Chapter 5

Formulating the research design

1 - Research Design
The research design needs:
• Clear objectives derived from the research question
• To specify sources of data collection
• To consider constraints (time and money) and ethical issues
• Valid reasons for your choice of design

Classification of the research purpose

• Exploratory research: Exploring a topic, not very familiar so we are just exploring, attempting
just to understand a topic.
• Descriptive studies: Describe the phenomena, actors involves, not analyse it.
• Explanatory studies: Analyze the hypothesis.

2 - Research Strategies
2.1 Experiment
An experiment will involve
• Qualitative
• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis, assuming that a deductive approach had been adopted
• Selection of samples from known populations, and divided into 2
• Random allocation people for each group, compare the reaction of control group (on status co,
change nothing about it) and experimental group (change one or two variables)
• Introduction of planned intervention
• Measurement on a small number of dependent variables
• Control of all other variables
2.2 Action research
• Research IN action - not ON action
• Involves practitioners in the research
• The researcher becomes part of the organisation
• Promotes change within the organisation
• Can have two distinct focii (Schein, 1999) – the aim of the research and the needs of the sponsor
(when the organization is affiliated with a university)

2.3 Grounded theory

• Theory is built through induction and deduction, closer to inductive  interpreting the
behaviour of one unit and go back to the theory
• Helps to predict and explain behaviour
• Develops theory from data generated by observations
• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-deductive one

2.4 Survey
Study the phenomenon by figures or numbers, the key features are:
• Popular in business research
• Perceived as authoritative
• Allows collection of quantative data
• Data can be analysed quantitatively
• Samples need to be representative
• Gives the researcher independence
• Structured observation and interviews can be used
2.5 Ethnography
• Aims to describe and explain the social world inhabited by the researcher  the researcher os
part of the group he is studying
• Takes place over an extended time period
• Is naturalistic
• Involves extended participant observation

2.6 Case study

Studying the case of one unit of behaviour and trying to generalize results from it, the key features:
• Provides a rich understanding of a real life context
• Uses and triangulates multiple sources of data
A case study can be categorised in four ways and based on two dimensions:
- single case v. multiple case
- holistic case (all aspects) v. embedded case (one aspect of the behaviour)

2.7 Archival research

• Quantitative
• Uses administrative records and documents as the principal sources of data
• Allows research questions focused on the past  using past data
• Is constrained by the nature of the records and documents

The role of the practitioner-researcher

• Research access is more easily available
• The researcher knows the organisation
• Has the disadvantage of familiarity
• The researcher is likely to their own assumptions and preconceptions
• The dual role requires careful negotiation

3 - Research choices
3.1 Mono method: Choose one technique and analyze it with the same philosophy of technique
- Quantitative approach you chose the survey and analyze the result
- Qualitative approach you conduct interviews and you do content analysis of the interviews

3.2 Multiple methods:

Using either both approaches quantitative and qualitative, and you chose to analyse them
either quantitatively and qualitatively
- In Multi-method, many methods are related to quantitative and qualitative  one
approach but different techniques
- In Mixed-methods, qualitative and quantitative approach are been used
o Mixed-method research: Choose to conduct a survey and deal with the data
quantitatively plus an interview and deal with the data quantitatively  using a
qualitatively technique and deal with the data qualitatively
o Mixed-Model research: is the most elaborate one, because you are conducting a
quantitative and a qualitative technique but the data is analysed in mixing both
Reasons for using mixed method designs:
• Triangulation (use one or more independent source of data or data
collection methods to collaborate research finding with a study)
• Facilitation (use of one data collection technique or research strategy to
aid research another data collection method)
• Complementarity
• Generality
• Aid interpretation
• Study different aspects
• Solving a puzzle

4 – Time Horizon
• Cross-sectional studies: at a certain time you are studying different companies wherever there
socio demographic features. Push to study in the term of regression
• Longitudinal studies: means time series or studies, go more into forecasting.

5 - Important considerations
• Reliability of your sources
• Validity especially for surveys if it is not randomly chosen
• Generalisability: the results have to be solid enough to be generalise
• Logic leaps and false assumptions