Formulating The Research Design

Slide 5.
Chapter 5
Formulating the research design
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.2
Learning outcomes
• By the end of this chapter you should be able to:
• • understand the importance of having thought
carefully about your
• research design;
• • identify the main research strategies and explain
why these should not
• be thought of as mutually exclusive;
• • explain the differences between quantitative and
qualitative data
Slide 5.3
Learning outcomes
• collection techniques and analysis procedures;
• • explain the reasons for adopting multiple methods in the
conduct of research;
• • consider the implications of adopting different time
horizons for your research design;
• • explain the concepts of validity and reliability and
identify the main threats to validity and reliability;
• • understand some of the main ethical issues implied by
the choice of research strategy.
Slide 5.4
The Process of Research Design
• Research choices
• Research strategies
• Time horizons
Slide 5.5
The Process of Research

Design
• Your research question will subsequently
inform your choice of research strategy,
your choices of collection techniques and
• analysis procedures, and the time horizon
over which you undertake your research
project.
Slide 5.6
Research strategies
• Robson (2002) defined research strategy as
the general approach taken in an enquiry
and added that research strategies have been
classified in different ways. While Saunders
et al (2007) defined it as a general plan of
how you will go about answering the
research questions you have set.
Slide 5.7
Research Design and Tactics

The research onion
Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.1 The research ‘onion’
Slide 5.8
Research design
• Your research design will be the general
plan of how you will go about answering
• your research question(s)
Slide 5.9
Research Design
The research design needs
• Clear objectives derived from the research question
• To specify sources of data collection
• To consider constraints and ethical issues
• Valid reasons for your choice of design
Slide 5.10
Classification of the research purpose
Exploratory research is a valuable means

of finding out ‘what is happening to seek new
insights; to ask questions and to assess
phenomena in a new light’. It is particularly
useful if you wish to clarify your
understanding of a problem, such as if you
are unsure of precise nature of the problem .
It may well be that time is well spent on
exploratory research, as it may show that the
research is not worth pursuing!
Slide 5.11
Explanatory
• There are three principal ways of
conducting explanatory research:
• A search of the literature;
• Interviewing ‘experts’ in the subject;
• Conducting focus group interviews.
Slide 5.12
Descriptive studies
• The object of descriptive research is ‘ to ‘portray
an accurate profile of persons, events or
situations’. This may be an extension of, or a
forerunner to a piece of exploratory research or,
more often, a piece of explanatory research. It is
necessary to have a clear picture of the phenomena
on which you wish to collect data prior to
collection of data.
Slide 5.13
Explanatory research
• Studies that establish causal relationships between
variables may be termed explanatory research.
The emphasis her is on studying a situation or a
problem in order to explain the relationship
between variables. For example, that a cursory
analysis of quantitative data on manufacturing
scrap rates shows a relationship between scrap
rates and the age of machine being operated
Slide 5.14
Research Strategies
Experiment Action research
Grounded theory Survey
Ethnography Case study
Archival research
Slide 5.15
Experiment
• Experiment: measuring the effects of
manipulating one variable on another
variable
Slide 5.16
Research Strategies
An experiment will involve
• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Selection of samples from know populations
• Random allocation of samples
• Introduction of planned intervention
• Measurement on a small number of dependent
variables
• Control of all other variables
Slide 5.17
Survey
• Survey: collection of information in
standardized form groups of people
Slide 5.18
Research Strategies
Survey: key features
• Popular in business research

• Perceived as authoritative
• Allows collection of quantitative data
• Data can be analysed quantitatively
• Samples need to be representative
• Gives the researcher independence
• Structured observation and interviews can be used
Slide 5.19
Case Study
• Case study: development of detailed,
intensive knowledge about a single ‘case’,
or of a small number of related ‘cases’.
Slide 5.20
Research Strategies
Case Study: key features
• Provides a rich understanding of a real life context

• Uses and triangulates multiple sources of data
A case study can be categorised in four ways

and based on two dimensions:
single case v. multiple case

holistic case v. embedded case
Yin (2003)
Slide 5.21
Single case
• A single case is often used where it represents a
critical case or, alternatively, an extreme or unique
case. Conversely, a single case may be selected
because it is typical or because it provides you with
an opportunity to observe and analyze a
phenomenon that few have considered before.
Inevitably, an important aspect of using a single
case is defining the actual case. For many part-time
students this is the organization for which they work
Slide 5.22
multiple case
• A case study strategy can also incorporate multiple cases,
that is, more than one case. The rationale for using
multiple cases focuses upon the need to establish whether
the findings of the first case occur in other cases and, as a
consequence, the need to generalize from these findings.
For this reason Yin (2003) argues that multiple
• case studies may be preferable to a single case study and
that, where you choose to use a single case study, you will
need to have a strong justification for this choice.
Slide 5.23
holistic case
• refers to the unit of analysis. For example,
• you may well have chosen to use an
organization by which you have been
employed or are currently employed as your
case. If your research is concerned only
with the organization as a whole then you
are treating the organization as a holistic
case study.
Slide 5.24
embedded case
• even though you are researching and are concerned
with a single organization
• as a whole, if you wish to examine also a number
of logical sub-units within the
• organization, perhaps departments or work groups,
then your case will inevitably involve more than
one unit of analysis. Whatever way you select
these units, this would be called an embedded case
study
Slide 5.25
Action research
• Action research: the term has been used
first by Lewin in 1946. It has been
understood by management researchers in a
variety of ways. But there are three
common ideas within the literature. The
first focuses on and emphasizes the purpose
of the research: the management of change.
Slide 5.26
Action research
• The second relates to the involvement of the
practitioner in the research and in particular
a close cooperation between practitioners
and researchers. The final theme is that
action research should have implications
beyond the immediate project. In other
words it must be clear that the results could
inform other context.
Slide 5.27
Research Strategies
Action research: key features
• Research IN action - not ON action

• Involves practitioners in the research
• The researcher becomes part of the organisation
• Promotes change within the organisation
• Can have two distinct foci (Schein, 1999) –
the aim of the research and the needs of the sponsor
Slide 5.28
Grounded theory
• Grounded theory: Collection of data starts
without the formation of an initial
theoretical framework. Theory is created
from data made by a series of observations.
Slide 5.29
Research Strategies
Grounded theory: key features
• Theory is built through induction and deduction
• Helps to predict and explain behaviour
• Develops theory from data generated by

observations
• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-

deductive one
Based on Suddaby (2006)
Slide 5.30
Ethnography
• Ethnography: Derives from the field of
anthropology. The idea is to interpret the
social world the research subject inhabits
and the way in which they interpret it.
Slide 5.31
Research Strategies
Ethnography: key features
• Aims to describe and explain the social world

inhabited by the researcher
• Takes place over an extended time period
• Is naturalistic
Slide 5.32
Naturalism
• It means that in adopting an ethnographic strategy, you will
be researching the phenomenon within the context in which
it occurs and, in addition, not using data collection
techniques that oversimplify the complexities of everyday
life. Given this, it is not surprising that most ethnographic
strategies involve extended participant observation.
However, you need to be mindful that the term naturalism
also has a contradictory meaning that is often associated with
positivism. Within this context it refers to the use of the
principles of scientific method and the use of a scientific
model within research.
Slide 5.33
Research Strategies
Archival research: key features
• Uses administrative records and documents as

the principal sources of data
• Allows research questions focused on the past
• Is constrained by the nature of the records and

documents
Slide 5.34
Research Strategies
The role of the practitioner-researcher
Key features
• Research access is more easily available

• The researcher knows the organisation
• Has the disadvantage of familiarity
• The researcher is likely to their own assumptions
and preconceptions
• The dual role requires careful negotiation
Slide 5.35
Multiple research methods

Research choices
Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.4 Research choices
Slide 5.36
Multiple research methods
Reasons for using mixed method designs:

(Table 5.1 )
• Triangulation
• Facilitation
• Complementarity
• Generality
• Aid interpretation
• Study different aspects
• Solving a puzzle
Source: developed from Bryman (2006)
Slide 5.37
Time Horizons
Select the appropriate time horizon
• Cross-sectional studies: cross-sectional studies

are the study of a particular phenomenon (or
phenomena) at a particular time.
• Longitudinal studies: usually study the change
and development over a period of time.
Slide 5.38
Credibility of research findings

Important considerations
• Reliability
• Validity
• Generalisability
• Logic leaps and false assumptions
Slide 5.39
Research design ethics
Remember
‘The research design should not subject the

research population to embarrassment, harm or
other material disadvantage’
Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)
Slide 5.40
Summary: Chapter 5
Research design turns a research question and
objectives into a project that considers
Strategies Choices Time horizons
Research projects can be categorised as
Exploratory Descriptive Explanatory
Research projects may be
Cross-sectional Longitudinal
Slide 5.41
Summary: Chapter 5
Important considerations
• The main research strategies may combined in

the same project
• The opportunities provided by using multiple

methods
• The validity and reliability of results
• Access and ethical considerations

Formulating The Research Design

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Slide 5.

The Process of Research Design

The Process of Research

Research Design and Tactics

Saunders et al, (2009)

• Clear objectives derived from the research question

• To specify sources of data collection

• To consider constraints and ethical issues

• Valid reasons for your choice of design

Classification of the research purpose

Exploratory research is a valuable means

Experiment Action research

Grounded theory Survey

Ethnography Case study

An experiment will involve

• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Popular in business research

• Provides a rich understanding of a real life context

A case study can be categorised in four ways

single case v. multiple case

• Research IN action - not ON action

• Theory is built through induction and deduction

• Helps to predict and explain behaviour

• Develops theory from data generated by

• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-

• Aims to describe and explain the social world

• Takes place over an extended time period

Archival research: key features

• Uses administrative records and documents as

• Allows research questions focused on the past

• Is constrained by the nature of the records and

• Research access is more easily available

Multiple research methods

Saunders et al, (2009)

Multiple research methods

Reasons for using mixed method designs:

Select the appropriate time horizon

• Cross-sectional studies: cross-sectional studies

Credibility of research findings

• Logic leaps and false assumptions

Research design ethics

‘The research design should not subject the

Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)

Strategies Choices Time horizons

Research projects can be categorised as

Exploratory Descriptive Explanatory

Research projects may be

• The main research strategies may combined in

• The opportunities provided by using multiple

• The validity and reliability of results

• Access and ethical considerations

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