is important when there is no way of acquiring or
assembling a good sampling frame. Because chance is not used to select items for the
samples, these techniques are non-probability techniques and are not desirable for use in
gathering data to be analyzed by the methods of inferential statistics. The three most
commonly used non-random sampling techniques are
Convenience Sampling: In convenience sampling, elements are selected for the sample for
the convenience of the researcher because of readily availability, nearness, and/or
willingness to participate.
Judgmental Sampling: Judgment sampling occurs when elements are selected for the sample by the
judgment of the researcher. This method is used when researchers believe that they can obtain a
representative sample in a reasonable time and money by using sound judgment.
Purposive: purposive sampling refers to sampling with a purpose, where we may have one
or more predefined groups that we are seeking. It is a sampling technique where one
deliberately selects individuals who are not typical.
Quota sampling: In quota sampling, various segments of a population have the same
percentage of representation in the sample as they have in the population. However, the
elements in the sample are not selected randomly, rather based on judgment. Quota
sampling is the most widely-used form of non-probability sampling, particularly within the
field of market research. In this case some strata or grouping population will be considered
in sample selection. The grouping variables’ may be age, sex, race, area, etc. The allocation
of sample units will be simply determined as a quota. For example, interviewers are given
targets or quotas to achieve such as ‘10 women aged 40-50’ or ‘20 middle class men aged
over 35’.
Other Sampling Techniques: there are also other techniques such as opportunity sampling,
where one studies whoever is available, and accidental sampling that refers to sampling
individuals largely for convenience.
To sum up, when we are carrying out your own studies your choice of sampling technique
will depend upon your research aims. In general you will be trying to maximise accuracy
while minimising costs, and, if possible, to estimate how accurate your results are likely to
be.
? Remember that with postal data collections it might be difficult to control and know who
has filled in a questionnaire. Will this affect your sample?
In some purposive samples it is difficult to specify at the beginning of the research how
many people will be contacted. It is possible to use a mixture of sampling techniques within

one project which may help to overcome some of the disadvantages found within different
procedures.
6.5 Selecting appropriate techniques for different research studies
When we are designing a research study, the most common question about sampling is? How
large should the sample be? In the definitions of random sampling above, we have ignored
this question so it is now time to tackle it. Unfortunately there is no right answer to sample
size. You cannot just apply a consistent proportion to the total sample frame. Instead the
following issues need consideration:
Absolute sample size: it is more important to look at the absolute size of a sample than its
relative size in relation to the total population. Imagine 10% of a population as a possibly
sensible sample. If the population total is 100,000, then your sample size is 10,000? yes this
would probably be a good sample size (but see the next problem on this list). However if we
apply a 10% sample size to a population of 10, we have a sample of 1 unit or person. We can
see that this unit or person could be quite unrepresentative of the total population by itself.
So, relative sample size is not important. Absolute size is. The bigger the sample size, the
more the sample is likely to represent the population and the lower is likely to be the
sampling error. This is referred to as the Law of Large Numbers.
Statistics and the Central limit theorem: the larger the absolute size of a sample, the more
closely its distribution will be to the "normal distribution" (What is this? If you have not done
any work on statistics before, do some quick web-searching or look at the index of the
textbook to find out). If you wish to conduct a statistical analysis on your data, the minimum
size of sample for any one category of data should be 30, as this is most likely to offer a
reasonable chance of normal distribution. If your sample frame is 30 or less, then it would be
wise to include the whole frame, rather than sampling.
Margin of error: The expected margin of error is affected by absolute size of sample within a
population. Note that a 5% margin of error (which is the same as saying 95% certainty) is the
maximum normally appropriate for rigorous research. If your population size was 50, you
would have to include at least 44 of them to achieve a 95% certainty that the sample would
represent characteristics of the population. A very high proportion of the population will be
needed to achieve 99% certainty. There is a diminishing need for higher samples at the high
population end of the table (the figures to achieve 95% certainty for a population of 1m are
the same as for a population of 10m).
Time and cost: Bryman and Bell (2003 p101) suggest the law of diminishing returns kicks
in at around a sample size of 1000? i.e. that precision in the data increases up to a sample
total of 1000, but then begins to decrease, making it less worthwhile to interview or survey
more than 1000. Of course, the population you are researching may be way below 1000 in
total, and it may in any case be very costly or time-consuming to use a large sample size.
Practical considerations are important in research studies. Just bear in mind that if you

choose a sample size which is small in absolute terms, then you must justify this action and
take into account the fall in generalizability and representativeness which may result.
Non-response: this is described as normal in the glossary above. Inevitably your respondents
are less likely to be as motivated as you, the researcher, about your research, so some and
sometimes a majority will not respond, that refuse to take part. On top of this, some of those
who do respond may not produce "useable" data (e.g. you may find that a high proportion of
questions in a survey are unanswered, or that some people or units in your sample frame have
moved away, changed job, stopped functioning in the role you expected etc). All this is taken
into consideration when a) choosing your sample size and b) calculating the actual response
rate.
Number of useable responses:
Total sample _ unsuitable or uncontactable units x 100%.
Variation in the population: if the population you are studying is highly varied, then the
sample size will need to be larger than if you are studying a population with less variation
(example, people who have chosen to join a membership organisation).
6.6 Assessing representativeness of samples and generalizability from samples
Even if we use probability sampling techniques, we can only hope to produce general sable
outcomes in relation to the population we were sampling. So if all questionnaire respondents
are chosen from one company or organisation, the best to hope for is that our results can be
generalised to the whole workforce of that company or organisation. We cannot assume that
these results will in fact describe other workforces, as very different conditions and variables
may apply in other organisations. In a similar way, we could conduct a large sample study by
random sampling a country's population based on official census statistics, and if the study
was large and rigorous, we might propose conclusions, which apply to this country's
population (with a specified degree of confidence in the statistics). However, we cannot then
apply these conclusions to other countries without further research, nor can we apply these
conclusions over time to the same country, as major variables could have changed over time.
We find this kind of generalization being made all the time in the media. For practical time
and cost reasons, media production teams often take quota sampling research (or research
done by more doubtful methods) and suggest its applicability to everyone watching or
listening to a programme.
If you are worried about the representativeness of your sample, in some cases it may be
possible to check this by using a test of statistical significant difference to compare the
profile of characteristics in your sample with that of another data list example a census or
company database. Clearly if there is no statistically significant difference between your
sample and the full population data list, you have added more authority to the
representativeness of your sample.

If you are using a non-probability sampling technique then even the flimsy size rules
associated with probability sampling fall away. Your sample size for purposive or snowball
sampling will really depend on your research questions and objectives. In qualitative
research, the focus will not be on trying to estimate things about a population, but in trying to
understand or relate the data to theory or ideas. How many people do you need to talk to, to
understand their perception of something for example? It could be just one. Or it could be
several or many.
The question is here, what are you trying to find out and what sample size would give me
confidence that my results had validity? We will go further into this when we discuss
different qualitative methods, but often a good lead can be taken from research studies in
peer-reviewed academic journals, where information has been given about sample size in
relation to research question. Find one that is close to your area of study (which you would
want to do anyway in your literature review) and check the sample size studied in this type of
enquiry.
Summary
In order to collect data a researcher must first select a population of study to become sources
of information for the study. If it is not possible to contact everyone in the research
population, researchers select a number of people to contact. This is called sampling. There
are two main types of sampling category – probability samples and purposive samples. In
probability samples, all people within the research population have a specifiable chance of
being selected. Only within random samples do participants have an equal chance of being
selected.
Purposive samples are used if generalization is not the goal. The size of sample will depend
upon the type and purpose of the research. Sample sizes should take into account issues of
non-response.
Try the multiple choice questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter. Once you have
completed the assessment questions, to compare your answer against the answer keys attached
on the back of this module.
1) Respondent selection is also known as:
a) Grossing. c) Sampling.
b) Organizing. d) coding
2) Which of the following is NOT part of the sampling design process?
a) Specifying the sampling unit. b) Selection of the sampling technique.

c) Defining of the population of the d) Determining the relevant sample

study. frame.
e) Refining the research question
3) The target population be defined in terms of:
a) Elements - the object about which c) extent - the geographical boundaries

information is desired. d) time-the time period under
b) Sampling units - the set of elements consideration.
available for selection during the e) all of the above
sampling process.
4) What is a sampling unit?
a) The population. d) The basic unit containing the

b) The method used to collect the elements of the population to be
sample. sampled.
c) The sampling frame. e) All the individual elements of the
final sample, drawn together.
f) None of the above
5) Which of the following is NOT a qualitative factor that should be considered in

determining the sample size?
a) Sample sizes used in similar studies. d) The precision needed for the results.
b) The importance of the decision. e) The number of variables
c) The nature of the analysis.
6) Which of the following is NOT true of probability sampling?

a) The number of elements to be included in the sample set can be pre-specified.
b) The results will always be more accurate than non-probability sampling.
c) Estimates are statistically projectable to the population
d) Sampling units are selected by chance as opposed to the judgment of the researcher.
e) It is possible to specify the probability of selecting any particular sample of a given
size.
7) What is the least expensive and least time-consuming of all sampling techniques?
a) Simple random sampling. d) Convenience sampling.

b) Stratified sampling. e) Snowball sampling
c) Judgmental sampling.
8) What are the distinguishing features of simple random sampling?
a) Each possible sample of a given probability of being the sample

size has a known and equal actually selected.

b) A sampling frame must be compiled d) Random numbers determine which

in which each element has a unique elements are included in the sample.
identification number. e) All of the above
c) Each element in the population has
a known and equal probability of
selection.
9) Which of the following are NOT criteria for the selection of stratification variables in
stratified sampling?
a) Stratifications variables should not be closely related to the characteristic of interest.
b) Across the strata, the elements should be as heterogeneous as possible.
c) The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive so that every
population element should be assigned to one and only one stratum.
d) Elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible.
e) Stratification variables should be easy to measure and apply
10) Select all of the following statements which you believe to be true. A truly random sample
of the general population would be obtained by:
a) Allocating each individual a unique number and using a computer to randomly
generate numbers for selection.
b) selecting every individual with a name beginning with the letter K.
c) selecting every 20th individual from a list of patients registered with a referral
hospital.
d) selecting an individual from every fourth house on a street.
11) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of quota sampling?
a) The researcher chooses who to approach and so might bias the sample.
b) It is a relatively fast and cheap way of finding out about public opinions.
c) The random selection of units makes it possible to calculate the standard error.
d) Those who are available to be surveyed in public places are unlikely to be a
representative sample.
e) The sample is subdivided into groups from which the researcher must obtain a certain
number of responses
12) What effect does increasing the sample size have upon the sampling error?
a) It reduces the sampling error. d) It maintains the sampling error,

b) It has no effect on the sampling regardless of other variables.
error. e) None of the above
c) It increases the sampling error.
13) Which of the following is NOT a type of non-probability sampling?
a) Quota sampling. c) Cluster sampling.

b) Snowball sampling. d) Judgmental sampling
14) The standard error is a statistical measure of:

a) a measure of whether the sample d) The clustering of scores at each end

was randomly selected or not. of a survey scale.
b) The normal distribution of scores e) the degree to which a sample has
around a sample mean. been accurately stratified
c) the extent to which a sample mean is
likely to differ from the population.

Try the true or false questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter.
1) Sampling provides a valid alternative to a census when it would be impracticable for

you to survey the entire population. a) True b) False
2) With probability samples the chance, or probability, of each case being selected from
the population is unknown. a) True b) False
3) The sampling frame for any probability sample is a complete list of all the cases in
the population from which your sample will be drawn. a) True b) False
4) The larger your sample's size, the higher the likely error in generalizing to the
population. a)True b) False
5) Researchers normally work to a 95 % of certainty. This means that if your sample
was selected 100 times, at least 5% of these samples would be certain to represent the
characteristics of the population. a) True b) False
6) A perfect representative sample is one that exactly represents the population from
which it is taken. a) True b) False
7) Simple random sampling involves you selecting the sample at random from the
sampling frame using either random number tables or a computer. a) True b) False
8) Quota sampling means simply that the research manager gives an interviewer a target
of completing 100 interviews. a) True b) False
9) Generalizations about populations from data collected using any probability sample is
based on intuition. a) True b) False
10) Statisticians have also shown that a sample size of 30 or more will usually result in a
sampling distribution for the mean that is very close to a normal distribution. a) True
b) False
11) Purposive sampling is inappropriate when working with very small samples such as
in case study research and when you wish to select cases that are particularly
informative. a) True b) False
12) Convenience sampling is as prone to bias as any other type of sampling. a) True b)
False
13) Choice of sampling technique or techniques is dependent on your research question(s)
and objectives and the feasibility of gaining access to the data. a) True b) False

CHAPTER SEVEN: DATA ANALYSIS (AN OVERVIEW)
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
7.1. Data Processing and Analysis

7.2. Descriptive Analysis
7.3. Inferential Analysis
7.4. Data Analysis Software
Summary
Introduction
Dear students, up to now we have seen about the various steps of conducting a
research including the process of data collection through different techniques. But,
how to deal with the collected information is an important question to be raised.
Thus, in this chapter emphasis will be given to the ways of data processing as well as
the applications of some statistical methodologies for interpreting the data collected.
Objectives
After completing this chapter you are expected to be able to:
1) anticipate how the research design is affected by data collection and analysis tools
2) Recognise different types of data for analysis
3) Identify important consideration in the data processing
4) Code and enter data for computer analysis
5) Choose appropriate ways to present data through charts, tables and descriptive statistics.
6) Select appropriate statistical tools for the research variables
7.1. Data Processing and Analysis

Dear Students, after collecting the necessary data is to describe and put it in a way
that can be well interpreted. In this section attempt is made to help you how to
process (how to code and how to prepare different data) in different ways that will
enable you to extract meaning out of it. But, it is important to anticipate from the
outset how the research design is affected by data collection and analysis tools
It is never too early to start to think about data analysis. A common problem with
research studies is that we focus mostly on our research questions and finding
samples, discussing methods etc and don't ask simple questions about what data we
are looking for and how we will then analyze that data.
Asking these questions from early on can avoid much disappointment later, when we
realize that the data collected simply can't be analyzed in a straightforward way.
Activity 1: Anticipating how the research design is affected by the data

collection and analysis tools
Suppose for example that you want to know the three most useful management
textbooks that a large group of 100 managers have found effective. The question
might look like this:
What are the three management books which have been most useful to you so far
in your management career? What would be their possible answers? Think a while
and anticipate those possible answers that your respondents can write in their
answers.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________.
Dear students, here you might leave three lines of space so that the respondents can
write in their answers. Think about how this might be coded as a question response
for analysis. Since most managers will not choose the same three, you will have a
wide range of different answers. We cannot code each book separately with a sample
size of 100 and 300 potential books in the answer range. So can we make any useful
data out of this question?
You might answer that you wouldn't ask this kind of question anyway! However it is
a form of question which is quite common. for example, what five competencies are
needed by successful salespeople?, what are the three most important experiences
which have helped you to achieve your current senior role? What three benefits do
you feel you have gained from mentoring? etc.
7.1.1. Data Processing

The data collection tools, questionnaires or forms that we design are used to collect
accurate data. However, collection of the needed data is not an end by itself. As the
researcher, you should perform several steps to transform the data collected into
information that can be assimilated and used. These steps are known as data
processing. Note: The following is a guide that may help you in the time of your
research data processing and analysis. The process used by different researchers may
vary. Data processing starts with the organization of data that includes:
 Data editing-checking the gathered data for accuracy, usefulness and completeness
 Data Coding- coding involves allocating a number to each of the possible responses
provided to a closed question, or allocating a code to the response of an open question.
 Data classification-dividing the data into different categories, classes, groups, etc.
 Tabulating- putting data in tables.
In organizing data, the nature of the data that are collected and the type of questions that
were distributed to the respondents determine the way that data will be coded and
organized. For example, data collected though the use of closed ended questions of
interviews and survey questionnaires, through tests (tests designed for data collection
purposes) and systematic observation conducted using a checklist are structured data.
In contrast, data collected through open ended questions of interviews and survey
questionnaires are unstructured data.
? Which set of data do you think that are easier to classify and tabulate? The one which
are obtained through structured or unstructured methodologies? Definitely that is data
collected through structured methodologies.
7.1.2. Coding information
Before the data we collect is entered onto a computer for data processing it must be coded.
Coding denotes representing data in terms of numbers or categories to make research
analysis easier. The first stage of coding information is the construction of coding frame
based on the ideas that are the basis of the study. The coding frame gives directions to
classify and code responses and transform into quantifiable values (numerical values)
For example, take a look at your question in (section 7.3) above. It is possible to turn the
question into a list of possible answers from which respondents have to tick three which
apply to them. This means you can give each possible answer a unique code in advance
and then count the frequency with which each code is used. However if you want your
respondent to have a free answer choice, because perhaps you really don't know what you
might find out, then we have to delay coding until we have received some answers. If we
take the first 50 responses and make notes on the characteristics, which define the
responses, it becomes possible to group the responses. Once we have grouped the possible
responses, we can have a data set for analysis.

A code is quicker to enter onto computer systems than text responses, thus data processing
is more efficient. Coding also aids the data analysis stage, as it categorizes the responses
given and enables the frequency of selection to be calculated. A much more simple issue is
the questionnaire which contains only yes/no answers. Think about analyzing this data. A
set of data results is going to look pretty boring, and how much is it going to tell you about
your research question?
? To what type of questions do you think coding of data will be easier? Closed ended
or open ended?
The simplicity of coding depends on the type of question presented. Here, closed-ended
question is easier to code than open-ended question. Closed-ended questions involve sets
of alternatives that are easier to be coded by numbers. For example, to investigate the
work habit of civil servants in one of the government offices your region, you may direct
your questions to the target civil servant employees to give their response in the following
ways.
Circle 5 if you strongly agree
,, 4 ,, ,, agree
,, 3 ,, ,, cannot decide
,, 2 ,, ,, disagree
,, 1 ,, ,, Strongly Disagree
Then the statements of the questionnaire may include the following five questions:
I am enjoying working as civil servant in this organization.
I prefer to work alone than working with other people
I am more productive before noon than afternoon while I am working in my

office
The sex of one’s employee is very important to be an effective and efficient civil
servant
Taking eight hypothetical individuals designed from A to H we can easily put their
possible responses for each statement (from 1 to 4) above in the following manner.
Respondent Statement1 Statement 2 Statement 3 Statement 4
A 4 5 1 3

B 2 3 5 4
C 1 1 2 2
D 3 5 1 3
E 4 2 3 2
F 5 5 3 4
G 4 3 5 2
H 3 1 2 1
Most sources recommend that you keep a "code book" or list of exactly how the codes you
devise for your data relate to the questionnaire or other research element. This is vital for
two reasons. The first is that codes are often worked out on scraps of paper quite quickly;
if the paper is lost and you have a break between entering your data and coming to make
sense of it, it is possible you will have a hard time remembering exactly what the results
mean.
The second is that it is important not to lose sight of the question when analyzing the
results of quantitative data. Unusual patterns in the data must be scrutinized and going
back to exact coding and possible different interpretations of the question wording, which
may have caused the response, will be vital. So keep a retrievable, clear and accurate
record of coding as the link between respondent and data.
Code can also be given for simply nominating some grouping variables. For example if the
you include sex as a variable in your study, you can assign ‘1’ to represent males, and ‘2’
represent females.
Coding:-coding involves allocating a number to each of the possible responses

provided to a closed question, or allocating a code to the response of an open
question.
? Well, in order to code responses to open-ended questions you can follow the following
major procedures:
a) First inspect a sample of responses from your data.
b) Decide the possible responses that can be given by the respondents.
c) Form categories with respect to the possible responses.
d) Classify the rezones available in accordance with the categories.
e) You can assign numbers as code to these different categories.
Note that codes should cover all possible responses and should not overlap. Coding
can be carried out at one of three stages.

(a) Before the Data Collection:-

Where closed questions are being used, a code can be assigned to each of the possible
responses on the questionnaire before the survey is sent out. This is known as pre-
coding. The responses are then ready for data entry as soon as the questionnaire is
returned to the office. However, the code may detract the attention of the respondent
away from the question so where you position the codes on the questionnaire is
important (a common place is on the right hand side of the response box and in a
small or grayed out font).
For example; how well would you say the working hours (example, morning,
afternoon, night time shift, etc.) are arranged by your employer organization? Please
tick one box only.
1) Very well 
2) Quite well
3) Not very well 
4) Not at all

5) No opinion

g) During the interview/Data Collection:-
Where open questions are being used during an interviewer led questionnaire, the
interviewer can code the responses as they are given. Note however, that the coding
schedule must have been established before the interview takes place. The
interviewer is able to clarify the response and provide appropriate coding. It is
possible for the interviewer to bias the respondent, or interpret detailed or
complicated responses in line with personal prejudices, possibly providing the
incorrect code.
h) After the Data Collection:-
Where open questions are being used in a self-completion survey, a range of

responses are received and coded after the survey has been completed. All given
answers will therefore be considered in the coding. However, responses to open
questions may be incomplete or vague and thus difficult to code.
7.1.3. Missing Value Codes

? Most of the time, your questions are intentionally or unintentionally missed by your
respondents. So, what do you do for missed questions by your respondents?
a) Text Responses:-the codes used in practice for a missing text response, for
example, where a respondent has completely missed a question out, will vary but
they may take a ‘.’, or ‘#’.

b) Numeric responses-for numerical responses it is important to distinguish between

a missing value and a returned zero. Hence it is also good practice to provide a
code for a missing numerical value, such as ‘99’ or ‘999’. This will aid analysis
Recognizing different types of data for analysis

Different types of data fall into 4 categories: interval variables (also called quantifiable),
ordinal variables, nominal variables and dichotomous variables (these last three types are
also called categorical). Different variables will require different kinds of analysis, so it is
important to identify what you are asking for in your research.
Interval variables
the highest form of measurement and the easiest to manipulate and analyse. There is a
fixed space (interval) between each variable and this is a consistent space. For example if
we ask for someone's weight in Kg, we are dealing with an interval variable as the answers
will be expressed in a fixed scale: the difference between 70Kg and 80Kg is the same
interval as that between 80Kg and 90Kg and so on. We could also include answers
involving age, income, number of staff, revenue etc. There is an even more precise form of
this variable which is sometimes called a ratio variable.
Ordinal variables
These can be rank ordered (as can interval variables: 1Kg, 2Kg, 3Kg etc) but the space
between the variables is not equal across the range. For example, suppose we didn't ask for
an exact weight but for which group of weights a person belonged to such as 50-60Kg, 60-
70Kg, 70-80Kg, 80-90Kg, over 90Kg. This last category changes the entire set into ordinal
rather than interval variables, and this will constrain what can be done with the data,
although it is still useful. So why put such potential interval data into groups in a survey?
There are good reasons.
Nominal variables
These variables cannot be rank ordered at all. An example would be to offer alternative
answers in a multiple choice question such as "hot" "spicy" "sweet" "salty".
Dichotomous variables As the name implies these are answers which can only fall into
one of two categories. The usual kind is a yes/no answer or a male/female gender. It is
usually best to treat these variables as a special kind of nominal variable.
Preparation of Data Matrix
In order to analyze quantitative data, once we have identified the kinds of variable we are
collecting, we can then set out the data in a matrix. A data matrix comprises a grid of rows
and columns. Each row represents cases (individual subjects of the study) and each
column represents variables. For each row and column there will be entries which
represent data about and the study subjects. Look at the following data matrix about
research respondents’ general information as an example.

Respondent’s Name sex Age Qualification Years of work experiences

in organization
Abebe Belew Male 28 Diploma 5
Duguma Hundie Male 45 First Degree 15
Sara Melaku Femal 25 TVET Level II 4

e
Dechasa Bayisa Male 32 Second Degree 18
Felekech Dumasie Femal 35 Diploma 10

e
From the above data, please identify cases, variables, and entries (data).
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________.
7.2. Choosing appropriate ways to present data
Tabular Method of data presentation
Numbers are everywhere! The massive amounts of data being produced are a phenomenon
of the computer and new communication tools. The need to manage and organize data has
spawned entirely new disciplines.
The purpose of organizing data is to enable us to see quickly some of the characteristics of
the data we have collected. We look for things such as the range (the largest and the
smallest values), apparent patterns, what values of the data may tend to group around,
what values appear most often, and so on. The more information of this kind that we can
learn from our sample, the better we can understand the population from which it came,
and the better we can make decisions.
In the field of statistics, one mechanism for reducing and summarizing data is the
frequency distribution or frequency table.
Frequency Distribution
After data is coded and prepared for processing, the next task is will be counting the
number of responses provided by your respondents. Therefore, you can count frequency of
one particular response by a number of respondents. This will help you to construct the
frequency distributions that show the pattern of responses or score.

? Assume there might be one instructor in your college has the habit of repeatedly
saying two words ‘Okay!’ and ‘Yes!’ while is providing his lectures. Count, how often
this instructor speaks to two words in an hour of classroom lecturing. How do you
construct a frequency distribution?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_____.
One way to construct your frequency distribution is:
 Listing the category of responses or variables

 Counting the number of cases/respondents who provided similar responses for
each particular category of variable
 Putting the frequency distribution in the following form.
Category Frequency(f)
I f1
II f2
III f3
IV f4
Total N=(f1+f2+f3+f4)
For example, the religious distribution of 137 persons taken in a study may be represented as
follows:
Religion Number of persons(f)
Muslim 25
Orthodox 50
Protestant 20
Catholic 32
others 10
Total 137

A frequency distribution is a table that organizes data in to classes; that is, in to groups of
values describing one characteristic of data. It shows the number of observations from the
data set that fall in to each of the classes. If you can determine the frequency with which
values occur in each class of a data set, you can construct a frequency distribution.
When data is represented as a score, frequency distribution can do, in two ways.
By considering each of the scores- this is when the cases are few
For example, the following are scores from a rating scale presented to measure the
perception customers towards X-product for 12 sample units.
12; 15; 14; 10; 12; 11; 21; 19; 14; 14; 15; 11.
To prepare a frequency distribution table for these scores, first arrange in order from least
number to the largest number, count the number of cases and put their frequency as
follows:
Score Frequency
10 1
11 2
12 2
14 3
15 2
19 1
21 1
Total 12
Frequency distributions are relatively easy to construct. When constructing a

frequency distribution, the researcher should first determine the range of the raw
data. The range often is defined as the difference between the largest and smallest
numbers. The range for the data below is 51 (74-23). The second step in constructing
a frequency distribution is to determine how many classes it will have. One rule of
thumb is that the number of classes selected be between 5 and 15. If the frequency
distribution has too few classes, the data may be too general to be useful. Too many
classes may result in a frequency distribution that does not aggregate the data enough
to be helpful. The data below were grouped in to six classes. After determining the
number of classes, the researcher must determine the width of the class interval.
An approximation of the size of the class width can be calculated by dividing the
range by the number of classes. For the data below this approximation would be 51/6
or 8.5. If the quotient is not a whole number, normally the number is rounded up to
the next whole number, which in this case is 9. The frequency distribution must start
at a value equal to or lower than the lowest number of the ungrouped data and end at
a value equal to or higher than the highest number. In our example below we can start
the frequency distribution at 20 and end it at 80.
Example
Assume that you do have the following data and you are supposed to construct a frequency
distribution for the data given.

42 26 32 34 57 61 60 30 58 64
30 58 37 50 30 74 54 36 30 52
53 40 30 47 49 31 32 29 33 32
50 40 32 31 40 37 26 55 43 43
52 28 23 35 25 30 50 49 46 40
Frequency distribution for the above data is:
Class interval Frequency
20-under 30 6
30-under 40 18
40-under 50 11
50-under 60 11
60-under 70 3
70-under 80 1
Graphic methods of data presentation
Today, decision makers are being blitzed by data. Hence the medium of information
communication can be essential. One of the most widely used mediums of transferring
information is the graphic depiction. Converting data to graphics can be creative and
artful. Often the most difficult and crucial step in this process is reducing important and
sometimes expensive data to a graphic picture in a manner that is both clear and concise
and yet consistent with the message of the original data. Five types of graphic depictions
are: Histograms, Frequency polygons, Ogive curves, and Pie- charts.
Histograms
A histogram is a graphic presentation of a frequency distribution. It is constructed by

erecting bars or rectangles on the class intervals. Construction involves labeling the X axis
with the class end points and the Y axis with the frequencies; drawing a horizontal line
segment from class end point to class end point at each frequency value; and connecting
each line segment vertically from the frequency value to the X axis, forming a series of
rectangles. The diagram shown below is the typical example of a histogram.

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70 70 -80
Frequency Polygons
A frequency polygon is the most frequently encountered graphic device in statistics. It is a line
chart plotted in the same way as histogram. Construction of a frequency polygon begins-as with a
histogram-with the scaling of class endpoints along the X axis and the frequency values along the
Y axis. A dot is graphed for the frequency value at the midpoint of each class interval
(class midpoint), and connecting these midpoint dots completes the graph.
Example
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
20 - 30 30 - 40 40 - 50 50 - 60 60 - 70 70 -80 80
Ogive curves
An Ogive (o-jive) is a cumulative or decumulative frequency polygon. Again constructing

begins with the labeling of the X axis with the class end points and the Y axis with the
frequencies. However, the use of cumulative frequency values requires that the scale along
the Y axis be great enough to include the frequency total. Ogive construction begins with
the plotting of a dot of zero frequency at the beginning of the first class and proceeds by
marking a dot at the end of each class interval for the cumulative value. Connecting the
dots then completes the ogive.

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Pie Charts
A pie chart is a circular depiction of data where the area of the whole represents
100% of the data being studied and slices represent a percentage breakdown of the
sublevels. Pie charts clearly show the relative magnitudes of parts to a whole. They
are especially useful in displaying items such as budget categories and time and
resource allocations.
Construction begins by determining the proportion of each sub unit to the whole.
Sleep
30; 17%
Relax
40; Class
20; 11% 23%
Lab
15; 8% Library
Travel
17; 10% 12; 7%
Study
18; 10% 25; 14% Eat
7.1. Descriptive and Inferential Analysis

Dear students, until now you have seen how to represent a data in its entire form.
But, for better interpretation of data it is important to find a short ways of
summarizing it. Besides to this it is important select appropriate statistical tools for
the research variables to see their relationship between and among them and to
compare different group of subjects with respect to those variables considered.

You may have a clear idea of what you are looking for in the data, but once the data is
entered into either a spreadsheet or an analysis package like SPSS, other possible
ways of analysing the data become apparent. We usually begin by attempting to
describe particular values, their range, their central tendency, their dispersion around
the mean. We can look at the data trends over time, and look for proportions in the
data. This is called univariate analysis because we are looking usually at one variable
at a time. Once we have a clear picture of how the individual variables are behaving,
we can start looking for relationships between variables-bivariate analyses. There are
two common methods of data analysis descriptive and inferential analysis. A range of
methods is shown below for these two kinds of analysis:
Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive analysis is done using the descriptive statistical methods. Descriptive
statistical measures are use to describe the characteristics of a sample or population in
totality. There are three types of descriptive statistics.
Measures of central tendency - univariate
Activity 1: Representing variables with a single data value
If are asked to represent a variable product purchasing cycle time of one particular
company, which is the time between when a company makes an order for material,
and the time the material is received. But cycle time is a variable closely monitored
in many activities - the time to pay an account, the time to process a customer
service request, the time to mix-up the different components of the product and so
forth. The observed values of time cycle are 21, 23, 19, 22, 20, 22, and 20 by using a
single number. What would you do? Please try to write some possible ways:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________.
Let’s see how you can do it. To describe a data using a single value, you have to find
one single value the represent all the individual values the variables together. This
can be done by determining one value number which is the average of all variables
or the middle position in the data distribution when all values are arranged in order
or the most frequent value of the given variable (data value which has more
frequency distribution).
This will be mean (average), median (midpoint value in ranked list) or mode (most
frequently occurring value) in a range of values. The measure is a single figure so is not
representable in a chart, however, a series of means, medians etc can be charted or shown
in a table. Mean is calculated only for interval variables. Median is calculated for interval
or ordinal variables. Mode can be calculated for any variable

This is very important in describing the distribution of a set of data, particularly when we
are interested in the numerical measures of responses most frequently repeated by our
respondents. This is also helps us to see pattern of frequency distribution or the spread of
responses around the main/ central question of your research. This is formally called the
measure of central tendency of the data. There are two classic ways to measure the
center of a distribution of data: the mean and the median
Mean
The mean or average is the arithmetic measure of central tendency, and is simply the
sum of all of the observations in a set of data divided by the total number of observations.
So, the mean of seven cycle times with values 21, 23, 19, 22, 20, 22, 20 is:
Mean = (21 + 23 + 19 + 22 + 20 + 22 + 20) / 7 = 21
You will read in statistics texts or learn in your statics course that this is the formula for
both the population mean (its symbol is the Greek letter mu) and the sample mean (its
symbol is an x with a bar over it, or x-bar). Don't get alarmed - this is not a course with a
lot of formulas, symbols and computations - we will let the computer do it. We just want
to highlight the computations for the classic measures in descriptive research analysis.
You will also read in textbooks that measures based on a population are called parameters,
and measures based on a sample are called statistics.
Median
The median is called the location measure of central tendency since it is the middle
value of an ordered array of observations - 50% of the observations in a set of data
fall below the median provided the data is in an ordered array. Since we have to
account for 100% of the data, 50% of the observations fall above the median. So,
given the cycle times of 21, 23, 19, 22, 20, 22, 20; first created an ordered array
(sorted list of the numbers):
Ordered array = 19, 20, 20 , 21, 22, 22, 23
The median is the ordered or ranked observation that appears at location = (n + 1)/2,
where n is the symbol for the number of numbers in the set of data. For this ordered array:
Median = (7 + 1) / 2 = 4th ordered observation, which is the number 21.
? Do you note that the mean and the median are equal? They will be approximately
equal (such as within 5% of each other) as long as the distribution of the set of data is
somewhat symmetric without extreme values (signals or outliers) to one side or the
other.
This is an important point. Suppose we had an outlier or signal cycle time of 38

instead of 23. Let's calculate the mean and the median:

Mean = (19, 20, 20, 21, 22, 22, 38) / 7 = 23.14

Median = (7 + 1) / 2 = 4th ordered observation, which is 21
The mean was "pulled" to the outlier value of 38 - the mean is not resistant to extreme
values, but the median is since it is a location and not arithmetic measure. Note that the
mean is about 10% greater than the median: 21 is more representative of the centre when
the distribution is not symmetric.
Measures of dispersion/Variability - univariate
Range
Equally important to describing the center of a set of data with a numerical measure,
is describing the spread or variation in a set of data. There are three classic ways to
measure variation. The simplest measure of spread is the range. The range
(difference between maximum and minimum value in a list of interval variables), the
inter-quartile range (data must be in rank order, then this will show the difference
within the middle 50% of values) or the standard deviation (data should be normally
distributed for this to be effective). In the data set, 19, 20, 20, 21, 22, 22, 23:
Range = Maximum Number- Minimum Number = 23-19 = 4
So there is a spread of four days between the smallest and largest cycle times
Standard Deviation
The range is not very rich - it ignores all but two numbers. If the distribution is
approximately normal or a symmetric bell-shape, the classic measure of variation is
the standard deviation.
To set the stage for the standard deviation, recall that the mean of these numbers is 21. The
number 19 varies from 21 by - 2, the number 20 varies by -1, the number 23 by +2, and so
forth. The standard deviation is simply a measure of the average of these deviations. To
compute the standard deviation for a population of numbers 19, 20, 20, 21, 22, 22, 23; first
find the mean (we already did that, it is 21). Now subtract each number from the mean,
square the result (to get rid of plusses and minuses), sum the resulting squared deviations,
and divide by the number of numbers. This is called the variance of the population. The
standard deviation of the population (the symbol is the Greek letter sigma) is the square
root of the variance:
Mean = (19 + 20 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 22 + 23) / 7 = 21
Sum of Squared Deviations = (19 - 21)2 + (20 - 21)2 + (20 - 21)2 + (21 - 21)2 + (22 - 21)2 + (22 - 21)2 +
(23 - 21)2 = 4+1+1+0+1+1+4 = 12
Variance

Variance is simply expressed the square of standard deviation. That is
Variance = 12 / 7 = 1.714
The standard deviation is the average amount of variation around the mean (calculated by
taking the difference between each value and the mean, totalling these differences and
dividing the total by the number of values). A higher standard deviation therefore means
greater variation around the mean.
Activity2: comparing the variability of the different sets of data

For example, take these two sets of data:
A= 1, 2,3,4,5
B=1, 3,5,7,9
Which set of data have more variability?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
______________________.
Activity 2: Data value, measure central tendency and distribution

What do you consider to be the most appropriate measures of central tendency and
dispersion for the following sets of data? In some cases you might like to suggest an
alternative. In addition please state whether you consider the data to be measured on
nominal (N), ordinal (O), interval (I), or ratio (R) scales
a) The distribution of respondents on a permissiveness scale which ranges from 0
(“Very low permissiveness”) at one end to 5 (“Very high permissiveness”) at the
other.
b) The distribution of household incomes in your worda.
c) The distribution of body weight in a sample of lecturers.
d) The distribution of the percentage of Female workers across Orromia cities.
e) What does the graph below show?
Relationships between variables – bi-variant analysis

Dear students, up to now our focus was about the statistical description of a single set of
data (scores) for a variable. Now, let’s see about how to measure the relationship or
association between two sets of variables.
Activity 3: determining the relationship between two sets of variables
What kind of relationship do you observe between the height and the shoe number of an
individual? As height increases, what will happen to the shoe number of an individual?
Put your thought here.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________.

In most cases as height increases, the shoe number of an individual also increases. This is
one form of relationship that may exist among variables.
Relationships between variables means the variation in one variable coincides with
variation in another variable, it does not imply a causal relationship, i.e. it does not
necessarily follow that one will be an independent and one a dependent variable. Though
this can sometimes seem obvious example if the two variables include something like age
or gender which can influence the other variable but not be influenced by other variables.
(Presumably the amount you eat could be influenced by your age, but your age could not
be influenced by the amount you eat!).
7.2. Types of Relationship among the Different sets of Variables
The type of Relationship between and among different sets of variable can be positive or
negative relationship depending on the direction of the variation of their data values-
increasing or decreasing simultaneously or one increases in data values and the other
decreases in data values.
Positive Relationship
When the data values of two sets of variables increase or decrease simultaneously, the
relationship will be positive. The relationship between height and shoe number in the
above case is example of positive relationship.
Negative Relationship
When the data values of two sets of variables if one set of variables increases in data
values and the other decreases in data values and vice versa, the relationship is said to be
negative.
Correlation between different sets of Variables

It is a measure of the strength and direction of relationship between two or more sets of
variables
Pearson’s r or Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PMCC) –
bivariate
The strength of the relationship varies between 0 (i.e. no relationship) and 1 (perfect
relationship) so the closer Pearson's r is to 1, the stronger the relationship between the two
variables. Pearson's r will either be positive or negative, which indicates the direction of
the relationship, i.e. +1 is a perfect positive relationship (as one variable increases, the
other increases, -1 is a perfect negative relationship (as one variable increases the other
decreases). Before calculating Pearson's r, it is worth constructing a scatter diagram for the
two variables, as it should only be used when there is a broadly linear relationship, it will
not hold for a curve relationship.

Regression analysis
A coefficient of determination (can also be called a regression coefficient) can be
calculated by squaring the value of Pearson's r and multiplying it by 100. This produces a
percentage, which describes the proportion of variation in one dependent variable
accounted for by the other independent variable. So if we explored the relationship
between age and weight in a sample, producing a Pearson's r value of -0.35, then the
coefficient of determination would be 12.25%, which suggests that in our sample 12.25%
of the variation in weight was accounted for by variation in age. A similar analysis where
more than one independent variables are involved is called multiple regression analysis.
Spearman’s rho ( ) – bi-variate
This is used when at least one of the two variables is ordinal, and the other is ordinal or
interval. This calculation produces the same kind of outcome as Pearson's r, ie a positive
or negative relationship between 0 (no relationship) and 1 (perfect relationship).
Phi ( )and Cramér ’s V – bivariate
Phi is used for exploring a relationship between two dichotomous variables, Cram?r's V
does the same for two nominal variables. Phi outcomes are like Pearson's r and Spearman's
rho and can vary between 0 and + or ?1. Cram?r's V can only show strength of
relationship, not direction (the coefficient is always positive).
Eta – bivariate
Eta is used to explore relationships between an interval variable and a nominal variable
and like Cramr's V can only show strength of relationship, not direction. It does not
assume a linear relationship.
Statistical significance
A way of testing the level of confidence we can have that a probability sampling technique
has generated results, which can apply to the full population. Such a test can also estimate
the chances of no relationship in fact existing between two variables, when bivariate
analysis suggests that there is. We often use the word "significant" to mean the same as
important when we are writing text. Your understanding of the phrase "statistical
significance" should prevent you from now on from using "significant" in academic work,
unless you are relating this to a statistical test.
To calculate statistical significance, we set up a "null hypothesis" i.e. those two variables
in the sample are not related. Then decide the level of statistical significance we find
acceptable, i.e. the level of risk that we would reject the null hypothesis (i.e. say the
variables are related) when in fact they were not related. It is usual to say that the
maximum level of 0.05 is acceptable (ie. p<0.05). This suggests that in no more than 5
cases out of 100, will we be wrong (ie suggest a relationship which is not there) ? the same
as saying we have 95% certainty that the relationship is correct. We can choose a more
stringent level of certainty (e.g. p<0.01 where there is only a 1 in a 100 chance of our
relationship not existing when we say it does). This would, however, increase the risk of a
"Type 2 error", which means confirming the null hypothesis (that there is no relationship)
when in fact there is a relationship. We should bear in mind that the likelihood of a
statistically significant result will increase with sample size ? for the obvious reason that
the bigger the sample in relation to the population, the less likely that any analysis on the

sample will differ from the population by chance. So if we think there is likely to be low
statistical significance, we should increase sample size if possible, to make the analysis
more sensitive to statistical significance. Very small samples, below 30, are more likely to
show an unacceptable p level i.e. above 0.05 probability that the difference is caused by
chance.
We use a chi-square test ( 2 ) to produce our level of statistical significance ( p or
probability level). This test looks at each cell in a contingency table and calculates the
expected value if there was no relationship but the value was a product of chance, works
out the difference between each expected value and the given value and sums the
differences. This produces a single chi square value for the table, which is not important in
itself, but is produced with a statistical significance level ( p). This is the number we are
looking for, to check against our desired level of certainty.
As well as applying chi-square tests to contingency tables, tests of statistical significance
should be applied to all bivariate analysis outcomes (coefficients) such as Spearman's rho
and Pearson's r. This helps us to be sure that the correlation we expect from the sample
really does exist in the population.
Inferential Analysis
Inferential statics are useful to enable the researcher to make generalization or inference
about the population of study from the observation the characteristics of samples. One of
the two classic methods of inferential statistics is confidence interval estimation. That
method is most frequently used to answer exploratory research questions, such as "what
is the average cycle time," or "what is the average profit contribution?" Explanatory
research questions are frequently answered through the other method of inferential
statistics - the testing of hypotheses, or hypothesis-testing. We start with a belief, claim,
prediction, or assertion (hypothesis) about the parameter of interest (in this Module we
have been studying the sample mean). Then we gather a sample, compute sample
statistics, and make a conclusion about that hypothesis. Since we are working with a
sample, we have to add an appropriate measure of reliability. The following notes cover a
five-step methodology for hypothesis-testing.
Step One: State Null and Alternative Hypotheses
To illustrate statistical statements of hypotheses, I'll present three hypothesis test
scenarios. In Scenario One, suppose someone believes the true average cycle time is less
than 24 days. Recall that cycle time in this illustration is the time between when a
company makes an order for material, and the time the material is received. But cycle time
is a variable closely monitored in many activities - the time to pay an account, the time to
process a customer service request, the time to hang a bottle of blood for a blood
transfusion, and so forth.
Back to this scenario: the belief or prediction that true average cycle time is less than 24
days is generally based upon someone's knowledge of the underlying process. Perhaps
they were involved in making an improvement to cycle time experiences. Last year, the
average cycle time may have been 24 days, improvements were made, and this year they
expect cycle time to improve (< 24 days, on average). This belief, or research hypothesis,
is generally what the analyst tries to prove or support by gathering evidence. In statistics, it
is called the alternative hypothesis, also known as the research hypothesis (symbol Ha

or you will also see H1 in some texts and journals). The hypothesis that complements the
alternative is called the null hypothesis (symbol H0), or hypothesis of equality. The
statistical hypothesis statements are written as follows:
Scenario One
Ho: Population Mean = 24 (this is the null hypothesis)
Ha: Population Mean < 24 (this is the alternative hypothesis)
For Scenario Two, suppose someone believes the true average cycle time to be greater
than 20.9 (the alternative hypothesis). Perhaps the scenario is that last year the company
was using vendors who shipped by less than truckload and the average cycle time
experience was 20.9 days (the null hypothesis). This year they switched to vendors who
use truckload (cheaper but takes longer), thus they predict the cycle time will go up
compared to last year. The null and alternative hypothesis statements are written:
Scenario Two
Ho: Population Mean=20.9 (this is the null hypothesis)
Ha: Population Mean > 20.9 (this is the alternative hypothesis)
For Scenario Three, now suppose last year the average cycle time was 20 and vendors
were replaced so that changes in cycle time are expected but no one knows if the changes
lead to increased cycle time or decreased cycle time. The alternative hypothesis would be
that the cycle time is not equal to 20. The null hypothesis is that the cycle time is equal to
20. These statements for this test would be written:
Scenario Three
Ha: Population Mean =/= 20 (=/= is the symbol for not equal)
Note carefully that each scenario involved two statistical hypothesis statements. The first
two scenarios involved directional hypothesis tests or one-tailed tests. Specifically,
Scenario One is a lower-tail test: to support the alternative hypothesis, we would have to
find sample means much lower than the hypothesized mean. Scenario Two is specifically
called an upper-tail directional test: to support the alternative hypothesis, we would have
to find sample means much higher than the hypothesized mean. The third scenario
involved a non directional or two-tailed test. In all tests, the null hypothesis:
Contains the equal sign, thus it is sometimes referred to as the hypothesis of no
difference or no effect. Some texts write the null hypothesis as > for an alternative
written as <; and < for an alternative written as > to make the null hypothesis always
opposite in sign. Classical hypothesis testing simply puts the = sign in the null and that
makes it easier to understand that the null is always the hypothesis of equality

1. Is stated in specific terms regarding what the true value of the population
parameter (in this case, the population mean) is predicted to be (24, 20.5 and 19
were the values for these three separate scenarios).
2. Is the hypothesis to be tested. We either reject or fail to reject the null.
3. If we reject the null hypothesis, we do so in favor of the alternative because the
evidence we have gathered supports the alternative. If we fail to reject the null
hypothesis, we have insufficient evidence to support the alternative. Thus the null
hypothesis "presumes innocence until proven guilty."
In all statements of hypothesis tests, the alternative hypothesis:
1. Does not contain the equal sign.

2. Is the conclusion supported (must be true) when the null hypothesis is rejected
(proven to be false).
Please note that researchers and business data analysts would only test one set of statistical
hypothesis statements to answer a specific research question with a sample of data. A
typical scenario might be scenario one. Last year, the mean cycle time was 24 days before
a continuous improvement program was initiated and they want to see if cycle time
decreases because of the continuous improvement. I presented two other scenarios for
illustration purposes.
How we know whether to fail to reject the null hypothesis, or to reject the null in favor of
the alternative? We gather a sample set of data from the population of interest, find the
sample statistic that best estimates the population parameter under investigation, find the
probability of getting the sample statistic if the null hypothesis is true, and make a
conclusion based on the probability. The concept is simple: in scenario one, if our sample
mean comes out to be 7 we would say, "there is no way we could get a sample mean equal
to 7 if the true population mean was equal to 24, so reject the null in favor of the
alternative." But what if the sample mean came out to be 23.999. There is a fairly high
probability of getting a sample mean of 23.9999, if the true population mean was in fact
24, just by chance alone. In this case, we would fail to reject the null hypothesis. In other
words, we haven't gathered enough evidence to reject the null hypothesis - the continuous
improvement program did not work - the sample mean is only different from the true
population mean because of sampling error.
While many hypothesis tests are supported by observation such as above, we obviously
need more precision in making the decision to reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis.
That precision comes in steps 2 through 5.
Step Two: Determine and Compute the Test Statistic
The general form of the hypothesis test statistics is shown in Equation 1.5.1: Eq. 1.5.1:
Test Statistic = (Estimator - Hypothesized Value of Estimator) / Standard Error of the
Estimator
There are two test statistics for testing a population mean; the Z and the t. The Z test of
hypothesis for a population mean is used when the population standard deviation is
known:

Eq. 1.5.2: Z =(Sample Mean - Hypothesized Mean) divided by

[Population Standard Deviation / Sq. Rt. (n)]
The assumptions for the Z test are:
1) The Population Standard Deviation is known.
2) Numerical data is independently and randomly drawn from a population known to be
normally distributed
3) If the population is not normally distributed, it can be approximated by the normal
distribution as long as the sample size is large ( > 30)
Suppose we want to test the following hypotheses and know that the population standard
deviation is 3:
Scenario One

Ha: Population Mean < 24 (this is the alternative hypothesis)
7.5. Analysis of Data using Statistical Software
In order to analyze quantitative data, once we have identified the kinds of variable we are
collecting, we can then set out the data in a matrix. This can be done in Excel or another
spreadsheet first, or put directly into a statistical package such as SPSS for Windows. To
make the transition from, say, questionnaire to data matrix, answers will need coding. For
example, nominal variables will be text names and will need to be given a unique number
to allow entry into a statistical package. Non- responses will also need a unique
recognizable number (which doesn't appear elsewhere in the data). Dichotomous
responses such as Male/Female will also need a number eg Male 1 Female 2.
Coding and Data Analysis
Coded answers are easily analyzed using computer software packages such as SPSS
(Statistical Package for Social Sciences) or SAS (Statistical Analysis System). Both of
these packages are used extensively across the Government Statistical Service for
statistical analysis.
These packages allow researchers/statisticians to produce a wide range of summary

statistics, like the mean or standard deviation, and tables and graphs that can be used in
reports. Note, however, that operators need to be trained to use the software packages in
order that they are used correctly and that outputs are interpreted appropriately.
Data Capturing
This is the process whereby the data we collect on questionnaires or forms is transferred to
an electronic file and subsequently put onto the computer.
Before we can complete this step, we must ensure that the questionnaire or form is ready
for data capture. The questionnaire is reviewed by someone to ensure that all of the

minimum required data have been reported, and that they are understandable.
There are several methods use for data capture:
Batch Keying is one of the oldest methods of data capture. It involves the manual keying
of data onto the computer. During this keying period no immediate editing takes place so
validity and range edits need to implemented to ensure quality keying. This does not mean
the data are being re-edited, but if a field is numeric and alpha characters are entered
instead, the error will be flagged.
For successful data capture through both batch keying and scanning there is a need to
consider how the information we collect will be interpreted when designing a
questionnaire. We can do this by considering the format we want our responses in. For
example, if we ask for date of birth then we should state whether we want this in
DD/MM/YYYY or some other format.
For data recorded by an interviewer, this can sometimes be entered directly onto a
computer. These files can then be transferred electronically to the relevant system
Once an electronic file of all of the information collected has been created, the data is
passed through a series of validation and automatic editing rules. One automatic editing
rule may be used by the researcher is automatic rounding. Much of the turnover data that
the researcher collects is asked for in ’000’s, so an automatic editing rule has been set up
to check that a respondent’s data has been reported in the correct format. Where it hasn’t,
the rule is programmed to correct the respondent’s turnover and transform it into the
appropriate form. For example, if a respondent returns a monthly turnover figure of Birr
1,000,000 when Birr 1,000 is far more likely (i.e., the respondent has written their figure
in full, rather than in Birr 000), the system will automatically adjust this. All data are also
passed through a set of validation gates. These gates check the feasibility of the data and
highlight possible errors. The data that fails Validation is passed to a team of analysts who
contact the respondent to confirm the data or query it. They then correct it where
necessary.
Most sources recommend that you keep a "code book" or list of exactly how the codes you
devise for your data relate to the questionnaire or other research element. This is vital for
two reasons. The first is that codes are often worked out on scraps of paper quite quickly;
if the paper is lost and you have a break between entering your data and coming to make
sense of it, it is possible you will have a hard time remembering exactly what the results
mean.
The second is that it is important not to lose sight of the question when analysing the
results of quantitative data. Unusual patterns in the data must be scrutinised and going
back to exact coding and possible different interpretations of the question wording, which
may have caused the response, will be vital. So keep a retrievable, clear and accurate
record of coding as the link between respondent and data.
Using SPSS for Windows

Coding is a way of enlisting the help of computer analysis techniques ? whether these
involve using a spreadsheet, such as Microsoft Excel, or a package like the commonly
used SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows package which is
specifically designed to analyse quantitative data from social sciences research. SPSS for
Windows is the most commonly used tool to produce all statistical tests and analysis
outlined in the sections below. Using the package is very straightforward, provided you
have access to it on a computer. Start the program, which should put you into the SPSS
Data Editor, which has two components: Data View and Variable View. Screen tabs allow
you to switch between these two views. Data View is the screen through which you enter
your data (like a spreadsheet). You must enter your data so that each column represents a
variable, and each row represents a case. For example, if you have information on the age,
salary and qualifications of 100 employees, you enter the variable data for each employee
along a row, with column headings of age, salary, qualifications.
It is probably obvious, but in data view you will not enter any text. To describe your
variables, you go to Variable View. Text variable names can be a maximum of 8
characters with no spaces. This means it is helpful to make a rough plan of how you will
enter data into SPSS ? in which order you will show the variables and what variable names
you will use. There is a field called "variable label" in which you can put more detailed
text if needed. It is also possible to enter labels for Values (all except interval values), so
for example you may have a variable labelled Gender, which has values labelled Male and
female, though you have coded Male as 1 and Female as 2 in the Data view. Value and
variable labels will be used by SPSS in the Output charts.
When you perform an analysis with SPSS (by clicking Analyse and entering any relevant
information about what you want done) it is held as Output in an Output viewer screen
(which only appears after an analysis has been done).
Weighting cases
It is possible to weight cases when using stratified random sampling and when there is an
unequal response rate for different strata. This is simple to do and researchers do this from
time to time, but it does impose constraints on how statistical inferences can be drawn,
since cases in the lower response stratum are treated as if there were more of them than
there are (ie higher weighting in the dataset). Best avoided if possible unless you are really
confident in statistics.
Using Excel for the Computations
We will use the Data Analysis Tool and Statistical Functions to produce the descriptive
statistics. The quickest way to generate a family of descriptive statistics is to use the Data
Analysis using Descriptive Statistics
Summary
The methods you use to analyses your data will depend on whether you have chosen to
conduct qualitative or quantitative research, and this choice will be influenced by personal
and methodological preference and educational background. It could be influenced also by
the methodological standpoint of the person who teaches on your research methods course.

For quantitative data analysis, issues of validity and reliability are important Quantitative
researchers Endeavour to show that their chosen methods succeed in measuring what they
purport to measure. They want to make sure that their measurements are stable and
consistent and that there are no errors or bias present, either from the respondents or from
the researcher.
Qualitative researchers, on the other hand, might acknowledge that participants are
influenced by taking part in the research process. They might also acknowledge that
researchers bring their own preferences and experience to the project. Qualitative data
analysis is a very personal process. Ask two researchers to analyses a transcript and they
will probably come up with very different results.
This may be because they have studied different subjects, or because they come from
different political or methodological standpoints. It is for this reason that some researchers
criticize qualitative methods as ‘unscientific’ or ‘unreliable’. This is often because people
who come from quantitative backgrounds try to ascribe their methods and processes to
qualitative research. This is a fruitless exercise. The two approaches are very different and
should be treated as such.
Analyzing data
Also, the two are analyzed in quite different ways. For qualitative data, the researcher
might analyses as the research progresses, continually refining and reorganizing in light of
the emerging results. For quantitative data, the analysis can be left until the end of the data
collection process, and if it is a large survey, statistical software is the easiest and most
efficient method to use. For this type of analysis time has to be put aside for the data input
process which can be long and laborious. However, once this has been done the analysis is
quick and efficient, with most software packages producing well presented graphs, pie.
Self-Check Questions

1) Quantitative data refers to:
a) any data you present in your d) numerical data that could usefully
report. be quantified to help you answer
b) statistical analysis. your research question(s) and to
c) graphs and tables. meet your objectives
2) Which of these is not one of the four main reasons for missing data?

a) The data was not required from c) The respondent may have missed
the respondent, perhaps because a question by mistake.
of a skip generated by a filter d) The respondent did not know the
question in a survey. answer or did not have an opinion
b) The analyst ignored its presence
on the data form.
4) Computers are essential for quantitative data analysis because:

a) they enable easy calculation for those of us not too good with figures.
b) they are fun to use.
c) they are so powerful.
d) increasingly data analysis software contain algorithms that check the data for
obvious errors as it is entered.
5) A pictogram is:
a) a line drawing.
b) a way of measuring the impact of data presentation techniques.
c) an illustration where each bar is replaced by a picture or series of pictures chosen
to represent the data.
d) a photograph
6) A pie chart is:
a) only used in catering management research.
b) any form of pictorial representation of data.
c) a chart demonstrating the increasing incidence of product sales in market.
d) an illustration where the data are divided into proportional segments according to
the share each has of the total value of the data.
7) Which one of these is not a way of measuring central tendency?
a) Measuring the value that occurs most frequently (mode).
b) Regression analysis.
c) Measuring the value, often known as the average, that includes all data values in its
calculation (mean).
d) Measuring the middle value or mid-point after the data have been ranked (median).
8) Standard deviation is:
a) a way of illustrating crime statistics.
b) a way of describing those phenomena that are not the norm.
c) a way of measuring the extent of spread of quantifiable data.
d) inappropriate in management and business research.
9) Parametric and non-parametric are:
a) two main groups of statistical c) terms used in medical practice.

significance tests. d) alternatives to standard deviation
b) general tests of statistical tests.
relevance.
10) Which of the following is not a type of graph?

a) Scatter. c) Bar.
b) Box. d) Pie
11) The way in which this significance is tested using both non parametric and parametric
statistics can be thought of as answering one from a series of questions. Which one of
the questions below is the odd one out?
a) What is the strength of the relationship, and is it statistically significant?

b) Are the differences statistically significant?
c) Does it look statistically significant on the face of it?
d) Are the predicted values statistically significant?
12) Testing the probability of a relationship between variables occurring by chance alone
if there really was no difference in the population from which that sample was drawn
is known as:
a) correlation coefficients. c) multiple regression analysis

b) chi-squared tests. d) Significance testing.
13) A correlation coefficient enables you to:

a) measure the difference between two variables.
b) quantify the strength of the linear relationship between two ranked or quantifiable
variables.
c) establish whether the data is telling you what you think it should tell you.
d) assess whether two variables measure the same phenomenon
14) The coefficient of determination (sometimes known as the regression coefficient)
enables you to:
a) measure the difference between c) assess the strength of relationship

two variables. between a quantifiable dependent
b) establish whether the data is variable and one or more
telling you what you think it quantifiable independent
should tell you. variables.
Part II- True or False Questions

1) The multiple bar chart is also known as a complex bar chart. a) True b) False
2) The mean is the value that occurs most frequently in a distribution
Comparison of proportions between variables use a percentage component bar chart.
a) True b) False
3) Testing the probability of a relationship between variables occurring by chance alone
if there really was no difference in the population from which that sample was drawn
is known as significance testing. a) True b) False

4) The chi square test enables you to find out how likely it is that the two variables are
not associated. a) True b) False
5) The null hypothesis could be phrased as 'there is a significant difference
6) Qualitative data collection results in non-standardized data requiring classification
into categories. a) True b) False
7) Analytic induction is a deductively based analytic procedure. a) True b) False
8) In qualitative research analysis actually begins before data collection ends. a) True
b) False
9) There is no standardized approach to collect qualitative data, so there is no clear,
standard way to analyze qualitative studies. a) True b) False
10) Qualitative research can only be communicated using diagrammatic representations.
a) True b) False
11) It is accepted practice for qualitative research to be analyzed only by people who
were directly involved in the data collection and analysis processes. a) True b)
False
12) Interpretation can only be carried out after analysis. a) True b) False
13) It is a normal practice to publish the names of people you interview. a) True b) False
14) Open coding means taking the open responses or data and seeking some pattern. The
categorization that you derive from your data will indicate significant themes and
issues and will help you consider where data collection should be focused in the
future
CHAPTER EIGHT: INTERPRETATION AND REPORTING THE

RESEARCH RESULT
UNIT CONTENTS
Introduction
8.1 Meaning and Techniques of Interpretation

8.2 Organization and Types of Reports
8.3 Purpose of writing research report
8.4 Mechanics of writing a research report
8.5 Different steps in writing research report
8.6 Presenting results
Summary
Checklist
Introduction

Dear Students, up to now you have gone through the various procedures of conducting
research. But, all the work is not something to be put as it is only for personal interest.
To finalize our research processes, after we have done all the processing of data
collected from different sources into a useful form, the outcomes of the processed data
or information should be carefully interpreted and recommendation should be reported
to the different decision makers-those individuals and organizations that have direct and
indirect interest in your research.
In this chapter, we first consider interpretation, presenting your findings and
recommendations to various interested individuals and groups. We then look at the
processes involved in writing up and presenting your research findings in different
ways.
Finally, we examine the layout of the research report and presentation of the research
results.
The learning activities that you will do in this chapter are designed to help you report
your findings in the ways that will be the most appropriate and the most effective
Objectives
When you have worked through this chapter, you should be able to:
1) Distinguish between description, analysis and interpretation in your own and others’
work.
2) Make an outline plan of your draft report, with a schedule for writing it.
3) Plan your main arguments clearly and logically.
4) Identify understand the differences between writing a report for a business audience
and for academic purposes
5) Produce a clearly structured written report produce an oral presentation of key findings
and use structuring devices in your writing.
8.1. Meaning and Techniques of Interpretation
This is the heart of your research report. Here, data that are presented in a table, figures, or
graphs, should be interpreted. As a researcher, you should extract meaning out these data that
are presented in the tabular, or/and graphic forms.
Dear Students, all research reporting involves description and analysis, and most research
reports also include some interpretation. However, for those you who are new about any about
a report, this may seem a huge and difficult task. However, think of it as a story; you are going
to address your users and tell them what happened (description of your research); explain how
and why these things happened (analysis of your research); and help them to understand the
implications of your research (interpretation).

Activity 1: Read the following questions and discuss with your classmates:
Read the following questions and discuss with your classmates:

1) What important information about your research situation which will be new to them?
2) What kinds of things are you planning to explain to them?
3) What insightful and valid interpretations of the situation will you give to them?
4) What kinds of recommendations for action would be appropriate in this case?
5) What proportions of your report are likely to fall into the three categories of description,
analysis and interpretation?
6) So how much weight should you give to each of these elements? Please think a while and
put your first thought here.
Have you thought it? Okay, well, don’t worry it differs as per the type of a report. If little is
known about the situation, or what is known turns out to be incorrect, your real contribution is
description, so that section will take up a greater proportion of your report. Description is also
useful to show how all the pieces fit together, that is, to present a holistic picture of a situation.
For example, we have little detailed information about daily life in rural part of Ethiopia; if
you were researching the possibilities of setting up open and distance learning in such a place,
you might need to include quite detailed descriptions of the situation to show the potentials
and problems of distance learning programmes.
If the facts are clear enough, but people do not know how to relate them to one another and to
make sense of them, your biggest contribution will be analysis, and that will form the major
section of your report. Traditionally, quantitative research provided a lot of material for
analysis and convenient statistical tools for doing it, so quantitative researchers gave this part
of the report a greater emphasis, but qualitative researchers can do this as well by boiling
down data into categories, patterns, typologies, and so on.
For example, if you were looking at problems of drop-out of distance students in your college,
in the analysis will show who leaves, under what circumstances, and why.
If people want to know what you or others who are participating in the research think the
analysis means, you will spend more time on interpretation. People who take an interpretive
approach will emphasise this section, and examine the perspectives of all those involved and
the meanings they attach to them. People with a lot of experience can bring insights to bear in
reaching beyond the material at hand to speculate, suggest implications, and challenge theory.
For example, after undertaking a case study of a particular public service delivery programmes
in one particular region of Ethiopia, you might have a section in your research report showing
in what ways it is innovative, in what ways it goes back to traditional roots, and what lessons
can be drawn from the case study for other public service providers.
Recommendations are a form of interpretation. Practical constraints, ideological and political
considerations, diplomacy and common sense also enter into the process of making
recommendations. Analysis may show a finding to be statistically significant, but that has

nothing to do with it being important. You have to use your judgement to decide whether it
means anything, and what, if anything, should be done.
Three aspects of research reporting – the main aspects of a research report is

consisting of description, analysis, and interpretation and recommendations.
Description: tells what happened as a result of data collection.
Analysis: tells the relationships and patterns you found in your research
Interpretation: tells what you or others think the research means and how
to use it.
Recommendations: Recommendations are a form of interpretation
whereby the researcher provide his/her suggestions based on his research
findings or results
8.2. Organization and Types of Reports
Activity 2: Identifying different kinds of report and producers in writing up

a research report
Dear Students, this section deals with some aspects of writing up research findings.
Please discuss with your classmate or tutor about the following aspects of a research
report.
• different kinds of reports and presentations

• how to structure a research report
• where to start your report
• how to write your text, looking at choice of voice and writing clearly and logically
• using headings
• Improving your draft.
Different kinds of reports and presentations
Your findings may be presented in many different forms, depending on your audience/
target interest group in your research findings. Here is a preliminary classification:
Table 8.1. A classification of report types
Type Formats Audiences
Written Academic reports, e.g. Academics
journal article, conference
paper, thesis
Written Policy papers Administrators,
directors,

government
departments
Written Evaluation reports Funders,
participants,
decision-makers
Written Action research accounts Colleagues and
participants
Oral presentations Workshops, conferences, Small audiences
public meetings
Print Handbooks, manuals Practitioners
Mass media Radio, television, web-sites Mass audiences
Dear students, if you have given serious attention to what was said in the beginning
of this chapter; you may well find that you need to produce more than one type of
report for more than one set of stakeholders. Our advice is to draw up a full written
report first; it is easier to shorten and adapt afterwards when you are sure of what you
want to say. You will almost certainly find your ideas become clearer the more you
write. What at the beginning needed three pages to explain, you can later summarise
as one paragraph!
These different forms of reporting will be considered in more detail in Unit 5. We shall
now consider a generic report as a starting point.
8.3. Purpose of writing research report

Whenever you draw up your research findings, you will be sure to have certain aims in
mind – for example, submitting them for publication in a journal, presenting them at a
conference, using them to inform and influence policymakers or practitioners, or to get
some message across to the wider community. Whichever of these may be your aims,
you need to:
• identify your target audience(s)
• understand their interests and needs
• present your findings in the way(s) best suited to the audience(s)
• Provide them with the right kinds of evidence and offer the most convincing arguments.
Generally speaking, you are likely to have the greatest impact and influence if you
present selected findings to particular audiences, and focus on specific contexts and
tangible issues rather than looking at abstractions and making sweeping
generalisations. In some situations it will be important for you to engage in ‘academic
discourse’. In others, it is better to use clear, everyday language.

When developing your research proposal in the earlier chapters, you asked yourself:
• What do I need to find out and how?

• What is it for?
• What do I expect to happen?
In planning your presentations to others, there are further questions to be answered.
you need to think about these questions right at the start of the project and not simply at
the writing up stage:
• What are my findings going to be used for?
• What contexts will they be used in?
• Is my role that of an insider or an outsider?
• Who are the stakeholders I’ll be communicating with?
• What kinds of communication will be needed?
In this section, we are going to take a closer look at these five questions. As you work
through the following sections, you need to think about your particular research project
and any other research agenda that’s important to you in your work context..
Reporting
Whenever you set out to inform and influence people within or beyond your institution
through your findings, you need to think carefully about the individuals and groups you
are targeting. We call these the ‘stakeholders’ and it is most important that you find out
what will attract and interest them and what will help them change their mindsets.
Before we start the section we will take a brief look at how you might need to take
account of the needs of different stakeholders.
What are my report findings to be used for?

You first need to decide what your findings are to be used for. For example, are they
going to be used for one or more of the following?
• Research and development: For example, helping with the design and development of a
course or piece of courseware, the selection and use of particular methods and media, or
the establishment of student services or a learning support system.
• Evaluation: For example, showing where improvements are being achieved and how to
capitalise on these, or where problems are occurring and how to resolve these.
• Quality assurance: For example, helping an institution to be accountable to government
or a department, or a programme be accountable to an institution.
• Market research: For example, providing data on student, public or employer
perceptions of an institution or the need for new courses.
• Policy-making and planning: For example, providing data on the human, resource or
infrastructure needs, or providing evidence of competition from other providers or the
potential for strategic alliances with other institutions.

• Political purposes: For example, providing evidence to help support or oppose existing or
planned-for policies or actions.
• Academic purposes: For example, gaining a higher qualification.
• Purposes other than these
Activity 3: Understanding the preliminary of a research report
Dear students, please try to do the following activity. This activity will help you to get
started with the preliminary planning of your report.
1) Study the headings outlined above.
2) Make very short notes about what you might include in your own report in each
section.
3) Invite a colleague to comment, if possible.
8.4. Mechanics of Writing a Research Report
What have you got already?

Before starting to write, collect together all the materials you have produced so far. If
you have collected different reference materials earlier when you have designed your
research proposal, you will already have much reference materials for your report. For
example, you may have:
• your research proposal, with the rationale and some review of literature
• summaries of information drawn from documents
• research journals, with periodic analytical memos outlining issues that have emerged,
patterns you have noted, and preliminary conclusions
• First level analyses of data you have collected. Quantitative data will be in the form of
frequency tables, cross tabs, etc. Qualitative data may have included condensed versions of
interviews, themed analyses, comparative matrices, etc.
Activity 4: Collecting materials together for report writing

1) Collect your material together.
2) Reread it and remind yourself of what you have found out.
3) Then think of your audience and what they need to know. This is an iterative process.
4) While constructing your report you should be moving between the two.

8.5. Steps in writing a Report
Where to start?
Though everyone should draw up an outline along the lines shown above, few people
would write the report in this order! Here are some suggestions on the order in which
you might write:
Good places to start

Some components are self-contained and can be written separately, at almost any time.
For example:
• The background information. Tailor this to the needs of the specific audience
• Research design and methods. Redraft what was in the research proposal, to match what
actually happened. Keep it factual, clear and short. Add a reflective component if
appropriate
• The literature review. Redraft this from the research proposal, expanding, adding or
summarising depending on your audience and purpose
• The rationale and aims (part of the Introduction). Rephrase if necessary from the research
proposal.
• The findings and discussion: The findings and discussion are the heart of the report and can only be
written when the data has been analysed. If possible, set aside a period of relatively unbroken time when
you can write and complete at least the first draft of these sections.
• The conclusions: The conclusions should obviously be done at the end, but so should the
full introduction and overview. The beginning and the end of the report need to be
consistent with each other and with the rest of the report: one sets out what you intended to
do, the other summarises the story and points forward. A busy reader should be able to get
the main points of your study by reading the first and last chapters only!
Activity 5: Planning time schedule to prepare a research report

Draw up a time plan for writing your own report, showing in which order you would like to
draft the components.
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
________________________.
Note:-This activity will help you begin to get a sense of the schedule that you will need for
your report.
8.6. Presenting results

In this section we will see the common pattern of a research report, which composes
the preliminary section, the main body, and reference section. Here we will also
consider the processes of preparing data for use in your reports. We emphasize the
need to condense, select, and combine data, and to create displays in order to make it

easy for the reader to understand. We show how words and numbers, text and displays,
are used to reinforce the message. We discuss some ways of working with both
quantitative and qualitative data of various kinds, including interviews, observational
data and surveys. We note in places how data and text can be used for description,
analysis and interpretation:
The preliminary Section

Dear students, in a research report, initially the title of the study, the name of the researcher,
the content of the research and other information that are not part other actual task but that
give the necessary information about the study should be clearly indicated.
The components
The preliminary section includes the title page, acknowledgement, table of contents and list of
tables and figures.
Title page
? What do you think that should be indicated on the cover page of your research
report? Let you try to mention some, please.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
For your research report, first of all, you have to include:
• The title- this should be brief, typed in capital letters and cantered between the left
and right margins of the page in the inverted pyramided style(▽)
• The name of the researcher,
• The name of the institution to which the research is to be submitted
• Data of submission.
All of the above components constitute the title page. The general format look like the
following.
THE REACTION OF BUSINESSMEN TOWARDS THE

USE OF CASH RIGISTERMACHINE IN BATU TOWN
BY GEMECHU DUMASIE
A RESEARCH REPORT PRESENTED FOR ZEWAY

TOWN TRADE AND INDUSTRY OFFICE

JUNE 2012
BATU
Acknowledgement
This is a part where you provide credit (praise) to those who assisted you in the study.
Acknowledgement must be simple and restricted to those who had significant contributions
in the course of study.
Table of contents
? In your text books, what things are included under the part entitled contents?
In text books, chapters, titles, subtitles, within chapters and their corresponding page
numbers are indicated. This is what is also be done in the research report under the heading
‘Table of Contents’. Here you will put the major divisions and sub-divisions of the report
with page numbers assigned to each. Please look at the following format to write a ‘Table
of Contents’.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgement---------------------------------------------------------------------------i
Abstract---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ii
List of Tables------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iii
List of figure-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- iv
PART I; INTRODUCTION----------------------------------------------------------------1
1.1. Background of the
study----------------------------------------------------------
1.2. Statement of the
problem---------------------------------------------------------
1.3. Purpose of the
study---------------------------------------------------------------
1.4. Significance of the
study----------------------------------------------------------
1.5. Limitations of the
study-----------------------------------------------------------
1.6. Delimitation of the
Study---------------------------------------------------------
PART II:REVIEW OF RELATED LITRATURE
2.1. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
2.2. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
PART III: DESIGN OF THE STUDY

3.1. Subjects of the

study---------------------------------------------------------------
3.2. Sampling
techniques---------------------------------------------------------------
3.3. Data gathering
tools---------------------------------------------------------------
3.4. Data gathering
procedures--------------------------------------------------------
3.5. Data
analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART IV: ANALYSIS OF DATA
PART V: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1. Summary-----------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
5.2. Conclusion---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
5.3. Recommendation--------------------------------------------------------------
-----
BIBILOGRAPHY
APPENDIX
The main body of the Research
Dear students, after you providing your reader some general features of your research in the
preliminary section, it is necessary to got reporting the actual work of your research. The part
that contains most of you work done in the study is known as the main body of the research
report. But, how the report in the main body of the research should be organized? What care
should be taken in writing the components of the main body? This will be our next discussion.
The main body of the report
The main body of the report usually contains five logical divisions: (1) introduction, (2)
Review of Related Literatures, (3) The Design of the Study, (4) Analysis and Interpretation of
Data, and (5) Summary and Conclusion.
Introduction

? From your lesson about research proposal, do you remember the components to be
included?
Have you remembered? Let you go to chapter three of this module and check the your
answer.
The introduction section of your research includes:

• Background of the study
• Statement of the problem
• Purpose of the study
• Significance of the study
• Limitations of the study
• Delimitation of the Study
The introduction part of the report sets out why the research was undertaken, and states
clearly the problem, the area of enquiry, or the research questions. The final section gives a
brief overview of the rest of the report, stating what can be found in each section or chapter.
The Background information gives factual information which the reader may need in order
to understand the situation being researched. It is particularly important when writing for an
audience that is unfamiliar with the place or the subjects of the research.
Review of related literature
? What is the purpose of reviewing literature?

This part is important to refer the relevant and related literatures written on the area of the
study. This provides important place for the research in the context of similar work carried
out by others. It is particularly important for an academic report, but it may be useful for
any audience to understand what is already known or thought about the study area.
Design of the Study
? When you design your study, what elements are you going to include within your research
design?
Under the design of your study the variables, the population of the study, the tools you have
used to gather different data, the procedures and methods used in the analysis of your data will
be included here.
The design of your study explains briefly how you designed the study, the basic research
approach/methodology, the population and sampling (if appropriate), and the methods used.
Examples of the instruments (questionnaires, interview schedules, observation charts, etc.)

should be placed in appendices. You should include a section on ‘limitations’ i.e. what you
were not able to do or things that went wrong.
Analysis and Interpretation of Data
This is the main part of the report and may be divided into several sections. Here you
describe and analyse what you found, as clearly and succinctly as possible. It is often useful
to take each problem, area of enquiry or research question in turn, and give the findings
related to each. Here data will be presented in tables, and figures. The tables and figures to
be used should be clear and self-explanatory.
The analysis and interpretation of the research report also includes discussion about the
report. But, how much discussion is needed depends on your audience, and on whether you
have already commented on the findings as you went along. This is where you will give your
interpretations of the data. An academic audience will expect you to relate what you found to
the literature, and to aspects of theory. A more practically-oriented audience will need to
know how your findings can be implemented. For any audience, you should point out any
gaps or unanswered questions, and highlight new questions and issues that have arisen in the
course of your study.
Construction of Tables
Tables need to be as simple as possible, consistent with your purpose. If you are
preparing a report for a government department or a donor agency you can use
sophisticated and complex tables, and include details of the significance levels. On the
other hand, if you are writing for a lay audience, make the tables simpler – with no
more than 5–6 rows or columns and clear headings – banishing the details of the
calculations to an appendix.
You may need to create tables yourself from your frequency data. In this way you can
combine results, simplify the categories, round up the figures and generally make the
data more user-friendly.
Activity
Draft a tabular summary of some key features of your own institution, or the one where you
have carried out your research. It should be designed to give a reader from another country
the necessary background information to understand your report.
Note: This activity will give you practice in selecting and displaying tabular data.
Using Figures and Diagrams in the Main body

Many people can understand quantitative data more easily if it is presented visually.
You have already seen examples of ways of displaying data in the quantitative module.
The important points to bear in mind when choosing a display method are:
 use a bar-graph rather than a table e.g. for showing people’s ages
 use a line-graph rather than a sequence of numbers for showing a trend over time

 a pie-chart is a good way of showing proportions, such as the amounts of money spent
on different things, or the numbers of people coming from different provinces. It works
best with between 4–7 categories.
Numbers and percentages: Always show both, as in the above example,
so the reader is quite clear about the magnitude of the group. In a very small
sample, 50% might only refer to 3 people, and that might be misleading
All such displays need a brief text, above or below the display, which summarises the
information verbally. It should also point out any anomalies in the data and indicate
what is missing. This just enhances its descriptive powers. But the text can also provide
an analysis, by highlighting certain aspects and explaining some of the connections.
This may lead into some interpretation.
Pictures
If you have been interviewing or observing you will have a lot of verbal data in the
form of interview transcripts and observation schedules or notes. Perhaps you will have
visual data as well in the form of photographs, or sketch maps.
Use of quotations
Quotations can be used to give an authentic flavour to your descriptions, to illuminate
or highlight an analytical point. They can also be used to show typical comments or
views, or to show unusual or extreme positions – the ‘outliers’. Sometimes – if you
are lucky – someone will have said something that summarises or encapsulates a
common perspective of the group.
You can use paragraph-long quotes, indented, or you can include in the text shorter
quotes, sentences or even significant phrases. These need to be highlighted in some
way, by quotation marks or use of italics. Example 2 shows how interview data (from
20 college lecturers) was condensed down into themes, and used to illustrate the
tutors’ views. In the example, italics has been used to give emphasis to a summary
statement, and the rest of the quotes are in quotation marks.
Personal theories
We sought through the interviews to elicit something of their own personal or lay theories
about teaching and learning as these might have developed over the years.
There emerged a rather technical view of training, apparently shared by most interviewees,
which goes something like this: we tell the students what to do, let them practice it, and they
should be able to do it. Learning to teach often seems to be treated as quite unproblematic:
‘when one has enough content plus teaching strategies, he can disseminate it’. The role
model theme reappeared as well. One explained, ‘they need residential training so we can
shape them by our instruction and example’. Possibly the old DPTE training contributed to
this consensus, as two tutors specifically quoted things they had learnt there. There was little
evidence of tutors’ independent reflection,

Summary and Conclusions

This is the main part of the research report.
? What does a summary mean? let you try to describe it below, please.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________.
? What about a conclusion?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________.
A summary is a short restatement of the problem, description of the procedures follows in
the study and in its findings. No new thing is added here. It is simply the very short
presentation of the study from its beginning to its ending points.
On the other hand, conclusions of a study are answers to the question (hypotheses) of the
study. It will summarise the findings and relate them back to the problem or research
questions outlined in your introduction. It should also restate any key issues raised by the
research. Finally, where appropriate, it should set out a short, clear list of things you believe,
on the basis of your research, should be done.
Another important component of this section is the Recommendation. This is a suggestion of
action that be taken for the problems that have been identified in the research. For example,
in an investigation about “the causes of low level of contraceptive usage” in an area, you may
find in your study mainly they are lack of awareness, the influences of culture, religion, etc
as the main causes.
? What sort of solution do you suggest to minimize the impacts of these causes? Based on
these findings, please put your suggestions for whom you think they are responsible to
take actions.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________.
Dear students, your recommendations should be practical and easy to implement them. for
example, if you were asked to give your recommendations for the above example of
research findings, one of your recommendations might be “providing lessons to parents
about contraceptives by going to each individual household”. But, this will not be easy to
make it paractical.
The Reference Section
This is a list of all the sources mentioned or cited in your text, set out according to academic
conventions.

Appendices
The appendices include material that may be of interest to some readers, but which is too
detailed or bulky to go in the report. Examples are: research instruments, extra details of the
sample, or of case-studies, extracts from relevant documents.
Activity
This activity will help you to get started with the preliminary planning of your report.
1 Study the headings outlined above.
2 Make very short notes about what you might include in your own report in each section.
3 Invite a colleague to comment, if possible.
What have you got already?

Before starting to write, collect together all the materials you have produced so far.
If you have followed earlier modules, you will already have much draft material for
your report. For example, you may have:
 your research proposal, with the rationale and some review of literature
 summaries of information drawn from documents
 your research journal, with periodic analytical memos outlining issues that have
emerged, patterns you have noted, and preliminary conclusions
 first level analyses of data you have collected. Quantitative data will be in the form
of frequency tables, cross tabs, etc.. Qualitative data may have included condensed
versions of interviews, themed analyses, comparative matrices, etc.
Summary
In this chapter you have learnt about the importance of analysis and interpretation of
research data so that your research will be meaningful and it will be useful for users of
study findings as well. you have also learnt about the importance of condensing,
selecting, combining and displaying data in order to show clearly and briefly where
the findings have come from writing text to accompany figures, and including numbers
where appropriate for qualitative datapresenting quantitative data in reports selecting
and using quotations, and using vignettes ways of presenting research data and
combining responses given by the subjects of the study population into summary form
presenting information from different sources in matrices and tables.
In the final sections of this chapter, you have seen the presentation of your research
report. Here, it is important to remind you that most research report has three main
components: the preliminary parts , the main body and the reference section of the
research report.
The preliminary section of the report constitutes the title page, acknowledgement, table
of contents and list of tables and figures. These provide the readers some general
information about your study.
The main body of the research report contains the actual work of the research. it
comprises of introduction, review of related literatures, the design of the research, data
analysis and interpretation, and summary and conclusion sections of the research in
which each of them has its own main and sub-sections.

Finally, the research report will have its own reference section that provide the reader
various sources of reference materials which have been used in the process of the
research endeavours as a BIBILIOGRAPHAY and other materials which are not
included in the main body of the research but which may have importance for further
information about the research. These will be attached on the back of the research
document as APPENDICES.
Part I-Multiple choice Questions

1) Good research reports will always:
a) Provide results that may be c) Focus on the style and the format
irrelevant. of the report.
b) Provide respondent names and d) focus on addressing the research
addresses. objectives
2) The report writer should always remember that people have expectations about what
information they will find and where it will be. It is unusual for final reports to have a
section with:
a) Appendices. d) Research costs.
b) Method. e) executive summary
c) Recommendation.
3) Which report section is intended to describe the purpose with a full statement of the
research question?
a) Method. c) Objectives.
b) Appendices. d) Results
4) Which of these would NOT help your confidence in the context of a presentation?
a) Presentation software. c) Comfort with the situation.

b) Looking good. d) Good preparation
5) The method section for ___________ includes detailed information on the sampling frame;
sample size; variables selected for measurement; questionnaire, sampling procedure;
response rates
a) a qualitative study d) all of the above

b) a quantitative study e) none of the above
c) a desk research study

6) The results section is where you present the findings in a readable format. In a qualitative
report it is likely that you will always use:
a) Pie charts. c) Graphs.

b) Tables. d) words
7) Recommendations should be based on:
a) Findings. c) both of them

b) assumptions d) Neither of them
8) Which of these is bad practice for a report?
a) To state fieldwork dates and c) To include names of all

sample sizes. respondents with contact details.
b) To use a title that is short and to d) To have a contents page or another
the point. form of indexing
9) The report is NOT:
a) a research proposal. d) tangible evidence of a research

b) a basis for decision-making. project
c) future secondary data.
Part II-True and False Questions

Try the true or false questions below to test your knowledge of this chapter. Once you
have completed the test, then to get your results try to see your answer against the
answers given under self-check question on the back of this module as an answer keys.
1) It is good practice for the writer of the research report to assume that the reader has
prior knowledge of the research problem. a) True b) False
2) Results sections will often be split into sub-sections by topic area. a) True b) False
3) The abstract is the place where you explain your central theory. a) True b) False
4) The main purpose of your literature review is to cover all that is known about the topic
you are researching. a) True b) False
5) The appendices are where you should include such tables and graphs that will illustrate
your findings. a) True b) False
6) The conclusions chapter is really just a summary of the whole report. a) True b) False
7) It is a good idea to start your references section at the beginning of the writing process
and add to it as you go along. a) True b) False
8) A good title is one that has the minimum possible amount of words that describe
accurately the content of the paper. a) True b) False
References:

Ackoff, Russell.l (1961). The design of Social science Research, Chicago Press. USA
Bailey Kenneth D. (1978). Method of Social research, New York
Babbie (1973). Survey Research Method. Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc, USA.
C.R. Kothari. (1990). Research Methodology, Methods and Techniques.
Tandon, B.C, Research Methodology in Social Sciences, Chaitanya Publishing
House, Allahabad. (1979)
Fisher, R. A. (1960). The Design of Experiment 7th Edition, Hafner Publishing Co. New
York.
Fred N. Kerlinger (1973). Foundation of Behavioral Research, Second Edition, New
yourk
Green E. Paul, D. S. Tull & Gerald Albaum (1998). Research for Marketing Decisions.
Prentice-Hall of India, Private Limited, New Delhi.
.Jill Hessey and Roger Hussey (1997). Business Research Method . MackMilan Press
Ltd
Joseph Gibaldi (1995). MALA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, forth Edition
the Modern Language Associatetion, New york.
Kenneth R. Hoover (1988). The Elements of Social Science Thinking (Fourth Edition).
St. Martin’s Press, New Yourk
Lawrence F. Locke, Waneen Wyrick Spirduso & Stephen J. Silverman (1993).
Proposal That Work, A guide for Planning Dissertation and Grant,
Sage Publications, Inc. Newbury Park, California
Lundberg. G.A. (1942), Social Research, N.Y.
Pearson, T. (1968). The Grammar Of science, London. Wishwa Prakashan, Wiley Eastern
Limited, New Delhi.
Vatsyayan. (1989). Methods & techniques of Social Survey and Research (in questions &
answers). Kedar Nath Ram Nath, New Delhi.
William G. Zikmund (1984). Business Research Methods, Fofth Edition, Harcourt Brace
Collage, USA.
ANSWER KEYS FOR RESEARCH MODULE-ACFP 551

CHAPTER ONE
Part I-Multiple Questions
1) c
2) d
3) b
4) b
5) b
6) e
Part II-True /False Questions
1) a
2) a
3) a
4) a
5) b
6) b
7) a
8) a
9) b
10) a
11) a
CHAPTER TWO
1) a
2) d
3) d
4) b
5) d
6) a
1) b
2) a
3) a
4) b
5) a
6) b

7) a
8) a
9) b
CHAPTER THREE
1) a
2) c
3) c
4) d
1) b
2) a
3) b
4) a
5) a
6) a
7) b
CHAPTER FOUR
1) a
2) b
3) d
4) a
5) d
6) d
1) b
2) b
3) a
4) a
5) b
6) a
7) a
CHAPTER FIVE

1) a
2) b
3) d
4) a
5) b
6) a
7) c
8) a
9) c
10) c
11) c
12) d
13) c
14) a
1) a
2) a
3) b
4) a
5) b
6) b
7) a
8) a
9) a
10) a
CHAPTER SIX
1) c
2) e
3) e
4) e
5) a
6) b
7) d
8) e
9) a

10) a
11) c
12) a
13) c
14) c
1) a
2) a
3) a
4) b
5) b
6) a
7) a
8) b
9) b
10) b
11) b
12) a
13) a
CHAPTER SEVEN
1) d
2) a
3) d
4) c
5) c
6) d
7) b
8) c
9) a
10) b
11) a
12) d
13) b
14) c

1) a
2) a
3) b
4) b
5) a
6) a
7) a
8) a
9) b
10) b
11) a
12) b
13) b
14) a
CHAPTER EIGHT
1) d
2) d
3) c
4) b
5) d
6) d
7) a
8) c
9) a
1) b
2) a
3) b
4) b
5) a
6) b
7) a
8) a


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Oromia Public Service College, Department of Accounting

OROMIA PUBLIC SERVICE COLLEGE

RESEARCH METHOD Page 1

1.4.8. Action research......................................................................................................15

RESEARCH METHOD Page 2

RESEARCH METHOD Page 3

The Purpose of the Module

This Research Training Module is developed by ABUGIDA Educational Consultancy and

RESEARCH METHOD Page 4

 Make the students aware of research methodology,

RESEARCH METHOD Page 5

CHAPTER ONE: FUNDAMENTAL OF RESEARCH METHOD

1.1. Meaning of Research

RESEARCH METHOD Page 6

1.1. Meaning of Research

Activity 1: Understanding the Meaning of the word “Research”

Activity 2: Do we consider ourselves as researchers?

RESEARCH METHOD Page 7

Research:-A systematic investigation and study in order to establish facts

Research methods versus research methodology

RESEARCH METHOD Page 8

Research methodology–is the philosophy or the general principle which

Activity 3: Part One- the definition of “Research” in English language

Activity 3: Part Two- the definition of “Research” in other language

Activity 4: Reviewing what you have learned from your activities

RESEARCH METHOD Page 9

Activity 5: Working on imaginary example using the word “Research”

Case details Is it a research? Why? /Why not?

1. I am thinking of buying a new bicycle, so

3. The last time I baked some bread it did

RESEARCH METHOD Page 10

together evidence from numerous studies

1.2. The dimensions of research

1.3. Motivation of Doing Research

RESEARCH METHOD Page 11

1.4. Types of Research

RESEARCH METHOD Page 12

1.4.1. Basic research versus Applied Research

Table 1: Characteristics of pure and applied research

Pure research Applied research

Activity 5: write down difference between pure and applied research

Exploratory Research: A research method mostly uses inferential statistics-confidence

1.4.3. Deductive versus Inductive Research

RESEARCH METHOD Page 13

1.4.4. Positivist versus Interpretivist

1.4.5. Observational Research versus Experimental Research

Observational research-it involves watching or observing various behaviors and patterns.

Experimental Research-More complicated forms of quantitative research are experimental

RESEARCH METHOD Page 14

Activity 6: Differentiating the difference between observational and experimental

3) Example of observational research

A qualitative approach to research is likely to be associated with an inductive approach to

RESEARCH METHOD Page 15

subjective perspectives and constructing knowledge rather than seeking to "find" it in

Activity 7: comparing quantitative and qualitative research

What are the characteristics of qualitative research?

RESEARCH METHOD Page 16

Activity 8: Advantages and disadvantages/problems of the qualitative or

1.4.7. Survey Research

1.4.8. Action research

RESEARCH METHOD Page 17

1.4.9. Case Studies

1.5. Research and Scientific Method

Activity 9: Research methods as an area to study