The Research Process

Ch -4
 Information needs in business
 Almost every organization has to engage in rese
arch at some level to stay competitive.
 Companies gather data both from within and out
side the organization.
 The methods used to gather,analyze,and synthe
size information from the external and internal e
nvironments are becoming increasingly sophistic
ated to the immense scope of computer technol
ogy.
 Information- Reduces uncertainty and Helps foc
us decision making
 Research Stages
• Cyclical process - conclusions generate new
ideas
• Stages can overlap chronologically
• Stages are functionally interrelated
– Forward linkages
– Backward linkages
The research process
 1 Observation
 2 Data gathering
 3 Problem definition
 4 Theoretical framework (variables identified)
 5 Hypotheses
 6 Research design
 7 Data collection,analysis,interpretation
 8 Deduction
 9 Report writing
 10 Report presentation
 11 Managerial decision making
Literature Survey
Broad Problem Area
 Currently existing problems
 Situations Requiring Improvement

Preliminary Data Collection

 Nature of the Data to be gathered
 Background Information
 Situation analysis


“The formulation of the proble
m is often more essential than
its solution.”

--Albert Einstein

7
Problem Definition Process
Ascertain the Determine unit of
decision maker’s analysis
objectives

Understand Determine relevant

background of the variables
problem

Isolate/identify the State research

problem, not the questions and
symptoms objectives
Symptoms Can Be Confusing

9
 Choose a Question that is Neither
Too Broad or Too Narrow
 For example, if you choose
 Question A:
Do children sent to day care or preschool start kindergarten with more developed
skills?
 Question B:
Do children sent to day care or preschool start kindergarten with more highly dev
eloped language skills?
 Question C:
Do children sent to day care or preschool start kindergarten with larger vocabular
ies?
Once you complete your list, review your questions in order to cho
ose a usable one that is neither too broad nor too narrow.
In this case, the best research question is “b.“"The topic is broad enoug
h to find more than just one or two sources, but it's limited to one focus-
-the development of preschool language skills.
Question "a" is too broad since it focuses on all skills (e.g., language, social
, small motor skills, large motor skills, etc.--you get the idea). You'd have
to gather too much diverse information to answer question "a."
Is the Research Question Too Broad, T
oo Narrow, or Okay?
 Question A:
What marketing strategies does the Coca-Co
la company currently apply?
 Question B:
What is the Coca-Cola company's future mar
keting plan?
 Question C:
What marketing strategies has the Coca-Col
a company used in the past?
 Question A:
What marketing strategies does the Coca-Co
la company currently apply?
Question "a" is the best research question. Your research to answer this question
may include observation of print, television, and radio advertisements as well a
s research into various current marketing theories and strategies. Both types o
f research are "do-able," and the question is focused enough to yield a fully-de
veloped research paper.
 Question B:
What is the Coca-Cola company's future mar
keting plan?
Question "b" is very broad as well as being unresearchable--it's unlikely that Coca
-Cola personnel will reveal their marketing plan.
 Question C:
What marketing strategies has the Coca-Col
a company used in the past?
Is the Research Question Too Broad, T
oo Narrow, or Okay?

Question A:
What impact has deregulation had on the airl
ine industry?
 Question B:
What percentage of commercial airline crash
es were traced to negligent maintenance duri
ng the 10 years immediately preceding and fo
llowing deregulation?
 Question C:
What impact has deregulation had on comm
ercial airline safety?
Question A: What impact has deregulation had on
the airline industry? too broad, since deregulation m
ay have had impact on safety, costs, passenger fees, abi
lity to comply with government regulations, and many ot
her areas of the airline industry, too many to deal with i
n depth in one research paper.
Question B:
What percentage of commercial airline crashes were traced to negli
gent maintenance during the 10 years immediately preceding and fo
llowing deregulation? too narrow. It can be answered with
simple percentages and cannot be developed into a full r
esearch paper.

Question C:
What impact has deregulation had on commercial airline safety
?
best research question. You may use statistics such a
s question "b" would uncover as you answer question "c,
 Basic Questions--
Problem Definition
• What is the purpose of the study?
• How much is already known?
• Is additional background information nec
essary?
• What is to be measured? How?
• Can the data be made available?
• Should research be conducted?
• Can a hypothesis be formulated?
Literature Survey
The available literature is reviewed to determine
if there is already a solution to the problem.
 Existing solutions do not always explain new obser
vations.
 The existing solution might require some revision
or even be discarded.
Literature Evaluation
 It’s possible that the literature review has yiel
ded a solution to the proposed problem.
 This means that you haven’t really done research.
 On the other hand, if the literature review turn
s up nothing, then additional research activitie
s are justified.
 How does writing a Literature Revi
ew help you?

• Expands your knowledge about the topi

c

• Improves Information Seeking skills

• Improves Critical Thinking skills

 A Literature Review should consi
st of:

• An overview of the subject, issue or the

ory under consideration, along with the
objectives of the literature review

• Division of works under review into cate

gories (e.g. those in support of a partic
ular position, those against, and those
offering alternative theses entirely)
 Components continued...

• Explanation of how each work is similar

to and how it varies from the others

• Conclusions as to which pieces are best

considered in their argument, are most
convincing of their opinions, and make t
he greatest contribution to the understa
nding and development of their area of
research
 Ask yourself these questions:

• Start the process by asking yourself:

• What is my research question?

• Am I looking at:
• Theory
• Methodology
• Policy
• Qualitative or Quantitative research
 How to conduct the Literature Re
view

• Search for Resources

• Critical Review of the Literature

• Bibliography
 Citations
Citations

Or
Or

Acknowledging
Acknowledging the
the Source
Source
Citations
IN-TEXT CITATION

ALSO CALLED:
PARENTHETICAL CITATION
AUTHOR-DATE REFERENCE

REFERENCE LIST
A reference or listing of the key pi
eces of information about a work t
hat make it possible to identify and
locate it again.
The citation normally include:

author, title, place of publication,

publisher, and
date of publication for a book; and
journal title,
volume, number, issue, year, and p
age numbers for
an article or for a journal referenc
e.
Reference

What we quoted in the text need

s detail consisting of :

author name (Not inverted), title,

pages of sources
it could be as footnote, at the end
of chapter or at the end of thesis.
Bibliography
 In the context of academic researc
h, a list of books or references to so
urces cited, for further reading, usu
ally printed at the end of an article o
r in the back matter of a book. This i
ncludes: author name, title, year, pla
ce of publication, publisher.
Foot Note 
 Any note used to further explain a
detail outside of the main text. The ter
m usually refers to notes at the bottom
of a page
 Ibid

Latin word and stands for "ibidem",

Meaning Same as above and is used in n

umerical references.
 Example
 4. E. Vijh, Latin for dummies (New York: Academic, 1997
), p.23.
 5. Ibid.
 6. Ibid., p.29.

The reference in no. 5 is the same as in no. 4 (E. Vijh, Latin for
dummies on page 23), whereas the reference in no. 6 refers to the same
work but at a different location, namely page 29. Intervening entries
require a reference to the original citation in the form "Ibid. <citatio
n #>," (e.g."8. Ibid. 4" or "8. Ibid. 4, at 34"). Notice that "ibid." is al
ways followed by a period/ full stop because it is itself an abbreviati
on
 op cite  

 A Latin word which stands for:

"opus citatum"

"opere citato",

Meaning as quoted above and is used in numeric

al references.
 Example
 9. R. Millan, Art of Latin Grammar (Acade
mic: New York, 1997), p. 23.
 10. G. Wiki, Language and Its Uses (Blah
Ltd.: Old York, 2000), p. 17.
 11. Millan, op. cit., p. 5.

The reference no. 11 is the same as in no 9.

(R. Millan, Art of Latin Grammar), although
the page is different.
Examples: for Ibid and Op-Cite

1. Henley and Bates (2007) Commercialization of S

OEs, London, OUP.

2. Ibid., p.3.

3. Tom Lines (2006) Potential of Foreign Investm

ent in Kenya, London, OUP.

4. Henley, OP Cite, p.5.

 Types of Citation:

1. Numerical Citations

2. Non numerical Citations

1. Harvard Referencing Style
2. APA
3. MLA
4. Chicago Style
5.Turabian Style – based on Chicago Style
6. ASA
7. CBE - Council of Biology Editors
8. IEEE
 Various Citation Style Manuals
1. APA – American Psychological Association
[Used in Psychology, Education, and other
Social Sciences]

2. MLA – Modern Language Association

[Used in literature, Arts, and Humanities]

3. Chicago Style – Chicago Manual of Style

[used with all subjects
4.Turabian Style – based on Chicago Style
[Designed to use with all subjects]

5. Harvard Referencing System

[Used for all scholarly work]

6. ASA – American Sociological Association

[Used in all social Sciences Subjects]

7. CBE - Council of Biology Editors

[Used in all Medical Science Research]

8. IEEE
[Used for Computers and Engineering fields]
 Which one Style to use?

Ask your Supervisor which style he /she

wants you to use.

If there is no preference, you can use an

y of the style described.
Details of the Citat
ions Styles
APA, Turabian, Chicago, AMA
Author, Date, Title of Article/Title of Periodical/
Book, Page, Place, Publisher

Harvard
Author (s), Date, Title of Book, Title of
Article/Title of Periodical, Volume, Page,
Place of Publication, Publisher.

MLA
Author, Title of Article/Title of Periodical, Place, Publis
her , Date, Page (if any).
 IEEE Format:
Same as MLA only diff of number in the ref
/bib at the end of the paper.

Author, Title of Article/Title of Periodical, Place

, Publisher , Date, Page

[1] Bates, Beyond the Miracles, Karachi, SZABIS

T - Karachi. 1997.
 Citation Details

How to quote through diff sources?

Book
Author (s) Date, Title of Book, Place of
Publication, Publisher

Book with one author

Henley John [1987] Converging on the
evanescent, San-Francisco, Threshold
Publications.
Book Article or Chapter
James, N. E. (1988). Two sides of paradi
se, in D. Palumbo (Ed.), Spectrum of the
fantastic (pp. 219-223). Westport, OUP.
More than Two Authors

Jagezai Aurangzeb, et al [1976] Introd

uction to Political Science, 3rd ed., M
acgraw, Hill Koga, Ltd., Tokyo.

et al is an Italian Phrase derived from “

et alia” means and others.
 Journal
Author (s) Date, Title of Article, Title
of Journal, Volume, Pages, Place of
Publication, Publisher.

Khan Hamadullah [2007] Senior Citize

ns in Pakistan: A Case Study of Karac
hi. Journal of Independent Studies an
d Research, (Bi- Annual), volume: 2, n
o: 5, Karachi, SZABIST-Khi.
 Editor as an Author:

Lawrence H Seltzer, [1964] in ed., New

Horizons of Economic Progress, Oxford
University Press, London.
Books with both Author and Editor

Hanley John, [1999] Beyond the Privatiz

ation, in ed., John W. Doberstein, Com
mercialization of the SOEs, New York,
OUP.
Group Author
American Psychological Association.
(2001). Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association
Washington, DC, OUP .
Newspaper Article
Farooqui Jalees, [Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2003]
Sugar Economy’s Complexities, Daily
Dawn Karachi, EBR section, p.I.

Website
Lynch, T. (1996) Pakistan’s Foreign Policy.
Retrieved October 8, 1997, from Web site:
http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiph
i/DS9/ep/503r.html
If no Author given:
Cite in the text the first one or two
words of the article title.

Example:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smo
kers”

Citation: (“California,” 1999)

 News Paper without Author

Daily Dawn, Karachi [ Feb 17, 2003] Ex

port Through Karachi Customs up by
19 pc, Staff Reporter.
Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia Americana, 1999, ed.,

v.11.
Documents

U.S Department of State [Jan 2003]

Declaration of the U.N Conference
on Food and Agriculture, War Doc
ument Series, no. 2162.
Interview

John Naught [12 May 2002] CEO Pr

imus Co. San Jose, California.
Radio and TV Program

BBC ‘Hard Talk’, 28 October 2002,

narrator xyz,
Personal Communication/Interview

Example:
T.K. Lutes, September 19, [2001], Personal Co
mmunication.
Multivolume book
Koch, S. (1959-1963). Psychology: A stu
dy of science (Vols. 1-6). New York: M
cGraw-Hill.
Corporate/Organization as an Author

Ohio State University, [1977] College of Ad

ministrative Science, Center for Human R
esources, The National Longitudinal Surv
eys Handbook.
State/Organization as an Author

Pakistan Government of [2003] Economic

Survey 2002-3, Islamabad.

State Bank of Pakistan [2002] Annual Rep

ort 2001-2, Karachi.
 Thesis

Haleem Shaikh (2000). Coping Strategies of Coun

seling Professionals, Master’s Thesis, Nanyang
Technological University, Singapore.
Videotape

Bethesda (1980) National Institute on M

ental Health, Drug abuse [videotape]
 Cassette/CD:

Lake, F. L. (Author and speaker). (1989).

Bias and organizational decision makin
g [Cassette/CD]. Gainesville: Edwards
Web page

Green, C. (2000, April 16). History &

philosophy of psychology web
resources. Retrieved May 22, 2001,
from ttp://www.yorku.ca/dept.htm
In source, if the date is unknown:
1. If the date is unknown, make a guess an
d indicate [ca 2007].

2. If impossible to guess the date then ind

icate [no date].
 Sample Reference List
Calvillo, D. (1999). The theoretical development of aggression. Retrie
ved August
21, 2002 from: http://www.csubak.edu/~1vega/dustin2.html

Flory, R. K. (1969a). Attack behavior as a function of minimum inter-f

ood
interval. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 12, 825-
828.

Flory, R. K. (1969b). Attack behavior in a multiple fixed-ratio schedul

e of reinforcement. Psychonomic Science, 16, 383-386.
Conti:
 Citation in the text
One Author
Example: (Kosik, 1999, p. 127)

Two Authors – citation

Example: (Kosik & Martin, 1999, p. 127)

Three or more authors citation:

Example (Wilson et al., 2000)
Quoting same author, with several w
ork published in diff years
(chronological order, separated by co
mma)

Example:
(Burke, 1998, 1999, in press)
Quoting same author, with several w
ork published in the same year.

Example:
(Burke, 1998a, 1988b, 1988c)
Quoting same work of more than one
author with the same last name.

Example:
(H. James, 1878; W. James, 1880)
If the source has no known Author,

Then use an abbreviated version of the title:

Example:
Full Title: “California Cigarette Tax Deters Smok
ers”

Citation: (“California,” 1999)

Text with Harvard Citations Style

Example:
The notion of an indivisible college has been ex
plored in the sciences (Crow, 1980). It’s absen
ce amongst historians is noted by Sticks (1981
b). As Barton (1985) points out that they have
no assistant or are reluctant to delegate (Smit
h, 1988, Chump 1999).
Text with Numerical Citations Style [APA]
Example:

The notion of an indivisible college has been ex

plored in the sciences1. It’s absence amongst
historians is noted by Sticks 2.
As Barton points out that they have no assistant
3
or are reluctant to delegate
 References
[Numerical Citation]
1. R. Millan, "Art of Latin grammar" (Academic, New Y
ork, 1997), p. 23.

2. Ibid, 1

3. G.Wiki "Blah
and its uses" (Blah Ltd., Old York, 2000), p.17.

4. R. Millan, Op cit
 IEEE Citation Style
References should be numbered sequentially by order
of mention in the text, with the number placed in br
ackets and printed on the same line (not as a supers
cript) like [1].  The list of all references cited in the t
ext should appear in numeric order at the end of the
paper[2].  Don't use footnotes [1].

Samples of IEEE Reference Style

Books
[1] E. R. Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quant
ities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire, CT: Graphics
Press, 1996.

[2] J. H. Watt and S. A. van den Berg, Research Metho

ds for Communication Science. Boston, MA: Allyn
Thank You
Research design
 Purpose of the study:
 Exploratory study
 Is undertaken when no information is available on how similar pr
oblems or research issues have been solved in the past
 Descriptive study
 Is to able to describe the characteristics of the variables of intere
st in a situation.
 Hypotheses testing
 Is undertaken to explain the variance in the dependent variable
or to predict organizational outcomes.
 Case studies

 Research design can be thought of as the structure of resear

ch -- it is the "glue" that holds all of the elements in a research
project together
Measurement
 The rating scale
 Have several response catagories
 Likert scale is designed o exermine how stron
gly subject agree or disagree with statements
on a 5-point scale
 Ranking scale
 Are used to tap preferences between two or m
ore objects or items
 Goodness of measure : reliability,validity
Data collection methods
 Data can be collected in a variety ways ,data
sources can be primary or secondary.
 Data collection methods such as:
 interview(face-to-face,telephone,computer-as
sisted interviews),
 Questionaires
 Observation
 Motivational techniques
Sampling
 A sample is a subset of the population.
 Sample is the process of selecting a sufficient numbe
r of elements from the population.
 Studying a sample rather the entire population is som
etimes to lead to more reliable results, mostly becaus
e fatigue is reduced,resulting in fewer errors on collec
tion data. (time, cost,human resources)
 Surveys are useful and powerful in finding answers to
research question but if data are not collected from th
e people or objects that can provide the correct answ
ers to solve the problem, the survey will be in vain.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
 The data analysis involves three major steps, done in
roughly this order:

 Cleaning and organizing the data for analysis (

Data Preparation)
 Describing the data (Descriptive Statistics)
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statdesc.php

 Testing Hypotheses and Models (Inferential Statistics

)
 Descriptive Statistics
 Descriptive statistics
 provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures.
 Central Tendency. The central tendency of a distribution is an estimate of t
he "center" of a distribution of values. There are three major types of estima
tes of central tendency:
 Mean is the most common-used measure of data tendency.=average.
 Median is the middle value , when the data is arranged in numerical order. 
 Mode is the value ( number) that appears the most.
 Dispersion (Range, Standard Diviation)refers to the spread of the values ar
ound the central tendency
 Inferential statistics
 t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA),
regression analysis, Correlation is a measure of the relation between two or
more variables.

 we use inferential statistics to make judgments of the probability that an obs

erved difference between groups. Thus, we use inferential statistics to make
inferences from our data to more general conditions;
 we use descriptive statistics simply to describe what's going on in our data.
Statistics methods
 Central tendency

 Exercise
 http://www.quia.com/rr/51667.html
 http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/Math/mean/Pmeasure.htm
 http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/grizzly/432/Research.htm
 http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statdesc.php
The Research Report
 Researh proposal

 Research report

 Research presentation
Research report articles vary in how they are organize
d, :

 Abstract - Brief summary of the contents of the article

 Introduction - A explanation of the purpose of the study, a statement of the r
esearch question(s) the study intends to address
 Literature review - A critical assessment of the work done so far on this topic
, to show how the current study relates to what has already been done
 Methods - How the study was carried out (e.g. instruments or equipment, pr
ocedures, methods to gather and analyze data)
 Results - What was found in the course of the study
 Discussion - What do the results mean
 Conclusion - State the conclusions and implications of the results, and discu
ss how it relates to the work reviewed in the literature review; also, point to d
irections for further work in the area
 http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/tut/litrev/thelitrev.html
 Research Proposal
 Title Page
 Abstract (on a separate single page)
 The Body (no page breaks between sections in the body)
 Introduction (2-3 pages)
 Methods (7-10 pages)
 Sample (1 page)

 Measures (2-3 pages)

 Design (2-3 pages)

 Procedures (2-3 pages)

 Results (2-3 pages)

 Conclusions (1-2 pages)
 References
 Tables (one to a page)
 Figures (one to a page)
 Appendices

 Sample Paper http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampaper.php

 http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/guideelements.php
 Formatting http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/formatting.php