Research Methodology Lecture No : 3

Recap lecture 2 Broad problem: the entire situation where one sees a need for problem solving and research. Literature Review: To understand the problem more detail information is needed Different sources of information is gathered from books, reports, published research papers etc.

Recap lecture 2 More aspects of research are exposed. More variables which play an important role are uncovered. This allows us to develop a more robust theory. We start documenting a comprehensive review To conclude we are able to identify the gaps and develop our precise problems statements.

Lecture Objective Revisit at literature review –Why literature review is important –Methods of writing a review –Contents of a review Developing a theoretical framework –Identify the relationships and the theory supporting the relationship Describing Variables –Describing what are variables and the different types

Purpose of Literature Review Every research study requires the researcher to review pertinent literature on the topic. 1. To avoid unnecessary duplication of research. 2. To identify variables that may influence the problem 3. To identify promising procedures and instruments 4. To limit the problem.

Two steps in conduction literature review Survey of literature (search) Documenting of the literature (write)

Survey of literature Survey different sources –Books –Research Articles –Theses –Conference preceding You can obtain them from –Libraries –Internet –Online databases (Full text, abstract)

Documenting the literature Three activities are involved while documenting the literature which you have surveyed – Method of documenting the list of reviewed articles. (Modes) – Referencing and quoting the studies (Cite) – Organizing and documenting the contents of the reviewed articles (writing the review)

Method of documenting the list of reviewed articles. References / Bibliography is a list of work that is relevant to the main topic arranged in an alphabetical order. The difference between reference list and bibliography is that reference list is a subset of the list of articles which have been referenced in the research. Bibliography is a list which includes all the referenced and non referenced articles in your research but are relevant to your research

Examples of Modes of Reference listing There are different modes of referencing in business research. For example the APA (Publication of Manual of the American Psychological Association), Chicago Manual Style, Harvard style, Turabian Style. Each manual specifies with examples how books, newspaper, research journal are to be referenced in your research. Following are the example in APA style

Referencing and quoting the studies Cite the references in the body of the paper using author-year method of citation; i.e. surname of author(s) and the year of publications E.g. Kaleem(2004) has shown…. In the recent studies of employee motivation (Freeman,2007 ;Mitnzberg, 2007) it has … In 1997, Kyle compared the different models of motivation.. As pointed out by (Tucker & Snell, 1989),…..

Referencing and quoting the studies (cont …)

Organizing and documenting the contents of the reviewed articles While writing the review the text needs to arranged in the following manner 1. Introduction - –Importance of the subject, –states the purpose or scope of the review 2. Define the key concepts –What are the different definitions found in the literature. Which definition is better or much closer your research objective.

Organization of a Literature Review: 3. Critical review - –Describe the relationships between the different variables identified in the previous studies – Do not list one study after another, but rather classify, compare & contrast as they relate to your problem statement. –Organize the review around different themes. 4. Summarize –states the status of what exists on the topic and identifies the gaps which provide the rationale for your study.

Example of a short Review Pg 44

Example of a short review Introduction to Organization effectiveness Identified the problem and the purpose –No consensus on the how to conceptualize and measure OE Summarize the previous work and identify the gaps in the literature –Variables from different streams related to the OE uncovered –Leading to the forming of the research questions

Questions –What could be the dimensions used for measuring OE ? –What factors effect the OE ? Once the research questions have been stated then one is ready to develop a theoretical frame work of their research

While developing your theoretical frame work you basically Theorize on the bases of your belief that how are certain phenomena's are related. So theoretical framework is a representation of your beliefs on how certain phenomena ( or variables or concepts ) are related to each other(model) and an explanation of why you believe that these are associated with each other (theory)

Theoretical Framework So there are two components to theoretical frame work –Identification of variables and their relationship –Describing the relationship with arguments While identifying the different variables we need to differentiate between the different kinds of variables

Variables Any thing that can take on different or varying values is a variable Values can be different at various times for the same object or person or at the same time for different objects or persons E.g. –Production units (Employee 1 (10 units on Monday) Production units (Employee 1 (11 units on Tuesday) –Production units (Employee 2 (12 units on Monday) –Production units (Employee 2 (10 units on Tuesday) –Attendance at department x on Monday(10), Tuesday(2)

Types of Variables Independent Dependent Moderating Mediating

Types of Variables Dependent –(Criterion Variable) –primary interest –Describe or explain the variability or predict it. –We study what variables influence dependent variable –So by studying these we might able to find a solution of the problem –E.g. Sales are low, employee loyalty is dropping

Independent –(Predictor variable) –Which influences the dependent variable –The influence might be positive or negative –When independent variable is present the dependent variable is also present. –With each unit of increase in independent variable there is an increase or decrease in the dependent variable –E.g. Advertising on sales, recognition on loyalty

Moderating (surfaces in between the independent and dependent at a given time) Mediating (Effects the relationship between independent and dependent)

Exercise : List the independent variable A manager believes that good supervision and training would increase the production level of the workers.

Recap Literature Review involves searching and documenting There are different formats of Documenting (APA) There is a structure of review (importance, objectives, definitions, relationships identified, gaps) Theoretical framework is representation of your belief on how variables related and why Variables are of 4 different kinds