6-1
Research Design:
An Overview
6-3
Learning Objectives
Understand . . .
• The basic stages of research design.
• The major descriptors of research design.
• The major types of research designs.
• The relationships that exist between
variables in research design and the steps
for evaluating those relationships.
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Definition of Research design
• A blueprint to collect, measure and analyze
data.
• Helps in the allocation of limited resources:
• Choice between:
– Experiment
– Observation
– Interview
– Simulation
• Data collection, whether it should be structured or
unstructured
• The sample size should be large or small
• Quantitative or qualitative research
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What Is Research Design?
Blueprint
Plan – Research Questions
Guide – sources & types
Framework - Relations
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Design in the Research Process
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Degree of Question Crystallization
Exploratory Study Formal Study
• Loose structure • Precise procedures
• Expand • Begins with
understanding hypotheses
• Provide insight • Answers research
• Develop hypotheses questions
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Approaches for Exploratory
Investigations
• Participant observation
• Film, photographs
• Projective techniques
• Psychological testing
• Case studies
• Ethnography
• Expert interviews
• Document analysis
• Proxemics and
Kinesics
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Commonly Used Exploratory Techniques
Secondary
Data Analysis Experience
Surveys
Focus
Groups
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Face-to-face
interaction—one
of the best ways
to learn from
participants.
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Experience Surveys
• What is being done?
• What has been tried in the past with or
without success?
• How have things changed?
• Who is involved in the decisions?
• What problem areas can be seen?
• Whom can we count on to assist or
participate in the research?
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Example in an Organization Study
• Newcomers to the scene
• Marginal or peripheral individuals
• Individuals in transition
• Deviants and isolates
– Unhappy, happy, most productive, loners
• Pure cases
– Most unproductive, most antagonistic
• Those who fit well and those who do not
• Different positions in the system
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Focus Groups
• Group discussion
• 6-10 participants
• Moderator-led
• 90 minutes-2 hours
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Data Collection Method
Monitoring Communication
6-17
Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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The Time Dimension
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal
• Panel
• Cohort
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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The Topical Scope
Statistical Study Case Study
• Breadth • Depth
• Population inferences • Detail
• Quantitative • Qualitative
• Generalizable • Multiple sources of
findings information
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Unit of Analysis
• Individual
• Group
• Dyad
• Country
• Division
• Industry
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Think about this
• A researcher wants to know what is the
impact of top management support, on
firm performance. To test this, he takes
200 employees from a MNC firm in Bayan
Lepas as his respondents.
• What problem will he encounter?
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The Research Environment
Field conditions
Lab conditions
Simulations
6-25
Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Purpose of the Study
Reporting Descriptive
Causal - Causal -
Explanatory Predictive
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Descriptive Studies
Who?
How much? What?
When? Where?
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Example of a Descriptive Research
• A bank manager would like to profile the
individuals who are behind on payment
more than 6 months. The profile will
describe the individual in terms of age,
income, type of job and whether the
person is employed full time or part time.
This information will help him in making
future decisions related to loans to the
same individuals
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Descriptive Studies
Descriptions of
population characteristics
Estimates of frequency of
characteristics
Discovery of associations
among variables
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Exploratory
• Exploratory study
is needed when
the researcher has
no idea about the
problem or issue to
be studied
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Why is an Exploratory study Important?
• Determine whether research should
be done or not?
• Some unknown variable may be
identified
• Is the research practical?
• Helps in the operational definition
and design
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Example
• A manager of a MNC
company would like to know
the work ethics of a subsidiary
in Tanah Merah as compared
to the Americans
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Experimental Effects
Ex Post Facto Study Experiment
• After-the-fact • Study involving the
report on what manipulation or
happened to the control of one or
measured more variables to
variable determine the
effect on another
variable
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Ex Post Facto Design
Fishing Club Member Non-Fishing-Club Member
Age High Absentee Low Absentee High Absentee Low Absentee
Under 30 years 36 6 30 48
30 to 45 4 4 35 117
45 and over 0 0 5 115
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Causation
• The basic element in causal
research is that A “produces”
B atau A “forces” B to
happen
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Causation and Experimental Design
Control/ Random
Matching Assignment
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Mills Method of Agreement
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Mills Method of Difference
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Causal Studies
Symmetrical
Reciprocal
Asymmetrical
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Understanding Causal Relationships
• Is an event or force (eg.
Stimulus Drop in temperature,
crash in stock market,
product recall,
explosion in factory)
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Understanding Causal Relationships
• Is a decision or
Response reaction to some
stimulus
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Understanding Causal Relationships
• An enduring characteristic
Property
of a subject that does not
depend on circumstances
for its activation (eg. Age,
gender, family status,
religious affiliation, ethnic
group or physical condition
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Understanding Causal Relationships
• Is a tendency to respond
Disposition in a certain way under
certain circumstances
(eg. Attitudes, opinions,
habits, values, and
drives)
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Understanding Causal Relationships
• Is an action (eg.
Behavior consumption practices,
work performance,
interpersonal acts, and
any other kinds of
performance)
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Asymmetrical Causal Relationships
Stimulus-Response
Property- Property-
Behavior Disposition
Disposition-Behavior
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Types of Asymmetrical Causal Relationships
Relationship Type Nature of Relationship Examples
Stimulus-response An event or change results in • A change in work rules leads to a higher level of
a response from some object. worker output.
• A change in government economic policy restricts
corporate financial decisions.
• A price increase results in fewer unit sales.
Property-disposition An existing property causes a • Age and attitudes about saving.
disposition. • Gender attitudes toward social issues.
• Social class and opinions about taxation.
Disposition-behavior A disposition causes a • Opinions about a brand and its purchase.
specific behavior. • Job satisfaction and work output.
• Moral values and tax cheating.
Property-behavior An existing property causes a • Stage of the family life cycle and purchases of
specific behavior. furniture.
• Social class and family savings patterns.
• Age and sports participation.
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Evidence of Causality
Covariation between
A and B
Time order of events
No other possible
causes of B
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Descriptors of Research Design
Question Data
Perceptual Crystallization Collection
Awareness
Method
Purpose of Experimental
Study Descriptors Effects
Research Time
Environment Dimension
Topical Scope
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Participants’ Perceptional Awareness
No deviation perceived
Deviations perceived
as unrelated
Deviations perceived as
researcher-induced
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Descriptors of Research Design
Category Options
The degree to which the research question has been crystallized • Exploratory study
• Formal study
The method of data collection • Monitoring
• Communication Study
The power of the researcher to produce effects in the variables under • Experimental
study • Ex post facto
The purpose of the study • Reporting
• Descriptive
• Causal-Explanatory
• Causal-Predictive
The time dimension • Cross-sectional
• Longitudinal
The topical scope—breadth and depth—of the study • Case
• Statistical study
The research environment • Field setting
• Laboratory research
• Simulation
The participants’ perceptional awareness of the research activity • Actual routine
• Modified routine
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What is Important in this Chapter?
• Definition of research design
• Classification of Research design
• Qualitative Techniques
• Causal research
6-53
Exercise
Based on the scenarios given below please
suggest how a researcher can use a
suitable research design (give reasons for
your choice)
• Type of research
• Extent of researcher interference
• Study Setting
• Time horizon
• Unit of analysis
6-54
Exercise 1
• Joyce Lynn, the owner of a small business
(a women’s boutique), has invited a
consultant to tell her how she is different
from similar small businesses within a
sixty mile radius with respect to usage of
the modern computer technology, her
sales volume, her profit margin, and the
way she trains her staff.
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Exercise 2
• The sales of ACER and COMPAQ
computers of a retailer, Mr. Lim Goh Poh, is
suffering a major decline. Lim Goh Poh
decides to test out two sales approach. He
divides 12 salespeople into two groups.
One group is trained using the hard selling
method while the other group is trained
using the soft selling method. This is carried
out to identify which approach is more
effective in increasing the sale of his
computers.
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Exercise 3
• The manager of International College sat in his office, lost in his
thoughts. The words of his an employer who hired his college’s
graduate were playing in his mind. “The students from your
college are very weak in their English and this is affecting their
work performance, the Nusantara College students are better in
their language efficiency.”
• International College is a private college which offers diploma in
management with an option of majoring in either marketing,
finance or operations. To continuously compete effectively in this
education industry, the manager aims to improve the situation by
introducing an English language efficiency project called “BBC”.
Through the “BBC” project, students will be assigned under certain
lecturers who will be responsible to guide them for one semester.
The purpose of the “BBC” project is to increase the language
efficiency among International College students. However, the
manager is doubtful whether the project will turn out to be a
success or not. Thus, he wants to test this project first among the
marketing major students. At the end of the semester, he plans to
give an English language efficiency test to all the students.
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Exercise 4
• Tan Mei Mei, a matron in a general hospital, found that the nurses
in Pulau Angsa General Hospital often complain about the
extreme stress that they are facing at work due to the lack of
emotional support. She records all the complaints received
according to the ward to date in the hospital’s book of complaints.
In order to test how far each complaint is true, Tan Mei Mei
decides to conduct a research concerning the relationship
between the perceived emotional support and the stress faced by
the nurses.
• The Pulau Angsa General Hospital is divided into 3 divisions, the
accident ward, the children’s ward and the maternity ward.
According to the report, the nurses at the accident ward are the
most stressed. Tan Mei Mei then arranged a strategy whereby two
counselors will be stationed at the accident ward, 1 counselor at
the maternity ward while no counselor will be placed at the
children’s ward.
• She will begin the strategy today. After a month she will check the
hospital’s book of complaints to ascertain whether the complaints
have increased or decreased.