RT201B – Research Theory

Welcome to Research
Theory
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 What are we doing this Semester?
• Week 1: Research as a discipline –Study Guide Unit 1

• Week 2: Research ethics and academic integrity – Study Guide

Unit 2

• Week 3: Finding and evaluating research information and

articles – Study Guide Unit 3

• Week 4: Set up and frame a study – Study Guide Unit 4

• Week 5: Assignment 1 submission – Multiple choice questions

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 • Week 6: The literature review – Study Guide Unit 5

• Week 7: Research methodology: Qualitative and

quantitative research approaches and assumptions – Study
Guide Unit 6

• Week 8: Qualitative research: Designs and data collection

– Study Guide Unit 7

• Week 9: Qualitative analysis: Data analysis and reporting –

Study Guide Unit 8

• Week 10: Assignment 2 Submission – Essay-type questions

– Units 1 – 12

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• Week 11: Quantitative research: Designs and data collection –
Study Guide Unit 9

• Week 12: Quantitative research: Data analysis and reporting -

Study Guide Unit 10

• Week 13: Management of the research process - Study Guide

Unit 11

• Week 14: Apply the principles of aesthetic report presentation

– Study Guide Units 12

• Week 15 - Revision week

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Recommended Textbook
• RT201B Research Theory Marketing Research
ISBN: 9781485129240
eISBN: 9781485129257
Wiid, J.A. & Diggines, C.N. (Eds) Juta 4th 2021

• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10 (revise)

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Study Resources
• eLibrary: Textbooks
• Articles under ‘Additional Study Materials’ on
module website
• Study Guide
• Sources you are referred to in the Study Guide
• eDiscussion Forum

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RECAP
• Previously…we focused on qualitative methods used
to collect research data.

• Revision exercise
What is the difference between qualitative and
quantitative data collection methods?

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 •

Quantitative research:
Designs and Data collection
STUDY
UNIT 9
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 • Summarise the characteristics of quantitative designs
• Articulate the characteristics of the quantitative research
process
• Identify different types and examples of quantitative data
• Justify the selection of quantitative data sampling
principles and types
• Recommend and justify quantitative research designs for
given research objectives
• Apply quantitative data collection principles and
techniques
Study Unit 9 • Design and critique quantitative research instruments
Outcomes
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 Quantitative research
• Used to quantify the problem
• numerical data
• data that can be transformed into useable statistics.

• The outcomes quantifies

• attitudes, behaviours and opinions

• Quantitative research uses measurable data to

formulate facts and to uncover patterns in research.

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 • Quantitative data collection methods are
• much more structured than qualitative data collection
methods.
• includes various forms of surveys –
• online, paper, mobile and kiosk surveys
• face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews
• longitudinal studies
• website interceptors
• online polls
• systematic observations

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 • A research design is a plan adopted by the researcher
to answer questions
• validly, objectively, accurately and economically.
• It is the arrangement of conditions for collecting and
analysing data in a manner that aims to combine relevance
to the research purpose with economy in procedure (Kumar
2019).

Quantitative
Research
Design
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 • An important concept associated with this type of research

• Validity – the results satisfy the objectives and

therefore we are able to generalise from the results
• Objectives
• Research design

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 • Validity – we are able to generalise from the results

• If 60% of homeowners surveyed in Gauteng do not have home

insurance we may assume that …

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 • Quantitative research aims to establish relationships
between variables in the population (universe) or a
representative sample of the population using
statistical, mathematical or computational techniques.
• There are two types of variables,
• dependent
• independent

Variables in
Quantitative
research
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 • Independent variables
• stand alone and cannot be changed by other variables you
are trying to measure, such as age or sex.
• independent variables are the cause of something to
change in the dependent variable.
• Dependent variables
• affected by other factors (independent variable).
• for example, test results (dependent variable) are affected
by study time (independent variable)

Types of
variables
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 • Collected from many people
• it is usually done in non-face-to-face ways, e.g. surveys and
and interviews using a questionnaire
• quantitative interviews

Quantitative
data
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 Quantitative data collection methods

• One of the most important method for collecting data is

the survey – types of survey:

• Street survey

• Shopping mall survey

• In-home interviews

• Workplace interviews

• Self-completion methods

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 • In business research, data is sometimes collected
through “quantitative interviews”,
• often use Likert-scale- based
• involve the research team interacting with participants
directly to collect the data.
• very structured
• asking the same questions to every participant for
consistency and meeting the assumptions of quantitative
research.

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Likert based
scale
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 Why do these type of interviews not quality as
Qualitative data?

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 Answer:

• This type of data collection does not qualify as

qualitative data
• the instruments lack the deep, flexible, probing questions
used in qualitative research.

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 • The layout and appearance of the questionnaire are
important, as this has an effect on completion rates
• The questionnaire can be too long or too short.
• It should be the ‘right’ length for:
• Research objectives,
• Budget,
• Method of data collection

• It should also be proofread to ensure that all

instructions are clear and accurate.
Designing
Questionairres
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 • Once you have designed a set of questions, before
going any further, it is useful to review them
• against the relevant research objectives and, if necessary,
amend them.
• check whether the questions are suitable for the target
group, for the data collection method, and for how the data
should be analysed.

Designing
Questionairres
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 Quantitative data collection methods

• Survey question guidelines

• Simple language – not ‘Is being bipolar something you suffer

from?’

• Stay away from ambiguous questions – not ‘Do you battle finding
clothes that fit because you are tall?’

• No double-barreled questions – not ‘Have you been to the USA

and did you like it there?’

• No leading questions – not ‘Do you also think eating too much
chocolate will make you overweight?’

• No questions based on assumptions – ‘How many cokes do you

drink in a week?’

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 • Self administered questionnaires:
• useful in situations where it is not necessary to have an
interviewer ask the questions during a product or
advertising test.
• Response rates are much lower than for interviewer-
administered methods.
• Techniques to increase response rates include:
• Informing the sample in advance of the arrival of the
questionnaire, including the name of the organisation that
sponsors the research,
Self • Sending at least one reminder
• Using incentives
administered
questionnaires
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 • A pilot study is conducted to assess objectively how/if
the questionnaire works.
• It is crucial if:
• It is a new questionnaire or contains new questions
• It covers a difficult topic
• If the survey is to be conducted in different countries

Pre-testing
the
questionnaire
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 • Questionnaires that are interviewer led
• The interviewer fills out the responses on the
questionnaire as they ask the participant

Interview
administed
questionnai
res
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 • Have to be neutral
• many ways that they can inadvertently bias the results.
• Eg. political or moral issues
• Teaching basic map reading skills and confirming that
the interviewers can follow maps is essential.
• To be consistent across interviews

Training of
Interviewers
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 • Observational methods are data collection techniques that
observe behaviour, either directly or indirectly, by mechanical
methods or human observers.
• Advantage of observation over interviewing
• enables researchers to record actual rather than reported behaviour;
• When you do not know or are unsure about what questions to ask,
• When you start a project in a setting with which you are not familiar,
• When you want to examine an activity or process in a new way,
• When you want to observe an individual act in detail,
• When you want to gather data from another perspective,
• When you want greater detail or greater understanding of a process or
behaviour,
• When you want to observe unconscious or habitual behaviour,
• When the target market audience cannot communicate verbally,
Observational • When you have concerns about the validity or reliability of interview
data, When you want to observe the behaviour of people en masse.
methods
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 • Selecting a representative portion of a population
• Sampling takes place after the research has been
designed and the population defined.
• Quantitative sampling is random, where each unit of
the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Sampling
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 • Sampling frame
• a subset of the population which the sample may be drawn.
• also called the working population because these units will
eventually provide the units involved in the analysis
(Malhotra, Nunan & Birks 2017).
• sampling frame errors can occur as some potential
respondents are excluded from the study.
• findings will not represent all possible factors, and
generalisation will be compromised.

Sampling
Frame
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 • The sample size in quantitative research is critical to
the validity of the study,
• calculated upfront.
• can be calculated using a sample size calculator e.g.
Qualtrics, Raosoft
• The sample size is determined by:
• The importance of the decision,
• The study design
• The nature of the analysis
• Sample sizes used in similar studies
• Completion rates
• Resource constraints
• The number of variables in the study
Sample size
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 • A consequence of under-estimating the sample size is
having Type I or II errors occurring
• A Type I error is a false positive result, e.g. if you have
a Covid-19 test and get a positive result even though
you are not infected;
• A Type II error is a false negative result, e.g. if your
Covid-19 test says you are negative, but in fact, you
are infected.

Sampling
Errors
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 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvehJPJkIS8

Video of
Sampling
Errors
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 • Group work

Summarise the different types of sampling methods

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 • Random sampling
• Systematic Sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Census

Sampling
methods
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 • Sampling Methods
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huVsdOZkeTc

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 • Each element in the population has a known and equal
probability of selection.
• The sample is drawn by a random procedure from a
defined sampling frame.
• Similar to a lottery system in which names are placed in a
container, the container is shaken and the names of the
winners are then drawn out in an unbiased manner.

Random
Sampling
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 • Sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point
and then picking every i’th element in succession from
the sampling frame.
• The sampling interval is determined by dividing the
population size N by the sample size n and rounding to
the nearest whole number.
• For example, there are 100 000 elements in the population,
and a sample of 1 000 is desired. In this case, the sampling
interval, i, is 100. A random number between 1 and 100 is
selected. If, for example, this number is 23, the sample
consists of elements 23, 123, 223, 323, 423, 523 and so on.
Systematic •
Sampling
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 • A two-step process in which the population is
partitioned into subpopulations or strata.
• The strata should be mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive in that every population
element should be assigned to only one stratum, and
no population elements should be omitted.
• Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a
random procedure, usually using simple random
sampling.

Stratified
Sampling
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 • In cluster sampling, the target population is first
divided into mutually exclusive and collectively
exhaustive clusters. These subpopulations or clusters
are assumed to contain the diversity of participants
held in the target population. A simple random sample
of clusters is selected.

Cluster
sampling
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 • A census is when every member of a population is
included; clearly, this could be expensive and time-
consuming, so is seldom done. However, the
technique is used when establishing, for example, the
number and demographics of a country's population.

A census
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 • Random sampling error
• statistical fluctuation arising from chance variation in
sample selection.
• Non-sampling (systematic) errors
• arise from the design and or execution of the study and are
not due to chance.
• errors in problem definition, scales used in the instrument,
questionnaire design, and data analysis methods.

Sampling
errors
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 • Representativity of the sample to the population is a
key factor in quantitative research validity;
• to facilitate this validity, inclusion and exclusion criteria
for sample selection must be very clearly outlined.

Representativity
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 QUESTIONS

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 HOMEWORK

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 Next Topic

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 THANK YOU

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