1. Scientific Investigation Uma Sekaran Roger Bougie

2. Scientific Investigation This chapter speaks of scientific investigation detailing on: the eight hallmarks of scientific research, the limitations of scientific research in management and hypothetico-deductive method of research.

3. Why Scientific Research? This research is not based on hunches, experience and intuition. It is purposive and rigorous. Enables all those who are interested in researching and knowing about the same or similar issues to come up with comparable findings when data are analyzed. Findings are accurate and confident. (Objective) Apply solutions to similar problems.

4. Story told about Aristotle One day Aristotle caught a fly and carefully counted and recounted its legs. He then announced that flies have five legs. No one questioned the word of Aristotle. For years his finding was uncritically accepted. Of course, the fly that Aristotle caught just happened to be missing a leg. Whether or not you believe the story, it does illustrate the limitations of relying on personal experience and authority as a source of knowledge

5. Hallmarks of Scientific Research The hallmarks or main distinguishing characteristics of scientific research can be the following 1. Purposiveness: The research should have a purposive focus i.e. some definite purpose will be served after the research.

6. Hallmarks of Scientific Research 2. Rigor - A good theoretical base and sound methodological design would add rigor to the purposive study. Rigor adds carefulness, scrupulousness and the degree of exactitude in research. Example: A manager asks 10-12 employees how to increase the level of commitment. If solely on the basis of their responses the manager reaches several conclusions on how employee commitment can be increased, the whole approach to the investigation would be unscientific. It would lack rigor for the following reasons:

7. 1.Based on few employees 2.Biased and incorrect There might be other influences on commitment which are ignored and are important for a researcher to know Thus, Rigor involves good theoretical base and thought out methodology. These factors enable the researcher to collect the right kind of information from an appropriate sample with the minimum degree of bias and facilitate suitable analysis of the data gathered. This supports the other six too! Hallmarks of Scientific Research

8. The researcher might hypothesize that those employees who perceive greater opportunities for participation in decision making would have a higher level of commitment. 3. Testability - After random selection manager and researcher develops certain hypothesis ( a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables) on how manager employee commitment can be enhanced, then these can be tested by applying certain statistical tests to the data collected for the purpose.variables

9. Hallmarks of Scientific Research 4. Replicable(ility): The results of the test of hypotheses should be supported again and again when same type of research is repeated in other similar circumstances. The researchers will gain confidence in the scientific nature of the research. Example: The study concludes that participation in decision making is one of the most important factors that influences the commitment, we will place more faith and credence in these finding and apply in similar situations. To the extent that this does happen, we will gain confidence in the scientific nature of our research.

10. 5.1. Precision –Precision refers to the closeness of the findings to “reality” based on a sample. –It reflects the degree of accuracy and exactitude of the results of the sample. Example : If a supervisor estimated the number of production days lost during the year due to absenteeism at between 30 and 40, as against the actual of 35, the precision of his estimation more favorably than if he had indicated that the loss of production days was somewhere between 20 and 50. Hallmarks of Scientific Research

11. 5.2. Confidence –Confidence refers to the probability that our estimations are correct. –That is, it is not merely enough to be precise, but it is also important that we can confidently claim that 95% of the time our results would be true and there is only a 5% chance of our being wrong. –This is also known as confidence level. Confidence

12. Hallmarks of Scientific Research 6. Objectivity The conclusions drawn through the interpretation of the results of data analysis should be objective; that is, they should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not on our subjective or emotional values. Example: If we had a hypothesis that stated that greater participation in decision making will increase organizational commitment and this was not supported by the results, it makes no sense if the researcher continues to argue that increased opportunities for employee participation would still help!

13. Hallmarks of Scientific Research 7. Generalizability: This refers to the scope of applicability of the research findings in one organizational setting to other settings. The wider the range of applicability of the solutions generated by research, the more useful the research is to the users. 8. Parsimony: This refers to economy in research models and can be achieved when researchers build in their research a lesser number of variables that would explain the variance far more efficiently than a complex set of variables that would only marginally add to the variance explained

14. The Building Blocks of Science in Research Deduction and Inductions Answers to issues can be found either by the process of induction or the process of deduction, or by a combination of the two.

15. Deduction Deduction is the process by which we arrive at a reasoned conclusion by logical generalization of a known fact. Example: we know that all high performers are highly proficient in their jobs. If Ali is a high performer, we then conclude that he is highly proficient in his job

16. Deductive reasoning Arriving at specific conclusions based on generalizations Example : All research textbooks contains a chapter on sampling This is a research textbook Therefore, this book contains a chapter on sampling

17. Induction Induction is a process where we observe certain phenomena and on this basis arrive at conclusions. In other words, in induction we logically establish a general proposition based on observed facts.

18. Inductive reasoning Formulation of generalizations based on observation of a limited number of specific events Example : Every research textbook examined contains a chapter on sampling Therefore, all research textbooks contains a chapter on sampling

19. The Hypothetico – Deductive Method 1.Observation – is the first stage in which one senses that certain changes are occurring, or that some new behaviour, attitudes, and feelings are surfacing in one’s environment. When the observed phenomena are seen to have potentially important consequences, one would move to next step. 2.Preliminary information gathering – this involves the seeking of information in depth, of what is observed. This could be done by talking informally to several people in work setting or to clients or to other relevant resources, thereby gathering information on what is happening and why.

20. The Hypothetico – Deductive Method 3. Theory formulation - is an attempt to integrate all the information in a logical manner, so that the factors responsible for the problem can be conceptualize and tested. The theoretical framework formulated is often guided by experience and intuition. In this step critical variables are examined as to their contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved. 4. Hypothesizing - is the next logical step after theory formulation. From the theorized network of association among the variables certain premises/ hypotheses can be generated. Hypotheses testing is called deduction

21. The Hypothetico – Deductive Method 5. Further (Scientific) data collection – after the development of hypotheses, data with respect to each variable in the hypotheses is needed to test the hypotheses generated in the study 6. Data analysis – The data gathered are statistically analyzed(e.g. using correlation & Regression analysis) to see if the hypotheses that were generated have been supported 7. Deduction – a process of arriving at conclusion by interpreting the meaning of results of data analysis. Based on these deductions, the researcher would make recommendations.

22. Hypothetico Deductive Method CONCEPT THEORY /MGT PROBLEM CONCEPT

23. Identification of problem Theoretical framework Hypotheses Research design Data collection Analysis of data Interpretation of data observation Refinement of theory (pure research) Or Implementation (applied research) The building blocks of science Uma Sekaran, 1984