DECIDING RESEARCH APPROACH AND CHOOSING A RESEARCH STRATEGY By: Zeeshan A. Bhatti

Approach to research  First layer: Research Philosophy  Second layer: Subject of your research approach that flows from that research philosophy  Third layer: Research Strategy  Fourth layer: Time horizons you apply to your research

The research process ‘onion’

Research Philosophy  Depends upon the way you think about the development of knowledge  3 views dominate literature:  Positivism  Interpretivism  Realism

Positivism  Based on the view that information derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience is the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge  This view holds that society, like the physical world, operates according to general laws.societylaws  The stance of natural scientists

Positivism (Cont’d)  You will prefer working with an observable social reality and that the end product of such research can be law-like generalizations  Emphasis on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication  And on quantifiable observations that lend themselves to statistical analysis  The assumption:  ‘the researcher is independent of and neither affects nor is affected by the subject of the research”

Interpretivism  Social world of business and management is far too complex to lend itself to theorizing by definitive ‘laws’  Not only business situations are complex, they are also unique  The knowledge generated from this discipline is perceived through socially constructed and subjective interpretations

Interpretivism (Cont’d)  Social constructionism views reality as being socially constructed  People may place different interpretations on the situations in which they find themselves  These interpretations are likely to affect their actions and the nature of their social interaction with others  This immediately raises the question about the generalizablity of the research  It is therefore, the role of interpretivist to understand the subjective reality of those that they study to in order to be able to make sense of their actions and motives

Realism  Social constructionism also recognizes that people are likely to share interpretations of their socially constructed environment  Commonly experienced stimuli of generating a shared interpretation  These stimuli will exert an influence on the way in which those affected socially construct their world  In the social sciences and business study, this can be seen as indicating that there are large-scale social forces and processes that affect people without their necessarily being aware of the existence of such influences on their behaviors

Choosing a research approach  Deduction: Testing theory  Induction: Building theory

The need for a clear Research Strategy  A general plan of how you will go about answering your research question(s)  Clear objectives  Specify the sources from which you intend to collect data  Consider the constraints (access to data, time, location, money and ethical issues)

Different research strategies  Experiment  Survey  Case study  Grounded Theory  Ethnography  Action Research  Cross-sectional and Longitudinal studies  Exploratory, Descriptive and Explanatory Studies

Experiment  A classical form of research that owes much to natural sciences  Features in social sciences as well– psychology  It involves typically:  Definition of a theoretical hypothesis  Selection of samples of individuals from known populations  Allocation of samples to different experimental conditions  Introduction of planned change on one or more variables  Measurement on a small no. of the variables  Control of other variables

Survey  Usually associated with deductive approach  One of the most popular strategy in business  Allow collection of large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way  Often obtained as questionnaire, the data are standardized, allowing easy comparison  Easily understood by people E.g., results published in newspapers that a certain population thinks or behaves in a particular way

Survey (Cont’d)  Time consuming in the sense of designing and piloting questionnaire  Results can be analyzed with the aid of computer packages (e.g., SPSS)  However, There is a limit to the no. of questions  Questionnaire is not the only survey method Structured observation Structured interview  A worthwhile way of exploring existing theory

Case Study  Strategy which involves an empirical investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context  If you wish to gain a rich understanding of the context of the research & the processes  Answers questions such as “why”, “how”, “what”  Can deploy various data collection methods

Grounded Theory  Inductive Approach  A systematic methodology in the social sciences involving the discovery of theory through the analysis of data  Rather than beginning with a hypothesis, the first step is data collection, through a variety of methods  From the data collected, the key points are marked with a series of codes, which are extracted from the text  the codes are grouped into similar concepts  From these concepts, categories are formed, which are the basis for the creation of a theory, or a reverse engineered hypothesis

Grounded Theory (Cont’d)

Ethnography  Firmly rooted in inductive approach  Emanates from the field of anthropology  Aimed at exploring cultural phenomena  The resulting field study or a case report reflects the knowledge and the system of meanings in the lives of a cultural group  Ethnography, as the empirical data on human societies and cultures, was pioneered in the biological, social, and cultural branches of anthropologyempiricalsocietiesculturesanthropology

Ethnography (Cont’d)  Very time consuming – extended over a period of time  Researcher needs to be responsive to change and constantly develop new patterns

Action Research  Action research is a research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with othersreflective processproblem solving  Change intervention  Close collaboration b/w practitioners  Implications beyond the immediate project

Time Horizons  An important question while planning research: “Do I want my research to be a snapshot taken at a particular time or Do I want it to be a representation of events over a period of time (diary)”  It all depends upon the question of research

Cross Sectional Research (Time Horizons)  The snapshot approach is called “Cross-Sectional Research”  A study of particular phenomenon at a particular time  Majority of academic research are cross-sectional due to time constraints  Often employ survey strategy Might define the incidence of a phenomenon Compare factors in different organizations etc.  They may also use qualitative methods such as interviews

Longitudinal Research (Time Horizons)  Strength: Capacity that it has to study change and development  Observing people and events over time – the researcher is able to exercise a measure of control over variables being studied  Example: Workplace Industrial Relations Survey published in 1980, 84, 90 and 1998  From these surveys, we can have insight into developments in personnel management and industrial relations over a period of wide-ranging change

Exploratory Studies  A valuable means to explore what is happening;  to seek new insights;  To ask questions and to assess phenomenon in a new light  3 principal ways to conducting explanatory research  A search of the literature  Talking to experts in the subject  Conducting a focus group interviews

Descriptive Studies  A portray on accurate profiles of persons, events or situations  An extension or a forerun of exploratory research

Explanatory Studies  Causal relationships b/w variables  To explain relationships  E.g., a quantitative data analysis on manufacturing scrap rates shows relationship between b/w scrap rates and the age of machine operated.

Using Multi-Methods  It is often quite usual for a single study to combine quantitative and qualitative methods  2 major advantages of multi-methods:  First, Different methods can be used for different purposes E.g., interviews, in order to get a feel for the key issues before embarking on a questionnaire  Second, it enables triangulation to take place Triangulation refers to the use of different data collection methods within one study are telling you what you think they are telling you E.g., semi-structured interviews can verify data collected by questionnaire

The credibility of research findings  How do you know the results are correct?  You cannot know!! All you can do it to reduce the possibility of getting a wrong answer  To reduce the possibility of getting a wrong answer, we emphasize on two things:  Reliability  Validity  Generalizability  Logic Leaps and False Assumptions

Reliability  Can be assessed by following questions:  Will the measure yield the same results on other occasions?  Will similar observations be reached by other observers?  Is there transparency in how sense was made from the raw data?

Threats to reliability  4 threats to reliability:  Subject or Participant Error E.g., studying employees’ enthusiasm for their work at different times of the week may yield different results How to control: Chose a more neutral time  Subject or Participant Bias E.g., Interviewees may have been saying what they thought their bosses wanted them to say How to control: ensuring anonymity of respondents

 Observer Error Multiple researchers doing the same research with multiple methods yields different results How to control: Introducing a high degree of structure to the interview schedule  Observer Bias Biasness due to observer himself How to control: Research can be conducted by multiple researchers

Validity  Validity refers to whether the findings are really about what they appear to be about  Is the relationship b/w two variables a causal relationship? E.g., in a study of an electronics factory we found that employees’ failure to look at new product displays was not due to apathy but due to lack of opportunity (as it was located in a part they rarely visited) The potential lack of validity was minimized by using focus groups after questionnaire results were analyzed

Threats to Validity  History You may decide to study the opinions that employees have about their job security in a particular organization However, if the research is conducted after a major redundancy program, this can have an effect on findings  Testing You research may include measuring how long it takes telesales operators to deal with customer enquiries If the operators believe that the results of the research may disadvantage them in some way, then it is likely to affect results

 Instrumentation If the operators are given an instruction to take every opportunity to sell new policies b/w the first and second batch of interviews Consequently the calls will last longer  Mortality Dropping out of participants Studying a problem spread on time and dropping participants from the sample  Maturation Some events happening in time can affect the behavior of people

 Ambiguity about causal direction E.g., A student studying effectiveness of performance appraisal in her organization Findings: Poor performance ratings of employees were associated with negative attitude What was no clear: Whether the poor performance ratings caused the negative attitude to appraisal OR The negative attitude to appraisal was causing the poor performance

Generalizability  Also referred to as external validity  Whether your research findings be equally applicable in other settings Particularly in case study research As long as you do not claim that your results, conclusions or theory can be generalized, there is no problem

Logic Leaps and False Assumption  Not just the quantity of data but also the thought process should be of high quality  Identification of the research population If the intention is to generalize the conclusion across whole population, it the choice of population logical?  Data Collection E.g., If you are interviewing top bosses, you are likely to hear the “the good news” syndrome If you collect press cuttings from newspapers, how can you assume there has no political bias out on them?

 Data interpretation Deductive or Inductive approach Hybrid approaches The theory chosen shapes your conclusions, select the appropriate theory