Elements of Research Design

 Purpose of the study  Types of investigation  Extent of researcher interference  Study setting  Unit of analysis (population to be studies)  Time horizon

1) Purpose of the study  Exploratory study  Descriptive study  Hypotheses testing

Exploratory study Mintezberg  An exploratory study is undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand.  OR: no information is available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past.

Exploratory study(2)  Therefore, Extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity with the phenomena in the situation and to understand what is occurring before developing a model……..etc Extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity with the phenomena in the situation and to understand what is occurring before developing a model……..etc

Example  Interviewing managers to exploring the nature of managerial work….. Done by Mintizberg  Based on the analysis of his interview data, he formulated theories of managerial roles, the nature and types of managerial activities.

Descriptive study  A descriptive study is undertaken to be able to describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation.  Descriptive studies are undertaken in organizations to learn about and describe the characteristics of a group of employees

Descriptive study  Descriptive studies are undertaken in organizations to understand the characteristics of the organizations that follow certain common practices.

Examples Descriptive in nature A study of a class in terms of the percentage of members who are in their senior and junior years, gender composition, age grouping, number of semesters left until graduation…… A study of a class in terms of the percentage of members who are in their senior and junior years, gender composition, age grouping, number of semesters left until graduation……

Examples  Describe the group…. (The age, the educational level, job status, ……….)  Describe the organization: Describe the characteristics of the organization that implement flexible manufacturing systems…..

Hypotheses testing  Hypotheses testing study usually explain the nature of certain relationships,  or establish the differences among groups  or the independence of two or more factors in a situation

Examples  The relationships that can be established between advertising and sales:  If advertising is increased, then sales will go up.

Examples  establish the differences  There are some differences between male and female in the managerial skills.

Examples  independence of two or more factors in a situation  Working the night shifts is related to whether or not one is married.

Types of investigation  Casual study: When the researcher wants to determine the cause of one or more problems.  Correlatioanl study: When the researcher wants to determine the important variables associated with the problem

Examples  Casual study: Does smoking cause cancer? Does smoking cause cancer?  Correlatioanl study: Are smoking and cancer related? Are smoking and cancer related?

Extent of researcher interference  A correlational study is conducted in the nature environment of the organization with minimum interference by the researcher with the normal flow of work.

An Example  if a researcher wants to study the factors influencing training effectiveness……  so he will collect relevant data, analyze them to come up with the findings.

Extent of researcher interference (2) A cause and effect relationships:  A researcher wants to study the influence of lighting on workers’ performance, and manipulates the lighting in the work situation……  So the researcher interferences with the natural and normal setting.

Study setting  A correlational studies are conducted in noncontrived settings ( natural)  A cause and effect studies are conducted in contrived lab settings (Artificial setting).

Field studies where various factors are examined in the natural setting in which daily activities go on as normal with minimal researcher interference where various factors are examined in the natural setting in which daily activities go on as normal with minimal researcher interference

Field experiments Where cause and effect relationships are studied with some amount of researcher interference, but still in the natural setting where work continues in the normal fashion. Where cause and effect relationships are studied with some amount of researcher interference, but still in the natural setting where work continues in the normal fashion. Example: Cause and effect of training on employees after a week, a month, a 3 months ……

Lab experiments  Where the researcher explores cause and effect relationships not only exercising a high degree of control but also in an artificial created setting.  Example: Students’ sample.

Unit of analysis (population to be studies )  Individual as a unit of analysis  Groups as a unit of analysis  Organization as a unit of analysis  Industry as a unit of analysis  Country as a unit of analysis

Time horizon  Cross-sectional studies ( one shot)  A study can be done in which data are gathered just once, over a period of days or weeks or months.

Time horizon (2)  Longitudinal studies:  When the researcher would like to study people or phenomena at more than one point in time in order to answer the researcher question.  Example:  Employees’ behavior before and after changes in the top management to know what effects the change accomplished.