Research Methodology

Lecture No : 8

(Research Design-continue)

Recap

• We covered some of the research design elements• We talked about the research purpose

– (exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing)

• Type of investigation– (causal, correlations)

• Extent of researcher's interference– (High,moderate,low)

Study Setting: Contrived and Non-contrived

• Organizational research can be done in the natural environment where work proceeds normally (i.e., in non-contrived setting) or in artificial, contrived settings.

• Correlation studies are invariably conducted in non-contrived settings, whereas rigorous causal studies are done in contrived lab setting

• Correlation studies done in organizations are called field studies – ( factors influencing in a call center it’s employees

turn over ).

• Studies to establish cause and effect relationships using the same natural environment in which employees normally function are called field experiments

• Example:• employees who have been given recognition and

employee who have not been given recognition.

• Cause effect studies in contrived environment in which The environment extraneous factors are controlled are termed as lab experiments.

• Example:• Select all new employees with the same scores in the

entry test and provide one group training and the other no training and controlling that they are not exposed to any senior employee who could guide them.)

Unit of Analysis: Individuals, Dyads, Groups, Organizations, Cultures

• The unit of analysis refers to the level of aggregation of the data collected during the subsequent data analysis stages.

• Individuals: If the problem statement focuses on how to raise the motivational levels of employees in general, then we are interested in individual employees in the organization and would like to find out what we can do to raise their motivation.

• Here the unit of analysis is the individual.(managers’ perception on the factors which influence the success of the project)

• Dyads: If the researcher is interested in studying two-person interactions, then several two-person groups, is known as dyads and will become unit of analysis.

• For example, analysis of husband-wife(are they satisfied with the education provided by the school) in families and mentor-mentee (perception on the benefit of mentoring).

• Groups: If the problem statement is related to group effectiveness, however, then obviously the unit of analysis would be at group level.

• For example, if we wish to study group decision-making patterns, we would probably examining such aspects as group size, group structure, cohesiveness, and the like, in trying to explain the variance in group decision making.

• In such cases the unit of analysis will be groups.(use of I.T by the different department)

• Organizations: If we compare different departments in the organization, then the data analysis will be done at the departmental level - that is, the individuals in the department will be treated as one unit and comparison made treating the department as the unit of analysis.

• (Conservation of energy initiatives by public and private organization)

• Cultures: If we want to study cultural differences among nations, we will have to collect data from different countries and study the underlying patterns of culture in each country, here the unit of analysis used will be cultures.

• (Moral values of Eastern vs Western cultures)

Time Horizon: Cross-sectional versus Longitudinal

• 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. Such studies are called one-shot or cross-sectional studies.

• (data collected from project managers and their psychological well being between October till December)

• Longitudinal Studies• In some cases, the researcher might want to

study people or phenomena at more than one point in time in order to answer the research question. For example, the researcher might want to study employees behavior before and after a change in the top management, to learn the effects of change.

• Or when data on the dependent variable are gathered at two or more points in time to answer the research question, are called longitudinal studies. (use of electricity by a city in summers and then in winters)

Scenarios

• Following are some scenarios , for each indicate how researcher should proceed, giving reasons:

1. Purpose of the study2. Type of investigation3. Researcher Interference4. Study setting5. Time Horizon6. Unit of analysis

Recap

• Research Design elements• Study setting• Time Horizon• Unit of analysis• Secnarios