A. Whatisresearch?

Research = the process of finding solutions to a problem after a thorough study and analysis (Sekaran,2006). Research = systematic inquiry that provides information to guide decision (Cooper & Schindler, 2001) Isresearchalwaysproblemsolvingbased?Yes!!

B. Typesofresearch
Therearetwotypesofresearch: i. Appliedresearch Tosolveaparticularproblemfacedbyaparticularorganization.Examples: o o ProtonwantstoknowwhyPeroduaisgainingmarketshareinMalaysia. How would imposing a new IT based performance appraisal system affectemployeesatisfactionatUTM. o ii. Basicresearch Tobetterunderstandsomephenomenaasitappliestoallindustries/businessin general.Examples o o o To differentiate applied research and basic research Sekaran (2006) states,Research done with the intention of applying the result of the finding to solve specific problem currently being experiencedintheorganizationiscalledappliedresearch.Researchdonechieflytoenhancethe understanding of certain problem that commonly occur in organization setting, and seek methodofsolvingthemiscalledbasicorpureresearch.(p.8) Theaimsofappliedresearchandbasicresearch: 9 Appliedresearch:Solvingcurrentproblem Doesbrandimageaffectthebuyingdecision? Howdoestechnologicalturbulenceaffectbusinessperformance? Doesjobstressaffectthejobperformanceandjobsatisfaction? HowinternationalstudentsperceivedservicequalityofPSZ

9 Basic research: Generating knowledge, understanding of phenomena/problems that occurinvariousorganizationsetting.

C. AmodelofScientificInquiry(Salkind,2003)
Working Example: withthe hypothesis Hypothesis Testing Refinementof theoryor Implementation Collecting data Formulating the hypothesis Asking new questions Askingthe question/ observingthe phenomena Identifying theimportant factors

1. Askingthequestions/observingthephenomena
Reports from RMK8 (8th Malaysia Plan), RMK9 (9th Malaysia Plan) & mainstream newspapers reveal that the level of technology transfer in public university R&D is still low. The Malaysian government have introduces some measures and initiatives to boost the R&D activities by developing policies and allocating special budgets and grants. However the results of R&D activitiesarenotasexpected.WHY?

Questions: Whytechnologytransferislow? Whatfactorscontributetoit?

2. Identifyingtheimportantfactorsanddevelopyourresearchframework
One the question has been asked, the next step is to identity the factors that have to be examinedtoanswerthequestion. HOW???? Read,read,read(LiteratureReview) Askfromtheexpertorauthorizedpersons/party(ies)

For example, based on your reading, the following list of factors has been investigated over the past15yearsbyvariousresearchers: FactorsthatinfluencetheresearchproductivityorR&Dresults: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Seniority(AuthorA,2001;AuthorC,1999;AuthorD,2004) Gender(AuthorA,2001;AuthorB,1998;AuthorF,1996) Academicdiscipline(AuthorC,1999;AuthorA,2001;AuthorD,2004) Academicqualification(AuthorC,1999;AuthorD,2004) ResearchManagementPractices(AuthorE,2008)

Andtheseareonlyseveralfactorsthatcouldbeexplored.Therewillbemorefactorsthatcould beexplored. Therearetwooptions: FirstOfallthefivefactors,whichoneshouldbeselectedasafocus?Itisbetterto choosetheonewhichhavenotinvestigatedthoroughlybefore.Thiswillcontributeto thenewfindingsandtotheunderstandingofthequestionyouareasking. SecondChoosethefactorsthatnotinvestigatedbefore(inyourcontextofstudy)but youbelieveitcanhelpyoutounderstandthephenomena(PhdLevel).Thiswilltotally contributetothenewfindingsandsolvetheproblemunderstudy.

Thenyoucanposeaseriesofresearchquestion,suchas: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Doesseniorityinfluencetechnologytransfer? Doesgenderinfluencetechnologytransfer? Doacademicdisciplinesinfluencetechnologytransfer? Doacademicqualificationsinfluencetechnologytransfer? Doresearchmanagementpracticesinfluencetechnologytransfer? Forinstance,basedonyourreading(literaturereview),therearethoroughdiscussiononthe issuesofseniority,gender,academicdiscipline&academicqualification.Moreovertheanswer forthoseissueshasbeenestablishedandconsistentoverresearchers.Sothereisnopointto investigatefurther(ithavebeenproven),unlessyouwanttochallengethestatusquo. Ifyoustilllookingfortheanswerwhethertheseniority,gender,academicdiscipline&academic qualificationinfluencesthetechnologytransfer,mostprobablyyourfindingswouldnot contributetothenewknowledge.Why?Itisjustbecauseeverybodyknowsthatthosefactors influencethetechnologytransfer.Noneedtodoresearch,theanswersareontheshelf!!So thereisnonewthings!!Meaningthat,nocontribution!!! SoyoushouldlookforNEWthings.Forexample,basedonyourliteraturereview,thereisonly oneresearchdone(toofew)ontheinfluenceofresearchmanagementpracticesontechnology transfer.SothisistheGAPandfocusonthisissue!!Why? 9 Thereisstillnosolidagreementsontowhatextentdotheresearch managementpracticesinfluencetechnologytransfer. 9 Thefindingsofthepreviousresearchstilldebatable.Notbecomeasolidtheory yet.Ithastobetested(throughreplicationstudy).Youmaysupportoragainst thepreviousfinding.Yourstudywillcontributetotheprocesstoftheory development. 9 Yourstudywillenrichtheliteraturesincethediscussiononthisissueislimited. Finalizeyourresearchframeworki.e: ResearchManagementPractices Technologytransfer

Inaddition,findoutthetheorythatcansupportyourframework: RBVtheory? SystemTheory? ContingencyTheory Ect.

3. Formulatingthehypothesis
Whatishypothesis? 9 Aneducatedguess!!(Salkind,2003) 9 Thetentativeexplanationfortheproblem(waitingtobeapproved)(Cooper& Schindler,2001) Hypothesisshouldconceiveaclearrelationshipbetweendifferentfactors. Example: IfthequestionisDoresearchmanagementpracticesinfluencetechnologytransfer?thenthe hypothesiscouldbe: 9 Research management practices are positively influence the level of technology transfer. Otherexamplesofresearchquestionleadtohypothesis ResearchQuestions Doesadvertisinginfluencesales? Hypothesis Advertisingispositivelyrelatedtosales.

Does flexible schedule create increased labor Business unit using flextime have lower efficiency? unit costs than do those using standard scheduleprocedures Doespriceaffectproductqualityrating? Isgenderrelatedtojobperformance? Customerratehighpriceproductashigher qualitythanlowpriceproduct Male employees perform better than femaleemployees.

4. Collectingdata

Onceahypothesisisformulated,thenweproceedfordatacollection.Theempiricaldatawill confirmoropposethehypothesis. Forinstance,youmightcollecttwotypesofdatatotestthehypothesisResearchmanagement practicesarepositivelyinfluencetheleveloftechnologytransfer 9 Thefirstisresearchmanagementpractices 9 Thesecondistechnologytransfer

5. Testingthehypothesis
Inhypothesistesting,animportantpointisyouonlytotestthem,nottoprovethem.Tryingto proveahypothesiscanplaceyouinthepositionofbiasing(Salkind,2003). Typesoftestingprocedure: i. ii. ParametricAnalysis(i.eTtest,Anova,Regression) NonParametricAnalysis(i.eChiSquare,KruskallWallis,ManWhitney) Inscientificresearch,thereisnowrongorrightfinding. Iftheresultofthetestingdoesnotsupportthehypothesis,donotworryitsonlymeansthat: 9 Thereareadditionalquestionsquestiontoasksuchas: o Whataretheotherfactorsthatcaninfluencethetechnologytransfer?How aboutattitude?Howaboutpersonality?Howaboutculture?

6. Workingwiththehypothesis
Theresultmayconfirmoropposethehypothesis 9 Iftheresultconfirmsthehypothesis,thentheimportanceoffactorsthatwere hypothesizedtoberelatedtotechnologytransferwillbeaccepted.Discussthefinding andrelateitwithliteraturereview. 9 Iftheresultnotconfirmsthehypothesis,itisatimeforlookingsomethingthatwasnot knownbefore!!Example...Itcouldbeotherfactorsthatexplainthetechnologytransfer insteadofresearchmanagementpractices.

7. RefinementoftheoryorImplementation
Forpureorbasicresearch,wehavetoconsiderfortheoryrefinement(PhD)

 Forappliedresearch,wecanstandardizethesolutionforimplementation.

D. TheThoughtProcess:Induction&Deduction.
Inductionisaprocessofestablishingageneralproposition(hypothesis)basedonobservedfact. To induce is to draw conclusion form one (or more) particular fact. The conclusion explains the facts. Example: i. ii. iii. Fact(phenomena)Salesdidnotincreaseduringorafterpromotionalcampaign! QuestionWhy? Basedontheexperience,weknowthat: a. Salesshouldgoupduringpromotionalcampaign. b. Ifpromotionispoorlyexecuted,saleswillnotincrease. iv. So, based on the experience, we made the conclusion that the sales do not increase because the promotion was poorly executed!!. HOWEVER, please remember the conclusion is only a hypothesis. It might be true, it might be not. Cooper & Schindler (2001)putaclearexplanationonthis. According to Cooper & Schindler (2001) The inductive conclusion is an inferential jump beyondtheevidencepresented.(p.35) Deduction is a process of arriving conclusion by logical generalization of a known fact (Sekaran, 2006). Example: Toconfirmtheconclusion,wehavetotestthehypothesisDeductionprocess

Our past experiences and the previous studies have shown that, there is a strong relationship betweensalesandpromotion.Meaningthat,awellexecutepromotionwillincreasesales(thisis theknownfactorhypothesis) Itsinvolvehypothesistesting!!! Example(Cooper&Schindler,2001)

Phenomena/Fact: Induction Wepromotea productbutsalesdo notincrease WHY

Hypothesis: Thepromotionwas Deduction*: Ineffectivepromotionwillnotincrease sales poorlyexecuted

**Based on the deduction process, we can have other options to state hypothesistoshowrelationship,i.e. i. ii. iii. Thereisapositiverelationshipbetweenpromotionandsales,or.. Themoreeffectivethepromotion,thehigherthesales,or.. Thelesseffectivethepromotion,thelowerthesales

 E. Understandingterm:Concept,Construct,Element/item,andVariables CONSTRUCT CONSTRUCT CONSTRUCT CONCEPT

ITEMS

VARIABLES: Fourmaintypes 1. Dependentvariable(Criterionvariable) 2. Independentvariable(predictorvariable) 3. Moderatingvariable 4. Intervening(mediating)variable DependentVariable(DV) i. ii. IndependentVariable(IV) i. It is the one that influence the dependent variable.. the predictor.. the explanatory variable. Itistheprimaryinteresttotheresearcher. Theresearchersgoalistounderstand&describethedependentvariable

IV:

DV: TechnologyTransfer

Researchmanagement

Practices

ModeratingVariable i. The presence of a third variable modifies the original relationship between IV andDV. ii. Answertheissueofwhenorwho MediatingVariable I. It is the one that surface between the time the independent variable start operating to influencethedependentvariable. II. IthelpustounderstandHOW Workforce diversity IV Creative Synergy Organizational Effectiveness DV Moderating Variable IV DV

mediatingvariable

PARTII:SELECTINGAPROBLEMANDREVIEWINGTHERESEARCH A. Selectingaproblem 9 Theselectionoftheareayouwanttostudyisimportantfortworeasons: i. ii. Ittakesyourtimeandenergysobesurethattheareayouselectinterestsyou. Theareaselectionisthefirststepintheresearchprocess.

9 Selectproblemwhichsuittoyourinterest+itisresearchable B. Ideas,Ideas,Ideas!!! 9 Noideas?Noissuestoinvestigate? i. ii. Usetheresultsofpreviousstudiestofinetuneyourresearchideasandhypothesis. Use your personal experience as an important source of ideas then keep on readingtoseethelinkbetweenyourexperienceandpossibleresearchtopic. iii. Look for a research question that reflects the next step in the research process. Example: A, B, and C have already been donebut how about D? If D is not done or clearlydiscover,thenlookforD iv. STARTREADING!!! C. Reviewingtheliterature 9 Research is built on the foundation of the hard work of past researchers. To see the resultsofpreviousresearchlooktojournals,booksandonlineresources 9 Thereviewofliteratureprovidesaframeworkforresearchproposal. 9 The comprehensive review of the literature helps you to see what has been done and whatnext. 9 Therearebasicallythreetypesofsourcesthatyouwilluseinyourliteraturereview:

Informationsource GeneralSources

Whatitdoes

Example

Provides an overview of Daily newspapers, popular the topic and provides lead periodical magazine

to where more information (Malaysian business, The canbefound Secondarysources Provides a level Edge,Times) of Books

information once remove fromtheoriginalwork Primarysources The original reports of the Journals,abstracts originalworkorexperience 9 Writingtheliteraturereview i. ii. iii. iv. v. References: Cooper,D.R.,&Schindler,P.S.(2001).Businessresearchmethod.NewYork:McGrawHill. Salkind,N.J.(2003).Exploringresearch.NewJersey:PearsonEducation. Sekaran, U. (2006). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. New York: John Wiley & Sons,Inc. Forthestart,readotherliteraturereviewsJusttogetthefeeling!! Createaunifiedtheme. Organizeyourmaterialaccordingtotopicsordate(toprovidehistoricalperspective) Workfromanoutlineortemplate. Practicewrite,write,writefromday1.