Research Methods

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Research Methods
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• The systematic and objective identification,
  collection, analysis, dissemination and use of
  information for the purpose of decision making
  related to the identification and solution of
  problems.

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Types

• Problem Identification
• Research that is undertaken to help identify
  problems that are not necessarily apparent on the
  surface and yet exist or are likely to arise in
  future.

• Problem Solving
• Research undertaken to help solve specific
  problems.

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Basic vs. Applied Research A Continuum

• Basic Research
• Development of theory, principles and findings
  that generalize over a wide range of people,
  tasks, and settings.
• Applied Research
• Development of theory, principles and findings
  that are relatively specific with respect to
  particular populations, tasks, products, systems
  and/or environments.

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Characteristics of Basic Research

• Advantages
• Greater generality
• Conducted in controlled lab which prevents
  intrusion of potentially confounding variables
• third-variable sources of causation
• More confidence when drawing causal inferences
  between variables (the cause/effect relationship)
• Disadvantages
• Lab environments can often be simplistic and/or
  artificial
• And they may have little resemblance to the real
  world.

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Characteristics of Applied Research

• Advantages
• More likely to resemble real-world conditions
• Can be more efficient in identifying design flaws
  and/or more effective alternative designs
• Disadvantages
• Harder to generalize from the specific test group
  studied to the larger population of interest
• Less control over potentially confounding events

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Overview of Research MethodsThe Experimental
Method

• What is it?
• Deliberately producing change in one or more
  independent variables (IVs) measuring the
  effect of that change on one or more dependent
  variables (DVs)
• Manipulation performed while keeping all other
  variables under control
• The Goal Control
• Showing that the IVs, and no other variables, are
  responsible for any measurable differences in the
  DVs
• Most direct way to ascertain cause/effect
  relationships
• Quasi-experiment when not all other
  influential variables can be controlled.

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Overview of Research MethodsDescriptive Research

• What is it?
• The use of procedures used to characterize a
  population in terms of some relevant set of
  attributes.
• Criterion variablesDependent variables including
  physical characteristics or performance measures
• Stratification variablesPredictors, including
  age, sex, and education
• Summary statistics include Mean, median, mode,
  frequencies, percentiles

Note Cannot draw causal inferences from
descriptive study results.
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Overview of Research MethodsEvaluation Research

• What is it?
• Procedures used to assess the performance of
  people using a product or system.
• Widely used in government and industry.
• Attempts to answer relevant questions in a
  practical way.

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Significance of Research

• Research inculcates scientific and inductive
  thinking and it promotes the development of
  logical habits of thinking and organisation.
• Research provides the basis for nearly all
  government policies in our economic system.
• It has special significance in solving various
  operational and planning problems of business and
  industry.

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• It is important for social scientists in studying
  social relationships and in seeking answers to
  various social problems.
• For doctoral students, research may mean a
  careerism or a way to attain high position.
• To professionals in research, research may mean
  source of livelihood.

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• To philosophers and thinkers, it may mean the
  outlet for new ideas and insights.
• To analysts and intellectuals, research may mean
  the generalizations of new theories.

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• Research Methodology is a way to systematically
  solve the research problem. It may be understood
  as a science of studying how research is done
  scientifically.

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Characteristics of Good Research

• Scientific method
• Multiple methods
• Interdependence
• Value and cost of information
• Systematic
• Logical

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Scientific Method is Devoid Of

• Personal beliefs
• Perceptions
• Biases
• Values
• Attitudes
• Emotions

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Scientific Method 5 Steps
Asking the Question Problem Identification
Forming Hypothesis(es)
Experimental Design Methods
Interpretation Communication
Collecting Relevant Information (data)
Testing the Hypothesis - Data analysis
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Basic Assumptions Underlying Science

• Determinism belief that there are causes or
  determinants of behaviour.
• Reality belief that there is an underlying
  reality or truth in nature.
• Rationality events can be understood through
  the use of logical thinking.
• Regularity events in nature follow same laws.
• Discoverability it is possible to discover the
  uniformity or laws in nature.

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1. Empirical. Gather evidence through observation
   and measurement.
2. Measurement. The variables of interest are
   measuredthrough multiple techniques and
   perspective, if possible.
3. Replicability. Variables are measured
   consistently, and in such a way as can be
   replicated by other researchers.
4. Objectivity. It is important to approach research
   questions and interpret results without bias.

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Characteristics of the Scientific Approach

• Control eliminating the influence of extraneous
  variables that could affect the observations
  (confounds).
• Operational definition defining the steps or
  operations used to measure the phenomenon (e.g.,
  anxiety).
• Replication Reproducibility of the results.

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• Description
• Discover that the phenomenon exists
• Demonstrate that the phenomenon exists
• Describe its elements

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• Explanation
• Why does the phenomenon exist
• What causes the phenomenon
• Causes are the antecedent conditions that result
  in the occurrence or manifestation of the
  phenomenon.

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Scientific Theory

• Theory is the explanation for the phenomenon.
• Theories not only describe why or how the
  phenomenon occurred but also guides the way for
  further research.
• Theories are often referred to as models for a
  specific phenomenon.

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Transtheoretical Model
(Prochaska DiClemente, 1992)
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Where do the ideas come from?

• Everyday life
• Practical issues or needs
• Past research
• Theory

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Sources of Research Questions

• Everyday life
• What are the most effective ways to teach
  research methods?
• What personal characteristics make a favorable
  impression in a job interview?
• What other questions come to mind?

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Sources of Research Questions

• Practical Issues
• Why do some employees have very high absenteeism
  rates.
• Why do more car accidents happen on specific
  stretches of the road?
• Why are most heart attacks on a Monday morning?

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Sources of Research Questions

• Past research
• Knowledge develops in small steps. Rarely does
  one study answer all the questions to the
  research topic.

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Sources of Research Questions

• Theories
• Summarize integrate existing knowledge
• Suggests new relationships between factors
• Helps one make new predictions about a phenomenon
  based on the theory.

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Defining the Research Question

• Caveat Not all ideas are subject to scientific
  enquire.
• Research question must be capable of being
  confirmed.
• The study must be feasible.
• Variables in the problem should express a
  relationship
• E.g., What relationship exists between two or
  more variables?

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Defining the Research Question - continued

• Problem should be capable of being stated in a
  question form. Examples are
• What is the effect of.?
• Under what conditions do.?
• Does the effect of.?
• A research question defines the area of interest
  but is not a declarative statement like a
  hypothesis.

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Defining Research Problem and objectives

• It is important to define research problem
  appropriately because it serves as a guideline to
  the researcher for conducting the rest of
  research project

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Chain Restaurant Study
One day I received a phone call from a research
analyst who introduced himself as one of our
alumni. He was working for a restaurant in
Colombo and wanted help analyzing the data he had
collected while conducting a marketing research
study. When we met, he presented me with a copy
of the questionnaire and asked how he should
analyze the data. My first question to him was
What is the problem being addressed?
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Chain Restaurant Study
When he looked confused, I explained that data
analysis is not an independent exercise.
Rather, the goal of data analysis is to PROVIDE
INFORMATION RELATED TO THE PROBLEM COMPONENTS.
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Chain Restaurant Study
I was surprised to learn that he did not have a
clear understanding of the marketing research
problem and that a written definition did not
exist. So before going any further, I had to
define the marketing research problem.
Once that was done, I found that much of the data
collected was not relevant to the problem. In
this sense, the whole study was a waste of
resources. A new study had to be designed and
implemented to address the problem defined.
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Symptom

• A symptom occurs as a result of a problem. It is
  often a complicated process to distinguish a
  symptom from a problem

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Symptoms and Causes
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Formulating Hypotheses

• Stated in declarative form.
• Posits a relationship between variables.
• Ideally reflects a theory or body of literature.
• Is brief and to the point.
• Is testable.

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Hypotheses

• Scientific hypothesis states the predicted
  relationship amongst the variables.
• Null hypothesis is a statement of no relationship
  amongst the variables.

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Examples of Hypotheses
Research Idea Question Hypothesis
Drug abuse and child abuse Is drug abuse related to child abuse? There is a positive relationship between drug abuse among adults and their physical and psychological abuse as children.
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How will we operationally define our measures?

• Does eating pizza make you fat?
• The experimental hypothesis The more pizza a
  person eats, the more weight she/he will gain.
• The null hypothesis a persons weight will be
  the same regardless of how much pizza they eat.
• Does drinking beer and eating cheese-fries give
  you nightmares?
• The experimental hypothesis People who consume
  beer and cheese-fries before bedtime will report
  more nightmares than those who do not.
• The null hypothesis People who consume beer
  and cheese-fries before bedtime will report about
  the same number of nightmares as those who do not.

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