BUSINESS RESEARCH

METHODS
Handouts 2

Zia Shaukat
m.ziashaukat@yahoo.com
 Contents
Chapter 5: Clarifying the Research Question through Secondary Data and Exploration .......... 3
A SEARCH STRATEGY FOR EXPLORATION ............................................................................................................ 3
Levels of Information ................................................................................................................................................ 4
Types of Information Sources. ................................................................................................................................... 4
Indexes and Bibliographies. .................................................................................................................................... 4
Dictionaries. .................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Encyclopedias. ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Handbooks.................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Directories. .................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Evaluating Information Sources. ............................................................................................................................... 5
MINING INTERNAL SOURCES .................................................................................................................................... 6
Pattern Discovery ............................................................................................................................................................ 7
Predicting Trends and Behaviors .............................................................................................................................. 7
Data-Mining Process ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
Sample ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Explore ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Modify ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Model.............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Assess.............................................................................................................................................................................. 9
THE QUESTION HIERARCHY: HOW AMBIGUOUS QUESTIONS BECOME ACTIONABLE RESEARCH 9
The Management Question .................................................................................................................................... 9
The Research Question .......................................................................................................................................... 10
Investigative questions.......................................................................................................................................... 10
Measurement questions ....................................................................................................................................... 11
Chapter 6: Research Design: An Overview ..................................................................................... 12
WHAT IS RESEARCH DESIGN? ................................................................................................................................ 12
CLASSIFICATION OF DESIGNS ................................................................................................................................ 13
1) Degree of Research Question Crystallization........................................................................................ 13
2) Method of Data Collection .......................................................................................................................... 13
3) Researcher Control of Variables ................................................................................................................ 13
4) The Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................................. 14
5) The Time Dimension ...................................................................................................................................... 14
6) The Topical Scope ........................................................................................................................................... 14
 7) The Research Environment .......................................................................................................................... 15
8) Participants’ Perceptual Awareness .......................................................................................................... 15
EXPLORATORY STUDIES ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Qualitative Techniques .......................................................................................................................................... 16
Secondary Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 16
Experience Survey ................................................................................................................................................... 17
Focus Groups ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
Two-Stage Design ................................................................................................................................................... 18
DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES................................................................................................................................................ 18
CAUSAL STUDIES ......................................................................................................................................................... 19
 Chapter 5: Clarifying the Research Question through
Secondary Data and Exploration
A SEARCH STRATEGY FOR EXPLORATION

Exploration is particularly useful when researchers lack a clear idea of the problems they will meet
during the study.

 Exploration is the phase through which researchers develop concepts more clearly,
establish priorities, develop operational definitions, and improve the final research design.
 Exploration may save time and money.

 Exploration is needed when studying new phenomena or situations.

 Exploration is often, however, given less attention than it deserves.

The exploratory phase search strategy usually comprises one or more of the following:

– Discovery analysis of secondary sources such as published studies, document analysis,

and retrieval of information from organizations' databases.

– Interviews with those knowledgeable about the problem or its possible solutions
(called expert interviews).

– Interviews with individuals involved with the problem (called individual depth interviews
(IDIs)—a type of interview that encourages the participant to talk extensively, sharing as
much information as possible).

– Group discussion with individuals involved with the problem or its possible solutions
(including informal groups, as well as formal techniques such as focus groups or
brainstorming).

A review of secondary sources is considered critical to moving from management question

to research question.

The objective of the exploratory research phase:

1. Expand your understanding of the management dilemma by looking for ways others have
addressed and/or solved problems similar to your management dilemma or management
question.

2. Gather background information on your topic to refine the research question.

3. Identify information that should be gathered to formulate investigative questions.

4. Identify sources for and actual questions that might be used as measurement questions.

5. Identify sources for and actual sample frames (lists of potential participants) that might
be used in sample design.
 In most cases, the exploration phase will begin with a literature search—a review of books,
articles, research studies, or Web-published materials related to the proposed study.

In general, a literature search has five steps:

1. Define your management dilemma or management question.

2. Consult encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and textbooks to identify key terms, people,
or events relevant to the management dilemma or management question.

3. Apply these key terms, names of people, or events in searching indexes, bibliographies,
and the Web to identify specific secondary sources.

4. Locate and review specific secondary sources for relevance to your management dilemma.

5. Evaluate the value of each source and its content.

 Often the literature search leads to the research proposal.

– This proposal covers at minimum a statement of the research question and a brief
description of the proposed research methodology.

– The proposal summarizes the findings of the exploratory phase of the research, usually
with a bibliography of secondary sources that have led to the decision to propose a
formal research study.

Levels of Information: Information sources are generally categorized into three levels:
o Primary sources are original works of research or raw data without interpretation or
pronouncements that represent an official opinion or position.

– Primary sources are always the most authoritative because the information has not
been filtered or interpreted by a second party.

o Secondary sources are interpretations of primary data.

– Nearly all reference materials fall into this category.

– A firm searching for secondary sources can search either internally or externally.

o Tertiary sources are aids to discover primary or secondary sources or an interpretation of

a secondary source.

– These sources are generally represented by indexes, bibliographies, or Internet search

engines.

 It is important to remember that all information is not of equal value.

– Primary sources are the most valuable.

Types of Information Sources.

Indexes and Bibliographies.

– An index is a secondary data source that helps identify and locate a single book,
 journal article, author, et cetera, from among a large set.

– A bibliography is an information source that helps locate a single book, article,

photograph, et cetera.

– Today, the most important bibliography in any library is its online catalog.

– Skill in searching bibliographic databases is essential for any business researcher.

Dictionaries.

– Dictionaries are secondary sources that define works, terms or jargon unique to a
discipline; may include information on people, events, or organizations that shape the
discipline; an excellent source of acronyms.

– There are many specialized dictionaries that are field specific (e.g., business concepts
dictionaries).

– A growing number of dictionaries are found on the Web.

Encyclopedias.

– An encyclopedia is a secondary source that provides background or historical information

on a topic.

– In addition to finding facts, encyclopedias are useful in identifying experts in a field or in

finding key writings on any topic.

Handbooks.

– A handbook is a secondary source used to identify key terms, people, or events

relevant to the management dilemma or management question.

– Handbooks often include statistics, directory information, a glossary of terms, and other
data such as laws and regulations essential to a field.

 The best handbooks include source references for the facts they present.
– One of the most important handbooks for business-to-business organizations is the
North American Industry Classification System, United States (NAICS).

Directories.

– A directory is a reference source used to identify contact information.

– Today, many directories are available at no charge via the Internet.

– Most comprehensive directories are proprietary.

Evaluating Information Sources.

 Researchers should evaluate and select information sources based on five factors that can be

applied to any type of source, these are:

– Purpose—the explicit or hidden agenda of the information source.

 – Scope—the breadth and depth of topic coverage, including time period, geographic
limitations, and the criteria for information inclusion.

– Authority—the level of the data (primary, secondary, tertiary) and the credentials
of the source author(s).

– Audience—the characteristics and background of the people or groups for whom

the source was created.

– Format—how the information is presented and the degree of ease of

locating specific information within the source.

MINING INTERNAL SOURCES

The term data mining describes the process of discovering knowledge from databases stored in
data marts or data warehouses.

 The purpose of data mining is to identify valid, novel, useful, and ultimately understandable

patterns in data.

 Data mining is an approach that combines exploration and discovery with confirmatory analysis.

An organization's own internal historical data is an often under-utilized source of

information in the exploratory phase.

 The researcher may lack knowledge that such historical data exist; or,

 The researcher may choose to ignore such data due to time or budget constraints, and

the lack of an organized archive.

 Digging through data archives can be as simplistic as sorting through a file of patient records

or inventory shipping manifests, or rereading company reports and management authored

memos

A data warehouse is an electronic repository for databases that organizes large volumes
of data into categories, to facilitate retrieval, interpretation, and sorting by end users.

 The data warehouse provides an accessible archive to support dynamic organizational

intelligence applications.

 The key words here are dynamically accessible. Data in a data warehouse must be continually

updated to ensure that managers have access to data appropriate for real-time decisions.

 The more accessible the databases that comprise the data warehouse, the more likely a

researcher will use such databases to reveal patterns. Thus, researchers are more likely to mine
electronic databases than paper ones.
  Remember that data in a data warehouse were once primary data, collected for a specific
purpose.

 When researcher data-mine a company's data warehouse, all the data contained within that

database have become secondary data.

 The patterns revealed will be used for purposes other than those originally intended.

– Example: An archive of sales invoices provides a wealth of data about what was sold, at
what price, and to whom, where, when, and how the products were shipped. But the
company initially generated the sales invoice to facilitate the process of getting paid for
the items shipped.

– When a researcher mines the sales invoice archive, the search is for patterns of sales,
by product, category, region, price, shipping methods, etc.

 Data mining forms a bridge between primary and secondary data.

Pattern Discovery
Data-mining tools can be programmed to sweep regularly through databases and identify
previously hidden patterns.

 An example of pattern discovery is the detection of stolen credit cards based on analysis

of credit card transaction records.

 Other uses include:

– Technical pattern in FOREX and stock markets.

– Finding retail purchase patterns (used for inventory management)

– Identifying call center volume fluctuations (used for staffing)

– Locating anomalous data that could represent data entry errors (used to evaluate
training, employee evaluation, or security needs)

Predicting Trends and Behaviors

Data mining is used to predict problems:

o A typical example of a predictive problem is targeted marketing.

o Forecasting bankruptcy and loan default

o Finding population segments with similar responses to a given stimulus.

o Build risk models for a specific market, such as discovering the top 10 most significant
buying trends each week.
Data-Mining Process

Sample
The researcher must decide whether to use the entire data set (census) or a sample of the data.

 If the data set in question is not large, if processing power is high, or if it is important to

understand patterns for every record in the database, sampling should not be done.

 If the data warehouse is very large, processing power is limited, or speed is more important

than complete analysis, it is wise to draw a sample.

If general patterns exist in the data as a whole, these patterns will be found in a sample.

Explore

Identify relationships within the data.

After the data are sampled, the next step is to explore them visually or numerically for trends or
groups.

 Both visual and statistical exploration (data visualization) can be used to identify trends.

 The researcher also looks for outliers to see if the data need to be cleaned, cases need to be
dropped, or a larger sample needs to be drawn.

Modify

Based on the discoveries in the exploration phase, the data may require modification.

Clustering, fractal-based transformation, and the application of fuzzy logic are completed during
this phase as appropriate.

A data reduction program, such as factor analysis, correspondence analysis, or clustering, may be
used.

If important constructs are discovered, new factors may be introduced to categorize the data into
these groups.

In addition, variables based on combinations of existing variables may be added, recoded,

transformed, or dropped.

At times, descriptive segmentation of the data is all that is required to answer the investigative
question.

 If a complex predictive model is needed, the researcher will move to the next step of the
process.

Model

Once the data are prepared, construction of a model begins. The model should explains the data
relationships.

Modeling techniques include: neural networks, decision trees, sequence-based classification

and estimation, and generic-based models.
Assess

The final step in data mining is to assess the model to estimate how well it performs. Test
the model's accuracy.

A common method of assessment involves applying the model to a portion of data that was
not used during the sampling stage.

 If the model is valid, it will work for this "holdout" sample.

 Another way to test a model is to run the model against known data.

Example: If you know which customers in a file have high loyalty and your model predicts loyalty,
you can check to see whether the model has selected these customers accurately.

THE QUESTION HIERARCHY: HOW AMBIGUOUS QUESTIONS BECOME

ACTIONABLE RESEARCH
The process we call the management-research question hierarchy is designed to move the
researcher through various levels of questions, each with a specific function within the overall
business research process.

The Management Question

Management questions are the restatement of the management dilemma in question form.
 The management question is seen as the management dilemma restated in question format.
 A specific question can lead to many studies. Therefore, it is the joint responsibility of the
researcher and the marketer to choose the most productive project.
The Research Question
Using his or her understanding of the basic theoretical concepts, the researcher’s task is to assist the
manager in formulating a research question that fits the need to resolve the management dilemma.
 A research question(s) is the objective of business research study.

– It is a more specific management question that must be answered.

– Incorrectly defining the research question is the fundamental weakness in the business
research process.
Fine-Tuning the Research Question.
– Fine-tuning the question is precisely what a skillful practitioner must do after the
exploration is complete.
– At this point the research project begins to crystallize in one of two ways:
– It is apparent the question has been answered and the process is finished.
– A question different from the one originally addressed has appeared.

Other research-related activities that should be addressed at the fine tuning stage are:
 Examine the variables to be studied.
 Review the research questions with the intent of breaking them down into specific
second-and third-level questions.
 If hypotheses (tentative explanations) are used, be certain they meet the quality test.
 Determine what evidence must be collected to answer the various questions and
hypotheses.
 Set the scope of the study by stating what is not a part of the research question.
Investigative questions are questions the researcher must answer to satisfactorily arrive at a conclusion
about the research question.
 Typical investigative question areas include:
 – Performance considerations.
– Attitudinal issues (like perceived quality).
– Behavioral issues.
Measurement questions are the questions asked of participants or the observations that must be
recorded.
 Measurement questions should be outlined by the completion of the project planning activities.
 Two types of measurement questions are common in business research:

Predesigned measurement questions are questions that have been formulated and tested
previously by other researchers.

Such questions provide enhancement validity and can reduce the cost of the project.
Custom-designed measurement questions are questions formulated specifically for the project at
hand.
 
 Chapter 6: Research Design: An Overview
WHAT IS RESEARCH DESIGN?
 In this chapter, three research design types are introduced:
 Exploratory
 Descriptive
 Causal
 There are many definitions of research design, but no single definition imparts the full range of
important aspects:
 Research design constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of data.
 Research design aids the researcher in the allocation of limited resources by posing crucial
choices in methodology.
 Research design is the plan and structure of investigation so conceived as to obtain answers to
research questions. The plan is the overall scheme or program of the research. It includes an outline
of what the investigator will do from writing hypotheses and their operational implications to the final
analysis of data.
 Research design expresses both the structure of the research problem—the framework, organization,
or configuration of the relationships among variables of a study—and the plan of investigation used
to obtain empirical evidence on those relationships.

 Together, these definitions give the essentials of research design:

 An activity- and time-based plan.
 A plan always based on a research question.
 A guide for selecting sources and types of information.
 A framework for specifying the relationships among the study’s variables.
 A procedural outline for every research activity.
  One of the project management tools used in mapping a research design is critical path method
(CPM).
 CPM depicts sequential and simultaneous activities and estimates schedules or timetables for
each activity and phase of the research project.

CLASSIFICATION OF DESIGNS
Early in any research study, one faces the task of selecting the design to use. Following are the eight different
descriptors of research design.

1) Degree of Research Question Crystallization

 A study may be exploratory or formal.
 The distinctions between the two are the (a) degree of structure, and (b) the immediate
objective of the study.
 Exploratory studies tend toward loose structures, with the objective of discovering future
research tasks.
– The immediate purpose is usually to develop hypotheses or questions for future research.
 The formal study begins where the exploration leaves off—with a hypothesis or research
question.
– It also involves precise procedures and data source specifications.
– The goal of a formal design is to test the hypotheses or answer the research questions
posed.
2) Method of Data Collection
 The method of data collection distinguishes between monitoring and communication processes.
 Monitoring includes studies in which the researcher inspects the activities of a subject or the
nature of some material, without attempting to elicit responses from anyone.
 Examples of monitoring include:
– Traffic counts at intersections
– License plates recorded in a restaurant parking lot
– A search of the library collection
– The State Farm Dangerous Intersection Study
 In each case, the researcher notes and records the information available from observation.
 In a communication study, the researcher questions the subjects and collects their responses by
personal or impersonal means.
 Collected data may result from:
– Interview or telephone conversations.
– Self-administered or self-reported instruments through the mail, left in convenient
locations, or transmitted electronically, or by other means.
– Instruments presented before and/or after a treatment or stimulus condition in an
experiment.
3) Researcher Control of Variables
 In an experiment, the researcher attempts to control and/or manipulate the variables in the study.
 Experimental design is appropriate when one wishes to discover whether certain variables
produce effects in other variables.
 Experimentation provides the most powerful support possible for a hypothesis of causation.
 With an ex post facto design, investigators have no control over the variables in the sense of
being able to manipulate them.
 They can only report what has happened, or what is happening.
 Researchers using this design must not influence the variables; doing so introduces bias.
 The researcher is limited to holding factors constant by judicious selection of subjects,
according to strict sampling procedures and by statistical manipulation of findings.
4) The Purpose of the Study
 The essential difference between reporting, descriptive, causal-explanatory and causal-predictive
studies lies in their objectives.
 A reporting study provides a summation of data, often recasting data to achieve a deeper
understanding or to generate statistics for comparison.
 A descriptive study is concerned with finding out who, what, where, when, or how much.
 A causal-explanatory study is concerned with learning why. That is, how one variable
produces changes in another variable.
 A causal-predictive study attempts to predict the effect on one variable by manipulating
another variable while holding all other variables constant.
5) The Time Dimension
 Cross-sectional studies are carried out once, and represent a snapshot of one point in time.
 Longitudinal studies are repeated over an extended period.
 The advantage of a longitudinal study is that it can track changes over time.
 In longitudinal panel studies, researchers may study people over time.
 In marketing, panels are set up to report consumption data.
 These data provide information on relative market share, consumer response to new products,
and new promotional methods.
 Some types of information cannot be collected a second time from the same person without the
risk of bias.
 Some benefits of a longitudinal study can be revealed in a cross-sectional study by adroit
questioning about past attitudes, history, and future expectations.
6) The Topical Scope
 Statistical studies are designed for breadth, rather than depth.
 They attempt to capture a population’s characteristics by making references from a sample’s
characteristics.
 Generalizations about findings are based on the relativity of the sample and the validity of the
design.
 Case studies place more emphasis on a full contextual analysis of fewer events or conditions, and
their interrelations.
 The reliance on qualitative data makes support or rejection more difficult.
 An emphasis on detail provides valuable insight for problem solving, evaluation, and strategy.
– This detail is secured from multiple sources of information.
– It allows evidence to be verified and avoids missing data.
 Although they have a significant scientific role, case studies have been maligned as “scientifically
worthless” because they do not meet the minimum requirements for comparison.
 – Important scientific propositions have the form the universals, which can be falsified by a
single counter-instance.
– A single, well-designed case study can provide a major challenge to a theory, and provide
a source of new hypotheses and constructs simultaneously.
7) The Research Environment
 Designs differ as to whether they occur under actual environmental conditions (field conditions)
or under staged/manipulated conditions (laboratory conditions).
 Simulations, which replicate the essence of a system or process, are increasingly used in research,
especially in operations research.
 Conditions and relationships in actual situations are often represented in mathematical models.
 Role-playing and other behavioral activities may also be viewed as simulations.
8) Participants’ Perceptual Awareness
 Participant’s perceptual awareness refers to when people in a disguised study perceive that research
is being conducted.
 Participant’s perceptual awareness may reduce the usefulness of a research design.
 Participants’ perceptual awareness influence the outcomes of the research.
 When participants believe that something out of the ordinary is happening, they may behave less
naturally.
 There are three levels of perceptional awareness:
a- Participants perceive no deviations from everyday routines (non-aware, unaffected).
b- Participants perceive deviations, but as unrelated to the researcher (aware, consciously
unaffected). c- Participants perceive deviations as researcher-induced (aware, consciously
affected).

EXPLORATORY STUDIES
 Exploration is particularly useful when researchers lack a clear idea of the problems they will meet
during the study.
 Exploration allows researchers to:
– Develop clearer concepts
– Establish priorities
– Develop operational definitions
– Improve the final research design
– Possibly save time and money
 If exploration reveals that a problem is not as important as first thought, more formal studies
can be cancelled.
 Exploration serves other purposes as well:
 The area of investigation may be so new or vague that the researcher needs to do an exploration
just to learn something about the dilemma.
 Important variables may not be known or well defined.
 A hypothesis for the research may be needed.
 The researcher may need to determine if it is feasible to do a formal study.
 Researchers and managers alike give exploration less attention than it deserves.
  There is often pressure for a quick answer.
 There may be a bias about qualitative research.
 Subjectiveness
 Non-representation
 Non-systematic design.
 Exploration can save time and money, so it should not be slighted.

Qualitative Techniques
 Although both qualitative and quantitative techniques are applicable, exploration relies more heavily
on qualitative techniques.
 There are multiple ways to investigate a management question, including:
 Individual depth interviews: usually conversational, rather than structured.
 Participant observation: perceive firsthand what participants experience
 Films, photographs, and videotape: to capture the life of the group under study
 Projective techniques and psychological testing: such as a Thematic Apperception Test,
projective measures, games, or role-playing.
 Case studies: for an in-depth contextual analysis of a few events or conditions.
 Street ethnography: to discover how a cultural subgroups described and structures its world
at street level.
 Elite or expert interviewing: for information from influential or well-informed people.
 Document analysis: to evaluate historical or contemporary confidential or public records,
reports, government documents, and opinions.
 Proxemics and kinesics: to study the use of space and body-motion communication,
respectively.
 When these approaches are combined, four exploratory techniques emerge:
 Secondary data analysis.
 Experience surveys.
 Focus groups.
 Two-stage designs.

Secondary Data Analysis

 The first step in an exploratory study is a search of the secondary literature.
 Studies made by others, for their own purposes, represent secondary data.
 It is inefficient to discover anew through the collection of primary data or original research
what has already been done and reported.
 Start with an organization’s own archives.
 By reviewing prior studies, you can identify methodologies that proved successful and unsuccessful.
 Solutions that didn’t receive attention in the past may reveal subjects for further study.
 Avoid duplication in instances where prior data can help resolve the current dilemma.
 The second source of secondary data is published documents prepared by authors outside the
sponsor organization.
  Data from secondary sources help us decide what needs to be done, and can be a rich source
of hypotheses.
 In many cases, you can conduct a secondary search in libraries, or via your computer and an
online service or an Internet gateway.
 If we confine an investigation to obvious subjects in bibliographic sources, some of the best
information may be missed.
 We provide a detailed list of Business Reference Sources on the website.

Experience Survey
 Published data are seldom more than a fraction of the existing knowledge in a field.
 A significant portion of what is known on a topic is proprietary to a given organization, and
therefore unavailable to an outside researcher.
 Also, internal data archives are rarely well organized, making secondary sources difficult to locate.
 Thus, it is beneficial to seek information from persons experienced in the field of study, tapping
into their memories and experiences.
 In an experience survey, we seek a person’s ideas about important issues or aspects of the subject
and discover what is important across the subject’s range of knowledge.
 Avenues to explore:
 What is being done?
 What has been tried in the past without success? With success?
 How have things changed?
 What are the change-producing elements of the situation?
 Who is involved in decisions and what role does each person play?
 What problem areas and barriers can be seen?
 What are the costs of the processes under study?
 Whom can we count on to assist and/or participate in the research?
 What are the priority areas?
 The product of such questioning may be:
 A new hypothesis
 The discarding of an old one
 Information about the practicality of doing the study
 Discovery of what facilities are available
 What factors need to be controlled, and how
 Who will cooperate in the study.
 Discovery is more easily carried out if we analyze cases that provide special insight.
 People who might provide insightful information include:
 Newcomers to the scene
 Marginal or peripheral individuals
 Individuals in transition
 Deviants and isolates
  “Pure” cases
 Those who fit well and those who do not
 Those who represent different positions in the system
 During the early phase of the MindWriter research study, Jason and Myra plan to interview:
 Managers of the service facility
 Managers of the call center
 Managers of the contract courier service
 Long-term employees of various departments
 Individuals associated with engineering and production
Focus Groups
 Focus groups became widely used in the 1980s.
 A focus group is a group of people (typically 6 to 10), led by a trained moderator, who meet for 90
minutes to 2 hours.
 The facilitator or moderator uses group dynamics to focus or guide the group in an exchange
of ideas, feelings, and experiences on a specific topic.
 One typical objective of a focus group might be a new product or product concept, a new
employee motivation program, or improved production-line organization.
 The basic output of the session is a list of ideas and behavioral observations, with
recommendations by the moderator, that are often used for later quantitative testing.
 In another application, a large title insurance company ran focus groups with its branch office
administrations to discover their preferences for distributing files on the company’s intranet.

Two-Stage Design
 With a two-stage design approach, exploration becomes separate first stage with limited objectives:
 Clearly define the research question
 Develop the research design
 Argument for a two-stage approach: we need to know more about the problem before resources
are committed.
 This approach is particularly useful when the research budget in inflexible.
 A limited exploration for a specific, modest cost carries little risk for both the sponsor and the
researcher.
 An exploratory study is finished when researchers have achieved the following:
 Major dimensions of the research task have been established.
 A set of subsidiary investigative questions that can guide a detailed research design have been
defined.
 Several hypotheses about possible causes of a management dilemma have been developed.
 Certain hypotheses have been identified as being so remote that they can be safely ignored.
 A conclusion that additional research is not needed or is not feasible has been reached.

DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES
 Formalized studies are typically structured with clearly states hypotheses or investigative questions.
  Research objectives:
 Descriptions of phenomena or characteristics associated with a subject population (the who,
what, when, where, and how of a topic).
 Estimates of the proportions of a population that have these characteristics.
 Discover of associations among different variables (sometimes labeled a correlational study)
 A descriptive study may be simple or complex, and it may be done in many settings.
 The simplest study concerns a univariate question or hypothesis in which we ask about (or state
something about) the size, form, distribution, or existence of a variable.
 In the account analysis at Bank Choice, we might want to develop a profile of savers. Examples
of other variables include:
– Number of accounts opened in the last six months
– Amount of account activity
– Size of accounts
– Number of accounts for minors
 Our task is to determine if the variables are interdependent or unrelated. If they are, we must
determine the strength or magnitude of the relationship.
 Descriptive studies are often much more complex than the Bank Choice example.

CAUSAL STUDIES
 Statistically untrained individual sometimes mistake correlation (the simultaneous occurrence of
two phenomena as causation.
 The essential element of causation is that A “produces” B or A “forces” B to occur.
 Empirically, we can never demonstrate an A-B causality with certainty.
 Empirical conclusions are inferences (inductive conclusions).
– As such, they are based on what we observe and measure.
– We cannot observe and measure all the processes that may account for the A-B relationship.
 In Chapter 3 we discussed the example of sales failing to increase following a promotion. Having
ruled out other causes, we were left with the inference that was probably (but not certainly) the
cause: a poorly executed promotion.
 Meeting the ideal standard of causation requires that one variable always causes another variable,
and no other variable has the same causal effect.
 The method of agreement states that “When two or more cases of a given phenomenon have one and
only one condition in common, then that condition may be regarded as the cause (or effect) of the
phenomenon.”
 The method of agreement helps rule out some variables as irrelevant. A, B, D, and E are unlikely
to be causes of Z. However, there is an implicit assumption that there are no variables to
consider.
– No one can accept this supposition with certainty because the number of variables is infinite.
– In addition, while C may be the cause, it may instead function only in the presence of some
other variable, which was not included.
– The negative canon of agreement states that where the absence of C is associated with the
absence of Z, there is evidence of a causal relationship between C and Z.
– Together with the method of agreement, this forms the basis for the method of difference:
“If there are two or more cases, and in one of them observation Z can be made, while in the
 other it cannot; and if variable C occurs when observation Z can be made, while in the other
it cannot; and if variable C occurs when observation Z is made, and does not occur when
observation Z is not made; then it can be asserted that there is a causal relationship between
C and Z.
 No one can ever be certain that variable A causes variable B to occur, but one can gather evidence
that increases the belief that A leads to B.
 We seek three types of evidence of causation:
 Covariation between A and B.
– Do we find that A and B occur together in the way hypothesized?
– When A does not occur, is there also an absence of B?
– When there is more or less of A, does one also find more of less of B?
 Time order of events moving in the hypothesized direction.
– Does A occur before B?
 No other possible causes of B.
– No one can determine that C, D, and E do not covary with B in a way that suggests possible
causal connections?
 In addition to the three conditions above, successful inference making from experimental designs
must meet two additional requirements:
 Control: all factors, with the exception of the independent variable, must be held constant and
not confound with another variable that is not part of the study.
 Random assignment: each person must have an equal chance for exposure to each level of the
independent variable.
 If we consider the possible relationships that can occur between two variables, we can conclude
that there are three possibilities:
 Symmetrical
 Reciprocal
 Asymmetrical
 A symmetrical relationship is one in which two variables fluctuate together, but we assume the
changes in neither variable are due to changes in the other.
 Symmetrical conditions are most often found when two variables are alternate indicators of
another cause or independent variable.
 We might conclude that a correlation between low work attendance and active participation in
a camping club is the result of (dependent on) another factor, such as a lifestyle preference.
 A reciprocal relationship exists when two variables mutually influence or reinforce each other.
 This could occur if reading an advertisement leads to the use of a product. The usage, in turn,
sensitizes the person to notice and read more of the advertising for that product.
 Most research analysts look for asymmetrical relationships.
 With these, we postulate that changes in one independent variable (IV) are responsible for
changes in a dependent variable (DV).
 The identification of the IV and DV is often obvious, but sometimes the choice is not clear. In
these cases, dependence and independence should be evaluated on the basis of:
– The degree of which each variable may be altered.
– The time order between the variables.