Curiosity

Introduction to Research
• A student is undertaking the research to study
the relationship between the employee
satisfaction and the organizational
performance.
• Manager is carrying out research to identify
the number of ATMs that facilitates the
customer in a particular area.
• A housewife is researching way of piping away
excess water in her garden.
 Concept of Research
• Research in simple words refers to a search for
knowledge
• Research is an art and a science of scientific
investigation
• Dictionary meaning of research is “a careful
investigation or inquiry specially through search
for new facts in any branch of knowledge.”
• Redman and Mory define research as a
“systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”
• Fred N. Kerlinger (1986): Research is a systematic,
controlled, empirical and critical investigation of
hypothetical propositions about the presumed relations
among natural phenomena.

• John W. Best (1992): Research is a systematic and

objective analysis and recording of observations that may
lead to the development of a theory.

• Uma Sekaran (2007): Research is an organized, systematic,

data-based, critical, scientific enquiry or investigation into
a specific problem, undertaken with the objective of
finding answer or solutions to it.
 Needs
• It provides a basis for innovation
• Identifies the problem areas
• It facilitates the process of thinking, analysis, evaluation and
interpretation of the particular topics
• Research come up to the factual information, valid conclusion
and interpretation
• Research eradicate the myth in the subject matter
• It carefully organize and control the investigation, tests and
compare the different theories and approaches
• Findings can be statistically analyzed for the significance of the
study
 Aims and Importance
• To investigate some existing situation or problem

• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new

insights into it
• To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation or a group
• To determine the frequency with which something occurs or
with which it is associated with something else
• To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between
variables
 Scope
• Marketing
• Making government policy
• Operation and finance
• Motivational research
• Anthropology, psychology, sociology,
management science, development
administration, health, nutrition, economics
and other disciplines
 Characteristics
• Purposiveness
• Testability
• Replicability
• Objectivity
• Rigor
• Generalizability
 Types of research
• Applied vs basic research
• Applied research: It aims at certain conclusions
facing a concrete social or business problems.
Applied research is conducted in response to a
specific problem, which requires a solution. The
major purpose of this research is to answer practical
and useful questions about policies, programs,
procedures, or organizations. As applied research is
concerned with knowledge that has immediate
applications, it is also called decisional research.
• Fundamental research: It is mainly concern with
generalization and with the formulation of theory.
Fundamental research is undertaken to improve our
understanding of certain problems that commonly
occur in organization setting, and how to solve them.
It is undertaken for the sole purpose of adding to our
knowledge that is fundamental and generalizable. It
is also known as pure or basic research.
• It generate the knowledge and understanding of the
phenomena and problems that occur in several
organizations and to build theories based on the
research results.
 Fundamental Research:
• is mainly concerned with generalizations and with the formulation of a theory. It
is “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake .”
• It is concerning some natural phenomenon or relating to pure mathematics are
examples of fundamental research. Similarly, research studies, concerning
human behavior carried on with a view to make generalizations about human
behavior, are also examples of fundamental research
 Applied Research:
• aimed at certain conclusions (say, a solution) facing a concrete social or business
problem is an example of applied research.
• It is to identify social, economic or political trends that may affect a particular
institution or the copy research or the marketing research or evaluation research
are examples of applied research.
• Thus, the central aim of this research is to discover a solution for some pressing
practical problem
 Qualitative vs Quantitative
• Qualitative research is a essay type and very much
subjective. No rules of scientific methods are
followed and conclusions are mainly based on
personal intuitions and observations. It is designed
to tell the researcher how(process) and
why(meaning) things happen as they do. In
business planning and decision making qualitative
methodologies are used in marketing segmentation,
sales analysis, package design, brand development
and so forth.
• Quantitative research attempts precise measurement
of something. Under this method, information are
quantified so that they can be compared in different
situations either in places or in time periods. In
business research, it usually measure consumer
behavior, knowledge, attitudes. Such methodologies
answer questions related to how much, how often,
how many, when and who.
• Quantitative research is often used for theory testing,
requiring that the researcher maintain a distance from
the research so as not to bias the results.
 Qualitative Quantitative

Focus of research Understand and interpret Describe, explain, predict

Researcher involvement High- researcher is Limited, controlled

participant or catalyst prevent bias

Research purpose In-depth understanding, Describe or predict, build

theory building and test theory

Sample design Non probability, purposive Probability

Sample size Small Large

Validity and reliability Cannot be tested Should be tested

 Casual Research
• Causal research, also called explanatory research, is the investigation of
cause-and-effect relationships. To determine causality, it is important to
observe variation in the variable assumed to cause the change in the other
variable(s), and then measure the changes in the other variable(s). Other
confounding influences must be controlled for so they don't distort the
results, either by holding them constant in the experimental creation of
data, or by using statistical methods. This type of research is very complex
and the researcher can never be completely certain that there are no other
factors influencing the causal relationship, especially when dealing with
people’s attitudes and motivations. There are often much deeper
psychological considerations that even the respondent may not be aware of.

• There are two research methods for exploring the cause-and-effect

relationship between variables: experimentation (e.g., in a laboratory), and
statistical research(data analysis).
 Descriptive Research
• The main purpose of the descriptive research
is to describe characteristics of objects,
people, groups, organizations, or
environments. It tries to ‘paint a picture’ of a
given situations by addressing who, what,
when, where and how questions.
 Exploratory Research
• It is conducted to clarify ambiguous situations or
discover potential business evidence from which to
determine a particular course of action. In this sense,
exploratory research is not an end unto itself. Usually
it is first step, conducted with the expectation that
additional research will be needed to provide more
conclusive evidence. It is often used to guide and
refine the subsequent research efforts.
• Exploratory research is particularly useful in new
product development.
 Research Process
A research journey, there are two important decisions to
make
• 1) What you want to find out about or what research
questions you want to find answers to;
• 2) How to go about finding their answers. There are
practical steps through which you must pass in your
research journey in order to find answers to your
research questions.
The path to finding answers to your research questions
constitutes research methodology.
 Steps in research process
Step One: Define the Problem
• The research process begins with the recognition of a problem or
opportunity.
• At the very outset the researcher must single out the problem he
wants to study, i.e to decide area of interest.
• There are two steps involved in it:
1. Understanding the problem thoroughly
2. And rephrasing the same into meaningful terms from an
analytical point of view
The best way of understanding the problem is to discuss it with one’s
own colleagues or with those having the same expertise in the matter.
Step 2: Extensive Literature Survey
• It is necessary for the researcher to conduct
an extensive survey connected with the
problem.
• For this purpose-
1. Manuals
2. Company Records
3. Journals, published data can be used
• Literature review is integral part of entire
research process and makes valuable
Step two Contd…
• Reviewing literature can be time consuming,
daunting and frustrating, but is also
rewarding. Its functions are:
• Bring clarity and focus to research problems
• Improve methodology
• Broaden knowledge
• Contextualize findings
Step 3: Formulation the objectives
Objectives are the goals you set out to attain in your
study. They inform a reader what you want to attain
through the study. It is extremely important to word
them clearly and specifically. Objectives should be
listed under two headings:
a) main objectives ( aims);
b) b) sub-objectives.
The main objective is an overall statement of the
thrust of your study. It is also a statement of the main
associations and relationships that you seek to
discover or establish.
Step 4: Determine Research Design
Research Design step involves the development
of a research plan for carrying out the study.
There are a number of alternative research
designs. The choice will largely depend on the
research purpose.
Types of research design

Exploratory Descriptive Causal Research

Research research
• Descriptive Studies are undertaken in
organizations to learn and describe the
characteristics of a group of employees, as for
example, the age, education level, job status,
and length of service.
• Exploratory studies are study of collection of
data in informal manner and unstructured
• A causal study Is an inquiry to know the cause
of one or more problems.
• Research Design includes–
1. SAMPLE STUDY
2. POPULATION SIZE
3. SAMPLE SIZE
4. DATA COLLECTION
The various tools of empowerment were
identified through questionnaire and interview.
Step 5: Collecting the data
Published data are available in:
• Publications of central, state and local newspapers
• Publication of foreign government or of international bodies
• Technical or trade journals
• Books, magazines and newspaper and Internet
• Public record and statistics, historical documents and source
s of public information.
Methods of Data Collection
• Personal Interview
• Questionnaire
• Telephonic Interview
Step 6: Analysis of Data
The Analyses of data can of two types:
• Quantitative analysis
• Qualitative analysis
Thus analysis of data require a number of closely
related operations such as establishment of
categories, the application of these categories into
raw data through tabulation, chart and then draw
inferences. Analysis work is based on the
computation of various percentage,
correlations,regressions, etc.
Step 7: Analyze And Evaluate The Information
1. Relate the information you have found and compiled, and
your ideas from reading and thinking about the
information, to your topic.
2. Analyze your notes.
3. Break down your notes into topic themes or categories
decide how these themes or categories relate to your
topic and discard notes that do not relate to your thesis
4. Look for holes in your thesis statement support and go
back to find information you are missing
5. Do you have enough information to complete your
research? If not, you may have to repeat several of the
previous steps and/or extend the research process
Step 8: Analysis And Interpretations
Analysis and Interpretation are the central steps
in the research process. The goal of analysis is to
summaries the collected data in such a way that
they provide answer to questions that triggered
while research. Interpretation is the research for
border, meaning of research findings.
 Good research
• Purpose clearly defined
• Research process detailed
• Research design thoroughly planned
• High ethical standards applied
• Limitation frankly revealed
• Adequate analysis for decision maker’s needs
• Findings presented unambiguously
• Conclusions justified
• Research’s experience reflected
 Ethics in business research
• The goal of ethics in research is to ensure that no one is harmed or suffers
adverse consequences from research activities. The common ethical issue
that are likely to be found are as follows:
• Put pressure on the participants to grant access to information
• Violate an individual’s right to privacy
• Fabricate the entire set of data
• Replace actual data with false data
• Alter data to make them look better or fit with a theory
• Select only best data for reporting
• Claim credit for work done by others
• False reporting of data or event
• Not maintaining confidentiality and anonymity
• Publish the same paper in two different journals without telling the editors