1. Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh

2. Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh

3. Sources of Data Primary sources Secondary sources
Primary data refer to information obtained firsthand by the researcher on the variables of interest for the specific purposes of the study
Secondary sources
Secondary data refer to information gathered from sources already existing

4. Primary Sources of Data
Individuals
Focus groups
Aimed at obtaining respondents’ impressions, interpretations, and opinions.
Provides only qualitative and not quantitative information
Can not be considered to be truly representative
Focus groups are used for (1) exploratory studies, (2) making generalizations based on the information gathered by them, and (3) conducting sample surveys
Videoconferencing

5. Primary Sources of Data Cont’d)
Panels
Whereas focus groups meet for a one-time group session, panels meet more than once.
Static or dynamic
Typically used when several aspects of a product are to be studied from time to time
Unobtrusive Measures
Originate from a primary source that does not involve people

6. Secondary Sources
Advantage of seeking secondary data sources is savings in time and costs of acquiring information.
Drawbacks: obsolete, not meeting the specific needs of a particular situation or setting

7. Data Collection Methods
Interviews
Questionnaires
Observation
Unobtrusive Methods

8. Interviewing Unstructured interviews
Interviewer does not enter the interview setting with a planned sequences of questions to be asked of the respondent
The objective: to bring some preliminary issues to the surface so that the researcher can determine what variables need further in-depth investigation

9. Interviewing (Cont’d)
Structured interviews
Those conducted when it is known at the outset what information is needed.
The interviewer has a list of predetermined questions to be asked of the respondents

10. Interviewing (Cont’d)
Some tips
Biases could be introduced by:
Interviewer
Interviewees
Situational
Biases can be minimized:
Establishing credibility and rapport, and motivating individuals to respond
Questioning techniques: funneling, unbiased questions, clarifying issues, helping the respondents to think through issues, taking notes

11. Face-to-face Interviews
Advantages:
Adapt the questions as necessary, clarify doubts, and ensure that the responses are properly understood
Pick up nonverbal cues from the respondent
Any discomfort, stress, or problems that the respondent experiences can be detected
Disadvantages:
Geographical limitations
Vast resources needed
High costs
Respondents might feel uneasy about the anonymity of their responses

12. Telephone Interviews Advantages: Disadvantages:
A number of differently different people can be reached in a relatively short period of time
It would eliminate any discomfort on respondents
Disadvantages:
Respondents could unilaterally terminate the interview without warning or explanation, by hanging up the phone.
Researcher will not be able to read the nonverbal communication

13. Questionnaires Personally administered questionnaires
Advantages:
Researcher can collect all the completed responses within a short period of time
Clarify any doubts
Less expensive and consumes less time than interviewing
Mail questionnaires
Wide geographical area can be covered

14. Questionnaires (Cont’d)
Guidelines for questionnaires design
Principles of wording
Content and the purpose of the questions
Language and wording of the questionnaires
Type and form of questions
Sequencing of questions
Classification data or personal information

15. Questionnaires (Cont’d)
Pretesting of Structured Questions
To ensure that the questions are understood by the respondents
There are no problems with the wording or measurement

16. Other Methods Observational surveys
Nonparticipant and participant observer
Structured and unstructured

17. Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh
Sampling: Design and Procedures
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh

18. Sampling Population A sample is a subset of a
larger population of objects
individuals, households,
businesses, organizations
and so forth.
Sampling enables researchers
to make estimates of some
unknown characteristics of
the population in question
A finite group is called population
whereas a non-finite (infinite)
group is called universe
A census is a investigation of all
the individual elements of a
population
Population
Sample

19. Reasons for Sampling
Budget and time Constraints (in case of large populations)
High degree of accuracy and reliability (if sample is representative of population)
Sampling may sometimes produce more accurate results than taking a census as in the latter, there are more risks for making interviewer and other errors due to the high volume of persons contacted and the number of census takers, some of whom may not be well-trained
Industrial production and import / export

20. Sample vs. Census

21. The Sampling Design Process
Define the Population
Determine the Sampling Frame
Select Sampling Technique(s)
Determine the Sample Size
Execute the Sampling Process

22. Define the Target Population
The target population is the collection of elements or objects that possess the information sought by the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. The target population should be defined in terms of elements, sampling units, extent, and time.
An element is the object about which or from which the information is desired, e.g., the respondent.
A sampling unit is an element, or a unit containing the element, that is available for selection at some stage of the sampling process.
Extent refers to the geographical boundaries.
Time is the time period under consideration.

23. Defining the Target Population
The target population is that complete group whose relevant characteristics are to be determined through the sampling
A target population may be, for example, all faculty members in the Department of Management Sciences in the COMSATS network, all housewives in Islamabad, all pre-college students in Rawalpindi, and all medical doctors in Pakistan
The target group should be clearly delineated if possible, for example, do all pre-college students include only primary and secondary students or also students in other specialized educational institutions?
MBA III (Research Methodology) Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan
29 August 2005

24. Define the Target Population
Important qualitative factors in determining the sample size
the importance of the decision
the nature of the research
the number of variables
the nature of the analysis
sample sizes used in similar studies
incidence rates
completion rates
resource constraints

25. Sample Sizes Used in Marketing Research Studies

26. Classification of Sampling Techniques
Nonprobability
Sampling Techniques
Probability
Sampling Techniques
Convenience
Sampling
Judgmental
Quota
Snowball
Simple Random
Sampling
Other Sampling
Techniques
Systematic
Sampling
Stratified
Sampling
Cluster
Sampling

27. Convenience Sampling
Convenience sampling attempts to obtain a sample of convenient elements. Often, respondents are selected because they happen to be in the right place at the right time.
use of students, and members of social organizations
mall intercept interviews without qualifying the respondents
department stores using charge account lists
“people on the street” interviews

28. Judgmental Sampling
Judgmental sampling is a form of convenience sampling in which the population elements are selected based on the judgment of the researcher.
test markets
purchase engineers selected in industrial marketing research
bellwether precincts selected in voting behavior research
expert witnesses used in court

29. Quota Sampling
Quota sampling may be viewed as two-stage restricted judgmental sampling.
The first stage consists of developing control categories, or quotas, of population elements.
In the second stage, sample elements are selected based on convenience or judgment.
Population Sample composition composition Control Characteristic Percentage Percentage Number Sex Male Female ____ ____ ____

30. Snowball Sampling
In snowball sampling, an initial group of respondents is selected, usually at random.
After being interviewed, these respondents are asked to identify others who belong to the target population of interest.
Subsequent respondents are selected based on the referrals.

31. Simple Random Sampling
Each element in the population has a known and equal probability of selection.
Each possible sample of a given size (n) has a known and equal probability of being the sample actually selected.
This implies that every element is selected independently of every other element.

32. Systematic Sampling
The sample is chosen by selecting a random starting point and then picking every ith element in succession from the sampling frame.
The sampling interval, i, is determined by dividing the population size N by the sample size n and rounding to the nearest integer.
When the ordering of the elements is related to the characteristic of interest, systematic sampling increases the representativeness of the sample.
If the ordering of the elements produces a cyclical pattern, systematic sampling may decrease the representativeness of the sample.
For example, there are 100,000 elements in the population and a sample of 1,000 is desired. In this case the sampling interval, i, is A random number between 1 and 100 is selected. If, for example, this number is 23, the sample consists of elements 23, 123, 223, 323, 423, 523, and so on.

33. Stratified Sampling
A two-step process in which the population is partitioned into subpopulations, or strata.
The strata should be mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive in that every population element should be assigned to one and only one stratum and no population elements should be omitted.
Next, elements are selected from each stratum by a random procedure, usually SRS.
A major objective of stratified sampling is to increase precision without increasing cost.

34. Stratified Sampling
The elements within a stratum should be as homogeneous as possible, but the elements in different strata should be as heterogeneous as possible.
The stratification variables should also be closely related to the characteristic of interest.
Finally, the variables should decrease the cost of the stratification process by being easy to measure and apply.
In proportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample drawn from each stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum in the total population.
In disproportionate stratified sampling, the size of the sample from each stratum is proportionate to the relative size of that stratum and to the standard deviation of the distribution of the characteristic of interest among all the elements in that stratum.

35. Cluster Sampling
The target population is first divided into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subpopulations, or clusters.
Then a random sample of clusters is selected, based on a probability sampling technique such as SRS.
For each selected cluster, either all the elements are included in the sample (one-stage) or a sample of elements is drawn probabilistically (two-stage).
Elements within a cluster should be as heterogeneous as possible, but clusters themselves should be as homogeneous as possible. Ideally, each cluster should be a small-scale representation of the population.
In probability proportionate to size sampling, the clusters are sampled with probability proportional to size. In the second stage, the probability of selecting a sampling unit in a selected cluster varies inversely with the size of the cluster.

36. Types of Cluster Sampling
One-Stage
Sampling
Multistage
Two-Stage
Simple Cluster
Sampling
Probability
Proportionate
to Size Sampling

37. Strengths and Weaknesses of Basic Sampling Techniques
Nonprobability Sampling
Least expensive, least
Selection bias, sample not
Convenience sampling
time-consuming, most
representative, not recommended for
convenient
descriptive or causal research
Judgmental sampling
Low cost, convenient,
Does not allow generalization,
not time-consuming
subjective
Quota sampling
Sample can be controlled
Selection bias, no assurance of
for certain characteristics
representativeness
Snowball sampling
Can estimate rare
Time-consuming
characteristics
Probability sampling
Easily understood,
Difficult to construct sampling
Simple random sampling
results
projectable
frame, expensive,
lower precision,
(SRS)
no assurance of
representativeness.
Systematic sampling
Can increase
Can decrease
representativeness
representativeness,
easier to implement than
SRS, sampling frame not
necessary
Stratified sampling
Include all important
Difficult to select relevant
subpopulations,
stratification variables, not feasible to
precision
stratify on many variables, expensive
Cluster sampling
Easy to implement, cost
Imprecise, difficult to compute and
effective
interpret results

38. Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Simple Random Sampling
1. Select a suitable sampling frame
2. Each element is assigned a number from 1 to N (pop. size)
3. Generate n (sample size) different random numbers between 1 and N
4. The numbers generated denote the elements that should be included in the sample

39. Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Systematic Sampling
1. Select a suitable sampling frame
2. Each element is assigned a number from 1 to N (pop. size)
3. Determine the sampling interval i:i=N/n. If i is a fraction, round to the nearest integer
4. Select a random number, r, between 1 and i, as explained in simple random sampling
5. The elements with the following numbers will comprise the systematic random sample: r, r+i,r+2i,r+3i,r+4i,...,r+(n-1)i

40. Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Stratified Sampling
1. Select a suitable frame
2. Select the stratification variable(s) and the number of strata, H
3. Divide the entire population into H strata. Based on the classification variable, each element of the population is assigned to one of the H strata
4. In each stratum, number the elements from 1 to Nh (the pop size of stratum h)
5. Determine the sample size of each stratum, nh, based on proportionate or disproportionate stratified sampling, where
6. In each stratum, select a simple random sample of size nh
nh = n
h=1 H

41. Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Cluster Sampling
1. Assign a number from 1 to N to each element in the population
2. Divide the population into C clusters of which c will be included in the sample
3. Calculate the sampling interval i, i=N/c (round to nearest integer)
4. Select a random number r between 1 and i, as explained in simple random sampling
5. Identify elements with the following numbers: r,r+i,r+2i,... r+(c-1)i
6. Select the clusters that contain the identified elements
7. Select sampling units within each selected cluster based on SRSor systematic sampling
8. Remove clusters exceeding sampling interval i. Calculate new population size N*, number of clusters to be selected C*= C-1, and new sampling interval i*.

42. Procedures for Drawing Probability Samples
Cluster Sampling
Repeat the process until each of the remaining clusters has a population less than the sampling interval. If b clusters have been selected with certainty, select the remaining c-b clusters according to steps 1 through 7. The fraction of units to be sampled with certainty is the overall sampling fraction = n/N. Thus, for clusters selected with certainty, we would select ns=(n/N)(N1+N2+...+Nb) units. The units selected from clusters selected under PPS sampling will therefore be n*=n- ns.

43. Choosing Nonprobability vs. Probability Sampling

44. Tennis' Systematic Sampling Returns a Smash
Tennis magazine conducted a mail survey of its subscribers to gain a better understanding of its market. Systematic sampling was employed to select a sample of 1,472 subscribers from the publication's domestic circulation list. If we assume that the subscriber list had 1,472,000 names, the sampling interval would be 1,000 (1,472,000/1,472). A number from 1 to 1,000 was drawn at random. Beginning with that number, every 1,000th subscriber was selected.
A brand-new dollar bill was included with the questionnaire as an incentive to respondents. An alert postcard was mailed one week before the survey. A second, follow-up, questionnaire was sent to the whole sample ten days after the initial questionnaire. There were 76 post office returns, so the net effective mailing was 1,396. Six weeks after the first mailing, 778 completed questionnaires were returned, yielding a response rate of 56%.