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The Research Process

step 6: Elements of Research Design

CHAPTER 6

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Chapter Objectives Understand the different aspects relevant to

designing a research study.

Identify the scope of any given study and theend use of the results. Describe the type of investigation needed,

the study setting, the extent of researcherinterference, the unit of analysis, and the

time horizon of the study. Identify which of the two, a causal or a

correlational study, would be moreappropriate in a given situation.

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The Research Design In this step we need to design the

research in a way that the requisitedata can be gathered and analyzed toarrive at a solution.

The research design was originally

presented in a simple manner in box 6ofFigure 6.1.

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Figure 6.1

FIGURE 6.1Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

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Figure 6.2: The Various Issues

Involved in the Research Design

FIGURE 6.2Copyright 2003 John Wiley& Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

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Purpose of The StudyThe Nature of Studies:

Exploratory Study Descriptive Study

Hypothesis Testing (Analytical and

Predictive) Case Study Analysis

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Exploratory Study Exploratory Study is undertaken when

not much is known about the situationat hand, or no information isavailable on how similar problems orresearch issues have been solved in the

past.

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Example 6.1

The manager of a multinational corporation iscurious to know ifthe work ethic values of

employees working in Prince HassanIndustrial City would be different from thoseof Americans.

That city is a small city, and no informationabout the ethic values of its workers.

Also, the work ethic values mean be differentto people in different cultures.

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Example 6.1 (Cont.)

The best way to study the abovesituation is by conducting anexploratory study, by interviewing theemployees in organizations in Irbidarea.

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Descriptive Study Is undertaken in order to ascertain and be

able to describe the characteristics of the

variables of interest in a situation. For instance, a study of a the Research

Methods 200 class in terms of the percentageof members who are in their senior ( will be

in the graduation stage), sex composition,age groupings, number of semesters left untilgraduation, can be considered as descriptivein nature.

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Descriptive Study In addition, descriptive studies are

undertaken in organizations to learnabout and describe the characteristicsof a group of employees, as forexample, the age, education level, job

status, and length of service.

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Example 6.2 A bank manager wants to have a profile of

the individuals who have loan paymentsoutstanding for 6 months and more.This profile would include details of theiraverage age, earnings, nature of occupation,full-time/ part-time employment status, andthe like.

The above information might help themanager to decide right away on the types ofindividuals who should be made ineligible forloans in the future.

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Example 6.4 A marketing manager might wantto develop a

pricing, sales, distribution, and advertisingstrategy for his product.

The manager might ask for information regarding thecompetitors, with respect to the following:

1. the percentage of companies who have prices higherand lower than the industry norm.

2. the percentage of competitors hiring in-house staffto handle sales and those who use independentagents.

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Example 6.4 (Cont.)

3. percentage of sales groups organized byproduct line, by accounts, and by region.

4. the types of distribution channels used andthe percentage of customers using each.

5. percentage of competitors spending moredollars on advertising/promotion than the

firm and those spending less.6. Percentage of those using the web to sell

the product.

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Hypotheses Testing Studies that engage in hypotheses testing

usually explain the nature of certain

relationships, or establish the differencesamong groups or the independence of two ormore factors in a situation.

Hypotheses testing is undertaken to explain

the variance in the dependent variable or topredict organizational outcomes.

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Example 6.5

A marketing manager wants to know if thesales of the company will increase if he

doubles the advertising dollars. Here, the manager would like to know the

nature of the relationship betweenadvertising and sales by testing the

hypothesis:

If advertising is increased, then sales will alsogo up.

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Case Study Analysis Case studies involve in-depth, contextual

analyses of matters relating to similar

situations in other organizations. Case studies, as a problem solving

technique, are not frequently resorted to inorganizations because findings the same type

of problem in another comparable setting isdifficult due to the reluctance of thecompanies to reveal their problems.

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Case Study Analysis Case studies that are qualitative in

nature are, however, useful in applyingsolutions to current problems based onpast problem-solving experiences.

Also, case studies are useful in

understanding certain phenomena, andgenerating further theories for empiricaltesting.

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Type of Investigation: Causal

versus Correlational

A causal study: Is an inquiry to knowthe cause of one or more problems.

A correlational study: Is an inquiry toknow the important variables associatedwith the problem.

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Example 6.9

A causal study question:

Does smoking cause cancer?

A correlational study question:Are smoking and cancer related?

Or

Are smoking, drinking, and chewingtobacco associated with cancer?

If so, which of these contributes most to thevariance in the dependent variable?

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Example 6.10

Fears of an earthquake predictedrecently in an area were a causal of anumber of crashes of some houses inthe area in order to be eligible ofinsurance policy.

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Example 6.11

Increases in interest rates and propertytaxes, the recession, and the predictedearthquake considerably slowed downthe business of real state agents in thecountry.

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Extent of Researcher Interference

With the Study

The extent of interference by theresearcher with the normal flow of workat the workplace has a direct bearingon whether the study undertaken iscausal or correlational.

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With the Study

A correlational study is conducted inthe natural environment of theorganization with minimum interferenceby the researcher with the normal flowof work.

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With the Study

In studies conducted to establish cause-and-effect relationships, the researcher

tries to manipulate certain variables so asto study the effects of such manipulation onthe dependent variable of interest.

In other words, the researcher deliberately

changes certain variables in the settingand interferes with the events as theynormally occur in the organization.

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Minimal InterferenceExample 6.12

A hospital administrator wants toexamine the relationship between theperceived emotional support in thesystem and the stress experienced by

the nursing staff. In other words, shewants to do a correlational study.

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Example 6.12 (Cont.)

The researcher will collect data from thenurses ( through a questionnaire) to indicate

how much emotional support they get in thehospital and to what extent they experiencestress. By correlating the two variables, theanswer is found.

In this case, beyond administering aquestionnaire to the nurses, the researcherhas not interfered with the normalactivities in the hospital.

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Moderate Interference If the researcher wants to establish a

causal connection between the

emotional support in the hospital andstress, or, wants to demonstrate that ifthe nurses had emotional support, this

indeed would cause them toexperience less stress.

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Moderate Interference To test the cause-and-effect relationship,

the researcher will measure the stress

currently experienced by the nurses in threewards in the hospital, and then deliberatelymanipulate the extent of emotional supportgiven to the three groups of nurses in the

three wards for perhaps a week, andmeasure the amount of stress at the end ofthat period.

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Moderate Interference For one group, the researcher will ensure

that a number of lab technicians and doctors

help and comfort the nurses when they facestressful events.

For a second group of nurses in anotherward, the researcher might arrange for them

only a moderate amount of emotional supportand employing only the lab technicians andexcluding doctors.

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Moderate Interference The third ward might operate without any

emotional support.

If the experimenters theory is correct,then the reduction in the stress levelsbefore and after the 1-week period should begreater for the nurses in the first ward,

moderate for those in the second ward, andnil for the nurses in the third ward.

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Moderate Interference We find that not only does the researcher

collect data from nurses on their experienced

stress at two different points in time, but alsomanipulated the normal course of events bydeliberately changing the amount ofemotional support received by thenurses in two wards, while leaving things inthe third ward unchanged.

Here, the researcher has interfered morethan minimally.

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Excessive InterferenceExample 6.14

IF the researcher feels, after conducting the previousexperiments, thatthe results may not be validsince other external factors might have influencedthe stress levels experience by the nurses.

For example, during that particular experimentalweek, the nurses in one or more wards may not have

experienced high levels of stress because there wereno serious illnesses or deaths in the ward. Hence theemotional support received might not be related tothe level of stresses experienced.

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Excessive Interference The researcher want to make sure that

such external factors thatmight affect

the cause-and-effect relationshipare controlled.

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Controlling the External factors The researcher might take three groups of

medical students, put them in different

rooms, and confront all of them with thesame stressful task.

For example, he might ask them to describein detail, the surgical procedures in

performing surgery on a patient who has notresponded to chemotherapy and keep askingthem with more and more questions.

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Controlling the External factors Although all are exposed to the same

intensive questioning, one group might get

help from a doctor who voluntarily offersclarifications and help when studentsstumble.

In the second group, a doctor might benearby, but mightoffer clarifications and helponly if the group seeks it.

In the third group, there is no doctorpresentand no help is available.

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Controlling the External factors In the above example, not only is the

support manipulated, but even the

setting in which this experiment isconducted is artificial inasmuch as theresearcher has taken the subject away fromtheir normal environment and put them in atotally different setting.

The researcher has intervened maximallywith the normal setting, the participants, andtheir duties.

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Excessive Interference The extent of researcher interference

would depend on whether the study is

correlational or causal and also theimportance of establishing causalrelationship beyond any doubt.

Most organizational problems seldomcall for a causal study, except in somemarket research areas.

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Study Setting: Contrived and

Noncontrived

Correlational studies are conductedin noncontrived settings (normal

settings), whereas mostcausalstudies are done in contrived settings.

Correlational studies done in

organizations are called field studies.

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Study Setting: Contrived and

Noncontrived

Studies conducted to establish cause-and-effect relationship using the same natural

environment in which employees normallyfunction are called field experiments.

Experiments done to establish cause-and-effect relationship in a contrived

environment and strictly controlled arecalled lab experiments.

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Example 6.15 Field Study

A bank manager wants to analyze therelationship between interest rates and bank

deposit patterns of clients.The researcher tries to correlate the two bylooking at deposits into different kinds ofaccounts (such as savings, certificates of

deposit, and interest-bearing checkingaccounts) as interest rates changed.

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Example 6.15 Field Study

This is a field study where the bankmanager has taken the balances in various

types of accounts and correlated them to thechanges in interest rates.

Research here is done in a noncontrivedsetting with no interference with the normal

work routine.

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Example 6.16 Field Experiment

The bank manager now wants todetermine the cause-and-effect

relationship between interest rate andthe inducements it offers to clients tosave and deposit money in the bank.

The researcher selects four brancheswithin 60/km radius for the experiment.

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For 1 week only, he advertises the annualrate for new certificates of deposit received

during that week. The interest rate would be9% in one branch, 8% in another, and10% in the third. In the fourth branch, theinterest rate remains unchanged at 5%.

Within the week, the researcher would beable to determine the effects, if any, ofinterest rates on deposit mobilization.

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This example would be a field experimentsince nothing but the interest rate is

manipulated, with all activities occurring inthe normal and natural work environment.

Hopefully, all four branches chosen would becompatible in size, number of depositors,

deposit patterns, and the like, so that theinterest-savings relationships areinfluenced by some third factor.

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Example 6.17 Lab Experiment To be sure about the true relationship

between the interest rate and deposits, the

researcher could create an artificialenvironment by choosing, for instance, 40students who are all business majors in theirfinal year of study and in the same age. Theresearcher splits the students into four

groups and give each one of them $1000,which they are told they might buy theirneeds or save for the future, or both.

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Example 6.17 Lab ExperimentThe researcher offers them interest on whatthey save as followings:

6% on savings for group 1. 8% for group 2. 9% for group 3. 1% for group 4 ( the old rate of interest).

Here, the researcher has created an artificiallaboratory environmentand has manipulatedthe interest rates for savings. He also chosensubjects with similar backgrounds.

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Unit of Analysis The unit of analysis refers to the level

of aggregation of the data collected

during the subsequent data analysis.Individual

Dyads

Groups

Organizations

Cultures

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Unit of Analysis: Individual If the researcher focuses on how to

raise the motivational levels of

employees, then we are interested inindividual employees in theorganization. Here the unit of

analysis is the individual (the datawill be gathered from eachindividual).

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Unit of Analysis: Dyads If the researcher is interested in

studying two-person interaction, then

several two-person groups alsoknown as dyads, will become theunit of analysis ( analysis of

husband-wife, and supervisor-subordinate relationships at the workplace.

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Unit of AnalysisGroups as a unit of analysis

Organizations as a unit ofanalysis

Cultures as a unit of analysis

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Example 6.18 Individuals as The

Unit of Analysis The ChiefFinancial Officer of a manufacturing

company wants to know how many of the

staff would be interested in attending a 3-dayseminar on making appropriate investmentdecisions.

Data will have to be collected from each

individual staff member and the unit ofanalysis is individual.

The unit of analysis is the individual.

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Example 6.19 Dyads as the Unit

of Analysis

A human resources manager wants tofirst identify the number of employees

in three departments of theorganization who are in mentoringrelationships, and then find out what

the jointly perceived benefits of such arelationship are.

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Example 6.19 Dyads as the Unit

of Analysis Once the mentor and the mentored pairs are

identified, their joint perceptions can be

obtained by treating each pair as one unit. If the manager wants data from a sample of

10 pairs, he will have to deal with 20individuals, a pair at a time. The information

obtained from each pair will be a data pointfor subsequent analysis.

Thus, the unit of analysis is the dyad.

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Example 6.20 Groups as Unit of

Analysis A manager wants to see the patterns of

usage of the newly installed Information

System (IS) by the production, sales, andoperations personnel.

Here three groups of personnel are involvedand information on the number of times theIS is used by each member in each of thethree groups as well as other relevant issueswill be collected and analyzed.

Here the unit of analysis is the group.

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Example 6.21 Divisions as the

Unit of Analysis Johnson & Johnson company wants to see

which of its various divisions (soap, shampoo,body oil, etc.) have made profits of over 12%

during the current year. Here, the profits of each of the divisions will

be examined and the informationaggregated across the various geographicalunits of the division.

The unit of analysis will be the division,at which level the data will beaggregated.

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Example 6.22 Industry as the

Unit of Analysis An employment survey specialist wants to see

the proportion of the workforce employed by

the health care, transportation, andmanufacturing industries.

The researcher has to aggregate the datarelating to each of the subunits

comprised in each of the industries andreport the proportions of the workforceemployed at the industry level.

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Example 6.22 Industry as the

Unit of Analysis The health care industry, for instance,

includes hospitals, nursing homes, small and

large clinics, and other health care providingfacilities.

The data from these subunits will have to beaggregated to see how many employees are

employed by the heath care industry. This will need to be done for each of the

other industries.

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Example 6.23 Countries as the

Unit of Analysis

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) ofa multinational corporation wants to

know the profits made during the past 5years by each of the subsidiaries inEngland, Germany, and France. It is

possible that there are many regionaloffices of these subsidiaries in each ofthese countries.

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Example 6.23 Countries as the

Unit of Analysis

The profits of the various regionalcenters for each country have to be

aggregated and the profits for eachcountry for the past 5 years provided tothe CFO.

The data will now have to beaggregated at the country level.

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Time Horizon: Cross-Sectional

Versus Longitudinal Studies

Cross-Sectional Studies

A study can be done in which data aregathered just once, perhaps over aperiod of days or weeks or months, inorder to answer a research question.

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Versus Longitudinal StudiesExample 6.24

Data were collected from stock brokers

between April and June of last year tostudy their concerns in a turbulent stockmarket.

Data has to be collected at onepoint in time. It is a cross-sectionaldesign.

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Versus Longitudinal StudiesExample 6.25

A drug company desirous of investing inresearch for a new headache pill conducted asurvey among headachy people to see howmany of them would be interested in tryingthe new pill.

This is a one-shot or cross-sectional

study to assess the likely demand for thenew product.

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Versus Longitudinal Studies Longitudinal Studies

Studying people or phenomena at more

than one point in time in order toanswer the research question.

Because data are gathered at twodifferent points in time, the study is notcross-sectional kind, but is carriedlongitudinally across a period of time.

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Example 6.27 A marketing manager is interested in tracing

the pattern of sales of a particular product in

four different regions of the country on aquarterly basis for the next 2 years.

Since the data are collected severaltimes to answer the same issue, the study

falls under the longitudinal category.

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Versus Longitudinal Studies Longitudinal studies take more time and effort

and cost more than cross-sectional studies. However,will-planned longitudinal studies could help to identify

cause-and-effect relationships. For example, one could study the sales volume of a

productbefore and after an advertisement, andprovided other environmental changes have notimpacted on the results, one could attribute the

increase in the sales volume, if any, to theadvertisement.

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Exercise 6.1

A supervisor thinks that the lowefficiency of the machine tool operators

is directly linked to the high level offumes emitted in the workshop. Hewould like to prove this to his

supervisor through a research study.1. Would this be a causal or acorrelational study? Why?

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Exercise 6.12. Is this an exploratory, descriptive, or

hypothesis-testing (analytical or predictive)study? Why?

3. What kind of study would this be: fieldstudy, lab experiment, or field experiment?Why?

4. What would be the unit of analysis? Why?5. Would this be a cross-section or alongitudinal study? Why?

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Exercise 6.1 Answers:1. This would be a causal study because the operator

wants to prove to the supervisor that the fumes are

causing operators to be low in their efficiency. Inother words, the machine tool operator is trying toestablish the fact that fumes cause low efficiency inworkers.

2. This is an analytical study because the machine tooloperator wants to establish that fumes cause lowefficiency and convince his workshop supervisorthrough such analysis (i.e. establish cause and effectrelationship).

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Exercise 6.13. This would be a field experiment. Though the study

would be set up in the natural environment of theworkers where the work is normally done, the

amount of fumes will have to be manipulated whileother factors such as atmospheric pressure mayhave to be controlled. Because of the location ofthe study, it will be a field experiment.

4. The unit of analysis would be the individual

operators. The data will be collected with respectto each operator and then the conclusions will bemade as to whether the operators are less efficientbecause of the fumes emitted in the workshop.

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Exercise 6.15. This would be a longitudinal study because

data will be gathered at more than onepoint in time. First, the efficiency of theoperators would be assessed at a given rateof fume emission. Then the fumes emittedwould be manipulated to varying degrees,and at each manipulation, the efficiency of

the workers would again be assessed toconfirm that the high rate of fume emissioncauses a drop in operators efficiency.

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Exercise 6.16. This would be a longitudinal study because

data will be gathered at more than onepoint in time. First, the efficiency of theoperators would be assessed at a given rateof fume emission. Then the fumes emittedwould be manipulated to varying degrees,and at each manipulation, the efficiency of

the workers would again be assessed toconfirm that the high rate of fume emissioncauses a drop in operators efficiency.

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