INTRODUCTION TO

MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
Dr. Eti Khatri
INTRODUCTION
 Systematic, controlled, empirical and critical
investigation of hypothetical propositions about
the presumed relations among natural
phenomena.
Kerlinger

 Any organized activity designed and carried out

to provide information for solving a problem.
Emory
 Management research is an unbiased,
structured and sequential method of enquiry,
directed towards a clear implicit or explicit
business objectives.

 This enquiry might lead to validating the existing

postulates or arriving at new theories and models
OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

 To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or top

achieve new insights
 To establish generalized, general laws and
contribute to theory building in various fields
 To identify problem areas and form the basis for
innovation
 To develop new tools, concepts, planning and
decision making in an organization
 To better decision making

 To extend the knowledge of human beings, social

life and environment.
SIGNIFICANCE OF RESEARCH
 To support government policies
 Allocation of national resource

 Investigation of economic structure

 Social welfare and progress

ROLE OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
 Management research helps to tackle intense
competition
 Helps to capture global markets, global sourcing
and global financing
 Importance of strategy

 Facilitates the product variety and customization

 Pervasiveness of services

 emphasis on quality

 Advances in technology

 Worker participation
TYPES OF RESEARCH
BASED ON PURPOSE
 Descriptive research
 Exploratory research

 Analytical research

 Predictive research
BASED ON PROCESS
 Quantitative Research
 Qualitative Research
BASED ON OUTCOME
 Basic/ pure research
 Applied research
BASED ON ACTION
BASED ON LOGIC
 Deductive research
 Inductive research
RESEARCH AND SCIENTIFIC APPROACH
 The research and scientific method are closely
related.
 Research is “ an enquiry into the nature of, the
reasons for and consequences of any particular set of
circumstances whether these circumstances are
experimentally controlled or recorded just as they
occur.
 Karl Pearson writes “the scientific method is one and
same in the branches and the method is the method of
all logically trained minds…. The unity of all sciences
consists alone in its method not its material; the man
who classify facts of any kind whatever, who sees
their mutual relation and describes theirs sequences,
is applying the scientific method and is a man of
science.”
 The ideal of science is to achieve a systematic
interrelation of facts.
 Scientific method attempts to achieve “this ideal
by experimentation, observation, logical
arguments from accepted postulates and a
combination of these three in varying
proportions.”
A SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS BASED ON
FOLLOWING POSTULATES:

 It relies on empirical evidence

 It utilizes relevant concepts

 It is committed to only objective considerations

 It presupposes ethical neutrality

 It results into probabilistic predictions

 Its methodology is made known to all concerned

for critical scrutiny are for use in testing the
conclusions through replication
 It aims at formulating most general axioms or
what can be termed as scientific theories.
RESEARCH PROCESS
Defining the
Review of Formulation
research
literature of hypothesis
problem

Data Analysis Developing

and Data collection the research
interpretation design

Research
Reporting
1.DEFINING THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
 Research process begins with research
objectives .
 Research objectives are the goals to be achieved
by conducting research.
 Example:

 The objectives may involve exploring the

possibilities of entering a new market.
 Alternatively, they may involve testing the effect
of some policy change on employee job
satisfaction.
 Different types of objectives lead to
different types of research designs.
A. Defining the Managerial Decision Situation
B. Exploratory Research
 Previous Research
 Pilot Studies
C. Stating Research Objectives
D. Linking Decision Statements, Objectives, and
Hypotheses
EXHIBIT 4.7 Example Decision Statements, Research Objectives, and Research
Hypotheses
Decision Statement
What should be the retail price
for product X?
In what ways can we improve
our service quality?
Should we invest in a training
program to reduce role conflict
among our employees?
Research Objectives
Forecast sales for product X at
three different prices.
Identify the top factors that
contribute to customers’
perceptions.
Determine how much role
conflict influences employee job
satisfaction.
Hypotheses
Sales will be higher at $5.00
than at $4.00 or at $6.99.
Cleanliness is related positively
to customers’ service quality
service perceptions.
Crowding is related negatively
to customers’ service quality
perceptions.
Role conflict is related positively
to job satisfaction.
2. PLANNING THE RESEARCH DESIGN
 A research design is a master plan that
specifies the methods and procedures for
collecting and analyzing the needed information.
 A research design provides a framework or plan
of action for the research.
 Objectives of the study determined during the
early stages of research are included in the
design to ensure that the information collected is
appropriate for solving the problem.
 The researcher also must determine the sources
of information, the design technique (survey or
experiment, for example), the sampling
methodology, and the schedule and cost of the
research.
3.SAMPLING
 Although the sampling plan is outlined in the
research design, the sampling stage is a distinct
phase of the research process.
 Sampling involves any procedure that draws
conclusions based on measurements of a portion
of the population.
 In other words, a sample is a subset from a larger
population.
 The first sampling question to ask is “Who is to
be sampled?” The answer to this primary
question requires the identification of a target
population. Who do we want the sample to
reflect?
 The next sampling issue concerns sample size.
How big should the sample be?
 Although management may wish to examine
every potential buyer of a product or service,
doing so may be unnecessary as well as
unrealistic.
 The final sampling decision is how to select
the sampling units.
4. GATHERING DATA
 The data gathering stage begins once the
sampling plan has been formalized.
 Data gathering is the process of gathering or
collecting information.
 Data may be gathered by human observers or
interviewers, or they may be recorded by
machines as in the case of scanner data and Web-
based surveys.
5. PROCESSING AND ANALYZING DATA
A. Editing and Coding
B. Data Analysis
A. EDITING AND CODING
 After the fieldwork has been completed, the data
must be converted into a format that will answer
the manager's questions.
 This is part of the data processing and analysis
stage.
 Here, the information content will be mined from
the raw data. Data processing generally begins
with editing and coding the data.
 The editing process corrects problems such as
interviewer errors (an answer recorded on the
wrong portion of a questionnaire, for example)
before the data are transferred to the computer.
 Before data can be tabulated, meaningful
categories and character symbols must be
established for groups of responses.
 The rules for interpreting, categorizing,
recording, and transferring the data to the data
storage media are called codes.
 This coding process facilitates computer or hand
tabulation.
 If computer analysis is to be used, the data are
entered into the computer and verified.
B. DATA ANALYSIS
 Data analysis is the application of reasoning to
understand the data that have been gathered.
 In its simplest form, analysis may involve
determining consistent patterns and
summarizing the relevant details revealed in the
investigation.
6. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS AND PREPARING
A REPORT

 One of the most important jobs that a researcher

performs is communicating the research results.
 This is the final stage of the research project.

 The conclusions and report preparation stage

consist of interpreting the research results,
describing the implications, and drawing the
appropriate conclusions for managerial decisions.
 These conclusions should fulfill the deliverables
promised in the research proposal.
FEATURES OF A GOOD RESEARCH STUDY
 Clear Stated purpose
 Must follow a systematic and detailed plan for
investigating the research problem
 The selection of techniques of collecting
information sampling plans and data analysis
 Study must be presented in an unbiased,
objective and neutral manner
 Must maintain highest ethical standards

 Must follow the reliable process

ETHICS IN RESEARCH
 Goal
 Unethical activities

 Ethical issues

 Anticipate ethical dilemmas

 General rights and obligations of parties

concerned
 Ethical treatment of participants

 Deception

 Informed consent

 Rights to privacy

 Ethics and the sponsor

ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS RESEARCH
 Business ethics is the application of morals to
behavior related to the business environment or
context.
 Generally good ethics conforms to the notion of
“Right” and a lack of ethics conforms to the
notion of “wrong”.
 Moral Standards: Moral standards are
principles that reflect beliefs about what is
ethical and what is unethical. More simply, one
should able to distinguish between right and
wrong.
 Ethical dilemma: refers to a situation in which
one chooses from alternative courses of actions
each with different ethical implications.
 Relativism: a term that reflects the degree to
which one rejects moral standards in favor of the
acceptability of some action. This way of thinking
rejects absolute principles in favor of situation-
based evaluations.
 Idealism: A term that reflects the degree to which
one bases one’s morality on moral standards.
RESEARCH DESIGNS
BUSINESS RESEARCH DESIGN
 Exploratory research
 Descriptive Research

 Casual Research
EXPLORATORY RESEARCH
 Exploratory research is conducted to clarify
ambiguous situations or discover potential
business opportunities.
 As the name implies, exploratory research
is not intended to provide conclusive evidence
from which to determine a particular course of
action.
 Usually exploratory research is a first step,
conducted with the expectation that additional
research will be needed to provide more
conclusive evidence.
EXAMPLE- SONY AND HONDA
 Sony and Honda have each been instrumental in
developing robot technology.
 Making a functional robot that can move around, perform
basic functions, carry out instructions, and even carry on a
conversation isn't really a problem.
 Exploratory research allowing consumers to interact with
robots suggests that consumers are more engaged when the
robot has human qualities, such as the ability to walk on
two legs.
 Researchers noticed that people will actually talk to the
robot (which can understand basic oral commands) more
when it has human qualities.
 In addition, consumers do seem entertained by a walking,
talking, dancing robot. These initial insights have allowed
each company to form more specific research questions
focusing on the relative value of a robot as an
entertainment device or as a security guard,and identifying
characteristics that may be important to consumers.
CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH DESIGN
 Conclusive research design, as the name implies,
is applied to generate findings that are
practically useful in reaching conclusions or
decision-making.

 In this type of studies research objectives and

data requirements need to be clearly defined.
Findings of conclusive studies usually have
specific uses.
 Conclusive research design can be divided
into two categories:
 descriptive research
 causal research.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
 descriptive research is to describe
characteristics of objects, people, groups,
organizations, or environments. In other words,
descriptive research tries to “paint a picture” of a
given situation by addressing who, what, when,
where, and how questions.
 Unlike exploratory research, descriptive studies
are conducted after the researcher has gained a
firm grasp of the situation being studied.
 Descriptive Research can be divided into
the following groups:
 Case study;
 Case series study;
 Cross-sectional study;
 Longitudinal study;
 Retrospective study.
CASE STUDY
 Case studies are a popular research method in
business area.
 Case studies aim to analyze specific issues within
the boundaries of a specific environment,
situation or organization.
CASE SERIES STUDY
 A case series (also known as a clinical series)
is a type of medical research study that tracks
subjects with a known exposure, such as patients
who have received a similar treatment, or
examines their medical records for exposure and
outcome.
CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
 Conducted on different sample groups at
different time intervals, it is also called as cohort
analysis.
LONGITUDINAL STUDY
 A single sample of the identified population that
is studied over a stretched period of time is
termed as a longitudinal study design.
 It is often referred to as time series design due to
the repeated measurements taken over time.
RETROSPECTIVE STUDY
A retrospective cohort study, also called
a historic cohort study, is a longitudinal cohort
study used in medical and psychological research.
A cohort of individuals that share a
common exposure factor is compared
with another group of equivalent individuals not
exposed to that factor, to determine the factor's
influence on the incidence of a condition such as
disease or death.
CAUSAL RESEARCH
 Causal research, also known as explanatory
research is conducted in order to identify the
extent and nature of cause-and-effect
relationships.
 Causal research can be conducted in order to
assess impacts of specific changes on existing
norms, various processes etc.
 Causal studies focus on an analysis of a situation
or a specific problem to explain the patterns of
relationships between variables.
 Experiments are the most popular primary data
collection methods in studies with causal
research design.
 Causal research seeks to identify cause and-
effect relationships. When something causes an
effect, it means it brings it about or makes it
happen.
 The effect is the outcome. Rain causes grass to
get wet. Rain is the cause and wet grass is the
effect.
 exploratory research builds the foundation for
descriptive research, which usually establishes
the basis for causal research.
 Causal research designs can take a long time to
implement.
 Also, they often involve intricate designs that can
be very expensive.
EXAMPLE
 To assess the impacts of foreign direct
investment on the levels of economic growth in
Taiwan
 To analyse the effects of re-branding initiatives
on the levels of customer loyalty