MOT2312

Research Methods
[1]

February 2015
TU Delft
Mark de Reuver

Why should you care about

research methods?

What makes a good research

project?

Introduction to MOT2312
Title: Research Methods
Instructors:
Harry Bouwman (module manager)
Mark de Reuver
Laurens Rook

Learning objectives of the course

describe scientific research problems, as well as research
objectives and questions
describe the fundamental principles of specific research method
and process
develop a research design
make an informed choice for a quantitative or qualitative
research design
identify sampling and data collection methods
develop operationalization and measurement of variables
compare different types of quantitative data analysis methods
analyse results with SPSS as a statistical tool
present the results and draw key conclusions
5

Course credits = 5 ects

Theory exam (100% of final grade)
Practical tests SPSS: grade must 6.0 or higher
Retake to be announced
Bonus assignment: essay on a predefined topic
Deadline: End of week 3.7
See Course Information for details
6

Course materials
Book:
Sekaran, U., & Bougie, R. (2010, 5th ed.).
Research methods for business: A skill-building
approach. Chicester: Wiley.
Note:
The updated 6th ed. Has complementary elearning support.
Read the chapters before class!

Schedule (I)
Week

Date

Teacher

Content

Sekaran &
Bou
gie
6th
edit
ion

3.1

Monday
09 02

Wednesday
11-02
Friday
13-02

MdR

Ch 1-3

3.2

Monday
16-02

HB

Research and Research process: Research

Objective and Research questions,
Research Design, Causality
Theory-concepts, Hypotheses-var, Conceptual
model
Introduction to SPSS
Group 1: Survey database
Group 2: Exp. research database
(to be discussed LR/MdR/HB)
Sampling, external validity

3.3

Monday
23-02
Wednesday
3hrs
25-02
Monday
02-03
Wednesday
3hrs
04-03

HB

Data collection

Ch 7-8

HB

Descriptive data analysis, cross tabulation, nonparametric statistics

HB

MdR

Concepts, var. and measurements, reliability and Ch 13 8

measurement validity
Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability
Ch 14

3.4

HB
HB

Ch 4-6

Ch 9, 11 &
12

Schedule (II)
3.5

Monday
09-03
Wednesday
3hrs
11-03
Monday
16-03

LR

Wednesday
18-03

HB

3.7

Monday
3hrs
23-03
Wednesday
25-03
Friday 2703

MdR

Wednesday
01-04
Exam

HB

3.6

3.8

Experimental Design; Quasi

Ch 10
Experimentation
Data analysis: t-tests, analysis of
variance (ANOVA)

LR
MdR

Data analysis: correlation,

regression, SEM principals
and examples, PLS
Qualitative Research

HB
HB &
M
dR

Ch 15
Ch 16 +
add.
refs

Data-analysis: correlation,
regression, SEM principals
and examples, PLS
Case study and case study
Add refs
design
Coding
Add refs
Atlas TI
Research Report, Reliability,
Validity, Generalizability
Exam

Ch 17

After this lecture, you can

Explain the relevance of research for business /
management of technology
Explain the empirical research cycle
Explain the research design
Explain the difference between problem
statement, research objective and research
question
Explain the three conditions for causality
& how this course will help you to test causality
10

What is (business) research?

1.
11

Introduction to research
What is (business) research?
An organized, systematic, data-driven, critical,
objective, scientific inquiry or investigation into
a specific problem
Quantitative (gathered via structured questions)
Qualitative (broad answers & responses to [openended] questions in interviews, observations)

12

Types of (business) research

Basic / Fundamental to generate a body of knowledge
by trying to comprehend how certain problems that occur
in organizations can be solved
i.e., to make a contribution to existing, scientific, knowledge

Applied to solve a specific business problem faced by

someone in the work setting, demanding a timely
solution

13

Types of (business) research (II)

Your textbook:

Knowledge about basic research (methods) sharpens the sensitivity

of managers to the myriad variables operating in a situation
Both basic and applied research have to be carried out in a scientific
manner so that the findings or results generated by them can be
relied on to effectively solve the problem investigated

14

What about technology in

research?
Computational view
Electrical Engineering, Computer Systems, Software
engineering, Database Technology, Mechanical
Engineering et cetera
Focus on technology per se
Instantiation of similar problems
Computer systems, software development, data
modeling, simulations, business modeling
Brinkkemper, Verbraeck, Gordijn, Janssen,

What about technology in

research?
As tool: engineered, offering information processing power
Most often just a black box
Technology: independent variables
Focus on dependent variable: productivity, information
processing (overload), changing social relations and
networks
Productivity: Brynjolfsson,
CMC-literature: Media Richness, Daft & Lengel, Trevino,
but also Rice, early Steinfield (Social Influence), Van den
Hooff
Networks: Contractor, Monge

What about technology in

research?
As proxy: essential property or value of Technology
Focus on: perceptions, cognitive, affective, attitudinal
response to technology
and on: diffusion, adoption, and penetration patterns
Diffusion: Rogers
Critical Mass: Alan, Lynn Markus
Collective action: Fulk, Steinfield, Wigand
TAM, TAM+, TPB, UTAUT: Davis, Venkatesh, .

What about technology in

research?
Ensemble view: socio-technical design
Elements of action research
Principal position related to in whose interest the
problem is solved
Technology as a social-economic artifact (Latour, Byker):
dynamic interaction between technology and people
Focus on design, development and technical and social
implementation process: Sol, Andriessen, Sein et al 2011
Focus on supply side: Policy-regulation: Verhoest, Ballon,
IDC-studies
Focus on embedded system/structure: Orlikowski,
DeSanctis & Poole, Bouwman et al. 2005

What about technology?

Technology as omitted variable or technology as black box

Technology assumed to be natural, neutral, universal,
given objects; stable, discrete, independent and fixed
However dynamic, continuous and flexible, changing,
embedded in social (community), time-place context
Technology is fragmented, fragile, integration,
interoperability
Developed, designed, implemented, used, effect in
social practices
Technology an independent, a dependent, an intermediary
or even a non-existing variable

Why shoud managers master

research skills?
To:
1.Identify and solve minor problems at work
2.Know how to distinguish good from bad research
3.Awareness of multiple influences / factors on a situation
4.Take calculated risks in research
5.Prevent conflicts of interest to arise
6.Efficiently deal with hired researchers / consultants
7.Relate to scientific knowledge while making decisions

20

Meeting expectations: Managerresearcher relationship

The hiring manager should make sure that:
1.Roles and expectations of both parties are made explicit
2.Organizations philosophies, values and practices are
communicated to the researcher (and, if possible, aligned)
3.The organization offers sufficient (ideally: full) cooperation
to the researcher

21

Research ethics

Research ethics
= a code of conduct / how to conduct research in
an ethical manner and in such a way that the
interests of all concerned are safeguarded
-> this refers to each step taken during the research process
NO FRAUD
22

Research ethics
In psychology: Escalated Stanford Prison Experiment (Zimbardo,
1960s) led to an upgrade in the APAs code of conduct
Some examples of ethical misconduct
D. Stapel (psychologist)
M. Bax (anthropologist)
Students PhD eliminated from doctoral program today

23

Is it ethical to...
Copy five sentences from a paper without citing the source?
Copying references from an existing literature list to your
reference list without reading the paper
Copying the methodology chapter from an earlier paper
written by you and paste it in an other research paper that
discuss the same data
Put your name as coauthor on a paper where you only have
corrected the grammar
Put your name as coauthor on a student paper for an
assignment where you only have been involved in
discussions before the paper was written.
24

Ethical behaviour
(N=81)
Copyingfivesentencesfromapaperwithoutcitingthesource?
Yes
o%
No
100%
Copyingreferencesfromanexistingliteraturelisttoyourreferencelistwithout
readingthepaper.
Yes
20%
No
80%
Copyingthemethodologychapterfromanearlierpaperwrittenbyyouandpasteitin
anotherresearchpaperthatdiscussthesamedata
Yes
35%
No
65%
Putyournameascoauthoronapaperwhereyouonlyhavecorrectedthegrammar
Yes
9%
No
81%
Putyournameascoauthoronastudentpaperforanassignmentwhereyouonlyhave
beeninvolvedindiscussionsbeforethepaperwaswritten.
Yes
23%
No
77%

Scientific investigation

2.
26

Hallmarks of scientific research

Scientific research = rigorous research
Purposiveness (aim, focus)
Rigor (sound methodology)
Testability and replicability
Precision and confidence
Objectivity
Generalizability
Parsimony
27

Empirical cycle

28

How science works: the

hypothetico-deductive method
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Identify a broad problem area

Define the problem statement
Develop hypotheses (testible, falsifiable)
Determine measures (operationalization)
Data collection
Data analysis
Interpretation of data

29

The research process

3.
30

How to come up with a proper

research problem
(Preliminary) information gathering
background info on a topic
existing research (relevant findings) on a
topic
Literature review
31

Conducting the literature review

Textbooks / journals / theses / conference
proceedings
White papers / reports / newspapers / internet
full-text databases
e-Journals

32

Why is literature review

important?
To ensure that
Important variables will be included in your study
A clearer idea will emerge as to what you wish to study,
and how
You will be able to formulate a precise and clear
problem statement
Meeting requirements of testability and replicability
Prevent you from reinventing the wheel
And allows you to study something scientifically and
practically relevant
33

Research design

4.
34

Research designWhat should be in research

proposal?
Problem statement (WHY)
Research objective (WHAT)
Research question (WHAT)
Sub questions
Approach (HOW)
Planning (WHEN)
Outline (WHERE)

14/04/15

35

Defining the problem statement

Practical problem = tension between desired and
actual/anticipated situation
A good problem statement is:
relevant
feasible
interesting
Scientific new, integrative, solving contradictory
findings, offering boundary conditions
Managerial an existing problem, offers improvement
36

Defining the research objective

Acquiring [knowledge]
To contribute to solving a problem
To increase knowledge on a specific research
area
The goal of the research

37

Defining the research question

The goal in the research
What should you know to realize the research
objective?
Should be logically deduced from research objective
More specific than research objective
How frequent is ... ; What is the relation between...
Should be aimed at knowledge, not policy/strategy
Should be empirical (not normative)
38

Research Questions

Exploratory:
Why? How can X be explained?

Explanatory:
What is the cause of..? To what degree do factors X 1,
X2,...Xn-1, Xn explain Y?

Design, management:
How to ...construct ....an artifact (product, service,
architecture, process) ?
How to achieve an objective (performance, change,
optimization)?

Research Types
The research design entails a choice for the type
of research: feasibility
case study,
simulation,
survey,
gaming,
interpretative analysis Q-sort,
grounded theory,
conjoint analysis,
longitudinal research,
design research,
secondary data analysis
or even an other and
(social) network (graph)
alternative research method,
analysis,
or approach.
(field) experiments,
content analysis,
discourse analysis,
MIXED METHOD
Research design: understand causal explanations

Type of research design

Depends on objective
Objective: Descriptive
Making use of theories and concepts to describe a
certain situation
E.g. platform theory and eco-system thinking to
describe a specific business environment
E.g. apply Porters fiver forces model to describe
competitive advantage of a company
E.g. usage innovation management concepts to
describe

Type of research design

Depends on objective
Objective: Explanatory
Observational
Case, cross sectional, cohort, longitudinal
Looking for predictors
Experimental
Investigator controlled
Treatment or intervention administered to
participants/subjects
Pseudo experimental also for qualitative research:
theoretical sampling

What makes a good research

design?
Answers the research question
Shows causality
Whats causality?

43

Causality
=certainty that X causes Y
a change in X affects Y
X is the independent variable
Y is the dependent variable

Under what conditions would we have such certainty?

44

What are conditions for

causality?
Education level
(ratio)

Income
(ratio)

1. Empirical / statistical correlation

2. X should preceed Y
3. No other variables that explain both X and Y

How to demonstrate condition 1?

Statistical tests (focus of the course)
How to demonstrate conditions 2 and 3?
1.If X is difficult to change and Y is easy to change
2.If there is a time difference between X and Y
3. By testing statistically for other variables Z (multivariate statistics)
45

Causal relationships

attitude
variables

structural
variables

Difficult to influence

behaviour
variables

Easy to influence
(gliding scale)

Gender

Innovativeness

Certainty about
direction causality

Use of smartphone
Less certainty
about
direction causality

46

Conclusions
Relevance of research for management of
technology
Research process
Research design
Problem, literature, objective, question
Conditions for causality

47