RT201B – Research Theory

Welcome to Research
Theory
Click to edit Master title style
 What are we doing this Semester?
• Week 1: Research as a discipline –Study Guide Unit 1

• Week 2: Research ethics and academic integrity – Study Guide

Unit 2

• Week 3: Finding and evaluating research information and

articles – Study Guide Unit 3

• Week 4: Set up and frame a study – Study Guide Unit 4

• Week 5: Assignment 1 submission – Multiple choice questions

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 • Week 6: The literature review – Study Guide Unit 5

• Week 7: Research methodology: Qualitative and

quantitative research approaches and assumptions – Study
Guide Unit 6

• Week 8: Qualitative research: Designs and data collection

– Study Guide Unit 7

• Week 9: Qualitative analysis: Data analysis and reporting –

Study Guide Unit 8

• Week 10: Assignment 2 Submission – Essay-type questions

– Units 1 – 12

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• Week 11: Quantitative research: Designs and data collection –
Study Guide Unit 9

• Week 12: Quantitative research: Data analysis and reporting -

Study Guide Unit 10

• Week 13: Management of the research process - Study Guide

Unit 11

• Week 14: Apply the principles of aesthetic report presentation

– Study Guide Units 12

• Week 15 - Revision week

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Recommended Textbook
• RT201B Research Theory Marketing Research
ISBN: 9781485129240
eISBN: 9781485129257
Wiid, J.A. & Diggines, C.N. (Eds) Juta 4th 2021

• Chapter 12: p. 254

• Chapter 13: p. 276, pp. 288 – 299, pp. 300 – 333

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Study Resources
• eLibrary: Textbooks
• Articles under ‘Additional Study Materials’ on
module website
• Study Guide
• Sources you are referred to in the Study Guide
• eDiscussion Forum

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RECAP
• Previously…we focused on the different types of
quantitative methods used to collect research data.

• Revision exercise
What are the different quantitative data collection
methods?

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 •

Quantitative research: Data

analysis and Reporting
STUDY
UNIT 8
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 • Analyse quantitative data
• Present quantitative findings
• Discuss quantitative findings in context of the
literature
• Finalise the quantitative study report

Study Unit 10
Outcomes
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 • Qualitative Data vs Quantitative data
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYmLE8UqCXU

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 • When you are required to prepare a research report,
you need to understand the underlying factors that
ensure the optimisation of research outcomes.
• You are not required to complete calculations but do
need to understand where and when the different
types of analysis are needed. You also need to know
how the analysis requirements affect the
questionnaire.

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 Objectives of the research

Data to be collected

Analysis of data

Provides information for a business or managerial

decision, to make a contribution to knowledge or
theory.

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 • The required statistical analysis will
• determine the type of samples used
• the format of questions in the questionnaire

In qualitative methods, the questions enable the discovery of

relevant variables affecting the underlying problem.
VS
In quantitative methods, the answers to questions should
allow examination of measures of central tendency, the
calculation of the significance of differences and the ability to
determine causal relationships.

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 • Checking the acceptability of the respondents
• Is a respondent suitable as specified by the sampling method?
• Do they qualify to be interviewed?[Selection criteria]
• Completeness of the responses.
• Have all of the questions been completed in the correct order?
• Is there internal consistency (no contradictions in the replies)?
• Have responses to open questions been coded to reflect the
patterns of replies?
• In quantitative studies, the use of software to check for
missing responses and contradictory replies is prevalent.

Data
Quality
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 • The data analyst is looking for
• significant numbers
• relationships and trends.
• take account conscious of common thoughts/themes in the
replies to form recognisable factors?
• For example, indicators of bad management such as
several different remarks mentioning
• “resources not available”
• “a lot of absenteeism”
• “poor atmosphere”
• “unhappy staff”
• Similarly, one could group activities related to good
Quantitative service. (Greeted at the door/ prompt delivery of
order / correct meals served / checked we were happy
data analysis and so on.)

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 • The researcher must find the links between consumer
attitudes / opinions and their behaviour to describe the
connections, if any, between exposure to promotions and
buying habits.
• Look beyond the obvious explanations and find the hidden
associations which drive factors such as product choice or
brand image.
• Note differences or relationships between numbers and
patterns of trends are significant.
• Useful to have a qualified statistician to advise
• How big does a difference need to be before it is a real
difference?
• Knowing the significance of figures and their probability of
occurrence can help to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions.
Quantitative
data analysis
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 • Data refers to a series or group of observations or
measurements.
• 'Data' is the plural form of the word, the singular being
'datum'.
• When data is interpreted, analysed, structured, and given
relevance within a specific context,

Information

Knowledge (the ability to use information strategically)

Decision making
Quantitative
data analysis
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 • Statistics enable people to reflect on and question or
challenge information about issues and problems
systematically;
• it also provides a basis for identifying needs for more
information about a particular phenomenon.

• Statistics - a set of rules or procedures that reduces

and simplifies large volumes of data or information to
be understood.
• used to manipulate data, such as to calculate an average
score of a range of measurements (e.g. weight of children in
a classroom) as a shorter way of giving information than a
list of all individual weights.

Statistics
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 • When information about an entire population is
presented, it is called a parameter.
• When information about a sample is presented, it is called
a statistic.
• So when we use the term statistics, we are constantly
referring only to the sample selected to obtain information
about a population. When a census is conducted, we can
refer to the resulting information as the population
parameters.
• Variables
• the characteristics, attributes, qualities, features of something
investigated in the research e.g. gender, ethnicity, religion.
• a data point is a specific measurement of a selected variable; in
quantitative research, data points are numerical or need to be
coded numerically so that they can be analysed.
Statistics
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 Descriptive statistics
• describe a situation or phenomenon without ascribing
meaning or attempting to make predictions.
• the data is usually summarised and presented in that
form.
• E.g. characteristics of a particular community, the
number of clicks on a social media page .
• Descriptive statistics are also used to
• establish trends,
• explore relationships between variables
• establish the strength of any relationships.

Statistics
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 Inferential statistics
• analysis of data to make predictions or reaching conclusions
based on the evidence provided in the data.
• It uses probability
• E.g. determining if it will rain
• we can determine the probability of rain

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 • Frequency distributions
• show the ways in which data are distributed.
• Relative comparisons
• show how the data points for a particular variable differ or are
similar to each other.
• The rate is the frequency with which a particular outcome occurs;
• the ratio is a comparison of the frequency of one response with
another,
• a proportion is a ratio of a particular frequency of the total
• a percentage is the proportion multiplied by 100
• Measures of central tendency
• are the mean (arithmetical average)
• the median (the number that falls in the middle of the whole
Statistical range of numbers
• the mode (the number that appears most frequently and is the
Terms highest peak on the distribution curve)

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 • Measures of variability describe the spread of data for
a variable.
• The range is the distance between the lowest and
highest numbers in the range.
• The standard deviation is an important measure of
dispersion, describing how much the scores differ
from the average (mean) score; the higher the
standard deviation, the more the numbers differ from
each other.

Statistical
terms
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 Distribution shapes
• the normal distribution curve is symmetrical,
• the mean, median and mode are all at the same point,
but the data can be skewed, in which case the
measures of central tendency are in different places as
illustrated.
• According to the Central Limit Theorem
“the sample mean of a random variable will assume a near-
normal or normal distribution if the sample size is large
enough” (usually 30 and above)
Distribution
shapes
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Distribution
shapes
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 • Tests used to determine if the differences between
variables i.e. whether there is a significant difference
between them are
• T-tests,
• ANOVA
• Chi-squared test

Statistical
tests
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 • Choosing the correct statistical test starts with the
number of samples you are planning to compare, as
follows:
• Univariate- understanding individual variables.
• Bivariate- understanding how two variables interact.
• Multivariate- understanding how many variables
interact.
All of these can take place at either a descriptive or
inferential level.

Statistical
tests
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 • A hypothesis is an unproven statement or proposition
about a factor or phenomenon that interests the
researcher.
• For example, it may be a tentative statement about
relationships between two or more variables, as
stipulated by the theoretical framework or the
analytical model.
• Often, a hypothesis is a possible answer to the
research question.
• Hypotheses are statements of relationships that the
researcher wishes to test (Malhotra, Nunan & Birks
2017, p. 54).
Hypothesis
Testing
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 • T-test is used to decide if the means (the arithmetic
averages) of two groups are statistically different
• The ANOVA (Analysis of variance) shares some similarities
with the t-test. Both are used to test hypotheses about the
differences (the variance) in the means in groups. While
the t-test is used to test two means, ANOVA can test the
differences among the means of many groups at once.
• The purpose of one-way ANOVA is to test whether the means of
different groups are common or different.
• Two-way ANOVA is used when the groups tested have two
different defining characteristics rather than one.
• MANOVA (multiple analysis of variance) is a multivariate version
Popular of analysis of variance. Watch this video:
Statisical
tests
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 • Correlation tests
• a correlation is a single number that describes the degree of
relationship between two variables.
• measure the extent to which an independent variable
predicts a dependent variable

• Simple linear regression

• is like correlation in that it too determines the extent to
which an independent variable predicts a dependent
variable. However, the simple linear regression also tells
how well the line fits the data. The smaller the distance of
the data from the regression line, the better the fit.

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Simple
Linear
Regression
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 • Multiple linear regression measures how well
multiple independent variables predict the value of a
dependent variable. You will find a detailed
explanation of multiple linear regression at

Multiple
linear
regression
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Multiple
linear Fig 2: Multiple Linear Regression

regression
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 • There are conventions on how to present statistical
data depending on the procedure you have chosen.
• When presenting analytical data, the presentation
should be clear to understand and if, possible, tells the
story of your analysis or findings at a glance.

Methods to
present
statistical
data
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 Groupwork
What are the different types of data presentation
methods and give a brief description of each.

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 • Text
• Tables
• Graphs
• Vertical Bar chart
• Horizontal Bar chart
• Line Charts
Presenting • Pie Charts
the • Scatter plot
• Histograms
findings/res
ults
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 • The purpose of the discussion chapter is to position
your own research findings within the context of the
literature and debates around the topic.
• Explains how and why your research did (or did not)
fulfill the promise of the significance of the research
and how the research was going to contribute
• So the discussion chapter is like a literature review
with your own results embedded in it.

Discussion
Chapter
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 • Presenting new findings is an exciting process and
adds value to the body of knowledge more than the
confirmation of what is already known.
• To present limitations
• In consulting research for a client,
• the discussion chapter should still focus on presenting
answers to the research questions needing to be answered
by the client
• respond to the objectives set to respond to those questions.
• academic soundness should be upheld

Discussion
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 • No new information is added
• It can be a paragraph to one or two-page overview of
what the study has achieved, found, solved or
constructed.
• If the study has resulted in a new proposed
framework, model, or theory, this should be
presented, highlighting the significant parts.

Conclusion
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 • Recommendations for identified stakeholders and
clients are made.
• Recommendations for future research are stated –
these are suggestions based on any new questions
that have arisen out of the study.

Recommendations

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 • In the final report to clients, the report should include
the headings from the agency brief plus the following:

Final report
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 • The final report should include the key elements
contained in the proposal, PLUS:
• A submission letter covering the process, what was
agreed and what is being delivered
• An executive summary (equivalent to an abstract in
academic research)
• The results section
• The discussion or interpretation section
• Limitations to the research
Final Report • Conclusions
• Recommendations
submission
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 QUESTIONS

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 HOMEWORK

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 Next Topic

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 THANK YOU

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