Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Survey
mail, telephone, drop-off method, e-mail, CATI (computer-assisted
telephone interviews) etc.
Experiments
True experimental designs (Pretest-Posttest Control Group design,
Posttest Only,Solomon Four-Group)
Quasi experimental designs (One-shot design, one-group pretest-posttest)
Time Series Design
Statistical designs (Complete Randomized designs, Randomized block
designs, Factorial designs)
Managing Data
Presenting Report
Do you have a Research Topic?
How to develop research topics?
Observation
Initial interviews
Literature/Secondary data
Journals
Research findings
Proceedings
Develop Problem Statement
This is a clear, precise, and succinct statement of the
question or issue that is to be investigated with the goal
of finding an answer or solution
- It answers the question of why the
need to conduct the research?
- What is your contribution to
existing body of knowledge?
Now its time to think of
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
METHODOLOGY REQUIREMENTS
Framework Development
Research Design
Data Collection Requirements
Sampling Methods
Analytical Process
Report Writing
Develop a Research Framework
What is a Theoretical Framework?
It is a conceptual model of how the researcher feels the
variables are related to one another
It is the foundation on which the entire research is based upon.
The theoretical framework discusses the interrelationships
among the variables that are integral to the dynamics of the
situation to be investigated.
Source of Information for Framework
Development?
LITERATURE
the documentation of a comprehensive review
of the published and unpublished work done
thus far in the area of investigation
written in a clear and logical presentation
Components of a Theoretical
Framework
variables that are clearly identified and labeled
relationship among the variables is shown
direction of the relationship
clear explanation of why such relationship exists
A schematic diagram is shown
What are variables?
Anything that can take on differing or varying values.
The values can differ at different times for the same object or
they can differ at the same time for different objects.
Sometimes termed as construct
A construct is an image or idea specifically developed by the
researcher to explain possible relationships in the research.
Types of Variables
Dependent variables
Independent variables
Moderating variables
Intervening variables
Dependent Variables
Is the variable of primary interest to the researcher.
The researchers goal is to explain or predict the
differences or changes in the dependent variable.
The solution to a problem can be found by analyzing the
dependent variable.
Independent Variable
Is the variable that influences the dependent variable in
either a positive or a negative way
Moderating Variable
Is the variable that has a strong contingent effect on the
independent-dependent variable relationship.
The presence of the third variable modifies the original
relationship between the independent and dependent
variables.
Intervening Variable
Is one that surfaces between the time the independent
variables operate to influence the dependent variable.
There is a temporal quality or time dimension to the
intervening variables.
Example of A Framework
Ethnicity
Nationalistic
inclinations among
participants of the NS
Geo- program
demographic
Independent variables Dependent variable
Example..
Ethinicity
Nationalistic
inclinations among
participants of the NS
Geo-
program
demographic
Independent variables Dependent variable
Job position
Social status
Moderating variable
Example.
Intervening variable
Ethnicity Leadership
Nationalistic
influence
inclinations among
participants of the
Geo- NS program
demographic
Dependent variable
Independent variables
MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES
How variables are measured:
Objective data
Example: weight, absenteeism, temperature
Use appropriate measuring instruments
Subjective data
Example: feelings, attitudes, perceptions
Operationalise the concept
Operational Definition
Is a statement of the specific dimensions and elements
through which a concept will become measurable.
It is the researchers own interpretation of how the
variables are to be measured
Example
Dimensions (D) and Elements (E) of the
Concept (C) Achievement Motivation
Examples of Questions to Tap the level of
Achievement Motivation
1. To what extent would you say you push yourself to get
the job done on time?
2. How frequently do you think of your work when you
are at home?
3. How much do you concentrate on achieving your goals?
4. How annoyed do you get when you make mistakes?
Common Mistakes with Operational
Definitions
Excluding some of the important dimensions and
elements
Arising from failure to recognise or conceptualise them
Including certain irrelevant features mistakenly thought to
be relevant.
What an Operational Definition is Not
An operational definition does not consist of delineating
the reasons, antecedents, consequences or correlates of
the concept
Rather, it describes its observable characteristics in order
to be able to measure the concept.
Another example..
Dimensions (D) and Elements (E) of the
Concept (C) Learning
SCALES IN RESEARCH
Types of Scales
Nominal Scale
Ordinal Scale
Interval Scale
Ratio Scale
Nominal Scale
The aim is to classify or partition a set into categories
that are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive.
For instance, when you assign 1 = Married and 2 =
Single.
It is useful especially in exploratory work where the aim
is to uncover relationship rather than secure precise
measurements.
Similarly, if your aim is simply to classify consumers
through their gender, marital status, and social class, for
instance, nominal scales are very useful.
Nominal Scale
Categories of Athletes
GENDER
Ordinal Scale
An ordinal scale is a ranking scale in which numbers are
assigned to objects to indicate the relative extent to
which the objects possess some characteristics.
For instance you could ask the respondent to rank an
attribute on this scale: 1 = the best, 2 = the second best,
3 = the third best, and 4 = the last.
Ordinal scales include the characteristics of the nominal
scale plus an indicator of order.
Ordinal Scale
Interval Scale
An interval scale measures a numerically equal distances
that represent equal values in the characteristics being
measured.
An interval scale has the power of nominal and ordinal
scales plus an additional strength - it incorporates the
concept of equality of interval.
Besides using interval scales to measure central
tendency, these scales are also commonly used in
multivariate analysis such as factor and cluster analysis
Ratio Scale
This is the most powerful scale as it possesses all the
properties of the nominal, ordinal and interval scales, and
in addition, an absolute zero point.
Using this scale, not only the difference between 2 and 5
can be interpreted as the same as the difference between
14 and 17, but also 14 is seven times a large as 2 in an
absolute sense (Malhotra, 1996).
Interval and Ratio
Rating and Ranking Scales
Rating Scales
have several response categories and are used to elicit responses
with regard to the object, event or person studied.
Ranking Scales
make comparisons between or among objects, events or persons,
and elicit the preferred choices and ranking among them.
Rating Scales
Rating Scales
dichotomous scale
category scale
Likert scale
numerical scales
semantic differential scale
itemised rating scale
fixed or constant sum rating scale
Stapel scale
graphic rating scale
consensus scale
Dichotomous Scale
For example.
Quality
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Importance
Very Fairly Neutral Not so Not at all
important important important important
Interest
Very Somewhat Not very
interested interested interested
Frequency
All of the time Very often Often Sometimes Hardly ever
Source: Zikmund (2000:292)
Likert Scale
FOR EXAMPLE.
Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following
statements:
My work is very interesting 1 2 3 4 5
Life without my work would be dull 1 2 3 4 5
Semantic Differential Scale
Responsive Unresponsive
Good Bad
Courageous Timid
Numerical Scale
How pleased are you with your new car?
Extremely Extremely
pleased 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 displeased
Itemised Rating Scale
Fragrance
Colour
Shape
Size
Texture of lather
Total points 100
Stapel Scale
Measures the direction and intensity of the attitude
towards the items under study, eg
+3 +3 +3
+2 +2 +2
+1 +1 +1
2 2 2
3 3 3
Graphic Rating Scale
10 Excellent
5 All right
1 Very bad
Ranking Scales
Ranking Scales
paired comparison
forced choice
comparative scale
Paired Comparison Scale
Used when, among a small number of objects,
respondents are asked to choose between two objects at
a time.
For example, respondents are asked to compare their
preferences for toothpaste with kayu sugi or toothpaste
with fluoride.
Forced Choice
Rank your preferences among the following magazines, 1 being
your preferred choice and 5 being your least preferred:
Australian Financial Review __
Business Review Weekly __
Playboy __
The Economist __
Time __
Comparative Scale
In a volatile financial environment, compared with shares, how
useful is it to invest in government bonds?
Validity measures
Are we measuring the right thing?
Reliability
Stability
refers to the ability of a measure to maintain stability over
time, despite uncontrollable testing conditions or the state of
the respondents themselves
Internal consistency
indicates how well the items hang together as a set and can
independently measure the same concept, so respondents
attach the same overall meaning to each of the items
Stability of Measures
Test-retest reliability
the reliability coefficient obtained with a repetition of the same
measure on a second occasion
Parallel-form reliability
the correlation obtained from responses on two comparable
sets of measures (changed for wording & question order)
tapping the same construct
Internal Consistency of Measures
Inter-item consistency reliability
test of the consistency of respondents answers to all the items
in a measure
usually tested by Cronbachs coefficient alpha
Split-half reliability
reflects the correlations between two halves of an instrument
Validity Measures
Face validity
Construct validity
Criterion validity
Content validity
Predictive validity
Convergent validity
Discriminant validity
Concurrent validity
Methods of Data Collection
Methods of Data Collection
Exploratory
In-depth interviews
Face-to-face
Telephone interview
Focus group interviews
Observation
Participant Observation
Full observation
In Depth Interviews
Face-to face
Develop an Interview Guide
Open ended questions and semi structured questions
Guidelines for Interviewing
Questions should be short and precise
Ask only one question at a time
Avoid questions in which the answer is either given or
implied
Use language that is understandable and comfortable for
your informants.
Avoid why questions. Because why questions ask informants to justify
previous responses, thoughts, or feelings, "why" questions can potentially be
interpreted by informants as threatening. If threatened, informants may
become defensive in their responses, affecting the data obtained. "Why"
questions such as "Why do you arrange student desks in rows?," can be
easily rephrased as "What are some reasons for the way you arranged your
classroom?
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Personal or Face-to-face Interviews
Focus Group Interviews
A technique of data collection through group interaction
on a particular topic determined by the researcher
The selection of participants for the focus group
interview is critical so that homogenous respondents are
allowed to interact confidently.
Usually 6-10 participants are appropriate
Observation
Develop observation checklist
Select the observation site or subject to observe
What are you looking for?
Are there new things observed?
Note down all things observed precisely
Sampling Techniques for Exploratory Studies
Non-probability Sampling
the elements do not have a known or predetermined chance of
being selected as subjects
For exploratory studies
Simple Random Sampling
Is the most representative of the population for most
purposes
Disadvantages are:
Most cumbersome and tedious
The entire listing of elements in population frequently unavailable
Very expensive
Not the most efficient design
Complex Probability Sampling
Systematic sampling
Stratified random sampling
Cluster sampling
Area sampling
Double sampling
Systematic Sampling
Every nth element in the population starting with a randomly
chosen element
Example:
Want a sample of 35 households from a total of 260 houses.
Could sample every 7th house starting from a randomly chosen
number from 1 to 10. If that random number is 7, sample 35
houses starting with 7th house (14th house, 21st house, etc)
Stratified Sampling
Proportionate sampling
Disproportionate sampling
Proportionate & Disproportionate Stratified
Random Sampling
Cluster Sampling
Take clusters or chunks of elements for study
Eg, sample all students in MGMT 303 and MGMT 304 to study
the characteristics of Management Science majors
Advantage of cluster sampling is lower costs
Statistically it is less efficient than other probability sampling
procedures discussed so far
Area Sampling:
Cluster sampling confined to a particular area
Eg, sampling residents of a particular locality, county, etc
Double Sampling
Collect preliminary data from a sample, and choose a sub-
sample of that sample for more detailed investigation.
Example:
Conduct unstructured interviews with a sample of 50.
Repeat a structured interview with 30 from the 50 originally
sampled.
Factors to consider in determining
sample size
Measures of Location
Mean
Mode
Median
Measures of Variability
Range
Variance and Standard deviation
Coefficient of variation
Cross-Tabulations
In cross tabulations- at least two variables are considered at
one time. This technique is useful when a researcher wants to
describe the relationship or the phenomenon between these
two/more variables. For instance:
1. A researcher is interested to know whether female and male
students behave differently to a stimulus.
2.A researcher is interested to know the opinion of different
segment of people - divided according to demographic
characteristics or other dimensions
The Report
Integral Parts of the Report
Title page
Table of Contents
Authorization Letter
List of Tables
List of Graphs
List of Appendices
List of Exhibits
Executive Summary - Major Findings, Conclusion, Recommendation
Introduction
Problem Studied
Background Information
Research Objectives
Literature Review/Theoretical Background
Methodology
Data Analysis
Research Findings
Conclusion and Recommendations
Bibliography
Oral Presentation