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CHAPTER 6
RESEARCHING YOUR SUBJECT
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TYPES OF RESEARCH
ACADEMIC
RESEARCH

PRIMARY
RESEARCH
&
SECONDAR
Y
RESEARCH

WORKPLACE
RESEARCH

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PRIMARY & SECONDARY RESEARCH

Primary Research is the process of collecting data
that is obtained first-hand. Eg: Survey

Secondary Research is the process of collecting data

that already exists Eg: Books

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Understand the differences between
Academic and Workplace research

ACADEMIC RESEARCH WORKPLACE RESEARCH

In academic research, your goal is to find In workplace research, your goal is to find
information that will help you answer a scholarly information that will help you answer a practical
question. question, usually one that involves the organization
for which you work.

Example Example

1.What is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health in 1.What is the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of
the general population? our organisational employees?

2. What is the perceived effect of VAT on the country’s economy? 2. How can our construction company effectively reduce, plan, and
manage scaffolding costs ?

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS

1. ANALYZE YOUR AUDIENCE

2. ANALYZE YOUR PURPOSE

3. ANALYZE YOUR SUBJECT

4. VISUALIZE THE DELIVERABLE

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS

5. WORK OUT A SCHEDULE AND A BUDGET

6. DETERMINE THE INFORMATION FOR THE DELIVERABLE

7. DETERMINE WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE ACCQUIRED

8. CREATE QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ANSWER IN THE

DELIVERABLE

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THE RESEARCH PROCESS

9. CONDUCT SECONDARY RESEARCH

10. CONDUCT PRIMARY RESEARCH

11. EVALUATE YOUR INFORMATION

12. DO MORE RESEARCH

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ALWAYS CHOOSE APPROPRIATE
RESEARCH METHODS

 Choose appropriate research methods once

research questions are determined

 Different research questions require different

research methods
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ASK 3 QUESTIONS TO CHOOSE
APPROPRIATE RESEARCH METHODS

• What types of research media ( Books,

reports) might you use?
Secondary
research
tools

• What types of research tools (online catalog,

online database) might you use?
• What types of primary research might you
conduct?
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Follow three guidelines
when researching a topic:
• Be persistent.
 Don’t give up or be discouraged if a research method doesn’t produce useful information

• Record your data carefully.

 Bookmark sites
 Paste URL’s of sites you visit
 Record interviews

• Triangulate your research methods.

 Use more than one or two methods
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Triangulating your Research 11
Electronic
Sources
Electronic sources—Websites, DVDs, research
databases, television and radio, videos, podcasts,
blogs

Print sources—Books, journals, magazines and

newspapers, government publications, reference
materials

The Empirical sources—Experiments, surveys,

interviews, field observations, ethnographies, case
Research studies
Triangle

Print Empirical
Sources Sources

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 CONDUCTING SECONDARY RESEARCH 12
Know the four types of information media:

PRINT ONLINE WEB SITES SOCIAL

DATABASE MEDIA

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PRINT MEDIA

NEWSPAPER
BOOKS MAGAZINES
S

JOURNALS FLYER REPORTS

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ONLINE DATABASE
 An online research database is an electronic collection of information that include
scholarly articles, books, journals, reports, magazines, books, and newspapers.
Some research databases also include video, images, and more.
 An online database allows users to create, store, and manage data in one centralized
online location.
 Online databases are often used to manage business data such as customer data,
medical information, sales data, and inventory.
 Libraries purchase access to online databases for patron use.

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ONLINE DATABASE - SQU

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TRADITIONAL RESEARCH
TOOLS

ONLINE REFERENCE PERIODICAL

CATALOGS WORKS INDEX

NEWSPAPER ABSTRACT GOVERNMENT

INDEX SERVICES INFORMATION

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1. ONLINE CATALOG

 An Online catalog is a database that

describes books, periodicals (such as
magazine, journal or newspaper),
tapes and other materials held by a
library/institution.
 One can search for an item by
inserting keywords in the search bar
 Use filters and limits to optimize
your searches
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2. REFERENCE WORKS
Reference works include:
 Dictionaries
 Encyclopedias
 Biographical Dictionaries
 Almanacs
 Atlases

These reference works provide an overview of

the subject and lists major works in the field.
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3. PERIODICAL INDEX

 Periodicals: A publication issued or produced at regular intervals – weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually
 Examples of Periodicals: Journal, Magazine, Newspaper
 Periodicals are excellent sources of information-they offer recent, authoritative discussions of limited
subjects
 Periodical Index: A periodical index is a subject, author and keyword index to a selected list of
periodicals; it's the key to finding articles on a particular topic.
 Some periodical indexes contain abstracts or brief summaries of the articles. A few contain the full text or
entire content of whole articles as they originally appeared in the periodical.
 Eg: Business Periodical Index

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4. NEWSPAPER INDEX

 A newspaper index is an alphabetical list of

news articles - classified by subject, names,
illustrations, or other items, found in a
newspaper, or group of newspapers.
 Eg: The Wall Street Journal & The New
York Times
 Archived articles can be charged for some
newspapers
 To cite a quotation from a newspaper article,
print version is preferred to electronic

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5. ABSTRACT SERVICES

 An Abstract Service provides brief

technical summaries of articles in journals,
books, reports etc.
 An Abstract is a shortened version of the
original piece. They are often accessible
via a subscription and will be on a
particular subject, or selection of subjects.
 Purpose of Abstract: Enables the
researcher to decide whether to seek out
full article

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6. GOVERNMENT
INFORMATION
 Government Information include government
publications on:
 Statistical data
 Publication
of laws & official
announcements
 Census data
 Guides, Reports & Official Records
 Eg: Official Gazette- Ministry of Justice &
Legal Affairs; Ministry of Tourism
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IF LIBRARY DOES NOT HAVE A
SOURCE/ARTICLE YOU ARE SEEKING:

DOCUMENT-
INTERLIBRARY LOAN
DELIVERY SERVICE
Your library finds another library that Document delivery service (DDS)
has the article you are seeking or document supply service “refers
to the physical or electronic delivery
of a document from a library
collection to the residence or place
That library photocopies the article of business of a library user, upon
and sends it/faxes to your library request.”

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USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
RESEARCH

 Social media broadly refers to websites or applications that focus on communication and
shared, community-generated content.
 Advantage of social media for research: speed and ease of content; Disadvantage: Lack of
formal review of content
 There are several different types of social media platforms, each with their own purpose, such as
 Social & professional networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)
 bookmarking(Pinterest)
 sharing news (Reddit, Digg)
 sharing media (Instagram, TikTok)
 and blogging (Tumblr)
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Understand forms of social media and web
based resources :

DISCUSSION
WIKIS BLOGS
BOARDS

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CATEGORIES OF SOCIAL
MEDIA
DISCUSSION
BOARDS
- -
Online bulletin board or online
discussion forums to tap or seek
community’s information
- Sponsored by professional
organisations and private companies
- Eg: Kialo, Moodle, Yo Teach
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WIKIS
Web site where members create
and edit content collaboratively
- Be careful when you use Wikis-
may not be trustworthy
- Eg: Wikipedia, Wikihow
26
BLOGS
- Informational website published on World
Wide Web with articles from several
disciplines
- Private companies and organisations provide
useful information on blogs for researchers
- Eg: WordPress and Blue Host/ eg.IBM
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Eg: IBM Blog

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 2 techniques for finding information on social
media:
Tagging and RSS Feeds
 Tagged Content
 Tags are descriptive keywords to label internet
content
 This helps researchers to find information
 Blog tags and social media tags
 Eg: One word descriptors OR multiword
descriptors OR Hashtag (#) on Twitter used to
aggregate information on a topic
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 RSS Feeds
 RSS- Rich Site Summary OR Really
Simple Syndication
 Feature available on sites to receive
alerts on new content posted on a
website
 Eliminates wastage of time on
checking posts on a website
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EVALUATING SECONDARY SOURCES
OF INFORMATION

COMPREHENSIV
ACCURATE UNBIASED
E

APPROPRIATELY
CURRENT CLEAR
TECHNICAL

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EVALUATING SECONDARY SOURCES
OF INFORMATION

• Does the source support its arguments and conclusions with evidence?

ACCURACY • Check list of references used by the author

• Corroborate information

• Check whether source contain opinions or facts

UNBIASED
• Does the information promote any agenda?
• Is the information presented objectively?
• Is the source free of advertising?

COMPREHENSI • A source is comprehensive if it provides both sides of an argument or more than one viewpoint.
Although you can use sources that do not provide more than one viewpoint, you need to balance them

VE with sources that provide other viewpoints.

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EVALUATING SECONDARY SOURCES
OF INFORMATION

APPROPRIATELY • Is information sufficiently detailed?

TECHNICAL

CURRENT • Pay attention to the date of publication

CLEAR • Language must be easy to understand

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OTHER CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING
PRINT & ONLINE SOURCES

KNOWLEDGE
AUTHORSHIP PUBLISHER OF
LITERATURE

ACCURACY &
VERIFIABILITY
TIMELINESS
OF
INFORMATION

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1. AUTHORSHIP FOR
PRINTED & ONLINE SOURCE

Details of
Name of Biographical
position and
author information
credentials

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2. PUBLISHER FOR PRINTED
& ONLINE SOURCE

Check Check
Publisher & sponsorship
reputation details

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 3. KNOWLEDGE OF 35
LITERATURE FOR PRINTED &
ONLINE SOURCE

Check for links

Look out for
in online
Bibliography
sources

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 4. ACCURACY & 36
VERIFIABILITY FOR PRINTED &
ONLINE SOURCE
Check Check for proper Check for design &
methods/theories reasons & evidence layout of online
used for information supporting data webpage

Check for citations

& references

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5. TIMELINESS FOR
PRINTED & ONLINE SOURCE

Check when was

Check date of
online source last
Publication
updated

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CONDUCTING PRIMARY
RESEARCH
OBSERVATION

DEMONSTRATION

INSPECTION

EXPERIMENT

FIELD RESEARCH

INTERVIEWS

INQUIRIES

QUESTIONNAIRE
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Difference between Observations/Demonstrations
& Inspections
DEMONSTRATIONS
OBSERVATIONS INSPECTIONS
Observation is an act of Demonstration involves Inspection involves active
watching an activity to examining of an activity when
watching someone carry
understand some aspect of the researcher participates in the
out a process activity.
it.
Eg: Inspecting a machinery-
Eg: Observing how a involves examining parts of
machinery works. machinery and questioning of
people handling that machinery,
understanding the functions of
the machinery etc.

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 The purpose of an experiment is to study

causal links between variables; to establish
whether a change in one independent

EXPERIMENT
variable (e.g. The running of a sales
promotion) produces a change in another
dependent variable (e.g. The level of sales).

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4 PHASES OF
CONDUCTING AN EXPERIMENT

1. Establishing a hypothesis statement

2. Testing the Hypothesis

3. Analyzing the data

4. Reporting the data

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A statement made in the

What is a conduct of experiment to
test the expected or
Hypothesis predicted result in order to
Statement? examine the relationship
between two factors

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Step 1:Experiment Hypothesis Statement
43
Eg: The new employee training program will
increase work productivity

Step 2: Test the Hypothesis

You’ll need two groups (Experimental Group & Control
Group)
- Experimental Group: Employees receiving the training program
-Control Group: Another set of employees not receiving the
training program

Step 3: Analyse the data- Does the data show relation?

Step 4: Report the data – What the experiment was, why
the experiment was conducted, what was seen, what it
means, what should be done next.
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Field Research
 Field research is mostly qualitative method of collecting data that is aimed at
observing, interacting and understanding people in their natural settings
 Examples of Field Research:
 American Psychological Researcher Bruce Tuckman in 1965 conducted
years of observations and interviews to study stages of group development in
organizations.
 A clinical therapist using participant observations to study the online educational
effects during Covid-19 pandemic on child’s overall development.

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Field Research

 Field research can be conducted through direct observations,

qualitative interviews, inspections and ethnography.
 When doing field research,
 Do not influence the behaviour of the subject by the presence of
the researcher
 Minimize any biases in the recording and analysis of data

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INTERVIEWS

 A method of data collection

using questions in which
a/each person is asked a set
of questions by an
interviewer who records the
responses.

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 Consider three factors 47
when choosing a person to interview:

What questions do you want to answer?

Who could provide the information you need?

Is the person willing to be interviewed?

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IMPORTANT TIPS ON
HOW TO CONDUCT AN INTERVIEW

CONCLUDIN
PREPARING BEGINNING DURING the
G the
for the the Interview Interview
Interview
Interview

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1. PREPARING for the Interview

 Do your homework.
 Prepare good questions ( CLEAR, FOCUSED, OPEN).
 Example:
 Clear Q: What was your driving force that led you to become an
entrepreneur?
 Focused Q (narrowed): How did you raise funding for your SME
business?
 OPEN Q: What marketing tactics has been the most successful one so
far?
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2. BEGINNING the Interview

Arrive on time.
Thank the respondent.
State the subject and purpose of the interview.
If you want to record the interview, ask permission

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3. DURING the Interview

Take notes-concepts, facts , numbers etc.

Start with prepared questions.
Be prepared to ask follow-up questions.
Be prepared to get the interview back on track gently.

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4. CONCLUDING the Interview

Thank the respondent.

Ask for a follow-up interview.
Ask for permission to quote the respondent
Write down the important information while the
interview is fresh in your mind.
Send a brief thank-you note.
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INQUIRIES
 Inquiry is an alternative to a face-to-face interview
 Inquiry is written mode of conducting interview
 Form: letter, email or through website
 Inquiries can be less successful
 Recipient has not agreed to provide information
 Recipient might not respond
 Less/no opportunity to ask follow-up questions
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QUESTIONNAIRES

 Research strategy to solicit

information from a large
group of people

 Form: E-mail; through

Website or Survey software
(eg: Survey Monkey; Google form)
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Questionnaires are
vulnerable to three problems:

 Some of the questions will misfire.

 Low response rate: You won’t
obtain as many responses as you
want.
 Incorrect sample: You cannot be
sure the respondents are
representative.
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Using questionnaires effectively
calls for four steps:
 Step1: Ask effective questions
 Use unbiased language
 Word specific questions
 Step 2:Test the questionnaire on few people to “know” problems
 Step 3:Administer the questionnaire. (Identify the right sample and
administer)
 Step 4: Present questionnaire data in your document

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Eg: USE UNBIASED LANGUAGE

 A survey question is biased if it is phrased or formatted in a way that

skews (mislead) people towards a certain answer.
 Biased language examples:
 Example 1: Don’t you agree that there is a huge problem with International
Taxation Standards?

 Example 2: Do you like the legendary football player Lionel Messi?

 Yes, I do
 No, I don’t

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Eg: WORD SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

X Generic : What do you think about CSR

activities in companies?

Specific: How do employees get engaged in

the CSR activities of your company?

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Using questionnaires effectively
calls for four steps:
 Step1: Ask effective questions
 Use unbiased language
 Word specific questions
 Step 2:Test the questionnaire on few people to “know” problems
 Step 3:Administer the questionnaire. (Identify the right sample and
administer)
 Step 4: Present questionnaire data in your document

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Common types of Questions used in
Questionnaire

MULTIPLE-
CHOICE

SHORT LIKERT-
ESSAY SCALE

TYPE OF
QUESTIONS IN
QUESTIONNAIRE

SEMANTIC
SHORT
ANSWER DIFFERNETIAL

RANKIN
G
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TYPES OF QUESTIONS USED IN QUESTIONNAIRES
Type of Question Definition Example

MULTIPLE CHOICE Type of closed-ended question where a respondent Do you own a car?
chooses among a range of given alternatives  Agree
 Disagree

LIKERT SCALE Type of closed-ended survey question that asks I own a car
respondent to rank (mark) the degree to which the  Agree
respondent agrees or disagrees to a given statement.  Disagree

SEMANTIC Type of closed-ended survey question that asks How did you find the
DIFFERENTIALS respondents to register a response to a question on a process of owning a car?
continuum between pair of opposing adjectives (scale)  Simple
 Difficult

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Scaling of Likert Question
2 point scale  Agree
 Disagree
 Yes
 No

3 point scale  Agree

 Undecided/ Not sure
 Disagree

5 point scale 

Strongly agree
Agree
 Undecided/don’t know/neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree

7 point scale Agree strongly

Agree moderately
Agree slightly
Neutral/undecided
Disagree slightly
Disagree moderately
BCOM4931_MINU JOBBY Disagree strongly
 Example: Semantic Differential Scales
for Measuring Attitudes Toward Tennis
Extremely Boring / Moderately Boring/ Don’t know / Moderately Exciting/ Extremely Exciting

1 2 3 4 5

BORING 1 2 3 4 5 EXCITING

DULL1 2 3 4 5 INTERESTING

DIFFICULT 1 2 3 4 5 SIMPLE

PASSIVE 1 2 3 4 5
ACTIVE

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TYPES OF QUESTIONS USED IN QUESTIONNAIRES 64
Type of Question Definition Example

RANKING Type of closed-ended survey question that asks respondents to compare a list of items Rank the importance of the following features of
(choices) with each other and arrange in order of preference(factor) a car, in your opinion
 Excellent Navigation System
Place “1” for the feature that is MOST IMPORTANT to you, a “2”for the  Good Mileage
feature that is next important….and “5” for the feature that is least  Remote Start
 Leather Seats
important.
 Central Locking

SHORT ANSWER Type of open-ended question where respondent answers briefly to What is the best feature of the car
a question ( in keywords, phrases or in one or two sentences) you own?
( Write ONE best feature ONLY)

SHORT ESSAY Type of open-ended question where the aim is to let the Explain the features that you looked
respondent express freely in a detailed manner for when buying a car.

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