Formulating The Research Design

Slide 5.
Chapter 5
Formulating the research design
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.2
Learning outcomes
• By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
• • understand the importance of having thought
carefully about your
• research design;
• • identify the main research strategies and
explain why these should not
• be thought of as mutually exclusive;
• • explain the differences between quantitative and
qualitative data
Slide 5.3
Learning outcomes
• collection techniques and analysis procedures;
• • explain the reasons for adopting multiple methods in the
conduct of research;
• • consider the implications of adopting different time
horizons for your research design;
• • explain the concepts of validity and reliability and identify
the main threats to validity and reliability;
• • understand some of the main ethical issues implied by
the choice of research strategy.
Slide 5.4
The Process of Research Design
• Research choices
• Research strategies
• Time horizons
Slide 5.5
The Process of Research Design

• Your research question will subsequently inform your
choice of research strategy, your choices of collection
techniques and analysis procedures, and the time horizon
over which you undertake your research project.
Slide 5.6
Research strategies
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Slide 5.7
Research Design and Tactics

The research onion
Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.1 The research ‘onion’
Slide 5.8
Research design
• Your research design will be the general plan of how you
will go about answering
• your research question(s)
Slide 5.9
Research Design
The research design needs
• Clear objectives derived from the research question
• To specify sources of data collection
• To consider constraints and ethical issues
• Valid reasons for your choice of design
Slide 5.10
Classification of the research purpose
Exploratory research is a valuable means

of finding out ‘what is happening to seek new
insights; to ask questions and to assess
phenomena in a new light’. It is particularly
useful if you wish to clarify your
understanding of a problem, such as if you are
unsure of precise nature of the problem . It
may well be that time is well spent on
exploratory research, as it may show that the
research is not worth pursuing!
Slide 5.11
Exploratory
• There are three principal ways of conducting exploratory
research:
• A search of the literature;
• Interviewing ‘experts’ in the subject;
• Conducting focus group interviews.
Slide 5.12
Descriptive studies
• The object of descriptive research is ‘ to ‘portray
an accurate profile of persons, events or
situations’. This may be an extension of, or a
forerunner to a piece of exploratory research or,
more often, a piece of explanatory research. It is
necessary to have a clear picture of the
phenomena on which you wish to collect data
prior to collection of data.
Slide 5.13
Explanatory research
• Studies that establish causal relationships
between variables may be termed explanatory
research. The emphasis here is on studying a
situation or a problem in order to explain the
relationship between variables. For example, that
a cursory analysis of quantitative data on
manufacturing scrap rates shows a relationship
between scrap rates and the age of machine
being operated.
Slide 5.14
Research Strategies
Experiment Action research
Grounded theory Survey
Ethnography Case study
Archival research
Slide 5.15
Experiment
• Experiment: measuring the effects of manipulating one
variable on another variable
Slide 5.16
Research Strategies
An experiment will involve
• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Selection of samples from know populations
• Random allocation of samples
• Introduction of planned intervention
• Measurement on a small number of dependent
variables
• Control of all other variables
Slide 5.17
Survey
• Survey: collection of information in standardized form
from groups of people
Slide 5.18
Research Strategies
Survey: key features
• Popular in business research

• Perceived as authoritative
• Allows collection of quantitative data
• Data can be analysed quantitatively
• Samples need to be representative
• Gives the researcher independence
• Structured observation and interviews can be used
Slide 5.19
Case Study
• Case study: development of detailed, intensive knowledge
about a single ‘case detaler fo rebmun llams a fo ro ,’
‘cases.’
Slide 5.20
Research Strategies
Case Study: 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 v. embedded case
Yin (2003)
Slide 5.21
Single case
• A single case is often used where it represents a
critical case or, alternatively, an extreme or
unique case. Conversely, a single case may be
selected because it is typical or because it
provides you with an opportunity to observe and
analyze a phenomenon that few have considered
before. Inevitably, an important aspect of using a
single case is defining the actual case. For many
part-time students this is the organization for
which they work
Slide 5.22
multiple case
• A case study strategy can also incorporate multiple cases,
that is, more than one case. The rationale for using
multiple cases focuses upon the need to establish
whether the findings of the first case occur in other cases
and, as a consequence, the need to generalize from
these findings. For this reason Yin (2003) argues that
multiple
• case studies may be preferable to a single case study and
that, where you choose to use a single case study, you
will need to have a strong justification for this choice.
Slide 5.23
holistic case
• refers to the unit of analysis. For example,
• you may well have chosen to use an organization by
which you have been employed or are currently employed
as your case. If your research is concerned only with the
organization as a whole then you are treating the
organization as a holistic case study.
Slide 5.24
embedded case
• even though you are researching and are concerned with
a single organization
• as a whole, if you wish to examine also a number of
logical sub-units within the
• organization, perhaps departments or work groups, then
your case will inevitably involve more than one unit of
analysis. Whatever way you select these units, this would
be called an embedded case study
Slide 5.25
Action research
• Action research: the term has been used first by Lewin in
1946. It has been understood by management
researchers in a variety of ways. But there are three
common ideas within the literature. The first focuses on
and emphasizes the purpose of the research: the
management of change.
Slide 5.26
Action research
• The second relates to the involvement of the practitioner
in the research and in particular a close cooperation
between practitioners and researchers. The final theme is
that action research should have implications beyond the
immediate project. In other words it must be clear that the
results could inform other context.
Slide 5.27
Research Strategies
Action research: key features
• 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 foci (Schein, 1999) –
the aim of the research and the needs of the sponsor
Slide 5.28
Grounded theory
• Grounded theory: Collection of data starts without the
formation of an initial theoretical framework. Theory is
created from data made by a series of observations.
Slide 5.29
Research Strategies
Grounded theory: key features
• Theory is built through induction and deduction
• Helps to predict and explain behaviour
• Develops theory from data generated by

observations
• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-deductive

one
Based on Suddaby (2006)
Slide 5.30
Ethnography
• Ethnography: Derives from the field of anthropology. The
idea is to interpret the social world the research subject
inhabits and the way in which they interpret it.
Slide 5.31
Research Strategies
Ethnography: key features
• Aims to describe and explain the social world

inhabited by the researcher
• Takes place over an extended time period
• Is naturalistic
Slide 5.32
Naturalism
• It means that in adopting an ethnographic strategy, you
will be researching the phenomenon within the context in
which it occurs and, in addition, not using data collection
techniques that oversimplify the complexities of everyday
life. Given this, it is not surprising that most ethnographic
strategies involve extended participant observation.
However, you need to be mindful that the term naturalism
also has a contradictory meaning that is often associated
with positivism. Within this context it refers to the use of
the principles of scientific method and the use of a
scientific model within research.
Slide 5.33
Research Strategies
Archival research: key features
• Uses administrative records and documents as

the principal sources of data
• Allows research questions focused on the past
• Is constrained by the nature of the records and

documents
Slide 5.34
Research Strategies
The role of the practitioner-researcher

Key features
• 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
Slide 5.35
Quantitative and Qualitative

• The terms quantitative and qualitative are used widely in
business and management research to differentiate both
data collection techniques and data analysis procedures.
One way of distinguishing between the two is the focus on
numeric (numbers) or non-numeric(words) data.
Quantitative is predominantly used as a synonym for any
data collection technique (such as questionnaire) or data
analysis procedure (such as graphs or statistics) that
generates or uses numerical data.
Slide 5.36
Quantitative and Qualitative

• qualitative is used predominantly as a synonym for any
data collection technique (such as an interview) or data
analysis procedure (such as categorizing data) that
generates or use non-numerical data. Qualitative
therefore can refer to data other than words, such as
pictures and video clips.
Slide 5.37
Research multiple methods

• In choosing your research methods you will therefore
either use a single data collection technique and
corresponding analysis procedures (mono method) or
use more than one data collection technique and analysis
procedures to answer your research question (multiple
methods).
Slide 5.38

This choice is increasingly advocated within
business and management research, where a
single research study may use quantitative and
qualitative techniques and procedures in
combination as well as use primary and secondary
data. If you choose to use a mono method you will
combine either a single quantitative data collection
technique, such as questionnaires, with
quantitative data analysis procedures
Slide 5.39

• or a single qualitative data collection technique, such as
in-depth interviews, with qualitative data analysis
procedures. In contrast, if you choose to combine data
collection techniques and procedures using some form of
multiple methods design, there are four different
possibilities.
Slide 5.40

• The term multi-method refers to those combinations
where more than one data collection technique is used
with associated analysis techniques, but this is restricted
within either a quantitative or qualitative world view
Slide 5.41

• Thus you might choose to collect quantitative data using,
for example, both questionnaires and structured
observation analyzing these data using
• statistical (quantitative) procedures, a multi-method
quantitative study. Alternatively, you might choose to
collect qualitative data using, for example, in-depth
interviews and diary accounts and analyze these data
using non-numerical (qualitative) procedures, a multi-
method qualitative study. Therefore, if you adopted
multi-methods you would not mix quantitative and
qualitative techniques and procedures.
Slide 5.42

• Mixed methods approach is the general term for when
both quantitative and qualitative data collection
techniques and analysis procedures are used in a
research design. It is subdivided into two types. Mixed
method research uses quantitative and qualitative data
collection techniques and analysis procedures either at
the same time (parallel) or one after the other (sequential)
but does not combine them. This means that, although
mixed method research uses both quantitative and
qualitative
• world views at the research methods stage quantitative
data are analyzed quantitatively
Slide 5.43

• and qualitative data are analyzed qualitatively. In addition,
often either quantitative or qualitative techniques and
procedures predominate. In contrast, mixed-model
research combines quantitative and qualitative data
collection techniques and analysis procedures as well as
combining quantitative and qualitative approaches at
other phases of the
• research such as research question generation.
Slide 5.44

• This means that you may take quantitative data and
qualitise it, that is, convert it into narrative that can be
analysed qualitatively.Alternatively, you may quantitise
your qualitative data, converting it into to numerical codes
so that it can be analysed statistically.
Slide 5.45
Multiple research methods

Research choices
Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.4 Research choices
Slide 5.46
Multiple research methods
Reasons for using mixed method designs:

(Table 5.1 )
• Triangulation
• Facilitation
• Complementarity
• Generality
• Aid interpretation
• Study different aspects
• Solving a puzzle
Source: developed from Bryman (2006)
Slide 5.47
Triangulation
• Use of two or more independent sources of data or data
collection methods to corroborate research findings within
a study.
Slide 5.48
Facilitation
• Use of one data collection method or research strategy to

aid research using another data collection method or
research strategy within a study (e.g.
qualitative/quantitative providing hypotheses, aiding
measurement quantitative/qualitative participant or case
selection)
Slide 5.49
Complementarity
• Use of two or more research strategies in order that

different aspects of an investigation can be dovetailed
(e.g. qualitative plus quantitative questionnaire to fil in
gaps quantitative plus qualitative questionnaire for issues,
interview for meaning)
Slide 5.50
Generality
• Use of independent source of data to contextualize main
study or use quantitative analysis to provide sense of
relative
• importance (e.g. qualitative plus quantitative to set case in
broader context; qualitative × quantitative analysis is to
provide sense of relative importance)
Slide 5.51
Aid interpretation
• Use of qualitative data to help explain relationships

between quantitative variables (e.g
quantitative/qualitative)
Slide 5.52
Study different aspects

• Quantitative to look at macro aspects and qualitative to
look at micro aspects
Slide 5.53
Solving a puzzle
• Use of an alternative data collection method when the
initial method reveals unexplainable results or insufficient
data
Slide 5.54
Slide 5.55
Time Horizons
Select the appropriate time horizon
• Cross-sectional studies: cross-sectional

studies are the study of a particular
phenomenon (or phenomena) at a particular
time.
• Longitudinal studies: usually study the change
and development over a period of time.
Slide 5.56
Credibility of research findings

Important considerations
• Reliability
• Validity
• Generalisability
• Logic leaps and false assumptions
Slide 5.57
credibility of research findings

• ‘how do I know?’ test: ‘. . . will the evidence and my
conclusions stand up to the closest scrutiny?’ How do you
know that the advertising campaign for a new product has
resulted in enhanced sales? How do you know that
manual employees in an electronics factory have more
negative feelings towards their employer than their clerical
counterparts? The answer, of course, is that, in the literal
sense of the question, you cannot know. All you can do is
reduce the possibility of getting the answer wrong. This is
why good research design is important.
Slide 5.58
Reliability
• Reliability refers to the extent to which your data
collection techniques or analysis procedures will yield
consistent findings. It can be assessed by posing the
following three questions:
• 1 Will the measures yield the same results on other
occasions?
• 2 Will similar observations be reached by other
observers?
• 3 Is there transparency in how sense was made from the
raw data?
Slide 5.59
Validity
• Validity is concerned with whether the findings are really
about what they appear to be about. Is the relationship
between two variables a causal relationship? For
example, in a study of an electronics factory we found that
employees’ failure to look at new product displays was
caused not by employee apathy but by lack of opportunity
(the displays were located in a part of the factory that
employees rarely visited). This potential lack of
• validity in the conclusions was minimized by research
design that built in the opportunity for focus groups after
the questionnaire results had been analyzed.
Slide 5.60
Research design ethics
Remember
‘The research design should not subject the

research population to embarrassment, harm or
other material disadvantage’
Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)
Slide 5.61
Summary: Chapter 5
Research design turns a research question and

objectives into a project that considers
Strategies Choices Time horizons
Research projects can be categorised as
Exploratory Descriptive Explanatory
Research projects may be
Cross-sectional Longitudinal
Slide 5.62
Summary: Chapter 5
Important considerations
• The main research strategies may combined in

the same project
• The opportunities provided by using multiple

methods
• The validity and reliability of results
• Access and ethical considerations

Formulating The Research Design

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Slide 5.

The Process of Research Design

The Process of Research Design

Research Design and Tactics

Saunders et al, (2009)

• Clear objectives derived from the research question

• To specify sources of data collection

• To consider constraints and ethical issues

• Valid reasons for your choice of design

Classification of the research purpose

Exploratory research is a valuable means

Experiment Action research

Grounded theory Survey

Ethnography Case study

An experiment will involve

• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Popular in business research

• Provides a rich understanding of a real life context

A case study can be categorised in four ways

single case v. multiple case

Action research: key features

• Research IN action - not ON action

• Theory is built through induction and deduction

• Helps to predict and explain behaviour

• Develops theory from data generated by

• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-deductive

Ethnography: key features

• Aims to describe and explain the social world

• Takes place over an extended time period

Archival research: key features

• Uses administrative records and documents as

• Allows research questions focused on the past

• Is constrained by the nature of the records and

The role of the practitioner-researcher

• Research access is more easily available

Quantitative and Qualitative

Quantitative and Qualitative

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Research multiple methods

Multiple research methods

Saunders et al, (2009)

Multiple research methods

Reasons for using mixed method designs:

Source: developed from Bryman (2006)

• Use of one data collection method or research strategy to

• Use of two or more research strategies in order that

• Use of qualitative data to help explain relationships

Study different aspects

Select the appropriate time horizon

• Cross-sectional studies: cross-sectional

Credibility of research findings

• Logic leaps and false assumptions

credibility of research findings

Research design ethics

‘The research design should not subject the

Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)

Research design turns a research question and