AARHUS

UNIVERSITY MSc Economics and Business Administration

INTRO AND DESIGN:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Jakob Arnoldi

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

AGENDA
• General information about the methods course.

• Learning objectives.

• The research process.

• Research questions.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

THE METHODS COURSE

• Lectures and project work.
• Project work in groups of 4.
• Both quantitative and qualitative analysis in project.
• Balance between the two to be decided with supervisor
• Possibility of a mixed method design
• Supervision.
• Study cafés.
• Relationship between lectures and project work.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

USE OF SOFTWARE
• Other types of software than the ones used on this course are fine.
• SPSS course in October
• Dates (Saturdays):
• September 21 and 18
• October 5
• Three timeslots (8-11; 11-14;14-17)
• You cannot chose specific date/time (but feel free to swap)
• Sign up via webshop from tomorrow – deadline Tuesday next week.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

LEARNING OBJECTIVES - TODAY

• To understand the basic structure of the research process.

• To understand the role and function of research questions.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

METHOD
• Practices for/of knowledge creation.
• Based on various and differing theories of
knowledge/philosophies of science.
• Main division between qualitative and quantitative methods (with
corresponding divisions between underlying philosophies of
science).
• Methods: Range of specific ways which to collect and analyze
specific types of data.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY MSc Economics and Business Administration

THE RESEARCH PROCESS AND DIFFERENT

TYPES OF RESEARCH

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF A RESEARCH

PROCESS/PROJECT?
• Does your lecture plan for this course reflect (the stages of) a process?

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESEARCH

• Research is knowledge production.
• Research entails theory formation and empirical analysis.
• Theory:
• Set of propositions.
• concepts, relations, boundary conditions, (tests).
• Knowledge production involves theory use (and theory building).
• Theory can be used to develop (empirically) testable hypotheses
and/or be used to understand empirical data.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

BASIC DISTINCTIONS
• Development and testing of hypotheses: deductive,
(mainly) quantitative.
• Using theory for analysing/understanding data: (mainly)
inductive, qualitative.

So two basic distinctions: Translates into

Deductive/inductive different types/roles
Quantitative/qualitative of RQs
QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

ROLE OF RQS
on
c ti
d u Theory
In
Inference Hypothesis

Data analysis RQ Operationalisation

Test
Data collection
on
c ti
Empirical d u
D e
QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

DESIGN
• Best way of answering research question.
• Choice of RQ; data, and method of analysis.
• Most (if not all) designs are approximations or proxies of natural
experiments and/or naturally occurring data.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

CRITERIA FOR GOOD DESIGN

• Dependent on epistemological stance.
• Alignment of RQ, data, method, epistemology etc.
• Removal of biases.
• Ability to determine causation.
• Replicability/validity/transparency.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE

METHODS

• Numbers versus words

• Objective categories vs. subjective meaning
• Positivism vs. interpretation.

• Complementary strenghts and weaknesses.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE METHODS
UNIVERSITY
COMPLEMENTARY STRENGTHS AND
WEAKNESSES

Quants
Strenghts • Measuring variance and
correlation
• The possibility of statistical
generalization
• Objective methods of analysis
• Theory testing
Weaknesses • Limited ability to capture
processes and change.
• Difficulty in establishing linear
causality (Pentland, 1999)
• Lacking sensitivity to context
and limited understanding of
human action
Qual
• Description and explanation of
processes and change
• Theory building (Eisenhardt,
1989) and analytical
generalization (Yin, 2009)
• Sensitivity to context
• Ability to integrate multiple
perspectives
• Inability to generalize to
populations
• Limited ability to test theory
• (Overly) reliant on subjective
judgments in analysis.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

METHODS IN THE KNOWLEDGE CREATION

PROCES

Explorative Descriptive Causal

What’s out there? Theorizing Theory testing

Qualitative methods
Quantitative methods
QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY MSc Economics and Business Administration

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

WHAT IS A RESEARCH QUESTION?

• Interrogative statement.

• Specification of exactly the question that the research will attempt to

answer.

• Extension of the purpose of the study

• (related to what we are trying to achieve with the study)

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

THE ROLE(S) OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Research questions ”provide a framework for conducting the study,
helping the resesarcher to organize the research giving it relevance,
direction, and coherence, thereby helping to keep the researchers
focused during the course of the investigation” (Onwegbuzie &
Leecch, p. 478).

RQs are research project management tools.

Help frame a report for the reader

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

THE ROLE(S) OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Reference point for research design and execution decisions, helping to:

• Specify limits of the study

• Specify units of analysis

• Specify the data needed

• Specify the data analysis techniques to be used

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

WHERE DO RESEARCH QUESTIONS COME

FROM?

• Theories.
• Past (practical) experience.
• Data.
• Practical/managerial problems.
• Gaps in the body of scientific knowledge.

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

TYPICAL QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

QUESTIONS
• Descriptive
• Quantified responses on variable(s)
• ”What”-questions
• E.g. what are the effects of family ownership on firm performance?
• Comparative
• Comparing groups on outcome/dependent variable
• ”What is the difference between”-questions

• Relationship questions
• Relationship between independent and dependent variables
• ”What is the relation between/among”-questions
QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

GOOD QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

QUESTIONS
Specify:
• Population
• Independent variable(s)
• Dependent variable(s)

• Are NOT binary (yes/no)

• Are NOT two questions in one

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

TYPICAL TRAITS OF QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
• Discover, explore or describe processes and/or experiences

• Are open-ended, evolving

• Are typically ”how” and ”why” questions

• E.g. how does family ownership affect interorganizational trust in

firms?

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

GOOD QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

QUESTIONS
• Help specify case and unit of analysis

• Are NOT interview questions

• Are NOT binary (yes/no)

• Are NOT two questions in one

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

MIXED METHODS AND RESEARCH

QUESTIONS
• Combines questions that inquire into numbers and
experiences/processes

• Dependent on mixed methods rationale and design

• Tighly or loosely connected

• E.g. do the questions need to inquire into the same phenomenon, is one
question dependent on the other etc.?
QUANT
ASU
AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
AND MIXED METHODS
RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Managerial problem or
phenomenon

Quant RQ Qual RQ

QUANT
ASU
AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
AND MIXED METHODS
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How can social media be used in
recruitment?

What is the How do recruiters use

relationship social media to
between age and evaluate candidates?
strategic use of
social media?

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

MIXED METHODS DESIGNS AND RESEARCH

QUESTIONS
Mixed method design (cf. Greene et al.) Relation of qual and quant research
question
Triangulation design Same phenomenon, possibly same findings.
Purpose: validation
Complementary design Same phenomenon, (most often)
simultanious. Purpose: enhancement of
results.
Development design Sequentially linked, one question
dependent on the (answers of) the other.
Purpose: development of RQ and design
Initiation design Sequentially linked, diverging methods
used to find contraditions and
shortcomings.
Expansion design Loosely linked, questions informative for
one another but main purpose is QtoUextend
ANT ASU
AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM
AND MIXED METHODS
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How can social media be used in
recruitment? Do the research
questions deal with
the (exact) same
phenomenon?

What is the How do recruiters use

relationship social media to
between age and evaluate candidates?
strategic use of
social media?

Is one question dependent on the

other? (Sequence)
QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

DON’TS
• Yes/no questions

• Two questions in one

QUANT
ASU
 AARHUS
UNIVERSITY

SUMMATION
• RQs are tools for managing research projects.
• RQs should reflect the design and choice of method.
• RQs that seeks to identify (causal) relationships, categorize elements or
characteristics of a population, or determine changes over time in a
population are answered by quantitative studies.
• RQs that seek deeper explanations of processes or are open-ended due
to lacks of theoretical and empirical knowledge of phenomena are best
suited for qualitative studies.
• Mixed methods designs will incorporate both type of RQs and thus
both types of method.

QUANT
ASU