Business Research
Methods (ACFN 613)
Chapter 2: Study Background
and Problem Definition
Prepared by: Zenegnaw Abiy (PhD) 1
Topics to be discussed
• Research question/topic
• Problem statement
• Stating objectives
• Background of a study
• Significances of a study
• Scope and limitation
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The Research Idea
• Professional experience
• Burning questions
– Yours
– Managements
– Employees
– Customers
– Suppliers
– Others
• Literature
• Professional meetings
• Discussions
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Criteria for developing a good
research question: FINER
• Feasibility
• Interesting
• Novel
• Ethical
• Relevant
Lets see them one by one…
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FINER….
• Feasible • Ethical
– Subjects – Social or scientific
– Resources value
– Manageable – Safe
– Data available? • Relevant
• Interesting – Advance scientific
• Novel knowledge?
– In relation to – Influence practice?
previous findings – Impact policy?
• Confirm or refute? – Guide future
– New setting, new research?
population
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Narrowing the research
topic
• Idea → brainstorming
• Literature review
• Identify the variables for study
• Formulate research problems and
questions/hypotheses
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Considerations
When Choosing Title
• Written last, not first
• Must have a title for proposal (may be
provisional)
• Purpose of the title
– Conveys focus of the study
• Problems with titles
– Too long or too short
– Useless words
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Questions to ask When
Contemplating a Title
1. Does the title precisely identify the area of the problem?
2. Is the title clear, concise, free from jargon, and
adequately descriptive?
3. Does the title identify the key variables and provide
information about the scope of a study?
4. Are unnecessary words, such as “a study of,” “an
investigation of,” and “an analysis of” avoided?
5. Have words been selected that will aid computerized
retrieval systems?
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Problem Definition
• The indication of a specific business
decision area that will be clarified by
answering some research questions.
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Defining Problem Results in
Clear Cut Research Objectives
Symptom Detection
Analysis of
the Situation
Exploratory
Research
Problem Definition (Optional)
Statement of
Research Objectives
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The Process of
Problem Definition
Ascertain the Determine unit
decision maker’s of analysis
objectives
Understand Determine
background of the relevant variables
problem
Isolate/identify the State research
problem, not the questions and
objectives
symptoms
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Ascertain the Decision
Maker’s Objectives
• Decision makers’ objectives
• Managerial goals expressed in measurable
terms.
• The dangerous part of many business
problems is neither visible to nor
understood by managers.
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Understand the Background
of the Problem
• Exercising judgment
• Situation analysis - the informal gathering of
background information to familiarize
researchers or managers with the decision
area.
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Isolate and Identify the
Problems, Not the Symptoms
Problem Definition
Organization Symptoms Based on Symptom True Problem
Twenty-year-old Membership has been Neighborhood Demographic changes:
neighborhood declining for years. residents prefer the Children in this 20-
swimming New water park with expensive water year-old neighborhood
association in a wave pool and water park and have have grown up. Older
major city. slides moved into negative image of residents no longer
town a few years ago. swimming pool. swim anywhere.
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Determine the Unit of
Analysis
• Individuals, households, organizations, etc.
• In many studies, the family rather than the
individual is the appropriate unit of
analysis.
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Determine the Relevant
Variable
• Anything that may assume different
numerical values
– Will be discussed in chapter 5
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Background of the study setting
• Background of the study gives a general
reference point from which the research
question stands out
• Researchers should show that they are familiar
with the study setting they have chosen
• Issues to be discussed should be directly
related to the topic
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Research Goal & Objectives
• The goal (aim) and objectives must be stated at the
very beginning of the study, since they will guide
the investigator during the process of formulating
research questions and hypothesis.
• They will also help in the prioritization process.
• They will enable the reader or consumer of the
work to judge whether the investigator achieved
these objectives or not.
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Goals
• It describes the aim of the work in broad
terms
• It is usually call it general objective of the
study
• It is what the researcher would like to
achieve at the end of the research process
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Objectives
• These are more specific and relate directly
to research question.
• They may be divided into two types:
– Primary objectives (bound to be
achieved)
– Secondary objectives (by the way)/are
not usually reported
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Research Objectives
• The research objectives should be:
– Closely related to the research question
– Covering all aspects of the problem
– Very specific
– Ordered in a logical sequence
– Stated in action verbs that could be evaluated
e.g. to describe, to identify, to measure, to
compare, etc.
– Achievable, taking into consideration the
available resources and time
– Mutually exclusive, with no repetitions or
overlaps
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SMART Objectives
• S Specific
• M Measurable
• A Achievable
• R Relevant
• T Time-bound
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SMART Objectives
• Specific - Be precise about what you are
going to achieve
• Measurable – Quantify/assess the
attainment of objectives
• Appropriate - Align with the needs of the
target audience/goal
• Realistic - Do you have the resources to
make the objective happen?
• Time - Specific: State the time frame
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SMART: Specific Objectives
Specific: Be precise about what you are
going to achieve
• Specify target
• Specify intended outcome
• One outcome per objective
• Avoid vague verbs (e.g. know, understand)
• Make sure the objective is linked to the
goal
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S MART: Measurable Objectives
Measurable: Quantify the
objectives/depending of the type of the study
• In relational study, objectives are quantified in
terms of statistical significance
• The main issue in terms of measurability is
whether one can check if objectives are achieved
or not at the end of the research exercise
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SMART: Appropriate Objectives
Appropriate: Align with the needs of the target audience
– Meeting the objective will advance the goal
– Identify a specific target audience
– This is usually related to the relevance of the
specific objective to the overall goal.
– Note: The “A” is sometimes called “Attainable”
or “Achievable” in the literature but I feel that
this dimension is covered under “Measurable”
attribute.
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SMA RT: Realistic Objectives
Realistic : Do you have the resources to make
the objective happen?
– Are important to stakeholders
– Are adequately resourced
– Can be achieved
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SMAR T: Time-Specific Objectives
Time-Specific: State when you will achieve the
objective
– Provide timeframe for the objectives
– At times they are implied
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Influences of definition
Feedback
Specific
Objective I
Broad
Statement Specific Research
Research Results
of Problem Objective II Design
Objectives
Exploratory
Specific
Research
Objective III
(Optional)
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Scope And Limitation of The Study
• All research studies should have limitations and a finite
scope.
• Any kind of restraint or obstacles that the study might be
gone through during the period.
• In most of the research, limitations are often imposed by
time and budget constraints
• Limitations can also be study subject, literature,
methodology and other related constraints
• If the limitation is not clearly defined and tackled carefully,
the study may end up being invalid.
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Prepared by: Zenegnaw Abiy (PhD)
Scope And Limitation of The
Study
• The researcher should precisely list the
limitations and describe the extent to which
he/she believe the limitations degrade the
quality of the research.
• This will help the researcher and the
audience understands the actual situation
that the study encounters.
• The scope of the study means the specific
areas that the particular researcher wants to
cover in his/her study.
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Scope And Limitation of The
Study
• The questions to consider in the research scope should
be:
I. Does the research cover a particular time period?
II. Does the study cover a specific geographical area?
III. If the study involves people, what age group, gender and
place of origin are to be included?
IV. Are all dates of publication to be included? /especially
for meta study/
V. Is the research going to cover publications from other
countries or languages? /again for meta study/
VI. Are all perspectives to be considered? For example,
philosophical, political, psychological, etc.
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The differences between limitation
and scope of the research
• From the above discussion, we can conclude
that the differences between limitation and
scope of the research are:
• The research scope is the specific area that the
researcher want to cover while the research
limitations is the constraint and obstacle that are
encounter during the study; and
• The research limitation is beyond the researcher’s
control while the research scope is under
researcher’s control and manageable by him/her.
• The researcher will determine what scope to be
cover and what scope to be left.
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Significance of the Study
• The significance of the research study should be
clearly justified by the researcher so that the study
may not be useless or bring no benefits to others.
• The significance of the study is the part where the
researcher tells the study would be beneficial to
specific people or parts of the society and how they
could use it.
• The significance of the study makes the purpose
worth pursuing.
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Needs to Indicate the
Significance of the Study
• Help the researcher stay on the right track
• Prevent the research/study from losing its
main objective
• Convince the target group the importance of
the study
• Increase credibility and reliability of that
particular research/study
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END OF CHAPTER II