Research Methods

Fall 2022
BAB4

Knar KHACHATRYAN, PhD

kkhachatryan@aua.am
 Session 1: Agenda

I. Course organization
II. Why RM?
III. Assessment method
IV. Warm-up
 Course assessment
• Attendance
• Participation and in-class activities
(10%)
• Assignment 1. Structured summary of
an article (10%)
• Assignment 2. Research activities (50%)
• Mid-term 1 and 2 (30%)
 Methods of Knowing and
Acquiring Knowledge
• Nonscientific approaches
– Method of tenacity
– Method of intuition
– Method of authority
– Rational method
– Method of empiricism
• Scientific method
– Goal is to obtain better-quality answers
Misperception of random events

Is this term familiar to you?

• Hqtjiand
or
• Hot hand

Do you believe that success breeds success? Or

Failure breeds failure?
Misperception of random events
Examples

• Financial success promotes further financial success because one's

initial good fortune provides more capital with which to wheel and
deal.

• Success in the art world promotes further success because it earns

an artist a reputation that exerts a powerful influence over people's
judgments of inherently ambiguous stimuli.

• Gambling games — where the belief may be just as strongly held,

but where the phenomenon simply does not exist.

Does success in basketball tend to be self-promoting?

Misperception of random events

How would you translate the idea of hot hand into

a testable hypothesis?
 The Research Enterprise
“Well begun is half done.” Aristotle
• Modern society relies on research
• Research allows us to:
– Explore our universe
– Explore our environment
– Use and create new technology
– Understand ourselves
• What does research mean to you?
 Research Defined

• A type of systematic investigation that is

empirical in nature and is designed to
contribute to public knowledge.
 Translational Research
• What are we doing all these research
projects for?
• What are we accumulating knowledge for?

• Sometimes when we learn something we

cannot possibly anticipate how that
knowledge could be used.

• Post-It notes that are in almost every office.

• The creators of the Post-It note did not set
out to create such objects.
 Policy & Impact Research
• Policy research
– Research that is designed to investigate
existing policies or develop and test new
ones
– Policy examples – Social protection,
Community development, Dispute
settlement, CSR

• Impact research
– Research that assesses the broader effects
of a discovery or innovation on society
Deductive Reasoning
 Deductive Reasoning

• Theory: Resource-based view

management
• Hypothesis: Transparent and democratic
environment attack better expertise
• Observation: CVs pf public officials
collected for 2010-2020, MDP analysis
• Confirmation: corroborate or reject the H
and make contribution to the theory
Inductive Reasoning
 Inductive Reasoning

• Observation: 2020 war and businesses in

NKR
• Pattern: business motivation and strategic
development in conflict zones
• Tentative hypothesis: hybrid mission,
positive leadership lead to strategic
choices
• Theory: Business for peace
Examples of Induction and Deduction
Model of the Four
Frameworks
 The Four Frameworks Approach

• conceptual framework - contained in the research statement, question

or hypothesis developed by the researcher for the research project.

• theoretical framework - is contained in the literature review.

• methodological framework - details how the research was conducted.

It is contained in the methodology section of the research report or
thesis.

• analytical framework - is the structure of the detailed analysis of the

data presented in the report or thesis.

The first framework, the conceptual framework, shapes, supports and

directs the other three frameworks.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23761199.2018.1499298
 General guidelines

Coming up with ideas

• Read review articles, surveys
• Your own textbooks, course materials
• Newspapers, current events
• When reading journal articles, read only
abstracts first
• Choose which papers to read more
carefully
• Manage your time well
 General guidelines
Organize your thoughts
• Organize them in outline format
• Keep track of what are important pieces
• Work on each separate part individually
• Get feedback
– Not an alone process!
– Discuss with everybody
• Advisors
• Family, friends
• Anyone
The “hourglass” Structure of
Research
Model of the Research Process
Syllabus, powerpoint presentations,
updates, etc...

Moodle BUS295
Code: BUS295B