Research Journey

Dr.K.Balaji, Dean/Associate Professor,

School of Management Studies,
Surya Group of Institutions,
Villupuram
 How to plan your journey ?
Major Questions:
• Why?
• How?
• Where to go?
 Research Journey
What ?
• Research refers to a search for
knowledge.
• Research is an art of scientific
investigation.

• A scientific investigation is a plan for

asking questions and testing possible
answers:
• A scientific investigation is
conducted through a set of
procedures.
 Academic Research for MBA

• Why to do research?
• Why me and why not others?
• Purpose ?
• Who will benefit ?
• Monetary benefit / Non monetary
benefit?
• How long the duration?
• Cost involved ?
 Before Starting your research journey ensure

• Research Area : Marketing , Finance , Systems,

Operations, etc.,

• Choosing research area is based upon your specialization .

• You should have basic knowledge about the subject and

you have to select specific area.

• For example : MARKETING – SERVICES , PRODUCT

DEVELOPMENT, ADVERTISING, ETC.,
 Where to go in journey ?
• Selecting where you are going to do your
research ?
• It represents the SCOPE of RESEARCH :
FOR MBA DEGREE COMPLETION / OWN Interest

In a company Manufacturing / Service

Industry Banking , Retail , Steel
Geographical Region, State , Countries ,etc.,
 The first step in research
• Identifying the Research
Problem/ Need :
• It is to be related to your selected
subject and purpose.
• Sources:
• Company – Managers/ Executives
• Academician – Faculty members
• Own Experience
• Others – Previous research ,
Newspaper , Books magazines ,
etc.,
CAN FRAME RESEARCH
ONCE PROBLEM IDENTIFIED TOPIC
 RESEARCH TOPIC/ TITLE
• Generally topic must :

Start with A STUDY ON

Middle write the research problem identified
End – Mention the company / Industry and its
location
 Example
• Source of Research Problem : HR Manager
• Actual Problem : Frequent Employees
Absenteeism
• Company Name : HUL, Pondicherry
• Then Research Topic :
“A STUDY ON REASONS FOR EMPLOYEE
ANSENTEES IN HUL , PONDICHERRY”.
 Introduction About the Topic
• Give a brief introduction about the research
topic for 2 to 3 pages.
• Example : Employee Absenteeism
Meaning
Definition
Importance
Types
Any relevant information about Absenteeism.
 Objectives of the Study
• Your research project to accomplish.
Principles of framing objective :

• It should start with letter TO STUDY/FIND

• Show Primary and Secondary Objectives separately.
• It should be short
• It should consist of variables.
• How to identify variables :

– Looking into the questionnaire/ data collected.

 How to frame variables

• Done with the help of theory.

• Studying Books, Journals, Magazines,
Newspapers, Internet sources, discussing with
managers etc.,
• Further discussing with faculty members you
can frame variables for your study.
 Employee Absenteeism – Variables
• Reading HRM / Absenteeism related
books.
• Review journals –

• Employees absenteeism related

research work.

• Discuss with HR department employers.

• Consult HR specialization faculty
members
 Tips for Writing Objectives
• Primary Objectives:
Write your project topic with
starting TO
Secondary Objectives:
Maximum 4 or 5
Write the objectives with
variables taken in the
questionnaire.
 Example for writing objectives
• Employee Absenteeism :
PRIMARY :
• To study the reasons for employee absenteeism in HUL, Pondicherry .
SECONDARY:
• To find out the impact of working environment in employee
absenteeism
• To find out the impact of works place policy in employee
absenteeism.

• above mentioned variables are to be included in

questionnaire
 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
• The boundary of our study
• Who will benefit out of our
study.
• If you are doing research for HUL
, Puducherry , then the scope is
limited only to one company.
• How to select the
scope ????????
• It is based upon time and cost
involved in the research work.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
• Framing the research design :
• 1. Type of Research :

• MBA PROJECT WORK:

Descriptive Research /
Analytical Research
 Descriptive Research
• Mostly in HR/ Marketing research,
researcher describe the
characteristics of Individuals.
• They use primary data
• Mostly Data collected through
questionnaire.
• To whom we distribute
questionnaire ?
• Understand about Population and
Sample
 Example – Research Design
• Employee Absenteeism : Describing the opinion of the
employees regarding their frequent absent in HUL.
• Type of Research : Descriptive
• Data Collection : Primary
• Instrument used : Questionnaire
• Survey Population : Total no. of employees in
HUL company
• Sample Selection : No . of Employees taken for
survey
Tools used for Analysis: Percentage analysis, Correlation,
etc.,
 How to frame questionnaire ?
• Search for Employee absenteeism pre tested
questionnaire in Google or Google scholar
• Various papers to be studied
• In a minute, hour, days you can find pre tested
questionnaire
Searching in Google/ Google scholar
• Apart from study
variable include
demographic
questions like :
• Age
• Gender
• Income
• Education
• Martial status
 Questionnaire types
• Open ended question :
• No options were given
under each question to tick
or pick.
• Better limit/avoid open
ended questions because it
can’t be used for Analysis
• As we can’t convert the
data into numbers.
• Try to use closed ended questions which
means giving options under each questions :
• Try to give options in Likert Scale

• Do you frequently disagree with your

coworkers
Data will be in Quantitative Form and uniform
when you use Closed ended questions.
 How to circulate Questionnaire
• Best Method?
• Electronic way of distribution is the best .
• Simple and self learning adding question in
forms:
 Population and Sample Size
• Population : Entire group of person
to whom the research is done.
• Example : Total employees in an
organization.
• Due to large in count or limited
time , not possible to include all in
data collection, so go for SAMPLE.
 Identifying Sample Size
• Sample is the
selected persons
who will represent
group.
• Sample can be
selected through

• Table , Formula or
by Reference to
other research
work.
 Picking the Sample
If your population is small i.e. < = 200, no
need of sampling

POPULATION
• Suppose Company total no. of
employees : 400
SAMPLE
Using Table Sample size = 196

Sampling technique
How you pick 196 employees from
400 If you don’t know population count
exactly : Convenient Sampling
 Analytical Research
SECONDARY DATA :
• Use of data which are already available
• Will make a critical evaluation.
• Data that have been already collected and readily
available from other sources.
• RESEARCH DESIGN:

Type of Research : Analytical Research

Data Type : Secondary
Tools for Analysis :
 Source of Secondary Data
• HUL company Financial Statement , Annual
Meeting Report, Websites, Company Blog etc.,
• HUL news published in Newspaper,
Magazines, Journals, Case Studies,
• Research paper related to HUL company are
the major sources of Secondary Data.
 Analytical Related Projects – Critical
Evaluation
• Title : A study on Financial Performance of HUL
company , Puducherry.
• Secondary data: Financial Statement – Trading,
Profit and Loss Account & Balance Sheet.
• If you are doing for 2022 year, then have past 5
years data for analysis starting 2021.
Latest and Authentic data is to be
used
 Limitation
• Every research has some limitation but it has
be shown.
Why?
• Again if some other researcher doing the
research he / she may try to overcome the
limitation.
 After Collecting Data ???
• Analyzing the data :
• If data are collected through questionnaire
and distributed with the support of Google
forms.
• Data ready for analysis.
• Additional effort are not required to make the
data ready.
Hard Copy Data Collection- Prepare Master
Sheet using Excel
 Analyzing Data
• Many software are available for data analysis
KNOWN:
Using Google Forms , the data can be directly loaded
for analysis.

SPSS

EXCEL
 Analysis Tools
Management Accounting / Finance
Marketing / HR
Testing the hypothesis
PRIMARY DATA SECONDARY DATA
• Percentage Analysis Ratio Analysis
• Mean/Median/ S.D Fund Flow Statement
• Correlation Cash Flow Statement
• Regression Trend Analysis
• Chi Square Comparative Statements
• ANNOVA
Hypothesis Testing
 ANALYSIS RESULTS
• Hypothesis is Accepted Or rejected.
Data presented in
Tables,
Charts,
Graphs, and
Other figures 
Example of Result
 Findings
• List the findings point by point.
• Various tools used for analysis , results must be
shown in Findings.
• Findings must match with the study objectives.
• You can show the results of each questions taken
in the research.
• For Example :
• Percentage analysis
• Correlation/ regression/chi-square / ANNOVA
results can be shown.
Major finding – Employee Absenteeism
• 70% of the employees are male
• 50% of the employees are having 3-5 years
exp.
• Employees are Feeling Depressed – Rank
• There is significant differences between
Education of the employees and Disagreement
with co workers
 Suggestions
• To overcome the problem / improvement what
the company have to do are to be listed.
• Sometimes suggestion can be out of study ,
where on your observation you might have
found.
• Study related Suggestion : For reducing
Absenteeism, organization have to focus on
reducing the employees stress by conducting
games and changing their work culture.
 Conclusion
A one page write up where you have to mention :
• As a whole what you like to convey
• State what your research claims.
• Include further research possibilities.
 Bibliography / References
• Show the list of references you have used to
do your research work. Books/ Journals/
Magazines/ Newspapers etc.,
• Example :
• Kathryn J. Paget, Delia L. Lang, and 
Kenneth S. Shultz  (1998), Development and
Validation of an Employee Absenteeism Scale,
Volume 82, Issue 3, Psychological Reports
 Abstract / Executive Summary
• Write up for a page with 15 lines max. where
the researcher explains to the reader about
the entire research work undertaken.
• Tips for Writing :
• Write 1- 2 lines from each section:
Example : Introduction, Objectives, Scope,
Research Design, Data Type, Tools for Analysis,
Major Findings.
 Writing of Research Report
• Typed material
• Font – Times New Roman
• Font Size – 12
• All heading Bold
• Line Spacing – 1.5
• Margin Size – 1”
• All tables and charts must have heading.
• Minimum of 60 pages.
• Prepare List of Content , List of Tables and Charts,
• Page number to be mentioned from Introduction page.
• Binding – As per the college norms.
 Front page
• Have the front page ready with your name,
reg. no, college logo, year of completion, etc.,
• Project work completion letter issued by
company.
• List of Content page
 PROJECT REPORT CONTENTTITLE

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE PROJECT
NEED FOR THE STUDY
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
COMPANY PROJECTS
INCEPTION OF ORGANIZATION
TYPES OF INDUSTRY
PRODUCTS
ORGANIZATION CHART
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
MAIN THEME OF THE PROJECT REPORT
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH DESIGN
SAMPLING DESIGN
LIMITATIONAL OF DESIGN
STATISTICAL TOOLS
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
TABLES
FIGURES
STAISTICAL TOOLS
RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
FINDIND
SUDDESTIONS
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX
BIBLIOGRAPHY