Defining and Refining the

Problem

CHAPTER 3

1
Chapter Objectives
1. Discuss how problem areas can be identified.
2. State research problems clearly and
precisely.
3. Explain how primary and secondary data
help the researcher to develop a problem
statement.
4. Develop relevant and comprehensive
bibliographies for any research topic.
5. Write a literature review on any given topic.
6. Develop a research proposal.

2
Broad Problem Area
 The broad problem area refers to the
entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and
problem solving. Such issues might
pertain to:
1. Problems currently existing in an
organizational setting that need to be
solved. →
3
Broad Problem Area
2. Areas that a manager believes needs to
be improved in the organization.
3. A conceptual or theoretical issue that
needs to be tightened up for the basic
researcher to understand certain
phenomena.
4. Some research questions that a basic
researcher wants to answer empirically.

4
Examples of Broad Problem Areas that
Could be Observed at the Work Place

 Training programs are perhaps not as effective

as anticipated.
 The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
 Inventory control is not effective
 Some members in organization are not
advancing in their careers.
 The introduction of flexible work hours has
created more problems than it has solved in
many companies.

5
Preliminary Data Collection
 The nature of data to be gathered could
be classified under three headings:
1. Background information of the organization
(the contextual factors).
2. Prevailing knowledge on the topic (relevant
findings from previous research).

6
Preliminary Data Collection
 The background details of the company
can be obtained from available published
records, the web site of the company.
 Company policies, procedures, and rules
can be obtained from the organization’s
records and documents.
 Data gathered through such existing
sources are called secondary data.
7
Preliminary Data Collection
 Secondary data, are data that already
exist and do not have to be collected by the
researcher.
 Some secondary sources of data are
statistical bulletins, government publications,
information published or unpublished and
available from either within or outside the
organization, library records, data available
from previous research, online data, web
sites, and the Internet.
8
Preliminary Data Collection
 Other types of information such as the
perceptions and attitudes of employees are
best obtained by talking to them; by
observing events, people, and objects; or by
administering questionnaires to individuals.
 Such data gathered for research from the
actual site of occurrence of events are called
primary data.

9
Prevailing knowledge on the topic
 A literature review should help the
researcher to identify and highlight the
important variables that are related to
the problem.

10
Literature Survey
 Literature survey is the
documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary
sources of data in the areas of specific
interest to the researcher.

11
Literature Survey
 The library is a rich storage base for
secondary data through books,
journals, newspapers, magazines,
conference proceedings, doctoral
dissertations, master’s theses,
government publications, and financial
marketing, and other reports.

12
Literature Survey
 The computerized databases
is now readily available and accessible,
which makes the literature search much
easier, and can be done without
entering the portals of a library
building.

13
Reasons for the Literature Survey

1. Helps to find the important variables

that are likely to influence the problem
situation are not left out of the study.
2. Helps the development of the
theoretical framework and hypotheses
for testing.
3. The problem statement can be made
with precision and clarity.
14
 Reasons for the Literature
Survey

4. Testability and replicability of the

findings of the current research are
enhanced.
5. One does not run the risk of wasting
efforts on trying to rediscover
something that is already known.
6. The problem investigated is perceived
by the scientific community as relevant
and significant.
15
Conducting the Literature
Survey
 The literature review needs to be done on the
specific issues of concern to the researcher
and the factors identified during the interview
process.
 The first step in this process involves
identifying the various published and
unpublished materials that are available on
the topics of interest, and gaining access to
these.
16
Conducting the Literature
Survey

 The second step is gathering the

relevant information either by going
through the necessary materials in a
library or by getting access to online
sources.
 The third step is writing up the
literature review.

17
Data Sources
 Textbooks
 Academic and professional journals
 Theses: phD theses and Master theses.
 Conference proceedings
 Unpublished manuscripts
 Reports
 Newspapers
 The internet
18
Searching for literature
 There are three forms of
databases:
1. The bibliographic databases, which
display only the bibliographic citations,
that is, the name of the author, the
title of the article (book), source of
publication, year, volume, and page
numbers.
19
Searching for Literature
2. The abstract databases, which in addition
provide an abstract or summary of the
articles.
3. The full-text databases, which provide
the full text of the article.
 Databases are also available for obtaining
statistics- marketing, financial, and so on.

20
Searching for Literature
 Online search provides the following
advantages:
1. Saving enormous amount of time.
2. Are comprehensive in their listing and review
of references.
3. The researcher can focus on materials most
central to the research efforts.
4. Finding access to references is relatively
inexpensive.
21
Searching for Literature

 Accessing the online system and getting

a printout of all the published works in
the area of interest from the
bibliographical index will provide a
comprehensive bibliography on the
subject, which will form the basis for
the next step.

22
Searching for Literature

 From the bibliography on the subject, the

researcher should do the followings:
 A look at the titles of the articles or books will
indicate which of these may be important.
 The abstract of such articles that seem to be
relevant will give an idea of the article that
need to be looked into in depth.
 The full text of which can then be printed
out.
23
Searching for Literature

 While reading these articles, take notes

about the problem that was researched,
the design details of the study (such as
the sample size and data collection
methods), and the ultimate findings of
the study.
 These notes will facilitates the writing
up of the literature review with
maximum efficiency.
24
Writing Up the Literature
Review
 The documentation of the relevant
studies citing the author and the year of
the study is called literature review
or literature survey.
 The literature survey is a clear and
logical presentation of the relevant
research work done thus far in the area
of investigation.
25
Writing Up the Literature
Review
 The purpose of the literature survey is:
 To identify and highlight the important
variables.
 To document the significant findings
from earlier research that will serve as
the foundation on which the theoretical
framework for the current investigation
can be built and the hypotheses
developed.
26
 Writing Up the Literature
Review
 Such documentation is important to
convince the reader that:
1. The researcher is knowledgeable about
the problem area.
2. The theoretical framework will be
structured on work already done and
will add to the solid foundation of
exiting knowledge.
27
Examples of Literature
Surveys

Organizational effectiveness
Organization theorists have defined organizational
effectiveness (OE) in various ways. OE has been
described in terms of objectives (Georgopolous
and Tannenbaum, 1957), goals (Etzioni, 1960),
efficiency (Katz and Kahn, 1966), resources
acquisition (Yuchtman and Seashore, 1967). As
Coutler (2002) remarked, there is little consensus
on how to conceptualize, measure, or explain OE.

28
Examples of Literature
Surveys
Researchers are now moving away from a single
model and are taking contingency approaches
to conceptualizing OE (Cameron, 1996;
Wernerfelt, 1998; Yetley, 2001). However, they
are still limiting themselves to examining the
impact of the dominant factors in the
organization’s life cycle instead of taking a
broader, more dynamic approach (Dahl, 2001,
.p.25)

29
What insights can be gained
?from the above example
1. The literature review introduces the subject of
study.
2. Highlights the problem (that we do not have a
good conceptual framework for understanding
OE).
3. Summarizes the work done so far on the topic
(by reporting the citations in the body of the research by
mentioning the family names and the year of publication
only).

30
Defining the Problem
Statement
 After the literature review, the researcher is
in position to narrow down the problem
from its original broad base and define the
issues of concern more clearly.

31
What makes a good problem
?statement
 The problem statement introduces
the key problem that is addressed in
the research project.
 Problem statement is a clear,
precise, and short statement of the
specific issue that a researcher wishes
to investigate.

32
The three key criteria for
problem statement
 There are three key criteria to assess
the quality of the problem statement:
1. It should be relevant
2. It should be feasible
3. It should be interesting

33
From an academic perspective,
:research is relevant if

1. Nothing is known about the topic.

2. Much is known about the topic, but the
knowledge is scattered.
3. Much research on the topic is available,
but the results are contradictory.
4. Established relationships do not hold in
certain situations.

34
A problem statement is feasible
 If you are able to answer the problem statement
within the restrictions of the research project.
 These restrictions are possibly related to time and
money and the expertise of the researcher (a
problem statement may be too difficult to answer).

 Thus, it is important that you develop a

narrowly defined question that can be
investigated with a reasonably amount of time
and efforts.

35
The problem statement is
interesting
 Because research is a time-consuming
process and you will go through many
ups and downs before you present a
final version of your research report. It is
therefore vital that you are interested
in the problem statement that you are
trying to answer, so you can stay
motivated throughout the entire process.

36
Examples of broad problem areas that a
:manager could observe at the workplace
 Training programs are not as effective as
anticipated.
 The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
 Minority group members are not advancing in
their careers.
 The newly installed information system is not
being used by the managers for whom it was
primarily designed.
 The introduction of flexible work hours has
created more problems than it has solved in many
companies.

37
Examples of Well-Defined
Problem Statements
 To what extent do the structure of the organization and type
of information systems installed account for the variance in
the perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
 To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high-quality, customer-centered
corporate image that it was intended to produce?
 How has the new packaging affected the sales of the
product?
 What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range
growth patterns of companies?

38
Format for Referencing
Relevant Articles

At least three modes of referencing are

followed in business research. These are
based on the format provided on the
publication manual of the American
Psychological Association (APA) (2001),
the Chicago Manual of Style (1993), and
the Turabian Style (1996).

39
Format for Referencing
Relevant Articles

 Each of these manuals specifies how

books, journals, newspapers,
dissertations, and other materials are to
be referenced in manuscripts.
 In this course, we will follow the APA
format for referencing books, journals,
newspaper articles, dissertations, and so
on.
40
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Book by a single author

 Leshin, C.B. (1997). Management on the

World Wide Web. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice-Hall.
Book by more than one author
 Cornett, M., Wiley, B.J., and Sankar, S.

(1998). The pleasures of nurturing.

London: McMunster Publishing.
41
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

More than one book by the same author in

the same year

 Roy, A. (1998a). Trade theory. New York:

McMillian Publishing Enterprises.
 Roy, A. (1998b). Traditional Trade. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey Bamar.

42
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Journal Article
 Barry, H. (1996). Cross-cultural research with
matched pairs of societies. Journal of Social
Psychology, 79, 25-33.
 Jeanquart, S., & Peluchette, J. (1997).
Diversity in the workforce and management
models, Journal of Social Work Studies, 43,
72-85.

43
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Conference proceedings
Publication
 Yeshwant, M. (1998). Revised thinking
on Indian philosophy and religion. In S.
Pennathur (Ed.), Proceedings of the
Ninth International Conference on
Religion, (pp. 100-107). Bihar, India:
Bihar University.

44
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Doctoral/Master Dissertations

 Kiren, R.S. (1997). Medical advances

and quality of life. Unpublished doctoral
dissertation, Omaha State University.

45
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Paper Presentation at Conference

 Bajaj, L. S. (1996, March 13). Practical

tips for efficient work management.
Paper presented at the annual meeting
of Enterpreneurs, San Jose, CA.

46
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Unpublished Manuscript

 Pringle, P. S. (1991). Training and

development in the 90s'. Unpublished
manuscript, Southern Illinois University,
Diamondale, IL.

47
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References

Newspaper Article
 The new GM pact. ( 1998, July 28).

Concord Tribune, p.1.

Referencing Electronic Sources
 Author, I. (1998). Technology and

immediacy of information [On-line]

Available http://www.bnet.act.com

48
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 When a work is authored by two individuals,

always cite both names every time the
reference occurs in the text.
 When a work has more than two authors
but fewer than six authors, cite all authors
the first time the reference occurs, and
subsequently include only the surname of the
first author followed by "et al." as the
example in the next slide:
49
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

• Sekaran, U., Martin, T., Trafton, N., and

Osborn, R.N., (1980) found…….(first
citation).

• Sekaran et al. (1980) found……

….(subsequent citation).

50
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 When a work is authored by six or more

individuals, cite only the surname of the first
author followed by et al. and the year for the
first and subsequent citations.
 Join the names in a multiple-author citation in
running text by the word and. In
parenthetical material, in tables, and in the
reference list, join the names by an
ampersand (&). Examples are in next slide
51
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 As Tucker and Snell (1989) pointed

out…..
 As has been pointed out (Tucker &
Snell, 1989),…….

52
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 When a work's author is designated as

"Anonymous", cite in text, the word
Anonymous followed by a comma and
the date: (Anonymous, 1979). In the
reference list, an anonymous work is
alphabetized by the word Anonymous.

53
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 When the same author has several works

published in the same year, cite them in the
same order as they occur in the reference list,
with the in press citations coming last. For
example:
• Research on the mental health of dual-
career family members (Sekaran, 1985a,
1985b, 1985c, 1999, in press) indicates…

54
Examples of the Referencing In the
:Literature Review Section

 When more than one author has to be cited

in the text, these should be in the
alphabetical order of the first author's
surname, and the citations should be
separated by semicolons as the example
below:
• In the job design literature (Aldag &
Brief, 1976; Alderfer, 1977; Beatty,
1982; Jeanquart, 1998),…
55
Quotations in Text
 Quotations should be given exactly as
they appear in the source. The original
wording, punctuation, spelling, and
italics must be preserved.

56
Quotations in Text
 The citation of the source of a direct
quotation should always include the
page number(s) as well as reference

57
Quotations in Text
 Use three ellipsis(abbreviation) points
(…) to indicate that you have omitted
material from the original source.

58
Quotations in the Text
If the quotation is of more than 40 words, set in a
free-standing style starting on a new line and
indenting the left margin a further five spaces.
Example:
 In trying to differentiate dual-earner and dual –career
families, Sekaran (1986) states:

Various terms are used to refer to dual-earner

families: dual-worker families, two-paycheck families,
dual-income families, two-job families, and so on.
Spouses in dual-earner families may both hold jobs,
or one of the partners may hold a job while the other
pursues a career…

59
Quotations in the Text
 If you intend publishing an article in
which you have quoted extensively from
the copyrighted work, it is important to
seek written permission from the owner
of the copyright.

60
The research proposal
:contains the following
 Key elements:
 Purpose of the study
 Specific problem to be investigated.
 Scope of the study
 Relevance of the study
 Research design:
 Sampling design
 Data collection methods
 Data analysis
 Time frame
 Budget
 Selected Bibliography

61
Example
 While Chrysler’s minivans, pickups, and
sports utilities take a big share at the
truck market, its cars trail behind those
of General Motors, Ford, Honda, and
Toyota. Quality problems include,
among other things water leaks and
defective parts
( Business Week, No.10, 2007).
62
.Example-cont
1. Identify the broad problem area.
2. Define the problem?
3. Explain how you would proceed
further.

63
Answers

1. The broad problem is that the Chrysler

cars are lagging in market share.
2. The problem statement: How can the
market share of Chrysler cars be
improved?

64
answers
3. It is best to interview the users of GM, Ford,
Honda, and Toyota car users and obtain from
them their reaction – both positive and
negative- to the cars they use, and why they
prefer them.
 Similar reactions from the users of Chrysler

cars should also be gathered. One should

proceed further based on the analysis of
these responses.
65
Practice projects
 Do the project assigned below, following the
step-by-step process outlined:
1. Compile a bibliography on any one of the
following topics, or any other topic of
interest to you:
a. service quality b. product development
c. open-market operations
d. information systems

66
Practice projects
2. From this bibliography, select 10
references that include books,
periodicals, and newspaper items.
3. Based on these 10 articles, write a
literature review using the citation
forms as described in our lectures.
4. Formulate a problem statement.

67
Visit the following websites
 Intel http://www.intel.com
 Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com

write a paragraph on each of these

companies.

68