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MB0050 / RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
NAME: HEENA PURSWANI
ROLL NO. 1408007975
Ques.1: Research is a sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear
implicit or explicit objective. Describe in detail the steps to be carried out in a
typical research study.
Answer: Management research is an unbiased, structured, and sequential method of enquiry,
directed towards a clear implicit or explicit business objective. This enquiry might lead to
proving existing theorems and models or arriving at new theories and models.
Steps carried out in a typical research study:
1. The management dilemma
2. Defining the research problem
3. Formulating the research hypotheses
4. Developing the research proposal
5. Research design formulation
6. Sampling Design
The management dilemma: Any research starts with the need and desire to know more.
This is essentially the management dilemma. It could be the researcher himself or herself or it
could be a business manager who gets the study done by a researcher. The need might be
purely academic (basic or fundamental research) or there might be an immediate business
decision that requires an effective and workable solution (applied research).
Defining the research problem: This is the first and the most critical step of the research
journey. For example, a soft drink manufacturer who is making and selling aerated drinks
now wants to expand his business. He wants to know whether moving into bottled water
would be a better idea or he should look at fruit juice based drinks.
Formulating the research hypotheses: In the model, we have drawn broken lines to link
defining the research problem stage to the hypotheses formulation stage. The reason is that
every research study might not always begin with a hypothesis; in fact, the task of the study
might be to collect detailed data that might lead to, at the end of the study, some indicative
hypotheses to be tested in subsequent research.
Developing the research proposal: After the management dilemma has been converted into
a defined problem and a working hypothesis, the next step is to develop a plan of
investigation.
Research design formulation: On the basis of the orientation of the research, i.e.,
exploratory, descriptive or causal, the researcher has a number of techniques for addressing
the stated objectives. These are termed in research as research designs. The main task of the
design is to explain how the research problem will be investigated.
Sampling design: Study the entire population is not always possible. Hence the researcher
goes about studying a small and representative sub-group of the population. This sub-group is
referred to as the sample of the study. There are different techniques available for selecting
the group based on certain assumptions
Ques.2. What are descriptive research designs? Explain the different kinds of
descriptive research designs.
Answer: Descriptive Research Designs:
As the name implies, the objective of descriptive research studies is to provide a
comprehensive and detailed explanation of the phenomena under study. The intended
objective might be to give a detailed sketch or profile of the respondent population being
studied. For example, to design an advertising and sales promotion campaign for high-end
watches, a marketer would require a holistic profile of the population that buys such luxury
products. Thus a descriptive study. Descriptive researches thus are conclusive studies.
However, they lack the precision and accuracy of experimental designs, yet it lends itself to a
wide range of situations and is more frequently used in business research. Based on the time
period of the collection of the research information, descriptive research is further subdivided
into two categories: cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies.
Kinds of Descriptive Research Design
There are three main types of descriptive methods:
1. Observational methods,
2. Case-study methods
3. Survey methods.
Observational Method: With the observational method (sometimes referred to as field
observation) animal and human behavior is closely observed. There are two main categories
of the observational method
1. Naturalistic observation
2. Laboratory observation.
The biggest advantage of the naturalistic method of research is that researchers view
participants in their natural environments. This leads to greater ecological validity than
laboratory observation, proponents say. Laboratory observations are usually less timeconsuming and cheaper than naturalistic observations.
Case Study Method: Case study research involves an in-depth study of an individual or
group of indviduals. Case studies often lead to testable hypotheses and allow us to study rare
phenomena. Case studies should not be used to determine cause and effect, and they have
limited use for making accurate predictions.
Survey Method: In survey method research, participants answer questions administered
through interviews or questionnaires. After participants answer the questions, researchers
describe the responses given. In order for the survey to be both reliable and valid it is
important that the questions are constructed properly. Questions should be written so they are
clear and easy to comprehend.
Ques.3. The procedure of testing hypothesis requires a researcher to adopt several
steps. Describe in brief all such steps.
Answer: A hypothesis is a tentative statement about the relationship between two or
more variables. A hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to
happen in your study. For example, a study designed to look at the relationship
between sleep deprivation and test performance might have a hypothesis that states,
"This study is designed to assess the hypothesis that sleep deprived people will
perform worse on a test than individuals who are not sleep deprived.
Steps for procedure of testing hypothesis:
1. Specify the Null Hypothesis
2. Specify the Alternative Hypothesis
3. Set the Significance Level (a)
4. Calculate the Test Statistic and Corresponding P-Value
5. Drawing a Conclusion
Step 1: Specify the Null Hypothesis: The null hypothesis (H0) is a statement of no
effect, relationship, or difference between two or more groups or factors. In research
studies, a researcher is usually interested in disproving the null hypothesis.
Examples:
There is no difference in intubation rates across ages 0 to 5 years.
The intervention and control groups have the same survival rate (or, the intervention
does not improve survival rate).
There is no association between injury type and whether or not the patient received
an IV in the prehospital setting
Step 2: Specify the Alternative Hypothesis: The alternative hypothesis (H1) is the
statement that there is an effect or difference. This is usually the hypothesis the
researcher is interested in proving. The alternative hypothesis can be one-sided (only
provides one direction, e.g., lower) or two-sided. We often use two-sided tests even
when our true hypothesis is one-sided because it requires more evidence against the
null hypothesis to accept the alternative hypothesis.
Step 3: Set the Significance Level (a): The significance level (denoted by the Greek
letter alpha a) is generally set at 0.05. This means that there is a 5% chance that you
will accept your alternative hypothesis when your null hypothesis is actually true. The
smaller the [Type text] Page 5 significance level, the greater the burden of proof
needed to reject the null hypothesis, or in other words, to support the alternative
hypothesis.
Step 4: Calculate the Test Statistic and Corresponding P-Value: In another section
we present some basic test statistics to evaluate a hypothesis. Hypothesis testing
generally uses a test statistic that compares groups or examines associations between
variables. When describing a single sample without establishing relationships between
variables, a confidence interval is commonly used.
SCHEDULES
A schedule is generally filled by the
research worker or enumerator, who can
interpret the questions when necessary
Data collection is more expensive as
money is spent on enumerators and in
imparting trainings to them. Money is
also spent in preparing schedules
Non response is very low because this is
filled by enumerators who are able to get
answers to all questions. But even in this
their remains the danger of interviewer
bias and cheating
Identity of respondent is not known
Information is collected well in time as
they are filled by enumerators
the data at a much faster rate than the open-ended question, because there is a limited number
of responses. However, the open-ended question allows for a variety of responses, so it takes
a large amount of time to categorize all these responses into workable data.
Example: Closed-ended: Multiple choice question: How many hours are there is a day?
A. 23
B. 20
C. 21
D. 24
Application: For this example of a multiple choice question, it is clear to see that there are a
fixed number of ways in which one can answer this question. The respondent can only
answer by circling either A., B., C., or D.
Example: Open-ended question: Describe what you did to deal with harassment at school?
Application: This question allows the respondent to answer the question in their own words.
One participant may say that they went to the school counselor, while another participant may
say that they did not report the sexual harassment. As a result, the open-ended question would
provide researchers with loads of information.
7. Check the length of the questionnaire: always put 12-15 questions maximum in your
questionnaire so that it will not take more time of your respondents and they may not feel
boredom also while answering.
8. Pre-test the questionnaire: before finalizing the questionnaire, make a pre-test of your
questionnaire in a sample or a small group of people so that if problem arises you can rectify
at the right time.
9. Develop the final survey form: after getting positive response of pretesting, develop the
final questionnaire and present it in front of your targeted respondents to collect your relevant
data.
Quest.5. What is the analysis of variance? What are the assumptions of the technique?
Give a few examples where this technique could be used.
Answer:
a) Meaning of analysis of variance
Suppose we know that the sales of a product is influenced by the price level. In this case,
sales are a dependent variable and the price is the independent variable. Let there be three
levels of price, namely, low, medium and high. We wish to determine the most effective price
level i.e. at which price level the sale is highest. Here, the test units are the stores which are
randomly assigned to the three treatment level. The average sales for each price level is
computed and examined to see whether there is any significant difference in the sale at
various price levels. The statistical technique to test for such a difference is called analysis of
variance (ANOVA).
Assumptions of the technique
This design is used when a researcher is investigating the effect of one independent variable
on the dependent variable. The independent variable is required to be measured in nominal
scale i.e. it should have a number of categories. Each of the categories of the independent
variable is considered as the treatment. The basic assumption of this design is that there are
no differences in the test units. All the test units are treated alike and randomly assigned to
the test groups. This means that there are no extraneous variables that could influence the
outcome.
b).The following data represents the number of units produced by four operators
during three different shifts:
Shifts
Operator
A
10
10
12
I
II
III
B
8
12
10
C
12
14
11
D
13
15
14
Degrees of
Sum of
Variation
freedom
Squares
Treatments
Blocks
k-1
n-1
TrSS
SSB
Mean Square
MSTr=TrSS
k-1
MSTr
k-1
MSB= SSB
(k-1)(n-1)
n-1
n-1
= MSE
MSE
(k-1)(n-1)
Error
(k-1) (n-1)
SSE
MSE= SSE
(k-1)(n-1)
Total
Kn-1
TSS
10 + 10 + 12 = 32
T.2 = 8 + 12 + 10 = 30
T.3
= 12 + 14 + 11 = 37
T.4
= 13 + 15 + 14 = 42
MSB