RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY
Introduction
 About the Course

◦ Evaluation:
◦ Class Assignment 1 (15 marks) – pre-mid-term
◦ Mid Term (20 marks) – End March
◦ Class Assignment 2 (15 marks) – post mid-term
◦ Research Report (15 marks) – throughout the semester – submission at the
end, with progress to be reported –should be based on primary data and
have applications of hypothesis testing
SIP
Why Research in Business?
◦ Information
◦ Interpretation

Example: New Coke in 1985: what went wrong?

Before the launch: Survey with 200, 000 people
◦ Loyal consumers were divided about the change in taste of Coke
◦ Loyal consumers also drink Pepsi, for its sweeter taste
Focus Group:
◦ Dissatisfaction about the taste
After the Launch things didn’t work. Why?
◦ The research was erroneous/ interpretations were wrong
◦ They didn’t attach much importance to the consumers’ emotional
attachment with the original brand
What is Research?
◦ A skill? An inherent aptitude?
◦ A way of thinking!!
◦ examining critically the various aspects of an
issue/concept/problem (e.g. why is market share stagnant?)
◦ understanding and formulating guiding principles that govern a
particular procedure (e.g. which mode of advertising to choose/
which product to launch and how?)
◦ developing and testing new theories that contribute to the
advancement of business – business research (e.g. digital
marketing, institutional voids in emerging markets – Tata Magic!!)
 Research Questions faced by a
Marketing Professional
◦ What is the best strategy to promote the sale of a particular product?
◦ How many salespersons do I need?
◦ What is the effect of a particular advertising campaign on the sale of this
product?
◦ How satisfied are the consumers with this product?
◦ How much are consumers prepared to spend on this product?
◦ What do consumers like or dislike about this product?
◦ What type of packaging do consumers prefer for this product?
◦ What training do the salespersons need to promote the sale of this product?
◦ What are the attributes of a good salesperson?
◦ How to launch the new product?
◦ Is the mode of advertising appropriate?
◦ What is the market potential of a new product?
Research…..evidence based practice
(EBP)
◦ It’s a way to gather evidence for practice
◦ Originated from medical practice
◦ delivery of services based upon research evidence about their
effectiveness; the service provider’s clinical judgement as to the
suitability and appropriateness of the service for a client; and the
client’s own preference as to the acceptance of the service. EBP is
fast becoming a service delivery norm among many professions
◦ Research is one of the ways of collecting accurate, sound and
reliable information about the effectiveness of the interventions,
thereby providing us with evidence of its effectiveness.
◦ Example: Evidences suggest learning is best in physical classroom
than online!!
Research…..applications
◦ Take any field, say business. The professional practice follows methods and
techniques from other disciplines, viz. statistics, economics among others
◦ procedures and practices tested and developed by others over a long
period of time.
◦ It is in this testing process that one needs research skills
◦ Validity of findings entirely depends upon the soundness of the research
methods and procedures adopted.
Applications of Research
◦ From the viewpoint of
◦ Service Provider
◦ Administrator/Manager/Planner
◦ The Consumer
◦ The Professional
Applications
Applications
Meaning of Research
◦ Research is one of the ways to find answers to questions. When we say that
we are undertaking a research study to find out answers to a question, this
implies that the process being applied:
◦ is being undertaken within a framework of a set of philosophies;
◦ uses procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for their
validity and reliability;
◦ is designed to be unbiased and objective.
Definition of Research
◦ Research is a process for collecting, analysing and interpreting information
to answer questions.
◦ But to qualify as research, the process must have certain characteristics: it
must, as far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and
verifiable, empirical and critical.
◦ Business Research: A process of determining, acquiring, analyzing,
synthesizing, and disseminating relevant business data, information, and
insights to decision makers in ways that mobilize the organization to take
appropriate business actions that, in turn, maximize business performance
Characteristics
◦ Controlled: In real life there are many factors that affect
an outcome. Most outcomes are a sequel to the interplay
of a multiplicity of relationships and interacting factors.
In practice, particularly in the social sciences, it is
extremely difficult – and often impossible – to make the
link.
◦ The concept of control implies that, in exploring causality
in relation to two variables, we have to set up the study in
a way that minimises the effects of other factors affecting
the relationship – possible in physical sciences, in a
laboratory. However, in social sciences it is extremely
difficult ; so we try to quantify their impact.
Characteristics
◦ Rigorous – One must be scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures
followed to find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified.
Again, the degree of rigour varies markedly between the physical and the
social sciences and within the social sciences.
◦ Systematic – This implies that the procedures adopted to undertake an
investigation follow a certain logical sequence. The different steps cannot be
taken in a haphazard way. Some procedures must follow others.
◦ Valid and verifiable – This concept implies that whatever you conclude on
the basis of your findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.
◦ Empirical – This means that any conclusions drawn are based upon hard
evidence gathered from information collected from real-life experiences or
observations.
◦ Critical – Critical scrutiny of the procedures used and the methods employed
is crucial to a research enquiry. The process of investigation must be free
from any drawbacks. The process and the procedures used must be able to
withstand critical scrutiny.
Problem No. 1
◦ Want to run a food stall in Tarnaka?

◦ Assess the viability of such a business

◦ Survey – whom?
Problem No. 2
A finance company has its own agents in the rural areas as well as urban
areas. Its Fixed Deposit market in rural areas are quite good. Now, the
company wants to explore the market for insurance through its own
distribution channel. How will the company do it?

What is the research question?

What is the method of execution?
Problem No. 3

Why Consumers Prefer Starbucks to Café

Coffee Day?
Problem No. 4
◦ Kellogg’s experienced a slump in the market. Why?
Identification

◦ How to solve the problem?

Solution
Problem No. 5
◦ A not-very-much-known pharmaceutical company
wants to increase its market share and also make its
presence felt in way of some other related products/
services
Problem No. 6

◦ Which type of customers visit a particular mall?

◦ How will you know?

Types of Research
◦ 3 perspectives/ ways of categorisation
◦ applications of the findings of the research study;
◦ objectives of the study;
◦ mode of enquiry used in conducting the study.

◦ Applications : Pure and Applied Research

◦ Objectives: descriptive, correlational, explanatory,
exploratory
◦ Mode of Enquiry: Qualitative, Quantitative
Types of Research
◦ a research study classified from the viewpoint of ‘application’ can
also be classified from the perspectives of ‘objectives’ and ‘enquiry
mode’ employed. For example,
◦ a research project may be classified as pure or applied research
(from the perspective of application),
◦ as descriptive, correlational, explanatory or exploratory (from the
perspective of objectives)
◦ as qualitative or quantitative (from the perspective of the enquiry
mode employed).
Types: Application
◦ Pure vs Applied: Pure research involves developing and testing
theories and hypotheses that are intellectually challenging to the
researcher but may or may not have practical application; also
concerned with the development, examination, verification and
refinement of research methods, procedures, techniques and tools,
e.g. developing a methodology to assess the validity of a procedure;
developing an instrument etc
◦ Most of the research in the social sciences is applied. In other
words, the research techniques, procedures and methods that form
the body of research methodology are applied to the collection of
information about various aspects of a situation, issue, problem
Types: Objective
◦ a descriptive study attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon,
service or programme, or provides information about, say, describes attitudes towards an
issue. For example, it may attempt to describe the types of service provided by an
organization, e.g. Census, how company A is positioned in the market? the study might want
to distinguish between the characteristics of the customers who buy normal petrol and
those who buy premium petrol. Is the consumption of organic food more in affluent South
Delhi as compared to the other areas in Delhi?
◦ correlational study tries to discover or establish the existence ofa
relationship/association/interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation:
What is the relationship between technology and unemployment?
◦ Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two
aspects of a situation or phenomenon. This type of research attempts to explain, for
example, why stressful living results in heart attacks or test the impact of a new data
monitoring programme on the inventory management system of a hearing aids’
manufacturer
◦ In Exploratory research, a study is undertaken with the objective either to explore an area
where little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a particular research
study. When a study is carried out to determine its feasibility it is also called a feasibility
study or a pilot study. What are the selection parameters for bankruptcy professionals?
Type: Enquiry
◦ Quantitative vs Qualitative
◦ The structured approach to enquiry is usually classified as
quantitative research and unstructured as qualitative
research.
◦ The choice between quantitative and qualitative approaches
(or structured or unstructured) should depend upon:
◦ •• Aim of enquiry – exploration, confirmation or
quantification.
◦ •• Use of the findings – policy formulation or process
understanding.
 Type: Enquiry
◦ Broadly, there are two approaches to enquiry:
◦ 1 structured approach
◦ 2 unstructured approach
◦ In the structured approach everything that forms the research process –
objectives, design, sample, and the questions– is predetermined.
◦ The unstructured approach, by contrast, allows flexibility in all these
aspects of the process.
◦ The structured approach is more appropriate to determine the extent
of a problem, issue or phenomenon; unstructured approach is
predominantly used to explore its nature, variation/diversity per se in a
phenomenon, issue, problem or attitude towards an issue.
◦ For example, what people think about COVID protocols, one may go for
unstructured approach. But how many of them think it should be
followed and how many not followed, how many think it should be
revised etc, one should go for a structured approach
 Type: Enquiry
◦ The structured approach to enquiry is usually classified as quantitative
research and unstructured as qualitative research.
◦ A study is qualitative if the purpose of the study is primarily to describe a
situation, phenomenon, problem or event; if the information is gathered
through the use of variable measured on nominal or ordinal scales
(qualitative measurement scales); and if the analysis is done to establish the
variation in the situation, phenomenon or problem without quantifying it.
The description of an observed situation, the historical enumeration of
events, an account of the different opinions people have about an issue, and
a description of the living conditions of a community are examples of
qualitative research.
◦ On the other hand, the study is classified as quantitative if you want to
quantify the variation in a phenomenon, situation, problem or issue; if
information is gathered using predominantly quantitative variables; and if
the analysis is geared to ascertain the magnitude of the variation. Examples
of quantitative aspects of a research study are: How many people have a
particular problem? How many people hold a particular attitude?
Examples
Types of Research: Caselets
◦ Read the caselets (Cooper and Schindler) – Research
Study 1, 2, 3, 4
◦ What are the types of research?
Paradigms of research
◦ The paradigm that is rooted in the physical sciences is
called the systematic, scientific or positivist approach –
encompasses both quantitative and qualitative research
◦ The opposite paradigm has come to be known as the
qualitative, ethnographic, ecological or naturalistic
approach.
Characteristics of Good Research
Clearly defined purpose

Detailed research process

Thoroughly planned design

High ethical standards

Limitations addressed

Adequate analysis

Unambiguous presentation

Conclusions justified

Credentials
Problems / Limitations of research
◦ Formulation of research aims and objectives. Too
broad or too narrow!! (e.g. are the govt policies effective?
Or, students’ habit of reading newspapers – you only take
a couple of schools)

◦ Implementation of data collection method: Because

one may not have an extensive experience in primary
data collection there is a great chance that the nature of
implementation of data collection method is flawed. (e.g.
study on market potential of opening a creche for kids in
a locality – survey on all days during daytime)
Problems / Limitations of research
◦ Sample size: depends on the nature of the research problem.
If it is too small, statistical tests would not be able to identify
significant relationships. You can state that basing your study
in larger sample size could have generated more accurate
results (issues of validity and reliability)
◦ Lack of previous studies in the research area: Literature
review is an important part of any research, because it helps
to identify the scope of the work. Findings in literature are
used as the foundation for the researcher to be built upon to
achieve her research objectives. However, there may be little,
if any, prior research on your topic, e.g. Bitcoins.
Problems / Limitations of research
◦ Scope of discussions: The researcher may not have long
years of experience in writing scientific papers or
completing complex studies. That’s why the depth and
scope of the discussions can be compromised in different
levels compared to scholars with a lot of expertise.

◦ Data limitations
◦ Time limitations
◦ Sampling problems
◦ Inference and conclusions
Scientific Method in Research:
Meaning and Characteristics
◦ “Research describes a careful, systematic, patient study and
investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish
facts or principles….. research is a structured inquiry that utilises
acceptable scientific methodology to solve problems and creates
new knowledge that is generally applicable”.
◦ Good research is based on sound reasoning, i.e. finding correct
premises, testing connections between their facts and assumptions
and making claims based on adequate evidence
◦ In the reasoning process, induction and deduction, observation and
hypothesis testing can be combined in a systematic way
◦ Scientific method guides our approach to problem solving
Scientific Method……tenets
◦ Direct observation of phenomena
◦ Clearly defined methods, variables and procedures (e.g. is an
organisation democratic?)
◦ Empirically testable hypothesis (e.g. promotion leads to more
profits)
◦ The ability to rule out rival hypothesis
◦ Statistical (not linguistic) justification of conclusions
◦ Self-correcting process (e.g. revising questions in a questionnaire)
◦ EMPIRICAL
Scientific Method: characteristics
◦ Researcher encounters curiosity, doubt, barrier, suspicion
◦ Difficult to state problem – looks at existing knowledge,
gathers facts and questions….
◦ Proposes a hypothesis/ possible explanation of the
problem concerned
◦ Deduces consequences of hypothesis
◦ Formulates rival hypothesis, too
◦ Conducts empirical analysis to rule out rival hypothesis
◦ Draws a conclusion
◦ Feeds back info and modifies it acc to the strength of
evidence
Reasoning
◦ 2 types of discourse: exposition and argument
◦ Exposition: statements that describe, without attempting to explain
◦ Argument: allows us to explain, interpret, defend, challenge and
explore meaning
◦ 2 types of argument
◦ Deduction: a form of argument that purports to be conclusive –
reasons represent the proof (e.g. All NMIMS students have to go by
the academic norms of the institute, you are a student here….
Hence..)
◦ Induction: radically different – no relation b/w reason and
conclusions, rather it’s about drawing a conclusion from one or
more particular facts or pieces of evidence (e.g. a company
launched a promotional campaign. Profits did not increase. Why?
Maybe, it was not executed/designed properly. This is an induction
◦ In research sometimes we may combine both!!
Deductive Reasoning example
Inner-city household interviewing is especially
difficult and expensive

This survey involves substantial inner-city household

interviewing

The interviewing in this survey will be especially

difficult and expensive

Reasons given for conclusion must agree with the real

world and conclusion must follow from the reasons – 2
conditions to be met
Inductive Reasoning
◦ Why didn’t sales increase during the promotional
event?
◦ Regional retailers did not have sufficient stock to fill
customer requests during the promotional period
◦ A strike by employees prevented stock from arriving in
time for promotion to be effective
◦ A hurricane closed retail outlets in the region for 10 days
during the promotion
Induction…..
◦ Inferential jump beyond the evidence presented – i.e.
though one conclusion explains the fact, there may be
other conclusions that explain the fact! Or when
explored, none of them is true!!
◦ Assumptions and beliefs, past experience, past
evidences all may lead to such inductive logic
Combining deduction and induction
◦ Induction occurs when we observe something and ask,
why is it so?
◦ Then we have a tentative explanation – hypothesis
◦ The hypothesis is plausible if it explains the condition
that prompted the question
◦ Deduction is the process by which we test whether the
hypothesis is capable of explaining the fact
Example
◦ 1. You promote a product but sales don’t increase. (Fact 1)
◦ 2. You ask the question “Why didn’t sales increase?” (Induction)
◦ 3. You infer a conclusion (hypothesis) to answer the question: The
promotion was poorly executed. (Hypothesis)
◦ 4. You use this hypothesis to conclude (deduce) that sales will not
increase during a poorly executed promotion. You know from
experience that ineffective promotion will not increase sales.
(Deduction 1)
◦ We must deduce other specific facts or events from the hypothesis
and then gather information to see if the deductions are true. In
this example:
◦ 5. We deduce that a well-executed promotion will result in
increased sales. (Deduction 2)
◦ 6. We run an effective promotion, and sales increase. (Fact 2)
Why Didn’t Sales Increase?
Role of deduction
◦ What do we do with the hypothesis?
◦ We must deduce other specific facts that can then be
investigated
◦ We must deduce other specific facts from the hypothesis
and then gather info to see whether the deductions are
true!
◦ Deduction 2 and fact 2!!
◦ Developing multiple hypothesis is also possible!!, e.g.
hypo 2 may be that the salesperson is lazy!
◦ Fact 2 and 3 might be that the salesperson is late to
work regularly and he makes fewer calls than the avg
salesperson
Exercise
◦ Find out the inductions and deductions in the following
statements. If there are gaps, supply what is needed to
make them complete arguments.
◦ a Repeated studies indicate that economic conditions vary
with—and lag 6 to 12 months behind—the changes in the
national money supply. Therefore, we may conclude that
the money supply is the basic economic variable.
◦ b Research studies show that heavy smokers have a higher
rate of lung cancer than do nonsmokers; therefore, heavy
smoking causes lung cancer.
◦ c Show me a person who goes to church regularly, and I
will show you a reliable worker.
Exercise
◦ You are the office manager of a large firm. Your company
prides itself on its high-quality customer service. Lately
complaints have surfaced that an increased number of
incoming calls are being misrouted or dropped.
Yesterday, when passing by the main reception area, you
noticed the receptionist fiddling with his hearing aid. In
the process, a call came in and would have gone
unanswered if not for your intervention. This particular
receptionist had earned an unsatisfactory review three
months earlier for tardiness. Your inclination is to urge
this 20-year employee to retire or to fire him, if
retirement is rejected, but you know the individual is
well liked and seen as a fixture in the company.
◦ Pose several hypotheses that might account for dropped
or misrouted incoming calls.
Case Discussion
◦ HeroBuilders.com
Exercises

◦ A lot of business magazines conduct surveys, for example

the best management schools in the country; the top ten
banks in the country; the best schools to study in, etc. What
do you think of these studies, would you call them research?
Why/why not?

◦ Faced with increasing absenteeism and low productivity,

your HR manager proposes that a job satisfaction study
across levels is required in the company. What do you think
of this research question? Do you think such a study would
help the manager in resolving his dilemma? Explain.
DIY Exercises : which type of
research?
• McPherson, Miller, Lynn Smith-Lovin, Matthew E. Brashers. 2006.
“Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Network
s over Two Decades.” 
American Sociological Review, 71(3): 353-375.
• Ling, Rich, and Gitte Stald
. 2010. “Mobile Communities: Are We Talking About a Village, a Cl
an, or a Small Group?” 
American Behavioral Scientist, 53:1133-1147.
• Leakey, Tricia, Kevin B. Lunde, Karin Koga, and Karan Glanz. 2004.
“Written Parental Consent and the Use of Incentives in a Youth S
moking Prevention Trial: A Case Study From Project  SPLASH.” 
American Journal of Evaluation, 25(4):509-523.
• St. Pierre, Robert G. and Peter H. Rossi. 2006. “Randomize Groups,
Not Individuals: A Strategy for Improving Childhood Programs.” 
Evaluation Review, 30:656.
Ref
◦ Kumar Ranjit Chapter 1
◦ Cooper and Schindler, Chapter 4 (Scientific Method)