4/28/2014

1

Business Research Process Design

! Understand the steps in conducting research! Understand the types of research! Learn the purposes and methods of conducting exploratory

research! Learn about descriptive research and the types of descriptive

research! Have a preliminary idea about causal research! Establish a difference between exploratory research, descriptive

research, and causal research

Introduction

! Research is all about finding something, the absence of whichmay distort our ability to take informed decisions (Nwokah etal., 2009).

! The ability to take an informed decision is generated through asystematic study that is conducted through various interrelatedstages.

! All the steps in a research are interrelated and no independentactivity is launched without considering the decisions on theprevious stages.

! One has to really understand that, from problem identificationto presentation of findings, every step is interlinked andinterrelated.

Business Research Process Design

! A research design is the detailed blueprint used to guide aresearch study towards its objective.

! A good research is conducted using 10 steps:1. Problem or opportunity identification2. Decision maker and business researcher meeting to discuss the

problem and opportunity dimensions3. Defining the management problem and subsequently the research

problem4. Formal research proposal and introducing the dimensions of the

problem5. Approaches to research6. Field work and data collection7. Data preparation and data entry8. Performing data analysis9. Interpretation of result and presentation of findings10. Management decision and its implementation.

4/28/2014

2

Business research process design

Step 1: Problem or Opportunity Identification

! The process of business research starts with the problem oropportunity identification.

! Actually, the management of the company identifies the problemor opportunity in the organization or in the environment. Themanagement can identify the symptoms or the effects of theproblem, but to understand the reasons of the problems, asystematic research has to be adopted.

! This required research should either be executed by a businessresearch firm or a business researcher.

! The decision maker contacts the business research firm andthen discusses the problem or opportunity with the businessresearcher.

! The researcher can only suggest solution to a problem, but theactual decision is taken by the decision maker.

Step 2: Decision Maker and BusinessResearcher Meeting to Discuss the Problem or

Opportunity Dimensions! The management problem is concerned with the decision

maker and is action oriented in nature. For example, themanagement problem offers a psychological pricing to enhancethe quantum of sales. This management problem focuses on thesymptoms.

! Research problem is somewhat information oriented andfocuses mainly on the causes and not on the symptoms. This isto determine the consumer’s opinion on psychological pricingand to estimate their purchase behaviour for the psychologicalprice being offered.

Step 3: Defining the Management Problem and Subsequently the Research Problem

4/28/2014

3

! Now, the researcher prepares a formal proposal of the researchand develops the approaches to the research problem. The firstpart is to develop a theoretical model to quantify an attitude.

! For example, to estimate the “buying intentions” for a particularproduct, first, the researcher has to prepare a theoretical modelto measure an attitude like buying intentions.

Step 4: Formal Research Proposal andIntroducing the Dimensions to the Problem Theoretical model to measure the buying intention

Framing Hypotheses

! Hypothesis 1: “Brand image” has a significant liner impact onthe buying intention.

! Hypothesis 2: “Brand awareness” has a significant liner impacton the buying intention.

! Hypothesis 3: “Price” has a significant liner impact on the buyingintention.

! Hypothesis 4: “Availability” has a significant liner impact on thebuying intention.

! Hypothesis 5: “After-sales services” has a significant liner impacton the buying intention.

! The researcher can also test the combined impact of these fivevariables on the buying intention. The proposed multipleregression model will be

! Hypothesis 6: All the five factors in combination have asignificant linear impact on the buying intention.

4/28/2014

4

Step 5: Approaches to Research

! The research approach is formulated is the next step.! In the light of the “type of data,” questions are framed and

scientifically placed in the questionnaire.! This section is based on the research design formulation, deals

with measurement and scaling, next section with the aspects ofthe questionnaire design in detail, and as a later step, a samplesize is determined and a sampling technique is selected.

Types of Research

! All researches can be broadly classified into three groups:exploratory research, descriptive research, and causalresearch.

! These three methods differ in terms of different aspects ofconducting the research.

Classification of different types of research

Exploratory Research

! As the name indicates, exploratory research is mainly used toexplore the insight of the general research problem. This is usedfor the following purposes:A. Obtaining Background InformationB. Research Problem Formulation or Defining it More PreciselyC. Identifying and Defining the Key Research VariablesD. Developing Hypotheses

4/28/2014

5

The refined theoretical model to measure the buying intentions (obtaining inputs from exploratory research)

Methods of Conducting Exploratory Research

Secondary Data Analysis

! The secondary data are not only used for problemunderstanding and exploration but are also used to develop anunderstanding about the research findings.

Expert Survey

! To get the authentic information about the problem, theresearchers sometimes consult the experts of the concernedfield. These experts provide authentic and relevant informationuseful for the research, which otherwise is difficult to obtain.

! Example: An automobile firm penetrating in the rural segment.

! Customers, dealers and retailers.

4/28/2014

6

Focus Group Interviews

! The focus group interview is a qualitative research technique inwhich a trained moderator leads a small group of participants toan unstructured discussion about the topic of interest.

! Usually 6 to 12 participants.

Depth Interviews

! A depth interview is a probing (curious) between a highly skilledinterviewer and a respondent from the target population tounfold the underlying opinions, motivations, emotions, orfeelings of an individual respondent on a topic generally coinedby the researcher.

• Similar to focus group with a only difference that in thisrespondents can’t be influenced from their peers.

Case Analysis

! A case study research method actually combines the recordanalysis and observations from individual and group interviews.The case studies become particularly useful when one needs tounderstand some particular problem or situation in great depthand when one can identify the cases rich in information.

Projective Techniques

! Projective technique is achieved by presenting the respondentswith ambiguous verbal or visual stimulus materials, such asbubble cartoons, which they need to make sense of by drawingfrom their own experiences, thoughts, feelings, and imaginationbefore they can offer a response.

! In the field of business research, the projective techniques arebroadly classified as word association, completion task,construction task, and expressive task.

4/28/2014

7

Classification of Projective Techniques! Word Association: Word Association Word association provides

a technique that facilitates the study and shading of attitudes,which cannot be ordinarily uncovered through standardinterview methods.In the word association technique, the respondents are requiredto respond to the presentation of an object by indicating the firstword, image, or thought that comes in his or her mind as aresponse to that object.

Eg. Sony color television tested on three words: quality, priceand availability.

! Completion Task: In a completion task, the respondent ispresented with an incomplete sentence, story, argument, orconversation and asked to complete it. In the field of businessresearch, the two widely used completion task techniques aresentence-completion task and story-completion task.

Eg. We use LG air conditioners as it gives us …….

! Construction Task : Construction task is related to the completiontask technique with a little difference. In the construction tasktechnique, the respondent is provided with less initial structure ascompared with the completion task where the respondent isprovided with an initial structure, and then, he or she completes thetask.

! In the field of business research, third-person questioning and bubbledrawing (cartoon testing) are two commonly used constructiontechniques.

! Expressive Task: In expressive task technique, the respondents areasked to role-play, act, or paint a specific (mostly desired by theresearcher) concept or situation. In the roleplaying technique, theparticipant is required to act someone else’s behaviour in a particularsetting.

Classification of Projective Techniques

Descriptive Research

! As evident from the name, descriptive research is conducted todescribe the business or market characteristics.

! The descriptive research mainly answers who, what, when,where, and how kind of questions.

! It attempts to address who should be surveyed, what, at whattime (pre- and post-type of study), from where (household,shopping mall, market, and so on), and how this informationshould be obtained (method of data collection).

! Example: A consumer durable company has conducted adescriptive research to understand the consumption pattern forits products.

! It can be further classified into cross-sectional study andlongitudinal study.

Cross-Sectional Study

! Cross sectional research design involves the collection ofinformation from a sample of a population at only one point oftime.

! In this study, various segments of the population are sampled sothat the relationship among the variables may be investigated bycross tabulation (Zikmund, 2007).

! Sample surveys are cross-sectional studies in which the sampleshappen to be a representative of the population.

! The cross-sectional study generally involves large samples fromthe population; hence, they are sometimes referred as “samplesurveys.”

! Example: What is the effectiveness of an advertisementcampaign for an air conditioner?

4/28/2014

8

Longitudinal Study

! Longitudinal study involves survey of the same population overa period of time.

! There is a well-defined difference between a cross-sectionalstudy and a longitudinal study.

! In a longitudinal study, the sample remains the same over aperiod of time. In a cross-sectional design, a representativesample taken from the population is studied at only one point oftime.

! Example: How have customers changed their opinion about theperformance of air conditioner as compared with that of lastsummer?

Causal Research

! Causal research is conducted to identify the cause-and-effectrelationship between two or more business (or decision)variables. Many business decisions are based on the causalrelationship between the variables of interest.

! As discussed, the descriptive research is able to answer who,what, when, where, and how kind of questions but not the“why” part of the question. The causal research is designed toaddress the why part of the question.

! Example: A cement manufacturing company is working on theassumption that the increase in advertisement expenditure isgoing to increase the sales of the company.

A relative comparison of exploratory research, descriptive research, and conclusive research

Step 6: Field Work and Data Collection

! Other sessions is exclusively based on secondary data sources.The researcher has to also decide whether he or she has to gofor a survey or has to adopt the observation methods anddecide whether the research will be based on the field datacollection or it will be a laboratory experiment.

! Next session is based on survey and observation techniques,other chapter introduces the various dimensions ofexperimentation, and at last session focuses on field work anddata preparation process.

4/28/2014

9

Step 7: Data Preparation and Data Entry

! After field work, the collected data are in raw format.! Before performing data analysis, it is important for a researcher

to structure the data.! There is a specific scientific procedure to deal with the missing

data and other problems related to the data-collection process.Next session would deal with all these aspects of datapreparation.

Step 8: Data Analysis

! After feeding the data in the spreadsheet, data analysis islaunched. Other left session present various sophisticatedstatistical analytical techniques to execute the data analysisexercise. These include univariate statistical analysis, bivariatestatistical analysis, and multivariate statistical analysis.

Step 9: Interpretation of Result and Presentation of Findings

! It has been already discussed that after applying data analysistechniques, a statistical result is obtained.

! There is need to interpret the result and present the non-statistical findings derived from the statistical result. Ameaningful interpretation of the result is a skilful activity and isan important aspect of research.

! The researcher has to determine whether the result of the studyis in line with the existing literature.

Step 10: Management Decision andIts Implementation

! As the last step of conducting a research programme, the findingsare conveyed to the decision maker after consultation with theresearch programmer.

! The decision maker analyses the findings and takes anappropriate decision in the light of the statistical findingspresented by the researcher.

! This is not a formal part of the research process. Here, it isincluded as a step of the research process, because it is thedecision maker who will ultimately take the decision and is themanagerial implication of the research programme.