Research Problem and Hypothesis

Development

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

 Either resolving a problem

 Or choosing among alternative opportunities.

 Decision Making

 Keys to the decision making is to

 Understand the nature of problem

 Identifying how much information is available

 Determining what information is needed.

 Decision Making

 Decision making situation can be classified 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 always starts from the decision

maker, who face the difficulty in taking decision.

• Business problem always addresses the question of what the decision

maker should do.

• Then the 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.
Problem Identification Process
 Problem Identification Process

 Management decision problem begins with the difficulties

encountered by business manager.
 Problem Identification Process

 Discussion with experts is to get the right perspective on

the issue, discussion and dialogue is held with subject or
industry expert.
 Problem Identification Process

 Organizational Analysis is based on data regarding the origin

and history of the firm including its size, assets, nature of
business, location and resources.

 It assists in arriving at the research problem.

 Problem Identification Process

 Qualitative Survey might be based on small samples and might

make use of focus group discussions or pilot surveys with the
respondent population to help uncover relevant and topical
issues which might have significant bearing on the problem
definition.
 Problem Identification Process

 Review of literature is a comprehensive compilation of the

information obtained from published and unpublished sources
of data in the specific area of interest to the researcher.
• It may include journals, newspaper, magazines, reports, government
publications, and also computerized data based
• Advantage of the review is to provide different prospective and
methodologies for investigating the problem as well as identifying the
possible variables which may need to be investigated
• It also uncover the fact that the research problem being considered has
already been investigated and this might be useful in solving the
decision dilemma.
• It also helps in narrowing the scope of the study into a manageable
research problem that is relevant, significant and testable
• The past study should provide the foundation for the problem
statement.
 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 the
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, the consumers’ attitude towards healthy
life style (independent variable) could impact their organic food purchase
(dependent variable) might be modify by the education and income level of the
buyer (moderating variable).

• Example 2: There will be an 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: The introduction of an 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: There is an 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 objective are to be formulated according to the basic

thrust areas of the research which is crucial to the study.

 For example
• Study of existing organic market, objective is
• 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, objective is
• 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, objective is
• To assess the awareness and opinion of experts such as doctor and dietician
 Research Hypotheses

 A hypotheses is any assumption or presupposition that the

researcher 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.
• It is advisable to make hypothesis unidimensional and to be testing only
one relationship between two variable at a time.
• Consumer liking for the electronic advertisement for the new diet drink will
have positive impact on brand awareness of the drink
• A hypothesis must be measurable and quantifiable so that the relationship
can be established scientifically.
• A hypothesis is a speculative statement based on existing literature and
theory, but not based on subjective judgment.
• Validation of the hypothesis would necessarily involve testing the statistical
significance.
 Research Hypotheses

 Descriptive hypotheses 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 are the typical kind of hypotheses which

state 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
 Situation 1

 The Indian Army wants to ascertain why young students do

not select the armed forces as a career option in their
graduation.

 How would you formulate a research problem to resolve the dilemma?

 What would be the variables under study?
 How would you generate descriptive and relational hypothesis for your
study?
 Answer

 There could be many reasons why young students do not

pick up a career in the Indian armed forces.

 The young person might be looking at multiple career paths

and using some basic criteria to take a decision and perhaps,
Indian Army does not meet these criteria and is, thus, not
often selected as the preferred career choice.

 The students might similarly look at the problem from

different angles and come up with different ways of framing
the management decision problem.
 Answer

 Research problem: What are the decision criteria used by

young students when taking a career choice and how does a
career with the armed forces rate on these?

 The variables under study would be the decision criteria

that the student identifies on the basis of his own knowledge/
secondary data analysis/ exploratory survey.
 These might range from compensation package to constant
job relocation.
 Answer

 Descriptive hypotheses:
 Null hypotheses: There is no difference between young students’
choice of Indian army and other career options amongst young
students.
 Alternative hypotheses: There is a significant difference between
Indian army and other career options amongst young students.

 Relational hypotheses:
 Null hypotheses: There is no relation between compensation
package and career options amongst young students.
 Alternative hypotheses: There is a significant and positive relation
between compensation package and career options amongst young
students.
 Situation 2

 The training manager at ABC corporation has asked you to

identify the kind of training programs that should be offered to
the young recruits who have joined as management trainees
and are to be imparted five additional general management
programs along with their specific job training modules. The
training is a mixed of bunch of engineering and management
graduate.

 Formulate your research problem

 Identify the sources you would use to carry out a problem audit.
 State your research objectives and the research hypotheses
 Answer

 Based on the statement of the decision to be taken at ABC the

answers to the required questions is as follows:

 Research problem: What kind of training modules should be

designed for the new management trainees at ABC?

 For conducting a research audit the student can suggest any of the
following:
- secondary data on training modules conducted in the past at ABC
- training modules offered for new trainees in other organizations
- talking to industry experts to take their opinion
- conducting a short exploratory qualitative survey with the supervisors to
understand what could be the skill / management training that should be given
to young trainees
 Answer

 The research objectives of the above study would be:

- to identify areas on which the new trainees require training
- to prioritize whether training is needed more in soft skills or technical
job aspects
- to design appropriate training modules for management trainees at ABC

 Descriptive hypotheses:
 Null hypotheses: The training module in soft skills and the training
module on technical know-how are equal in terms of impacting
managerial effectiveness.
 Alternative hypotheses: There is a significant difference between the
training module in soft skills and the training module on technical
know-how in terms of impacting managerial effectiveness.