Development of Research Methodology

Why Research Important

Adds to knowledge Provides an ability to identify problems, to address them and search for potential solutions. Addressing gaps in knowledge Expanding knowledge to new ideas or practices, replicating knowledge and adding voices of individuals to society.

Sound Reasoning

Inductive/Deductive Process

Induction and Deduction

Deductive

Inductive

Combining Induction and Deduction

You promote a product but sales dont increase. (Fact1) You ask the question Why didnt sales increase? (Induction)

You infer a conclusion (hypothesis) to answer the question: The promotion was poorly executed. (Hypothesis)
You use this hypothesis to conclude (deduce) that sales will not increase during a poorly executed promotion.You know from experience that ineffective promotion will not increase sales. (Deduction1) We deduce that a well-executed promotion will result in increased sales. (Deduction2) We run an effective promotion, and sales increase. (Fact2)

Combining Induction and Deduction

Induction and deduction are used together in research reasoning. Induction occurs when we observe a fact and ask, Why is this? In answer to this question, we advance a tentative explanation (hypothesis). The hypothesis is plausible if it explains the event or condition (fact) that prompted the question. Deduction is the process by which we test whether the hypothesis is capable of explaining the fact.

Concepts to Practice
Research studies show that heavy smokers have a higher rate of lung cancer than do nonsmokers; therefore heavy smoking causes lung cancer. Show me a person who goes to church regularly, and I will show you a reliable worker.

Epistemology
Epistemology addresses the nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope and general basis (Hamlyn, 1995). Epistemology is concerned with providing a philosophical grounding for deciding what kinds of knowledge are possible, and how we can ensure they are both adequate and legitimate (Maynard, 1994).

Paradigms of Research
A paradigm is a worldview or a set of assumptions about how things work. Rossman & Rollis define paradigm as shared understandings of reality Frames of reference we use to organize our observations and reasoning. Often implicit, assumed, taken for granted. New paradigms proposes unique ways of seeing and explaining things that then take hold

PARADIGM SHIFT
Thomas Kuhn wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolution, and fathered, defined and popularized the concept of "paradigm shift. It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It just does not happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change.

Scientific Method
Scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. Steps of the scientific method are to:

Ask a Question Do Background Research Construct a Hypothesis Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion Communicate Your Results

Flow diagram of Scientific Method.

Traditional Model of Science

Four elements Develop a Theory. Conceptualize it components Develop operational definitions that specify the process involved in measuring a variable. Observe and measure of what is seen.

Two Main Traditions

There is a long-standing debate in the social sciences about the most appropriate philosophical position from which methods should be derived. In the red corner is post positivism; in the blue corner is positivism. So what are these traditions? Let us start with positivism.

Positivism
The key idea of positivism is that the social world exists externally, and that its properties should be measured through objective methods, rather than being inferred subjectively through sensation, reflection or intuition. The French philosopher, Auguste Comte (1853), was an early and influential proponent of this view, as he said: All good intellects have repeated, since Bacons time, that there can be no real knowledge but that which is based on observed facts.

Positivism
The statement contains two assumptions: Reality is external and objective; Knowledge is only of significance if it is based on observations of this external reality.

Positivism

Independence : the observer is independent of what is being observed; Value - freedom : the choice of what to study, and how to study it, can be determined by objective criteria rather than by human beliefs and interests; Causality: the aim of social sciences should be to identify casual explanations and fundamental laws that explain regularities in human social behaviour. Hypothetic - deductive: science proceeds through a process of hypothesizing fundamental laws and then deducing what kinds of observations will demonstrate the truth or falsity of these hypotheses.

Positivism

Operationalisation: concepts need to be operationalised in a way which enables facts to be measured quantitatively.
Reductionism: problems as a whole are better understood if they are reduced into the simplest possible elements; Generalization: in order to be able to generalize about regularities in human and social behaviour it is necessary to select samples of sufficient size; Cross - Sectional analysis: such regularities can most easily be identified by making comparisons of variations across samples.

Post Positivism
The new paradigm that has arisen during the last half century, largely in reaction to the application of positivism to the social sciences, stems from the view that the world and reality are not

objective and exterior, but that they are socially constructed and given meaning by people (Husserl, 1946).

Post Positivism

Reality is socially constructed rather than objectively determined. Task of the social scientist should not be to gather facts and measure how often certain patterns occur, but to appreciate the different

constructions and meanings that people place upon their experience.

Need to understand and explain why people have different experience, rather than search for external causes and fundamental laws to explain their behaviour.

Human action arises from the sense that people make of different

situations, rather than as a direct response from external stimuli.

Strengths and Weaknesses of each side

Quantitative methods and the positivist paradigm
Main strengths are that they can provide wide coverage of

the range of situations; they can be fast and economical; and, particularly when statistics are aggregated from large samples, they may be of considerable relevance to policy decisions. On the debit side, they are not very effective in understanding processes or the significance that people attach to actions; they are not very helpful in generating theories; and because they focus on what is, or what has been recently, they make it hard for the policy-maker to infer what changes and actions should take place in the future.

Strengths and Weaknesses of each side

Post positivist paradigm and associated qualitative methods

Post positivist paradigm and associated qualitative methods have strengths in their ability to look at change processes over time, to understand peoples meanings, to adjust to new issues and ideas as they emerge, and to contribute to the evolution of new theories. They also provide a way of gathering data which is seen as natural rather than artificial. Data collection can take up a great deal of time and resources, and the interpretation of data may be very difficult. Qualitative studies often feel very untidy because it is harder to control their pace, progress and end-points. There is also the problem that many people, especially policy-makers, may give low credibility to studies based on a post positivist approach.

Language of Research

Language of Research (Concept)

Job Redesign Constructs and Concepts

Operationalization

Operationalizing Learning

A Variable Is the Property Being Studied

Types of Variables

Types of Variables
Independent Dependent Moderating Mediating Extraneous

Test Case
I am a manufacturer of raincoats. I want to increase sales. I increase my advertising budget by 100%. Sales go up 20%. What is the relationship between the increase in the advertising budget and the increase in sales?

Cause
Advertising Budget

Effect Weather Sales

Fashion

Concept to Practice

An automobile manufacturer observes the demand for its brand increasing as per capita income increases. Sales increases also follow low interest rates which ease credit conditions. Buyer purchase behavior is seen to be dependent on age and gender. Other factors influencing sales appear to fluctuate almost randomly(Competitor advertising, competitor discounts, introduction of competitive models).

Concept to Practice
If sales and per capita income are positively related, classify all variables as dependent, independent, moderating and extraneous. Comment on the utility of a model based on the hypothesis.

Distinguish among the following sets of items

Concept and construct Deduction and induction Operational definition and dictionary definition Concept and variable Hypothesis and proposition Theory and model Scientific method and scientific attitude