The Research Process - Th e Br Br o a d Pr obl oble em St at em ent
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identified. precisely.
help the researcher to develop a problem statement. 4. Dev Develop elop rele elevant ant and and compr ompreh ehen ensi siv ve bibliographies for any research topic. . r e a era ure rev ew on any g ven op c. 6. Develop a research proposal.
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The broad problem area refers refers to the entire situation where one sees a possible need for research and problem solving. Such issues might pertain to: 1.
Prob Proble lems ms curr curren entl tly y exi exist stin ing g in in an an or organiz anizat atio iona nall set setti ting ng tha that need to be solved.
. organization. 3.
A conc concep eptu tual al or theo theorretic etical al issu issue e tha thatt nee needs ds to be tigh tighte tene ned d up up or t e as c researc er to un erstan certa n p enomena.
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Some Some resea esearrch ques questi tion onss tha thatt a bas basic ic resea esearrcher cher wants ants to answer empirically .
xamp es o roa pro em areas a a manager cou observe at the workplace: . – 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. problems than it has solved in many companies.
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Nature of information to be gathered: –
Back Back round ound inf informa ormati tion on of the the or aniz aniza ation tion.. •
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the contextual factors
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relevant relevant findings from previous research
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The background details of the company can be obtained from available ublished records, the web site of the company. , , be obtained from the organization’s records and documents.
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Data athered throu h such existin sources are called secondary data.
econ ary a a, are a a a a rea y ex s and do not have to be collected by the . • Some secondary sources of data are statistical , , information published or unpublished and •
organization, library records, data available and the Internet.
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Other types of information such as the erce tions and attitudes of em lo ees are best obtained by talking to them; by observing , , administering questionnaires to individuals.
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Such data gathered for research from the actual site of occurrence of events are called
primary data.
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A literature review should help the researcher to identif and hi hli ht the im ortant variables that are related to the problem.
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Literature survey is the documentation of a com rehensive review of the ublished and unpublished work in the areas of specific .
goo
era ure survey:
– Ensures that important variables are not left out of the study. eps e eveopmen o e eore ca ramewor an hypotheses for testing. . – Enhances testability and replicability of the findings. “ ” – Confirms that the problem is perceived as relevant and significant.
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The library is a rich storage base for , , newspapers, magazines, conference , , ’ theses, government publications, and financial marketing, and other reports.
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The computerized
databases is now
, the literature search much easier, and can be building.
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T e iterature review nee s to e one on t e specific issues of concern to the researcher and the factors identified during the interview process. • The first step in this process involves identif in the various ublished and unpublished materials that are available on the to ics of interest and ainin access to these.
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The second step is gathering the relevant information either b oin throu h the necessary materials in a library or by getting .
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The third step is writing up the literature review
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Text oo s • Academic and rofessional ournals • Theses: Ph.D theses and Master theses. •
Unpublished manuscripts • Reports • •
The internet
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There are three forms of databases: 1.
The biblio ra hic databases which dis la onl the bibliographic citations, that is, the name of the author the title of the article book source of publication, year, volume, and page numbers.
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, provide an abstract or summary of the articles.
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text of the article.
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Online search provides the following advanta es: 1.
Saving enormous amount of time.
. references. . 4.
e researc er can ocus on ma er a s mos central to the research efforts. Finding access to references is relatively inexpensive.
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Accessing the online system and getting a rintout of all the ublished works in the area of interest from the bibliographical index will subject, which will form the basis for the next .
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While reading these articles, ta e 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.
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the literature review with maximum .
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The documentation of the relevant studies citin the author and the ear of the stud is called literature review or literature survey.
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e era ure survey s a c ear an og ca presentation of the relevant research work done thus far in the area of investigation.
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T e purpose o t e iterature survey is: – To
identif and hi hli ht the im ortant variables.
earlier research that will serve as the framework for the current investigation can .
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Such documentation is important to convince the reader that: 1.
The researcher is knowledgeable about the .
2.
The theoretical framework will be structured on
foundation of exiting knowledge
Or anization theorists have defined or anizational effectiveness (OE) in various ways. OE has been described in terms of ob ectives Geor o olous 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.
Examples of Literature Surveys Cont.. 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).
What insights can be gained from the above example? 1. The literature review introduces the sub ect of stud . 2. Highlights the problem (that we do not understanding OE). 3. Summarizes the work done so far on the to ic b re ortin the citations in the bod of the research by mentioning the family names and the year of publication only).
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After the literature review, the researcher is in osition to narrow down the roblem from its original broad base and define the .
What makes a good problem statement?
The problem statement introduces the key roblem that is addressed in the research project.
, , short statement of the specific issue that a researcher wishes to investigate.
What makes a good problem statement? Cont… •
There are three key criteria to assess the ualit of the roblem statement: 1. It should be relevant . 3. It should be interesting
Three key criteria to assess the quality of the problem statement •
From an academic perspective, research is relevant if : 1. Nothing is known about the topic. .
, knowledge is scattered.
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uc researc on e op c s ava a e, u results are contradictory.
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4. Established relationships do not hold in certain situations.
T ree ey cr ter a to assess t e •
A problem statement is feasible –
If you are able to answer the problem statement within the restrictions of the research project .
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These restrictions are possibly related to time and money and the expertise of the researcher (a problem statement may be too difficult to answer).
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Thus, it is important that you develop a narrowly defined amount of time and efforts.
Three key criteria to assess the quality of the problem statement •
The problem statement is interesting –
Because research is a time-consumin rocess and you will go through many ups and downs before ou resent a final version of our research report. It is therefore vital that you are interested in the roblem statement that ou are tr in to answer, so you can stay motivated throughout the entire rocess.
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Examples of Well-Defined Problem St at ements –
To what extent do the structure of the organization and type of perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
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To what extent has the new advertising campaign been successful in creating t e ig -qua ity, customer-centere corporate image t at it was intended to produce?
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How has the new acka in affected the sales of the roduct?
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What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range growth patterns of companies?
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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
Psychological Association (APA) (2001), the , Turabian Style (1996).
Format for Referencing Relevant Articles •
Each of these manuals specifies how books, ournals, news a ers, dissertations, and other materials are to be .
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In this course, we will follow the APA ormat or re erencing books, journals, newspaper articles, dissertations, and so on.
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Book by a single author •
, . . . World Wide Web. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: .
Book by more than one author •
Cornett, M., Wiley, B.J., and Sankar, S. (1998). . McMunster Publishing.
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References
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oy, . a . ra e eory. ew McMillian Publishing Enterprises.
or :
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Roy, A. (1998b). Traditional Trade. San , .
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Journal Article •
, . . matched pairs of societies. Journal of Social , , - .
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Jeanquart, S., & Peluchette, J. (1997). Diversity in the workforce and management models, Journal of Social Work Studies 43 72-85.
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Con erence procee ings Pu ication •
Yeshwant M. 1998 . Revised thinkin on Indian philosophy and religion. In S. Pennathur Conference on Religion, (pp. 100-107). Bihar,
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Doctoral/Master Dissertations •
Kiren, R.S. (1997). Medical advances and qua ity o i e. Unpu is e octora dissertation, Omaha State University.
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Paper Presentation at Conference •
Bajaj, L. S. (1996, March 13). Practical tips for e icient wor management. Paper presente at the annual meeting of Enterpreneurs, San Jose, CA.
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Unpublished Manuscript •
Pringle, P. S. (1991). Training and development in t e 90s . Unpu is e manuscript, Sout ern Illinois University, Diamondale, IL .
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References Newspaper Article •
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,
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Tribune, p.1. Re erencing E ectronic Sources •
Author I. 1998 . Technolo and immediac of information [On-line] Available . . .
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
When a work is authored by t w o individuals, alwa s cite both names ever time the reference occurs in the text. 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
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
Sekaran, U., Martin, T., Trafton, N., and Osborn, R.N., (1980) found…….(first citation).
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Se aran et a . 1980 found…… ….(subsequent citation).
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
When a work is authored by six or more individuals, cite onl the surname of the first author followed by et al. and the year for the .
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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 (&).
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
As Tucker and Snell (1989) pointed out…..
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As has been pointed out (Tucker & , ,…….
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
When a work's author is designated as "Anon mous", cite in text, the word Anonymous followed by a comma and the , . an anonymous work is alphabetized by the .
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Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
When the same author has several works ublished in the same ear, cite them in the same order as they occur in the reference list, . example:
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Research on the mental health of dualcareer family members (Sekaran, 1985a, 1985b, 1985c, 1999, in press) indicates…
Specimen Format for Citing Different Types of References •
When more than one author has to be cited in the text, these should be in the al habetical order of the first author's surname, and the as the example below:
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In the job design literature Aldag & 1976; Alderfer, 1977; Beatty, Jeanquart, 1998),…
Brief, 1982;
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Quotations should be given exactly as they a ear in the source. The ori inal wordin , punctuation, spelling, and italics must be .
The research proposal contains the following •
ey e ements: – – – – –
Purpose of the study S ecific roblem to be investi ated. Scope of the study Relevance of the study Researc es gn: Sampling design • Data collection methods ata ana ys s • •
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Time frame – Budget – Selected Bibliography
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While Chrysler’s minivans, pickups, and sports utilities take a bi share at the truck market, its cars trail behind those of General Motors, , , . include, among other things water leaks and ( Business Week, No.10, 2007).
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1. Identify the broad problem area. . 3. Explain how you would proceed further .
