RESEARCH PROCESS

First and the most important step of the research process is to

identify the path of enquiry in the form of a research problem.
 Research Problem

 A research problem can be defined as a gap or uncertainty in

the decision makers’ existing body of knowledge which inhibits
efficient decision making.

 The gap could be

 theoretical (basic)
 real time and action oriented (applied).
 Decision Making

 Decision making is the process of

 resolving a problem
 or choosing among alternative opportunities.

 Keys to decision making are recognizing

 the nature of problem
 identifying how much information is available
 determining what information is needed.
 Decision Making

 Decision making situation can be classified on a continuous

scale from complete certainty to absolute ambiguity.

• Complete certainty means the decision maker has all the information
that he or she needs and also knows the exact nature of the business
problem or opportunity.
• In this case, research may be a waste of time.

• Uncertainty means the information about the alternatives is incomplete.

• In this case, research becomes more attractive to decision makers.

• Ambiguity means the nature of problem to be solved is unclear.

• In this case, research becomes more attractive to decision makers.
Problem Identification Process
 Problem Identification Process

 Problem identification process invariably starts with the

decision maker, who face the difficulty in taking decision.

• Here broad decision problem has to be narrowed down to information

oriented problem which focuses on the data or information required to
arrive at any meaningful conclusion.

 Management decision problem:

 It begins with acknowledgement and identification of the difficulty

encountered by business manager.
 Problem Identification Process

 Discussion with experts

 Discussion / dialogue is held with subject/industry expert.

 Organizational Analysis:
 Origin and history of firm including its size, assets, nature of business,
location and resources.

 Qualitative Survey:
 Small samples or any focus group discussions or pilot surveys that help
to uncover relevant issues.

 Review of literature:
 Information obtained from published and unpublished sources in the
specific area of interest. It may include journals, newspaper, magazines,
reports, government publications, and also computerized data based
 Decision problems
DECISION PROBLEM
1. What should be done to increase the
customer base of organic products in the
domestic market?
2. How to reduce turnover rates in the BPO
sector?
3. How to improve the delivery process of
Widex hearing aids in India?
4. Should the company continue with its
existing security services vendor or look at an
alternative?
5. Can the Housing and real estate growth be
accelerated?
6. Whom should ICICI choose as its next
Managing director- Mr ABC or Mrs. XYZ?
Research problems
RESEARCH PROBLEM*
1. What is the awareness and purchase
intention of health conscious consumers for
organic products?
2. What is the impact of shift duties on work
exhaustion and turnover intentions of the BPO
employees?
3. How does Widex/ industry leader manage its
supply chain in India/Asia?
4. What is the satisfaction level of the company
with the existing vendor? Are there any gaps?
Can they be effectively handled by the vendor?
5. What is the current investment in Real Estate
and Housing? Can the demand in the sector be
forecasted for the next six months?
6a. what has been the Leadership initiatives
and performance record of ABC viz. XYZ?
6b. Can a leading aggressive private sector
bank accept a woman as its leader?
 Elements of Research Problem

 Unit of analysis could be the entire organization, departments,

groups or individuals from whom the research information is to
be collected and on whom the research results are applicable.
• In organic food study, the retailer who has to be targeted for stocking
product as well as end consumer could be the unit of analysis.

 Research Variable is generally a symbol to which we assign

numerals or values.

 A variable may be dichotomous or discrete or continuous in

nature, depending upon the value of the variable.
 Elements of Research Problem

 Dependent variable in the entire research process is involved

in either describing this variable or investigating the probable
causes of the observed effect.

• A financial researcher might be interested in investigating the Indian

consumer investment behavior, post the recent financial slow down.

 Independent variable can be influencing or impacting the

dependent variable is referred to as an independent variable.

• To assess the impact of job autonomy and role stress on organizational

commitment of the employees, here job autonomy and role stress are
independent variables
 Elements of Research Problem

 Moderating variables are the one that have a strong contingent

effects on the relationship between the independent and
dependent variables.
 These variables modify the direction as well as magnitude of the
independent-dependent association.

• Example 1: In a organic food study

• Consumers’ attitude towards healthy life style (independent variable)
• could impact their organic food purchase (dependent variable)
• might be modify by the education or income level of the buyer (moderating
variable).

• Example 2: In an HR study
• Increase in productivity of each individual worker (dependent variable)
• subsequent to the introduction of a flexi time (independent variable)
• work schedule, especially among women employees (moderating variable).
 Elements of Research Problem

 Intervening variables is a temporal occurrence which follows

the independent variable and precedes the dependent variable.

• Example 1:
• Electronic advertisement for the new diet drink (independent variable)
• will result in increased brand awareness (intervening variable)
• which in turn will impact on the sales (dependent variable).
• This would be significantly higher amongst the younger population
(moderating variable).

• Example 2:
• Increase in job satisfaction (intervening variable) of each individual worker
• subsequent to the introduction of a flexi time (independent variable) work
schedule,
• which eventually affects the individual’s productivity (dependent variable)
• especially among women employee (moderating variable).
 Elements of Research Problem

 Extraneous variable are responsible for the change variations

that are often observed in a research investigation.
 In most case they are limited to peculiar group.

 Example: Nature of industry could impact on flexi time environment, but

these could be applicable to individual cases, they might not heavily
impact on the direction of the finding. However, in any case the effect is
substantial, the researcher might try to block their effect by using
experimental and control group.
 Elements of Research Problem

 Distinction between variable

 Independent variable is the prime antecedent condition which is

qualified as explaining the variation in the dependent variable.

 Intervening variable follows the occurrence of the independent

variable and may in turn impact the dependent variable.

 Moderating variable is a contributing variable which might impact

the defined relationship.

 Extraneous variables are outside the domain of the study and

responsible for change variations, but in some instances, their
effect might need to be controlled.
 Elements of Research Problem

 Research objectives are to be formulated according to the basic

thrust areas of the research which are crucial to the study e.g.

• Existing organic market study

• To categorized the organic products available market e.g. grain, snacks, herbs,
pickles, squashes, fruits and vegetable
• To estimate the demand of various products
• To understand the market strategies adopted by different player

• Consumer diagnostic research

• To study the existing consumer profile, i.e. perception and attitudes towards
organic products and purchase and consumption pattern
• To study the potential customer in term of consumer segments, level of
awareness, perception and attitude towards health and organic product.

• Opinion survey
• To assess the awareness and opinion of experts such as doctor and dietician
 Research Hypotheses

 Research hypotheses are any assumption or presupposition

that makes about the probable direction of the results that
might be obtained on the completion of the research process

 A hypothesis must be
• Formulated in simple clear and declarative form.
• Measurable and quantifiable so that authenticity of relationship can be
established.
• It is advisable to make the hypothesis unidimensional and to be testing
only one relationship between two variable at a time.
• Validation of the hypothesis would necessarily involve testing the
statistical significance.
• Consumer liking for the electronic advertisement for the new diet drink will
have positive impact on brand awareness of the drink
 Research Hypotheses

 Descriptive hypotheses
 It is simply a statement about the magnitude, trend or behavior of a
population under study.
• Current advertisement for diet drink will have a 20-25 percent recall rate
• Attrition rate in the BPO sector is almost 33 percent

 Relational hypotheses
 It states the expected relationship between two variables.
• Higher the likeability of the advertisement the higher is the call rate
• Higher the work exhaustion experienced by the BPO professional higher is the turnover
intention of the person