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Master of Business Administration - Semester 3 MB 0050: Research Methodology (4 credits) (Book ID: B1206) ASSIGNMENT- Set 1 Marks 60

Note: Each Question carries 10 marks. Answer all the questions.

Q 1. How is a research problem formulated? Ans: A research problem is the first step and the most important requirement in the research process. It serves as the foundation of a research study i.e. if well formulated; you expect a good study to follow. According the Ker lingers; in order for one to solve a problem, one must know what the problem is. The large part of the problem knows what one is trying to do. A research problem and the way you formulate it determines almost every step that follows in the research study. Formulation of the problem is like the input into the study and the output is the quality of the contents of the research report. Steps involved in formulating a Research Problem are as below: 1. Identify a broad area of interest in your academic /professional field. 2. Dissect the broad area into sub-areas by having a brain storming session with your colleagues 3. Select the sub-area in which you would like to conduct your research through the process of elimination.

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4. Reverse the research questions that you would like to answer through your study. This can be after formulation of the objectives or can lead you to the formulation of the objective 5. Assess these objectives to ascertain the feasibility of attaining them in the light of time and other issues like finances and human resource expertise. Q2. What are the characteristics of good research design?

Ans: Generally a good research design minimizes bias and maximizes the reliability of the data collected and analyzed. The design which gives the smallest experimental error is reported to be the best design in scientific investigation. Similarly, a design which yields maximum information and provides a opportunity for considering different aspects of a problem is considered to be the most appropriate efficient design. Thus the question of a good design is related to the purpose or objective of the research problem and also with the nature of the problem to be studied. A good research design should satisfy the following four conditions namely objectivity, reliability, validity and generalization of the findings. 1. Objectivity: It refers to the findings related to the method of data collection and scoring of the responses. The research design should permit the measuring instruments which are fairly objective in which every observer or judge scoring the performance must precisely give the same report. In other words, the objectivity of the procedure may be judged by the degree of agreement between the final scores assigned to different individuals by more than one independent observer. This ensures the objectivity of the collected data which shall be capable of analysis and drawing generalizations. 2. Reliability: Reliability refers to consistency through out a series of measurements. For eg: if a respondent gives out a response to a particular item, he is expected to give the same response to that item even if he is asked repeatedly. If he is changing his response to the same item, the consistency will be lost. So the researcher should frame the items in a questionnaire in such a way that it provides consistency or reliability. 3. Validity: Any measuring device or instrument is said to be valid when it measures what it is expected to measure. For eg: an intelligence test conducted for measuring the I.Q should measure only the intelligence and nothing else, and the questionnaire shall be framed accordingly. 4. Generalizability: It means how best the data collected from the samples can be utilized for drawing certain generalisations applicable to a large group from which sample is drawn. Thus a research design helps an investigator to

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generalize his findings provided he has taken due care in defining the population, selecting the sample, deriving appropriate statistical analysis etc. While preparing the research design. Thus a good research design is one which is methodologically prepared and should ensure that: a) The measuring instrument can yield objective, reliable and valid data. b) The population is clearly defined. c) Most appropriate techniques of sample selection is used to form an appropriate sample. d) Appropriate statically analysis has been carried out, and e) The findings of the study are capable of generalizations. Q3. How case study method is useful to Business Research?

Ans: Nowadays research methodologies have been intensively changed and adapted. Case study is a method used by researchers to excel at bringing an understanding of the complex issue and can extend experience or add strength to what already known through previous research. In this paper, we discuss the use of case study method, its application, data collection and analysis together with ethical consideration of case study as a research method in business area. Also the result and discussion of the Survey of Case Study as a Business Research Method in Thailand conducted during September to December 2005 are presented. Case studies typically examine the interplay among variables to provide comprehensive understanding through a thick description process which in-depth describes the entity, circumstances and characteristics being evaluated. Business researcher prefers case study when how and why questions are asked and may choose to collect data from one or multi-modal approach. New key factors may emerge or unexpected patterns are found and these may become the basis for new questions which link to the further business research. To make sense of the qualitative data from case study, holistic and coding analyses are employed to draw conclusion from text as a whole. Despite the difficulty test for validity of case study statistical analysis result, case study approach allows flexibility for researchers to compare their firsthand observations with the quantitative results obtained from other research methods and establish a bridge for the gap between abstract research and concrete practice research. Certain ethical issues should be considered for case study, for example, the bias of the result induced through the power of the financed persons, and this may conflict the credibility of the research study. Case study can be applied either in marketing and any other business arena. In Thailand, case study has been used within the limitation of the scarce availability of case study. To confirm this hypothesis and to find out more facts, the survey of case study has been carried during September to December 2005.Questionnaires concerning about the use of case study as a business research method had been sent out to a group of Thai researchers during the

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mentioned time interval and the significant results from the statistical analysis found that less than fifty percent of these samples had used case study as the research method with the reason of the unavailability of proper case studies. However more than half of the samples said they expect to use case study more and more in their future research. The results of the survey bring the awareness of the business case writing and the expansion of utilizing of the case study as a tool of business research in Thailand and thus enhance the using of case study as a research tool which will result the academic progress in case study as a business research method afterwards. Q4. Ans: 1. Questionnaire can be sent via mail but schedule is done only personally 2. Questionnaire is cheaper method than schedule (for schedule you have to move everywhere 3. Questionnaire can be returned without answering all the questions but, in schedule, enumerator ensures the filling all the questions. 4. Questionnaire can be filled by anyone but schedule is always filled by enumerator. 5. Respondent should be literate & co-operative in Questionnaire but schedule can be filled by illiterate. 6. Risk of incomplete & wrong information is more in Questionnaire. 7. Physical appearance of Questionnaire has to be attractive but not such case is necessary with schedule. 8. Success of Questionnaire depends on its design but in case of Schedule it depends on honesty & competency of Enumerator Q5. What are the contents of research reports? Distinguish between Schedules and questionnaires.

Ans: The contents of the research report are noted below: 1. Preliminary Page 2. Main Text 3. End Matter (1) Preliminary Pages: These must be title of the research topic and data. There must be preface of foreword to the research work. It should be followed by table of contents. The list of tables, maps should be given.

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(2) Main Text: It provides the complete outline of research report along with all details. The title page is reported in the main text. Details of text are given continuously as divided in different chapters.

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

Introduction Statement of the problem The analysis of data The implications drawn from the results The summary

(a) Introduction: Its purpose is to introduce the research topic to readers. It must cover statement of the problem, hypotheses, objectives of study, review of literature, and the methodology to cover primary and secondary data, limitations of study and chapter scheme. Some may give in brief in the first chapter the introduction of the research project highlighting the importance of study. This is followed by research methodology in separate chapter. The methodology should point out the method of study, the research design and method of data collection. (b) Statement of the problem: This is crux of his research. It highlights main theme of his study. It must be in nontechnical language. It should be in simple manner so ordinary reader may follow it. The social research must be made available to common man. The research in agricultural problems must be easy for farmers to read it. (c) Analysis of data: Data so collected should be presented in systematic manner and with its help, conclusions can be drawn. This helps to test the hypothesis. Data analysis must be made to confirm the objectives of the study. (d) Implications of Data: The results based on the analysis of data must be valid. This is the main body of research. It contains statistical summaries and analysis of data. There should be logical sequence in the analysis of data. The primary data may lead to establish the results. He must have separate chapter on conclusions and recommendations. The conclusions must be based on data analysis. The conclusions must be such which may lead to generalization and its applicability in similar circumstances. The conditions of research work limiting its scope for generalization must be made clear by the researcher. (e) Summary: This is conclusive part of study. It makes the reader to understand by reading summary the knowledge of the research work. This is also a synopsis of study.

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(3) End Matter: It covers relevant appendices covering general information, the concepts and bibliography. The index may also be added to the report. Q 6. Write short notes on the following: a. Median: In probability theory and statistics, median is described as the numerical value separating the higher half of a sample, a population, or a probability distribution, from the lower half. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one. If there is an even number of observations, then there is no single middle value; the median is then usually defined to be the mean of the two middle values. In a sample of data, or a finite population, there may be no member of the sample whose value is identical to the median (in the case of an even sample size), and, if there is such a member, there may be more than one so that the median may not uniquely identify a sample member. Nonetheless, the value of the median is uniquely determined with the usual definition. A related concept, in which the outcome is forced to correspond to a member of the sample, is the medoid. At most, half the populations have values less than the median, and, at most, half have values greater than the median. If both groups contain less than half the population, then some of the population is exactly equal to the median. For example, if a < b < c, then the median of the list {a, b, c} is b, and, if a < b < c < d, then the median of the list {a, b, c, d} is the mean of b and c; i.e., it is (b + c)/2. The median can be used as a measure of location when a distribution is skewed, when end-values are not known, or when one requires reduced importance to be attached to outliers, e.g., because they may be measurement errors. b. Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" exists from the average (mean, or expected value). A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard deviation indicates that the data points are spread out over a large range of values. The standard deviation of a random variable, statistical population, data set, or probability distribution is the square root of its variance. It is algebraically simpler though practically less robust than the average absolute deviation. A useful property of standard deviation is that, unlike variance, it is expressed in the same units as the data.

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In addition to expressing the variability of a population, standard deviation is commonly used to measure confidence in statistical conclusions. For example, the margin of error in polling data is determined by calculating the expected standard deviation in the results if the same poll were to be conducted multiple times. The reported margin of error is typically about twice the standard deviation the radius of a 95 percent confidence interval. In science, researchers commonly report the standard deviation of experimental data, and only effects that fall far outside the range of standard deviation are considered statistically significant normal random error or variation in the measurements is in this way distinguished from causal variation. Standard deviation is also important in finance, where the standard deviation on the rate of return on an investment is a measure of the volatility of the investment. When only a sample of data from a population is available, the population standard deviation can be estimated by a modified quantity called the sample standard deviation