ASSIGNMENT DRIVE: SPRING 2014SIKKIM MANIPAL UNIVERSITY-DDE

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IIISubject: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Subject code: MB0050Book ID B1700

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Q. No. 1. Briefly describe the different steps involved in a research process. Distinguish between descriptive and causal research studies Meaning of research 2Steps 5Differences 3

Ans; - Meaning of Research; - ● Fred Kerlinger (1986) stated that ‘Scientific research is a systematic, controlled and critical investigation of propositionsabout various phenomena.’● Grinnell (1993) has simplified the debate and stated The word research is composed of two syllables, ‘re’ and ‘search’.● Hence management research is an unbiased, structured, and sequential method of enquiry, directed towards a clear implicit or explicit business objective.

A research study usually follows a structured sequence of steps:The management dilemmaAny research starts with the need and desire to know more. This is essentially the management dilemma. It could be the researcher himself or herself or it could be a business manager who gets the study by done by a researcher. The need might be purely academic (basic or fundamental research) or there might be an immediate business decision that requires an effective and workable solution (applied research).Defining the research problemThis is the first and the most critical step of the research journey. For example, a soft drink manufacturer who is making and selling aerated drinks now wants to expand his business. He wants to know whether moving into bottled water would be a better idea or he should look at fruit juice based drinks. Thus, a comprehensive and detailed survey of the bottled water as well as the fruit juice market will have to be done. He will also have to decide whether he wants toknow consumer acceptance of a new drink. Thus, there has to be complete clarity in the mind of the researcher regarding the information he must collect.Formulating the research hypothesesIn the model, we have drawn broken lines to link defining the research problem stage to the hypotheses formulation stage. The reason is that every research study might not always begin with a hypothesis; Hypothesis is, in fact, the assumptions about the expected results of the research. For example, in the above example of work-life balance among women professionals, we might start with a hypothesis that higher the work-family conflict, higher is the intention to leave the job. Developing the research proposal

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Once the management dilemma has been converted into a defined problem and a working hypothesis, the next step is to develop a plan of investigation.This is called the research proposal. The reason for its placement before the other stages is that before you begin the actual research study in order to answer the research question you need to spell out the research problem, the scope and the objectives of the study and the operational plan for achieving this.Research design formulationBased on the orientation of the research, i.e., exploratory, descriptive or causal, the researcher has a number of techniques for addressing the stated objectives. These are termed in research as research designs. The main task of the design is to explain how the research problem will be investigated. .Sampling designIt is not always possible to study the entire population. Thus, one goes about studying a small and representative sub-group of the population. This sub-group is referred to as the sample of the study. There are different techniques available for selecting the group based on certain assumptions. The most important criteria for this selection would be the representativeness of the sample selected from the population under study.Planning and collecting the data for researchPlanning and collecting data for research as proceeding simultaneously with the sampling plan. The reason for this is that the sampling plan helps in identifying the group to be studied and the data collection plan helps in obtaining information from the specified population. The data collection methods may be classified into secondary and primary data methods. Primary data is original and collected first hand for the problem under study. There are a number of primary data methods available to the researcher like interviews, focus group discussions, personal/telephonic interviews/mail surveys and questionnaires. Secondary data is information that has been collected and compiled earlier for some other problem or purpose. Data refining and preparation for analysisOnce the data is collected, it must be refined and processed in order to answer the research question(s) and test the formulated hypotheses (if any). This stage requires editing of the data for any omissions and irregularities. The research report and implications for the manager’s dilemmaIin this step, the researcher’s expertise in analysing, interpreting and recommending, is very important. This report has to give complete details about everything that was done right from problem formulation, to the methodology followed to the conclusions inding of the study. Differences:- Conclusive research can be of two types—descriptive or causalresearch. The main goal of descriptive research is to describe the data and haracteristics about what is being studied. Casual research studies explore the effect of one thing on another and more specifically, the effect of one variable on another.

Q. No. 2 Distinguish between primary and secondary methods of data collection. Explain the Interview method of data collectionDifferences 5Explanation of Interview method of data collection 5

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Ans: - The data collection methods may be classified into secondary and primary data methods.

Primary data is original and collected first hand for the problem under study. There are a number of primary data methods available to the researcher like interviews, focus group discussions, personal/telephonic interviews/mail surveys and questionnaires.The accuracy and relevance is reasonably high. The time and money required for this are quite high and sometimes a researcher might not have the resources or the time or both to go ahead with this method. In this case, the researcher can look at alternative sources of data which are economical and reliable enough to take the study forward. These include the second category of data sources— namely the secondary data.

Secondary data as the name implies is that information which is not topical or research-specific and has been collected and compiled by some other researcher or investigative body. This type of data is recorded and published in a structured format, and thus, is quicker to access and manage. Secondly, in most instances, unless it is a data product, it is not too expensive to collect. The information required is readily available as a data product or as the audit information which the researcher or the organization can get and use it for arriving at quick decisions. In comparison to the original research-centric data, secondary data can be economically and quickly collected by the decision maker in a short span of time. However, one must remember that this is a little low on accuracy as what is primary and original for one researcher would essentially becomesecondary and historical for someone else.

Interview method of data collection● Personal interview is a one-to-one interaction between the investigator/interviewer and the interviewee.● The steps undertaken for the conduction of a personal interview are:1. Interview objective2. Interview guidelines3. Structure4. Interviewing skills5. Analysis and interpretationInterview objective: The information needs that are to be addressed by the instrument should be clearly spelt out as study objectives. This step includes a clear definition of the construct/variable(s) to be studied.Interview guidelines: A typical interview may take from 20 minutes to close to an hour. A brief outline to be used by the investigator is formulated depending upon the contours of the interview.Structure: Based on the needs of the study, the actual interview may be unstructured, semi-structured or structured.• Unstructured: This type of interview has no defined guidelines. It usually begins with a casually worded opening remark like ‘so tell us/me something about yourself’. The direction the interview will take is not known to the researcher also. The probability of subjectivity is very high.

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• Semi-structured: This has a more defined format and usually only the broad areas to be investigated are formulated. The questions, sequence and language are left to the investigator’s choice. Probing is of critical importance in obtaining meaningful responses and uncovering hidden issues. After asking the initial question, the direction of the interview is determined by the respondent’s initial reply, the interviewer’s probes for elaboration and the respondent’s answers.• Structured: This format has highest reliability and validity. There is considerable structure to the questions and the questioning is also done on the basis of a prescribed sequence. They are sometimes used as the primary data collection instrument also.Interviewing skills: The quality of the output and the depth of information collected depend upon the probing and listening skills of the interviewer. His attitude needs to be as objective as possible.Analysis and interpretation: The information collected is not subjected to any statistical analysis. Mostly the data is in narrative form, in the case of structured interviews it might be summarized in prose form.

Q. No. 3 a. Discuss four types of measurement scales with examples.b. Briefly explain the concepts of reliability, validity and sensitivitya. Meaning of Measurement scales and types of Measurement scales with examples 5b.. Explanation of the concepts of reliability, validity and sensitivity 5

Ans: - The term ‘measurement’ means assigning numbers or some other symbols to the characteristics of certain objects.There are four types of measurement scales—Nominal scale: This is the lowest level of measurement. Here, numbers are assigned for the purpose of identification of the objects.ExampleWhat is your religion?(a) Hinduism(b) Sikhism(c) Christianity(d) Islam(e) Any other, (please specify)A Hindu may be assigned a number 1, a Sikh may be assigned a number 2, a Christian may be assigned a number 3 and so on. Any religion which is assigned a higher number is in no way superior to the one which is assigned a lower number. The assignment of numbers is only for the purpose of identification.Nominal scale measurements are used for identifying food habits (vegetarian or non-vegetarian), gender (male/female), caste, respondents, marital status, brands, attributes, stores, the players of a hockey team and so on.

Ordinal scale: An ordinal scale tells whether an object has more or less of characteristics than some other objects. However, it cannot answer how much more or how much less.Example:Rank the following attributes while choosing a restaurant for dinner. The most important attribute may be ranked one, the next important may be assigned a rank of 2 and so on.

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In the ordinal scale, the assigned ranks cannot be added, multiplied, subtracted or divided. One can compute median, percentiles and quartiles of the distribution.

Interval scale: In the Interval scale the difference of the score on the scale has meaningful interpretation while the ratio of the score on this scale does not have a meaningful interpretation.The mathematical form of the data on the interval scale may be written as

The following are some examples of interval scale data.

Ratio scale: In this case, there is a natural zero (origin).

Q. No. 4 a. Distinguish between: i. Schedules and Questionnaires ii. Open ended and closed ended questions

b. What are the different modes of administering a questionnaire? What are the conditions that merit the use of one over the other? Discuss by using suitable examplesa. Differences 4b. Modes of administering a questionnaire 6

Q. No. 5 a. What is the analysis of variance? What are the assumptions of the technique? Give a few examples where the techniques could be used. b. The following data represents the number of units produced by four operators during three different shifts

Perform a two-way analysis of variance and interpret the result. a. Meaning, Assumptions and examples 4b. Formulas, Calculation, Solution and Interpretation to the problem 6

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Q No. 6 Explain the three basic principles of professional ethics that any research must follow. How do you follow an ethical practice while collecting information from the respondents?Basic principles of professional ethics 6Ethical codes related to respondents 4

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