Unit 1

Foundations of Research

Dr. Atul Fegade

Research – Outline Session-1
• Definition, Why Study Business Research?, What is
good research?
• Decision Support System, Business Intelligence
• Research Applications in functional areas of Business,
Emerging trends in business research
 Meaning of Research You can simply impress your audience and add
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 A search for knowledge. Presentation that is beautifully designed. You

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 Research is an art of scientific investigation.

 Some people consider research as a movement, a

movement from the known to the unknown.

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 Definition of Research You can simply impress your audience and add
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 “A scientific and systematic search for relevant

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information on a specific topic”.beautifully designed.

 Redman and Mory define research as a

“systematized effort to gain new knowledge”.
 A systematic enquiry that provides information to
guide managerial decisions
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 Definition of Research You can simply impress your audience and add
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 The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English -

Presentation that is beautifully designed. You
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“a careful investigation or inquiry specially through
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search for new facts in any branch of knowledge”.

beautifully designed.

 In short, “the search for knowledge through objective

and systematic method of finding solution to a problem
is called as research”.

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Why Study Business Research?
• Information overload Management Dilemma
• Technological connectivity
• Shifting global centres of economic activity and competition
• Increasingly critical scrutiny of big business
• More government intervention
• Battle for analytical talent
• Greater computing power and speed
• New perspective on established research methodologies
What is good research?
 Purpose clearly defined
 Research Process Detailed
 Research design thoroughly planned
 High ethical standards applied
 Limitations frankly revealed
 Adequate analysis for decision maker’s needs
 Finding presented unambiguously
 Conclusion Justified
 Research’s experience reflected
ClassicToys
• You work for ClassicToys, a corporation that is considering the acquisition
of a toy manufacturer. The senior vice president for development asks
you to head a task force to investigate six companies that are potential
candidates. You assemble a team composed of representatives from the
relevant functional areas. Pertinent data are collected from public
sources because of the sensitive nature of the project. You examine all of
the following: company annual reports; articles in business journals,
trade magazines, and newspapers; financial analysts’ assessments; and
company advertisements. The team members then develop summary
profiles of candidate firms based on the characteristics gleaned from the
sources. The final report highlights the opportunities and problems that
acquisition of the target firm would bring to all areas of the business.
Decision Support System (DSS)
• A system that help decision makers confront problems through direct
interactions with computerized database and analytical software
programs
• Store data and make it insightful and available when needed
• CRM is a part of DSS

DSS
Input • Database Output
• Software
Business Intelligence
• To provide manager with ongoing information about events and
trends in the technological, economic, political and legal,
demographic, cultural, social and most critically competitive arenas.
• Sources of Business Intelligence
 Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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 Role and significance of research in aiding business decisions.

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 How important research is in different areas of management?

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 Is it most relevant to marketing? Finance? Production? Human

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Resource? IT? . . .
 In every department or functional area of organization, problem can
arise; and to solve these problems we have to take decisions, to take
decisions we need additional information; and that information we
can get through “RESEARCH”.

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
Marketing function :-
 Industry or product specific studies
 Market potential analysis
 Market segmentation analysis
 Demand estimation
 Consumer and business trend analysis
 Forecasting of market situation
 Customer satisfaction
 CRM
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 Market structure analysis
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which includes market size,
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players and market share of
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the key player.
 Sales and retail audits of
product categories by players
and regions as well as
national sales.
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Product research :- and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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 New product research beautifully designed.

 Product testing and development

 Product differentiation and positioning
 Evaluating new product
 Packaging research
 Brand Research
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
Pricing Research :-
 Price determination research
 Evaluating customer values
 Competitor pricing strategy
 Alternative pricing models
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
Promotional Research :-
 Designing communication mix
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 Designing Advertisement
 Copy testing
 Measuring the impact of alternative media mix
 Impact of competitors strategy

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Place Research :- and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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 Location Analysis beautifully designed.

 Designing and planning of distribution channels

 Measuring the effectiveness of distribution network

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Personnel and Human Resource Management :-and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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 Performance Management unique zing and appeal to your Presentations.
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 Leadership Analysis beautifully designed.

 Organizational Climate
 Talent and Aptitude analysis
 Organizational change implementation
 Employee selection and staffing
 On the job employee assessment and analysis
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
You can simply impress your audience and add
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Personnel and Human Resource Management :-Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos
and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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 Manpower planning
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 Incentives and benefit studies

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 Job Analysis
 Performance appraisal
 Recognition and reward studies
 Training and development
 Training need gap analysis
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
You can simply impress your audience and add
a unique zing and appeal to your

Personnel and Human Resource Management :- Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos
and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
Presentation that is beautifully designed. You
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Training methods
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Effectiveness of training
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Employee Relationship analysis

Negotiation and wage settlement studies
Absenteeism and accident analysis
Turnover and attrition analysis
Work life balance
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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Financial and accounting research :- Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos

and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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Asset pricing
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Corporate finance
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Capital Market
Stock market response to corporate actions
Financial Reporting
Financial Derivatives and interest rate

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Financial and accounting research :- Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos

and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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Development and validation of corporate credit rating models

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Investment risk appraisal

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Market based accounting research

Auditing and accountability
Analysis of Audit

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
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Production and Operation Management :- Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos

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Operation planning
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Product/ service design & development

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Work design
Decision analysis
Process planning
Production scheduling

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Applications of Research in functional areas of Business
You can simply impress your audience and add
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Production and Operation Management :- Presentations. Easy to change colors, photos

and Text. Get a modern PowerPoint
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Project Management
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Maintenance Management
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Logistic and supply chain

Inventory management analysis
Total Quality Management
Material requirement management

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 NFL: data, information, & insights
Game video.

Equipment-embedded chips.

200+ metrics to AWS each game.

What insights are possible?

©McGraw Hill 1-25

Emerging trends in business research
• Complexity of Collaboration
• Regulation and Accountability
• Industry-Sponsored Research and Other research aimed at
Commercialization
• Information Technologies in research
• The globalization of research
• Policy and Political relevance
Language of Research
Concept
• A generally accepted collection of meanings or characteristics
associated with certain events, objects, conditions, situations, and
behaviors.
• Classifying and categorizing objects or events that have common
characteristics beyond any single observation creates concepts
• From our experiences and use words as labels to designate
 Concept
• Sources of Concept
• Personal experience – known ideas
• Borrow from other language or fields – new ideas
• Gravitation – why people shop in certain places
• Distance - to describe degree of variability between the attitudes of two or more
persons
• Importance in Research
• For designing and testing hypotheses
• how clearly we conceptualize and how well others understand the concepts we use.
• Survey of Customer Loyalty – Faithfulness of participants
• Problems in asking people their family income
 Constructs
• An image or abstract idea specifically invented for a given research and/or
theory-building purpose
• Building constructs by combining the simpler, more concrete concepts,
especially when the idea or image we intend to convey is not subject to
direct observation

Table Personality
 Constructs
• Technical Writer JD
• presentation quality,
• Language skill,
• Job interest
• Hypothetical Constructs
Definitions
• Defining the terms in research reduces the confusion due to different
meanings of words to the parties involved.
• To provide understanding and measurement of concepts
• Dictionary Definitions
• Operational Definitions
• definition stated in terms of specific criteria for testing or measurement
• Whether the object to be defined is physical (e.g., a can of soup) or highly
abstract (e.g., achievement motivation), the definition must specify the
characteristics and how they are to be observed.
• How can one define consumer socialisation?
Variables
• Independent and Dependent
• Does a newspaper coupon
influence product purchase
• Dichotomous – employed /
unemployed
• Discrete – Number of Planets
around a star
• Continuous – Temperature in
Pune, Your age now
• Moderating or Interaction
• Extraneous (Control and
cofounding)
• Intervening
 Various Synonyms
Independent and Dependent Variables: Synonyms

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Predictor Criterion
Presumed cause Presumed effect
Stimulus Response
Predicted from . . . Predicted to . . .
Antecedent Consequence
Manipulated Measured outcome

©McGraw Hill 1-34

 Summary of Variable Types

Exhibit 1-6 A Summary of Variable Types

Variable Type Symbol Presumed Effect on IV-DV Relationship Action Needed

Dependent DV Concept/construct of interest Measure
Independent IV Primary variable believed to have significant Manipulate
effect on D V
Moderating MV Alternative I V; possible significant Measure
contributory effect on I V-D V
Control CV Might influence the I V-D V, but effect is not Ignore; effect is
at the core of the problem studied randomized
Confounding CFV Alternative I V; unknown effect on I V-D V Measure
Intervening IVV Theoretically might affect; effect can’t be Infer effect from I V
determined and M V on D V

©McGraw Hill 1-35

 Relationships Among Variable Types 1

(a)

©McGraw Hill 1-36

 Relationships Among Variable Types 2

(b)

©McGraw Hill 1-37

 Relationships Among Variable Types 3

(c)

©McGraw Hill 1-38

 Propositions and Hypotheses
• Propositions: statements concerned with the relationship among concepts (logical
linkage)
• Treating our employees better will make them more loyal
• Hypotheses: a statement about observable phenomena (concepts) that may be
judged as true or false (outcome)
• Hypothesis is proposition that is empirically testable.
• A Sales Person having highest product knowledge will be more productive
• If consumer’s attitude towards a product change in a positive direction, there will be
increase in the consumption of the product
• H1: A web site with a blue background will generate more sales than an otherwise
identical Web site with a red background
• Empirical Testing
Hypotheses
Research Question Format Descriptive Hypothesis Format
What is the market share for our In Mumbai, our snack brand XY’s
snack brand XY in Mumbai? market share is 13.7%
Are Middle income families ………………
experiencing budget difficulties?
Do shareholders of Company Z favor ………
an increased cash dividend?
Do a majority of commerce students ………
opt for management PG degrees?
 Propositions and Hypotheses
• Relational Hypotheses
• German made cars are perceived by India consumers to be of better
quality than domestic cars
• Correlational hypotheses
• Young women (under 35 years of age) purchase fewer units of our product than
women who are 35 years of age or older
• People in urban area give the Prime Minister a more favorable rating than do
people in rural area
• Causal or explanatory hypotheses
• An increase in family income (IV) leads to an increase in the percentage of income
saved (DV)
• Loyalty to a particular retail store (IV) increases the probability of purchasing the
private label brands (DV) offered by that store
 Reasoning and Hypotheses 1

©McGraw Hill 1-43

Why Didn’t Sales Increase? 1
Tracy’s Performance 1
Hypotheses
• Obtained data are consistent with a hypothesis - Supported
• Data inconsistent with a hypothesis - Not Supported
Constants
• Speed of light?
• Boiling point of water??
Research Question
• A difficulty which a researcher experiences in the context of either a
theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the
same.
• Individual or group
• Objective
• Course of action
• Pilot survey
 Steps in Research Process

Stage 1: Clarify the Research Question

Stage 2: Design the Research
Stage 3: Collect & Prepare the Data
Stage 4: Analyze & Interpret the Data
Stage 5: Report Insights & Recommendations
Research Process 3

Stage 1: Clarify the Research Question

 What role does curiosity play in exploration?

©McGraw Hill 1-51

 Research Process 4

Stage 2: Design the Research

©McGraw Hill 1-52

 Research Process 5

Stage 3: Collect & Prepare the Data

Collect the data

Deal with data

errors/omissions

Reduce data to
manageable size

Develop summaries
©McGraw Hill 1-53
 Data Characteristics

Abstractness

Verifiability

Elusiveness

Closeness

©McGraw Hill 1-54

Data Levels & Characteristics
 Research Process 6

Stage 4: Analyze & Interpret the Data

©McGraw Hill 1-58

 Research Process 7

Stage 5: Report Insights & Recommendations

Factors that Influence

©McGraw Hill 1-59

Management-Research Question Hierarchy
Loyalty programs are in the headlines frequently. Hotels, like Hilton and
Marriott, or coffee powerhouse, like Starbucks, are constantly
revamping their programs to keep their customers as connected as
possible. These programs have proven to be a safeguard against
disruption. Assume your firm wants to launch such a program but you
don't know much about them.
How would you use external published sources to conduct an
exploration of the topic? Be specific about how you might use each
type.
 Management-Research Question
Hierarchy
• A useful way to approach the research process is to state the basic dilemma that prompts
the research and then try to develop other questions by progressively breaking down the
original question into more specific ones. - Management-research question hierarchy.
• Management dilemma, a symptom of an actual problem, such as rising costs, declining
sales, or a large number of defects, or emerging behaviors, attitudes, etc. that signal an
opportunity.
• A management question is a restatement of the manager’s dilemma in question form.
• A research question is the hypothesis that best states the objective of the research; the
question that focuses the researcher’s attention.
• An investigative question is the question the researcher must answer to satisfactorily
answer the research question.
• A measurement question is the question asked of the participant or the observations
that must be recorded.
The Management-Research Question
Hierarchy
Management Questions
 Types of Management Questions
Categories
Evaluation of solutions
(choices between concrete actions to solve
problems or take advantage of
opportunities)
General Question Sample Management Questions
• How can we achieve the • Should we reposition brand X as a therapeutic
objectives we have set? product from its current cosmetic positioning?
• How can we improve our program for product
repairs and servicing?

Choice of purpose • What do we want to • What goals should XYZ try to achieve in its next
(choice of objectives) achieve? round of union negotiations?
• What goals should we set for sales and profits in
the next 5 years?
• What goals should XYZ set for its return on its
investment portfolio?

Troubleshooting • Why is our (blank) • Why does our department have the lowest sales-
(diagnosing ways an organization is failing program not meeting its to-web page visit ratio?
to meet its goals) goals? • Why does our recruiting program generate the
lowest hire-to-offer ratio in the industry?

Control • How well is our (blank) • What is our product line's sales-to-promotion cost
(monitoring or diagnosing ways an program meeting its ratio?
organization is failing to meet its goals) goals?
 Declining sales is one of the most common symptoms serving as a stimulus for a research project,
The especially a continuing pattern that is unexplained. SalePro, a large manufacturer of industrial goods,
Managemen faces this situation.

t-Research Exploration (1) reveals that sales, in fact, should not be declining in the South and Northeast.
Environmental factors there are as favorable as in the growing regions.
Question Subsequent exploration (2, 3) leads management to believe that the problem is in one of three areas:
Hierarchy: salesperson compensation, product formulation, or trade advertising.
SalePro Further exploration (4) has SalePro management narrowing the focus of its research to alternative
ways to alter the sales compensation system, which (5) leads to a survey of all sales personnel in the
affected regions.

©McGraw Hill 3-65

Formulating
the Research
Question 2

©McGraw Hill 3-66

Research Proposal
• Elements of a Research Proposal
• Drafting a Research Proposal
• Evaluating a research proposal