Problem Definition and Research Design

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Problem Definition and Research Design
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Overview

• The Research Proposal
• Existing knowledge on topic my contribution
• Research design (survey/experiment/observation)
• Sample design
• Data gathering
• Data analysis
• Report preparation

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Theory

• Theory- A set of propositions used to explain
  behaviors or phenomena to provide prediction and
  understanding

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Theories are the nets cast to catch what we call
the world to rationalize, to explain and to
master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever
finer and finer. -Karl R Popper.
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The Role of Theory in Business Research
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A Research Question

• a question that can be answered directly through
  the analysis of data

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Hypothesis

• An unproven proposition or supposition that
  tentatively explains certain facts a proposition
  that is empirically testable.

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Theories, Research Questions and Hypotheses

• Hypotheses are generated from our theories.
  Research questions are often attempts to
  refute/validate theories with the hypothesis
  being the precise formulation of a testable
  research question.

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Example

• Theory The law of demand. Increases in price,
  reduces quantity demanded.
• Research Question Will an increase in beer taxes
  lower consumption of beer?
• Hypothesis An increase in the beer tax will
  lower beer consumption.

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Two more examples

• Research question How many students voted in the
  previous presidential election?
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• Matching hypothesis Sixty-five percent of
  undergraduate students voted in the previous
  presidential election.

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Two more examples

• Research question What do students feel is the
  most important political issue?
• Matching hypothesis The most important
  political issue to students is funding for
  education.

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Deductive and Inductive Reasoning

• Deductive- the logical process of deriving a
  conclusion from a known premise
• When it is hot out people eat ice cream, so
  next time it is hot out people will probably eat
  ice cream
• Inductive- The process of establishing a general
  proposition from observation and generalization
• When people are warm they attempt to cool their
  bodies in many ways. One way is by eating ice
  cream. So we would expect when its hot out more
  ice cream will be consumed

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The Scientific Method

• Assessment of relevant existing knowledge
  (Literature Review)
• Formulation of concepts and propositions
• Statement of hypothesis
• Design the Research to test the hypothesis
• Acquisition of meaningful empirical data
• Analysis and evaluation of data
• Provide explanation and state new problems raised
  by the research

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Problem definition

• The process of identifying the problem and
  formulating and narrowing a researchable question.

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The Goal of Problem Definition

• Are measurable--quantifiable/testable
• Are well-defined--no ambiguous language
• Are useful in decision-making or in answering the
  overall problem (What is the goal of business
  research?)
• Are directly connected to one another--hypothesis
  is not only a plausible answer to the research
  question but also directly answers the research
  question
• Encompass the full scope of the problem-- Have
  all the important or relevant questions been
  asked?

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• The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
  the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
• Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician,
  philosopher (1872 - 1970)

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Far better an approximate answer to the right
question, which is often vague, than an exact
answer to the wrong question, which can always be
made precise." J. W. Tukey (1962)
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Problem

• What is the relationship between Alcohol
  consumption and GPA?

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What is the unit of analysis?

• Make sure to identify the target of the research
• ie husband-wife, or head of household, business
  owner, customer, 3rd party payer, etc.

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What are the relevant variables?

• Variable- anything that may assume different
  numerical values
• Categorical (discreet) Sex
• Continuous (infinite number of values) Salary
• Dependent variable (to be explained) endogenous
• Independent variable (explanatory) exogenous

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Mind Mapping

• Visualizing ideas and relationships
• http//bubbl.us/

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Alcohol and College GPA Mind Map
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Past Projects

• Social Acceptance of Plastic Surgery
• Whitney Dining Hours (optimal?)
• Impact of Drinking on GPA
• Consumer Sentiment Index and Voting Behavior
• Smoking Bans and Bar Attendance
• STD testing behavior

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Background Research
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Murphy Library web page

• http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/

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Catalog

• You can search the librarys electronic card
  catalog for books or periodicals on the subject
  matter youre interested in.
• http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/

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Databases

• You can also look for information using one of
  the databases Murphy has access to. These
  databases primarily index the articles in
  periodicals (academic journals, magazines,
  newspapers, etc). You can find the list of
  databases the library has access to at
• http//libdata.uwlax.edu/page.phtml?page_id25
• They provide titles and brief descriptions of the
  general subject area of the materials. For
  example ABI Inform indexes articles in the Wall
  Street Journal and the American Economic Review.
  Sometimes they even provide the full text of the
  document online. Other times, they simply
  provide the citation.

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Web searches

• Finally you may search the web. Be careful,
  there are many pages of highly suspicious
  quality. Examine the information with care.
  Look for related government web pages.
• http//www.yahoo.com
• http//scholar.google.com/

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Prison Break and BitTorrent
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Problem

• How can UW-L attract 1,000 new students over the
  next several years?