Research Design In this step we need to design the research in a way that the necessary data can be gathered and analyzed to arrive at a solution.

The Nature of Studies: Exploratory Study Descriptive Study Hypothesis Testing Case Study Analysis

Exploratory Study An Exploratory Study is undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand, or no information is available on how similar problems or research issues have been solved in the past.

Example 1 The manager of a multinational corporation is curious to know if the work ethic values of employees working at that specific corporation outside the United States would be different from those of Americans. No information is available about the ethic values of the same company workers other than in the U.S. Also, the work ethic values may be different to people in different cultures.

Example 1 (Cont.) The best way to study the above situation is by conducting an exploratory study, by interviewing the employees in the organization.

Descriptive Study Is undertaken in order to describe the characteristics of the variables of interest in a situation. For instance, a study in a 200-student class in terms of the percentage of members who are in their senior (will be in the graduation stage), gender, age groupings, number of semesters left until graduation, can be considered as descriptive in nature. Best way of collecting data is by examining numbers and characteristics from collected surveys and questionnaires.

Example 2 A bank manager wants to have a profile of the individuals who have loan payments outstanding (due) for 6 months and more. This profile would include details of their average age, earnings, nature of occupation, full-time/ part- time employment status, and the like. The above information might help the manager to find patterns to decide right away on the types of individuals who should be made ineligible for loans in the future. The above information can be collected by examining the bank data and related numbers in it.

Case Study Analysis 1 a case study is a research method involving an up-close, in-depth, and detailed examination of a subject of study (the case), as well as its related contextual conditions Case studies involve in-depth, contextual analyses of matters relating to similar situations in other organizations. Case studies, as a problem solving technique, are not frequently used in organizations because finding the same type of problem in another comparable setting is difficult due to the reluctance of the companies to reveal their problems.

Case Study Analysis 2 Case studies that are qualitative in nature, however, useful in applying solutions to current problems based on past problem-solving experiences. Also, case studies are useful in understanding certain phenomena such as dyslexia in students, learning disabilities, special need students and generating further theories for empirical testing. Empirical: experimental and practical

Hypothesis Testing It is a proposed theory before its testing for what you think your answer to the your question might be. This usually explains the nature of certain relationships, or establishes the differences among groups. Expected findings such as learning style patterns or students who are required to read extra materials will have higher grades in their writing exams than those who do not. Hypothesis testing is undertaken to explain the variance (difference) in the dependent variable or to predict organizational outcomes. For example, if the independent variable(is the control you have over the experiment such as the use or non-use of a new language teaching procedure), then the dependent variable(the outcome) might be students' scores on a test of the content taught using that procedure. In other words, the variation in the dependent variable depends on the variation in the independent variable.

Example 6.5 A marketing manager wants to know if the sales of the company will increase if he doubles the advertising dollars. Here, the manager would like to know the nature of the relationship between advertising and sales by testing the hypothesis: If advertising is increased, then sales will also go up.

Type of Investigation: Causal versus Correlational A causal study: Is an inquiry to know the cause of one or more problems. (more general) A correlational study: Is an inquiry to know the important variables associated with the problem for example age, number of years smoking , number of cigarettes daily, type of cancer and gender. (more detailed)

Example A causal study question: Does smoking cause cancer? A correlational study question: More statistics involved. Are smoking and cancer related? Or Are smoking, drinking, and chewing tobacco associated with cancer?

Extent of Researcher Interference With the Study The extent of interference by the researcher with the normal flow of work at the workplace has a direct bearing on whether the study undertaken is causal or correlational. Correlational studies should have minimal interference than causal studies. Correlational studies done in organizations are called field studies.

Extent of Researcher Interference With the Study A correlational study is conducted in the natural environment of the organization with minimum interference by the researcher with the normal flow of work. A hospital administrator wants to examine the relationship between the perceived emotional support in the system and the stress experienced by the nursing staff. In other words, she wants to do a correlational study. The researcher will collect data from the nurses ( through a questionnaire) to indicate how much emotional support they get in the hospital and to what extent they experience stress. By correlating the two variables, the answer is found. In this case, beyond administering a questionnaire to the nurses, the researcher has not interfered with the normal activities in the hospital.

Excessive Interference In studies conducted to establish cause-and-effect relationships the researcher deliberately changes certain variables in the setting and interferes with the events as they normally occur in the organization such as participants seeking help from an expert or the researcher in answering questions in surveys or allowing certain groups to seek questions and others not to . Most organizational problems seldom call for a causal study

Study Setting: Contrived and Noncontrived Studies conducted to establish cause-and-effect relationship using the same natural environment in which employees normally function are called field experiments. Experiments done to establish cause-and- effect relationship in a contrived environment and strictly controlled are called lab experiments.

Example 6.15 Field Study This is a field study where the bank manager has taken the balances in various types of accounts and correlated them to the changes in interest rates. Research here is done in a noncontrived setting with no interference with the normal work routine.

Example 6.16 Field Experiment The bank manager now wants to determine the cause-and-effect relationship between interest rate and the inducements it offers to clients to save and deposit money in the bank. The researcher selects four branches within 60/km radius for the experiment.

Example 6.17 Lab Experiment To be sure about the true relationship between the interest rate and deposits, the researcher could create an artificial environment by choosing, for instance, 40 students who are all business majors in their final year of study and in the same age. The researcher splits the students into four groups and give each one of them $1000, which they are told they might buy their needs or save for the future, or both.

Example 6.17 Lab Experiment The researcher offers them interest on what they save as followings: 6% on savings for group 1. 8% for group 2. 9% for group 3. 1% for group 4 ( the old rate of interest). Here, the researcher has created an artificial laboratory environment and has manipulated the interest rates for savings. He also chosen subjects with similar backgrounds.

Unit of Analysis If the researcher focuses on how to raise the motivational levels of employees, then we are interested in individual employees in the organization. Here the unit of analysis is the individual (the data will be gathered from each individual). If the researcher is interested in studying two- person interaction, then several two-person groups also known as dyads, will become the unit of analysis ( analysis of husband-wife, and supervisor-subordinate relationships at the work place. If the manager wants data from a sample of 10 pairs, he will have to deal with 20 individuals, a pair at a time. The information obtained from each pair will be a data point for analysis.

Unit of Analysis The unit of analysis refers to the level of aggregation of the data collected during the subsequent data analysis. Individual Dyads Groups Organizations Cultures

Groups as a unit of analysis A manager wants to see the patterns of usage of the newly installed Information System (IS) by the different departments of production, sales, and operations personnel. Here three groups of personnel are involved and information from each of the three will be collected and analyzed.

Time Horizon: Cross-Sectional Versus Longitudinal Studies Cross-Sectional Studies A study can be done in which data are gathered just once, perhaps over a period of days or weeks or months, in order to answer a research question. Example Data were collected from stock brokers between April and June of last year to study their concerns in a turbulent stock market.

Longitudinal Studies Studying people or phenomena at more than one point in time in order to answer the research question. They take more time and effort and cost more than cross-sectional studies. However, well- planned longitudinal studies could help to identify cause-and-effect relationships. Example: A marketing manager is interested in tracing the pattern of sales of a particular product in four different regions of the country on a quarterly basis for the next 2 years.