SESS- Conducting research in

Scienti c Manner
Session 2
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 A Research Process
sequential process involving several clearly de ned steps.

research does not require completion of each step before going to the next

Recycling, circumventing, and skipping occur.

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 Stage 1: Clarifying the Research

Question

Process begins at the most general level with the management dilemma

Discovering the Management question

Further re ning to nd a research question.

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Management Dilemma for the college - Lack of classrooms and increasing

number of students

Management Question - How to manage the classes? Can Online education

be adopted

Research Question - Learning e ciency in Online Vs Traditional methods of

Teaching ?
?

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Stage 2: Research Proposal- Resource
and Budget Allocation
Research process might involve various expenses.

Seeking for funding is important - Rule of thumb budgeting, Departmental

or functional area budgeting or Task budgeting

Research proposal to be submitted - Short summary of the study and

preliminary steps in the study, possible impact

Research Evaluation- Ex Post Facto Evaluation, Prior or Interim Evaluation,

Option Analysis, Decision Theory.
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 Stage 3: Designing the Research

Project
Research Design - is a blueprint for ful lling objective and answering
questions

Determining the methodology for study, target population etc.

Pilot Testing - helps in detecting the weaknesses in design and

instrumentation and to provide proxy data for selection of a probability
sample.
.

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 Stage 4: Data Collection and

Preparation

Methodology selected determine how the data will be collected.

 Stage 5: Data Analysis and
Interpretation

Answers to the proposed question can be derived at this stage.

 Stage 6: Reporting the result
Prepare a report and transmit the ndings and recommendations to the manager for the intended purpose of
decision making. A research report should contain the following:

An executive summary consisting of a synopsis of the problem, ndings, and recommendations.

An overview of the research: the problem’s background, literature summary, methods and procedures, and
conclusions.

A section on implementation strategies for the recommendations

A technical appendix with all the materials necessary to replicate the project.

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 The Favored-Technique Syndrome

Some researchers are method-bound.

They recast the management question so that it is amenable to their favorite

methodology—a survey, for example.

 Imagine you are the factory manager of a garment manufacturing industry

and you are in dilemma whether you have to implement the 4 day working
week?

Currently the factory works in shifts of 8hrs, 6 days a week.

You worked out the operational cost and found that it is more optimal to
have 4 days working week.

Come up with a management question out of this scenario and a research

question?