Professional Documents
Culture Documents
200-Chapter-3 & 4
200-Chapter-3 & 4
200-Chapter-3 & 4
1
Chapter Objectives
1. Discuss how problem areas can be
identified.
2. State research problems clearly and
precisely.
3. Explain how primary and secondary data
help the researcher to develop a problem
statement.
4. Develop relevant and comprehensive
bibliographies for any research topic.
5. Write a literature review on any given topic.
6. Develop a research proposal.
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Broad Problem Area
n The broad problem area refers to the
entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and
problem solving. Such issues might
pertain to:
1. Problems currently existing in an
organizational setting that need to be
solved. →
3
Broad Problem Area
2. Areas that a manager believes needs
to be improved in the organization.
3. A conceptual or theoretical issue that
needs to be tightened up for the basic
researcher to understand certain
phenomena.
4. Some research questions that a basic
researcher wants to answer
empirically.
4
Examples of Broad Problem Areas that
Could be Observed at the Work Place
6
Preliminary Data Collection
n The background details of the company
can be obtained from available
published records, the web site of the
company.
n Company policies, procedures, and
rules can be obtained from the
organization’s records and documents.
n Data gathered through such existing
sources are called secondary data. 7
Preliminary Data Collection
n Secondary data, are data that already
exist and do not have to be collected by the
researcher.
n Some secondary sources of data are
statistical bulletins, government publications,
information published or unpublished and
available from either within or outside the
organization, library records, data available
from previous research, online data, web
sites, and the Internet.
8
Preliminary Data Collection
n Other types of information such as the
perceptions and attitudes of employees are
best obtained by talking to them; by
observing events, people, and objects; or by
administering questionnaires to individuals.
n Such data gathered for research from the
actual site of occurrence of events are called
primary data.
9
Prevailing knowledge on the topic
n A literature review should help the
researcher to identify and highlight the
important variables that are related to
the problem.
10
Literature Survey
n Literature survey is the
documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary
sources of data in the areas of specific
interest to the researcher.
11
Literature Survey
n The library is a rich storage base for
secondary data through books, journals,
newspapers, magazines, conference
proceedings, doctoral dissertations,
master’s theses, government
publications, and financial marketing,
and other reports.
12
Literature Survey
n The computerized databases
is now readily available and accessible,
which makes the literature search much
easier, and can be done without
entering the portals of a library
building.
13
Reasons for the Literature Survey
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Data Sources
n Textbooks
n Academic and professional journals
n Theses: phD theses and Master theses.
n Conference proceedings
n Unpublished manuscripts
n Reports
n Newspapers
n The internet
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Searching for literature
n There are three forms of
databases:
1. The bibliographic databases,
which display only the bibliographic
citations, that is, the name of the
author, the title of the article (book),
source of publication, year, volume,
and page numbers.
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Searching for Literature
2. The abstract databases, which in addition
provide an abstract or summary of the
articles.
3. The full-text databases, which provide
the full text of the article.
Ø Databases are also available for obtaining
statistics- marketing, financial, and so on.
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Searching for Literature
n Online search provides the following
advantages:
1. Saving enormous amount of time.
2. Are comprehensive in their listing and
review of references.
3. The researcher can focus on materials most
central to the research efforts.
4. Finding access to references is relatively
inexpensive.
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Searching for Literature
22
Searching for Literature
Organizational effectiveness
Organization theorists have defined
organizational effectiveness (OE) in various
ways. OE has been described in terms of
objectives (Georgopolous and
Tannenbaum, 1957), goals (Etzioni, 1960),
efficiency (Katz and Kahn, 1966), resources
acquisition (Yuchtman and Seashore,
1967). As Coutler (2002) remarked, there is
little consensus on how to conceptualize,
measure, or explain OE. 28
Examples of Literature
Surveys
Researchers are now moving away from a
single model and are taking contingency
approaches to conceptualizing OE
(Cameron, 1996; Wernerfelt, 1998; Yetley,
2001). However, they are still limiting
themselves to examining the impact of the
dominant factors in the organization’s life
cycle instead of taking a broader, more
dynamic approach (Dahl, 2001, p.25).
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What insights can be gained
from the above example?
1. The literature review introduces the
subject of study.
2. Highlights the problem (that we do not
have a good conceptual framework for
understanding OE).
3. Summarizes the work done so far on
the topic (by reporting the citations in the body of
the research by mentioning the family names and
the year of publication only).
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Defining the Problem
Statement
n After the literature review, the
researcher is in position to narrow down
the problem from its original broad base
and define the issues of concern more
clearly.
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What makes a good problem
statement?
§ The problem statement introduces
the key problem that is addressed in
the research project.
§ Problem statement is a clear,
precise, and short statement of the
specific issue that a researcher wishes
to investigate.
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The three key criteria for
problem statement
n There are three key criteria to assess
the quality of the problem statement:
1. It should be relevant
2. It should be feasible
3. It should be interesting
33
From an academic perspective,
research is relevant if:
35
The problem statement is
interesting
37
Examples of Well-Defined
Problem Statements
n To what extent do the structure of the organization and type
of information systems installed account for the variance in
the perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
n To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high-quality, customer-centered
corporate image that it was intended to produce?
n How has the new packaging affected the sales of the
product?
n What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range
growth patterns of companies?
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Format for Referencing
Relevant Articles
42
Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Journal Article
n Barry, H. (1996). Cross-cultural research with
matched pairs of societies. Journal of Social
Psychology, 79, 25-33.
n Jeanquart, S., & Peluchette, J. (1997).
Diversity in the workforce and management
models, Journal of Social Work Studies, 43,
72-85.
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Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Conference proceedings
Publication
n Yeshwant, M. (1998). Revised thinking
on Indian philosophy and religion. In S.
Pennathur (Ed.), Proceedings of the
Ninth International Conference on
Religion, (pp. 100-107). Bihar, India:
Bihar University.
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Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Doctoral/Master Dissertations
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Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
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Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Unpublished Manuscript
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Specimen Format for Citing
Different Types of References
Newspaper Article
n The new GM pact. ( 1998, July 28).
Concord Tribune, p.1.
Referencing Electronic Sources
n Author, I. (1998). Technology and
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Examples of the Referencing In the
Literature Review Section:
50
Examples of the Referencing In the
Literature Review Section:
52
Examples of the Referencing In the
Literature Review Section:
53
Examples of the Referencing In the
Literature Review Section:
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Examples of the Referencing In the
Literature Review Section:
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Quotations in Text
n The citation of the source of a direct
quotation should always include the
page number(s) as well as reference
57
Quotations in Text
n Use three ellipsis points (…) to indicate
that you have omitted material from the
original source.
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Quotations in the Text
If the quotation is of more than 40 words, set in a
free-standing style starting on a new line and
indenting the left margin a further five spaces.
Example:
n In trying to differentiate dual-earner and dual –career
families, Sekaran (1986) states:
59
Quotations in the Text
n If you intend publishing an article in
which you have quoted extensively
from the copyrighted work, it is
important to seek written permission
from the owner of the copyright.
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The research proposal
contains the following:
n Key elements:
n Purpose of the study
n Specific problem to be investigated.
n Scope of the study
n Relevance of the study
n Research design:
n Sampling design
n Data collection methods
n Data analysis
n Time frame
n Budget
n Selected Bibliography
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Example
n While Chrysler’s minivans, pickups, and
sports utilities take a big share at the
truck market, its cars trail behind those
of General Motors, Ford, Honda, and
Toyota. Quality problems include,
among other things water leaks and
defective parts
( Business Week, No.10, 2007).
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Example-cont.
1. Identify the broad problem area.
2. Define the problem?
3. Explain how you would proceed
further.
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Answers
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answers
3. It is best to interview the users of GM, Ford,
Honda, and Toyota car users and obtain from
them their reaction – both positive and
negative- to the cars they use, and why they
prefer them.
n Similar reactions from the users of Chrysler
cars should also be gathered. One should
proceed further based on the analysis of
these responses.
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1.Bolger, Nial (2006). The Effect of Research n
on Productivity. Management Journal, 69(5):
20-35.
2.Girdano, Daniel A.; George S. Everly; and
Dorothy E. Dusek (2001). Controlling
Productivity, Applied Economics, 2(1): 15-30.
3. Jordan Investment Board (2000). Investing
in Jordan. www.jordaninvestment.com.
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Practice projects
n Do the project assigned below, following the
step-by-step process outlined:
1. Compile a bibliography on any one of the
following topics, or any other topic of
interest to you:
a. service quality b. product development
c. open-market operations
d. information systems
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Practice projects
2. From this bibliography, select 10
references that include books,
periodicals, and newspaper items.
3. Based on these 10 articles, write a
literature review using the citation
forms as described in our lectures.
4. Formulate a problem statement.
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Visit the following websites
n Intel http://www.intel.com
n Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com
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