ASSIGNME

NT 3
RESEARCH
METHODS FOR
BUSINESS

AZIMAN BIN ZAKARIA

QUESTION 1
During your proposal to undertake a research project, which will
be based on semi structured or in dept interview, you feel that
you have dealt well with the relationship between the purpose of
the research and the proposed methodology when one panel
leans forward and asks you to discuss the trustworthiness and
usefulness of your work for other researcher. This is really a
challenge to see whether you can defend such an approach. How
do you respond?

Some guide
a. Review your research questions and objectives
b. Threats to trustworthiness of the data collected
c. Practical problems accounted and how to and how might
you overcome it
d. Interview themes to be explored and your research
questions and objectives

Let us looks on the thory side:

Objective of research. – The research objectives address the purpose of the

project. These may be research question(s) and associated investigative
questions. In correlational or causal studies, the hypothesis statements are
included. Hypotheses are declarative statements describing the relationship
between tow or more variables. They state clearly the variables of concern, the
relationships among them, and the target group being studied. Operational
definitions of critical variables should be included.

Objective of methodology – Methodology is a technical report which is an

important section containing at 5 parts ie. Sampling design, research design,
data collection and data analysis.

Structured interviews – interviews conducted by the researcher with a

predetermined list of questions to be asked of the interviewee.

Unstructured interviews – interviews conducted with the primary purpose of

identifying some important issues relevant to the problem situation, without prior
preparation of a planned or predetermined sequence of questions.

Firstly, the researcher need to know very well of the purpose the research
ie whether it is exploratory studies, descriptive research or causal
research. After the purpose of the research has been established, the
researcher will start the research by identifying the problem, that is
defining the problems and gives a sense of direction to the investigation.

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Secondary data or historical data previously collected are assembled
inside the company besides the primary data that is gathered specifically
for the project. The researcher also can conduct a pilot studies whereby
the collected data from the ultimate subject of the research project can be
serve as a guide for the larger study.

The researcher also needs to plan the research design where this research
design specifying the methods and procedures for collecting and
analyzing the needed information. The research design should consider
the research objectives and should determine the sources of information,
the design technique such as survey or experiment, the sampling
methodology, the time schedule for the research as well as the budget for
the research.

Sampling also need to be taken and it involves any procedures that uses a
small number of items or that uses part of the population to make a
conclusion regarding the whole population; a sample is s subset from a
larger population. The results of a statistically sound sample should have
the same characteristics as the population. Of course, errors can be made
especially if the target population is not representative of potential
customers, or if the sample size is too small, or not a probability sample,
or if the unit is not randomly selected.

Once the research design, including the sampling plan has been
formalized, the process of collecting information from respondents may
begin. Depending on the design chosen, there are many methods of data
collection. For example, the survey method requires direct participation,
while an unobtrusive method of collecting data does not. A pretesting
phase, using a small subsample, may help minimize errors in the main
study.

The data then need to be converted, through editing and coding, into a
format that will answer the research purpose. Editing involves checking
the data forms for omissions, legibility and consistency in classification.
Before the edited data can be tabulated, meaningful categories must be
established for groups of responses, this process is called coding and it
facilitates computer or hand tabulation. Analysis is the application of logic

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to the understanding of data that has been gathered; it varies from the
simple determination of patterns to complex statistical analysis.

The researcher than can make conclusion and report preparation where
this process will be useful for decision making purposes. The research
report should effectively communicate the research findings.

d) The Interview themes could be unstructured and structured and

conducted either face to face or by telephone or online. The interview
questioning technique can be through funneling, unbiased questions,
clarifying issues, helping the respondent think through issues or taking
notes.

QUESTION 2
You are about to embark on a year long study of customers
service training for sales assistants in two supermarket
companies. The purpose of the research is to compare the way in
which the training develops and its effectiveness. What
measures would you need to take in the research design stage to
ensure that the results are valid?

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Some guide
a. Refer to your research questions and objectives
b. Decide of the research strategies that is most appropriate
for your research questions and objectives
c. List the threats to reliability and validity contained in
your research design

The research area for this question is on training effectiveness and the
aspect of the research is the impact of training effectiveness.
A) Research questions:
1. Does the value-added training give impact towards sales
assistant effectiveness?
2. Does the training have a positive or negative impact to the
effectiveness?
3. Does the effect on training effectiveness vary by level in the
companies?
4. Does the training effectiveness disrupt traditional method of
working in the companies?
5. Does sales assistant try to resist the training effectiveness?

Select research questions:

1. Does the training have a positive or negative impact to the
effectiveness?
2. Does the effect on training effectiveness vary by level in the
organization?

Research Objectives:
The research objective is the researcher’s version of the business
problem. The research objective is derived from the problem
definition and it explains the purpose of the research in measurable
term, as well as defining what standards the research should
accomplish. Such objectives help ensure that the research projects
will be manageable in size. In this case, the research objectives
are :
a. Handling customers effectively for sales assistant
b. Compare the way in which the training develops and its
effectiveness

B) Research strategies:

Interviews are one method of collecting data. on the issues of

interest. Interviews could be unstructured or structured and
conducted face to face. Unstructured interviews are usually
conducted to obtain definite ideas about what is and is not
important and relevant to particular problem situations. Structured
interviews give more in dept information about specific variables of
interest. To minimize bias in responses, the interviewer must

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 establish rapport with the respondents and ask unbiased questions.
In the face to face interview, the researcher can adapt the questions
as necessary, clarify doubts and ensure that the responses are
properly understood, by repeating or rephrasing the questions. The
researcher can also pick up non verbal cues from the respondents.
Any discomfort, stress or problems that the respondent experiences
can be detected through frowns, nervous tapping and other body
language unconsciously exhibited by her or him.

Questionnaires are also an efficient data collection mechanism

when the researcher knows exactly what is required and how to
measure the variables of interest. Questionnaires can be
administered personally or electronically distributed. The
questionnaires can be in open ended and closed questions

Observational surveys also can be done and this is the other method
of data collection without asking questions to the respondents. The
sales assistants can be observed in their natural working
environment and their activities and behaviours or items of
interest can be noted and recorded.

C) Threat are divided into two ie general threats to the internal validity
and general threats to external validity:
General Threats to the Internal Validity
Source of the Description of the Threat
Threat
Environmental If two treatments are administered in noticeably
Variables different environment, then the internal validity
of the study is threatened. For example, if one
treatment administered in the morning and
another at night, then any difference obtained
may be explained by time of the day instead of
treatment.
Assignment Bias If the participants in one treatment condition
have characteristics that are noticeable
different from the participants in another
treatment, then the internal validity of the study
is threatened. For example, if the participant in
one treatment are older than the participants in
another treatment, then any different between
the treatments may be explained by age
instead of the treatment

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History If outside events influence the participants
differently In one treatment than in another,
then the internal validity is threatened. Any
difference between treatments would be
explained by the outside events instead of the
treatment.
Maturation If participants experience physiological or
psychological changes between treatments,
then the internal validity is threatened. Any
differences between treatments would be
explained by the changes instead of the
treatment.
Instrumentation If the measurement instrument changes from
one treatment to another, then the internal
validity is threatened. Any differences between
treatments could be explained by the
measuring instrument instead of the treatment.
Testing Effects If the experience of being in one treatment
influences the participants’ scores in another
treatment, then the internal validity is
threatened. Any differences between
treatments could be explained by the prior
experience instead of the current treatment.
Regression If participants have extreme scores either high
or low in the first treatment, then the internal
validity is threatened. A change toward more
average scores in later treatments could be
explained by regression instead of the
treatment.

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General Threats to External Validity
Source of the Description of the Threat
Threat
Participants Characteristics that are unique to the specific
group of participants in a study may limit ability
to generalize the results of the study to
individuals with different characteristics. For
example, results obtained from one
supermarket may not generalize to another
supermarket
Features of the Characteristics that are unique to the specific
study procedures used in a study may limit ability to
generalize the results to situations where other
procedures are used. For example, the results
obtained from participants who are aware that
they are being observed and measured may not
generalize to situations in which the participants
are not aware that measurement is occurring.
Also, results obtained with one experimenter
might not generalize to a different
experimenter.
Measurements Characteristics that are unique to the specific
measurement procedure may limit ability to
generalize the results to situations where a
different measurement procedure is used. For
example, the results obtained from
measurements taken immediately after
treatment may not generalize to a situation in
which measurements are taken three month
after the treatment

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QUESTION 3

What type of experimental design would you recommend in each

of the following cases? Suggest in some detail how you would
design each study:
a. A test of three months of compensation of factory workers.
The methods are hourly wage, incentive pay and weekly
salary. The dependent variable is direct labor cost per unit
of output

This is the within subject design also known as a repeated measures

experimental design, where it uses a single group of participants
and tests or observes each individual in all of the different
treatments being compared. Thus, in within subjects study, the
sample is not separated into several groups but rather exists as a
single group that participates in every treatment condition. Using
the terminology of experimental research in a within subjects
experimental design the same group of individuals participates In
every level of the independent variable so that each participant
experiences all of the different levels of the independent variable.

b. A study on the effects of various levels of advertising effort

and price reduction on sale of specific branded grocery
products by a retail grocery chain.
This is a between subjects experimental design, also known as an
independent measures
experimental design, requires a separate, independent group of
individuals for each treatment condition. As a result, the data for a
between subjects design contain only one score for each participant.
To qualify as an experiment, the design must satisfy all other
requirements of the experimental research strategy, such as
manipulation of an independent variable and control of extraneous
variables.

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 The general goal of a between subjects experiment is to determine
whether differences exist between two or more treatment
conditions. For example, a researcher may want to compare two
teaching methods (two treatments) to determine whether one is
more effective than the other. In this case, two separate groups of
advertising effort and prices would be used, one for each of the two
specific branded grocery products.

c. A study to determine whether is it true that the use of fast

paced music played over a store’s public address system will
speed the shopping rate of customers without an adverse
effect on the amount spent per customers.
In a true experiment, the researcher manipulates an independent
variable to create treatment conditions and then measures a
dependent variable (scores) in each condition; scores in one
condition are compared with the scores obtained in another
condition. In non experimental and quasi experimental research, no
independent variable is manipulated. Nonetheless, non experiment
studies do involve comparing groups of scores. In nonequivalent
group studies, for example, the scores from one group of
participants are compared with the scores from a different group. In
pre-post studies, the scores obtained before the treatment are
compared with the scores obtained after the treatment. In general,
the variable that differentiates the groups (or sets of scores) is
similar to the independent variable in an experiment and is often
called an independent variable. However, this variable is more
accurately referred to as a quasi-independent variable. As in an
experiment, the score obtained for each participant is called the
dependent variable.
In this research situation ,it is difficult or impossible for a researcher
to satisfy completely the rigorous requirements of an experiment,
particularly when doing applied research in natural settings. In
these situations, a researcher may use the quasi-experimental or
the non experimental research strategy. Quasi experimental and
non experimental studies always contain a threat to internal validity
that is integral to the design and cannot be removed. As a result,
these two research strategies cannot establish unambiguous cause
and effect explanations. Quasi-experimental studies make some
attempt to control threats to internal validity but non experimental
studies typically do not.

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