Sheet # 02
Research Methodology
Mr.Md. Serajur Rasul
Assistant Professor
Department of Management Studies
RESEARCH:
a way of examining your practice…
Research is undertaken within most professions.
More than a set of skills, it is a way of thinking: examining critically the various aspects of your professional work.
It is a habit of questioning what you do, and a systematic examination of the observed information to find answers with a view to instituting appropriate changes for a more effective professional service.
DEFINITION OF RESEARCH
When you say that you are undertaking a research study to find answers to a question, you are implying that the process;
1. is being undertaken within a framework of a set of philosophies (approaches);
2. uses procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability;
3. is designed to be unbiased and objective .
Philosophies means approaches e.g. qualitative, quantitative and the academic discipline in which you have been trained.
Validity means that correct procedures have been applied to find answers to a question. Reliability refers to the quality of a measurement procedure that provides repeatability and accuracy.
Unbiased and objective means that you have taken each step in an unbiased manner and drawn each conclusion to the best of your ability and without introducing your own vested interest.
(Bias is a deliberate attempt to either conceal or highlight something).
Adherence to the three criteria mentioned above enables the process to be called ‘research’.
However, the degree to which these criteria are expected to be fulfilled varies from discipline to discipline and so the meaning of ‘research’ differs from one academic discipline to another.
The difference between research and non-research activity is, in the way we find answers: the process must meet certain requirements to be called research. We can identify these requirements by examining some definitions of research.
The word research is composed of two syllables, re and search.
re is a prefix meaning again, anew or over again
search is a verb meaning to examine closely and carefully, to test and try, or to probe. Together they form a noun describing a careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or principles.
Research is a structured enquiry that utilizes acceptable scientific methodology to solve problems and create new knowledge that is generally applicable.
Scientific methods consist of systematic observation, classification and interpretation of data.
Although we engage in such process in our daily life, the difference between our casual day- to-day generalization and the conclusions usually recognized as scientific method lies in the degree of formality, rigorousness, verifiability and general validity of latter.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH:
Research is a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions. But to qualify as research, the process must have certain characteristics: it must, as far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable, empirical and critical.
-Controlled- in real life there are many factors that affect an outcome.
The concept of control implies that, in exploring causality in relation to two variables (factors), you set up your study in a way that minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship.
This can be achieved to a large extent in the physical sciences (cookery, bakery), as most of the research is done in a laboratory. However, in the social sciences (Hospitality and Tourism) it is extremely difficult as research is carried out on issues related to human beings living in society, where such controls are not possible.
Therefore in Hospitality and Tourism, as you cannot control external factors, you attempt to quantify their impact.
-Rigorous-you must be scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified. Again, the degree of rigor varies markedly between the physical and social sciences and within the social sciences.
-Systematic-this implies that the procedure adopted to undertake an investigation follow a certain logical sequence. The different steps cannot be taken in a haphazard way. Some procedures must follow others.
-Valid and verifiable-this concept implies that whatever you conclude on the basis of your findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.
-Empirical-this means that any conclusions drawn are based upon hard evidence gathered from information collected from real life experiences or observations.
-Critical-critical scrutiny of the procedures used and the methods employed is crucial to a research enquiry. The process of investigation must be foolproof and free from drawbacks. The process adopted and the procedures used must be able to withstand critical scrutiny.
For a process to be called research, it is imperative that it has the above characteristics.
TYPES OF RESEARCH
Research can be classified from three perspectives:
1. Application of research study
2. Objectives in undertaking the research
3. Inquiry mode employed
Application:
From the point of view of application, there are two broad categories of research:
- Pure research and
- Applied research.
Pure research involves developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are intellectually challenging to the researcher but may or may not have practical application at the present time or in the future. The knowledge produced through pure research is sought in order to add to the existing body of research methods.
Applied research is done to solve specific, practical questions; for policy formulation, administration and understanding of a phenomenon. It can be exploratory, but is usually descriptive. It is almost always done on the basis of basic research. Applied research can be carried out by academic or industrial institutions. Often, an academic institution such as a university will have a specific applied research program funded by an industrial partner interested in that program.
Objectives:
From the viewpoint of objectives, a research can be classified as
-descriptive
-correlational
-explanatory
-exploratory
Descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or programme, or provides information about , say, living condition of a community, or describes attitudes towards an issue.
Correlational research attempts to discover or establish the existence of a relationship/ interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation.
Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation or phenomenon.
Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an area where little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a particular research study (feasibility study / pilot study).
In practice most studies are a combination of the first three categories.
Inquiry Mode:
From the process adopted to find answer to research questions – the two approaches are:
- Structured approach
- Unstructured approach
Structured approach:
The structured approach to inquiry is usually classified as quantitative research. Here everything that forms the research process- objectives, design, sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents- is predetermined.
It is more appropriate to determine the extent of a problem, issue or phenomenon by quantifying the variation.
e.g. how many people have a particular problem? How many people hold a particular attitude?
Unstructured approach:
The unstructured approach to inquiry is usually classified as qualitative research. This approach allows flexibility in all aspects of the research process.
It is more appropriate to explore the nature of a problem, issue or phenomenon without quantifying it.
Main objective is to describe the variation in a phenomenon, situation or attitude. e,g, description of an observed situation, the historical enumeration of events, an account of different opinions different people have about an issue, description of working condition in a particular industry.
Both approaches have their place in research. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.
In many studies you have to combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
For example, suppose you have to find the types of cuisine / accommodation available in a city and the extent of their popularity.
Types of cuisine is the qualitative aspect of the study as finding out about them entails description of the culture and cuisine
The extent of their popularity is the quantitative aspect as it involves estimating the number of people who visit restaurant serving such cuisine and calculating the other indicators that reflect the extent of popularity.
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
The research process is similar to undertaking a journey.
For a research journey there are two important decisions to make-
1) What you want to find out about
or what research questions (problems) you want to find answers to;
2) How to go about finding their answers.
There are practical steps through which you must pass in your research journey in order to find answers to your research questions.
The path to finding answers to your research questions constitutes research methodology.
At each operational step in the research process you are required to choose from a multiplicity of methods, procedures and models of research methodology which will help you to best achieve your objectives.
This is where your knowledge base of research methodology plays a crucial role.
Steps in Research Process:
1. Formulating the Research Problem
2. Extensive Literature Review
3. Developing the objectives
4. Preparing the Research Design including Sample Design
5. Collecting the Data
6. Analysis of Data
7. Generalisation and Interpretation
8. Preparation of the Report or Presentation of Results-Formal write ups of conclusions reached.
Formulating the research problem:
It is the first and most crucial step in the research process
- Main function is to decide what you want to find out about.
- The way you formulate a problem determines almost every step that follows.
Sources of research problems
Research in social sciences revolves around four Ps:
• People- a group of individuals
• Problems- examine the existence of certain issues or problems relating to their lives; to ascertain attitude of a group of people towards an issue
• Programs- to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention
• Phenomena- to establish the existence of regularity.
In practice most research studies are based upon at least a combination of two Ps.
Every research study has two aspects:
1. Study population-
• People: individuals, organizations, groups, communities (they provide you with the information or you collect information about them)
2. Subject area-
• Problems: issues, situations, associations, needs, profiles
• Program : content, structure, outcomes, attributes, satisfactions, consumers, Service providers, etc.
• Phenomenon: cause-and-effect relationships, the study of a phenomenon itself
(Information that you need to collect to find answers to your research questions)
You can examine the professional field of your choice in the context of the four Ps in order to identify anything that looks interesting.
Considerations in selecting a research problem:
These help to ensure that your study will remain manageable and that you will remain motivated.
1. Interest: a research endeavour is usually time consuming, and involves hard work and possibly unforeseen problems. One should select topic of great interest to sustain the required motivation.
2. Magnitude: It is extremely important to select a topic that you can manage within the time and resources at your disposal. Narrow the topic down to something manageable, specific and clear.
3. Measurement of concepts: Make sure that you are clear about the indicators and measurement of concepts (if used) in your study.
4. Level of expertise: Make sure that you have adequate level of expertise for the task you are proposing since you need to do the work yourself.
5. Relevance: Ensure that your study adds to the existing body of knowledge, bridges current gaps and is useful in policy formulation. This will help you to sustain interest in the study.
6. Availability of data: Before finalizing the topic, make sure that data are available.
7. Ethical issues: How ethical issues can affect the study population and how ethical problems can be overcome should be thoroughly examined at the problem formulating stage.
Steps in formulation of a research problem:
Working through these steps presupposes a reasonable level of knowledge in the broad subject area within which the study is to be undertaken. Without such knowledge it is difficult to clearly and adequately ‘dissect’ a subject area.
Step 1 Identify a broad field or subject area of interest to you.
Step 2 Dissect the broad area into sub areas.
Step 3 Select what is of most interest to you.
Step 4 Raise research questions.
Step 5 Formulate objectives.
Step 6 Assess your objectives.
Step 7 Double check.
So far we have focused on the basis of your study, the research problem. But every study in social sciences has a second element, the study population from whom the required information to find answers to your research questions is obtained.
As you narrow the research problem, similarly you need to decide very specifically who constitutes your study population, in order to select the appropriate respondents.
Identifying Variables:
In a research study it is important that the concepts used should be operationalised in measurable terms so that the extent of variations in respondents’ understanding is reduced if not eliminated.
Techniques about how to operationalise concepts, and knowledge about variables, play an important role in reducing this variability.
Their knowledge, therefore is important in ‘fine tuning’ your research problem.
For example:
-‘Jet Airways’ is a perfect example of quality cabin service.
- Food in this restaurant is excellent.
- The middle class in India
When people express these feelings or preferences, they do so on the basis of certain criteria in their minds. Their judgement is based upon indicators that lead them to conclude and express that opinion.
These are judgements that require a sound basis on which to proclaim. This warrants the use of a measuring mechanism and it is in the process of measurement that knowledge about variables plays an important role.
The definition of a variable:
An image, perception or concept that can be measured – hence capable of taking on different values- is called a variable.
The difference between a concept and a variable:
Concepts are mental images or perceptions and therefore their meaning varies markedly from individual to individual.
A concept cannot be measured whereas a variable can be subjected to measurement by crude/refined or subjective/objective units of measurement.
It is therefore important for the concept to be converted into variables.
Concept Variable
-Subjective impression - Measurable though the
-No uniformity as to its degree of precision varies
Understanding among from scale to scale and
Different people variable to variable.
-As such cannot be measured.
e.g. e.g.
• Excellent - gender (male/female)
• High achiever -age (x years y months)
• Rich -weight ( --kg)
• Satisfaction - height ( -- cms)
• Domestic violence - religion (Catholic, Hindu)
-Income ( Rs ---per year)
Concepts, indicators and variables:
If you are using a concept in your study, you need to consider its operationalisation- that is, how it will be measured.
For this, you need to identify indicators- a set of criteria reflective of the conceptwhich can then be converted into variables.
The choice of indicators for a concept might vary with researchers, but those selected must have a logical link with the concept.
Concepts___>Indicators_____>Variables
_______________________________________________________
Concepts Indicators Variables Working definition
_______________________________________________________
Rich 1. Income 1. Income 1.If>Rs100000
2. Assets 2.Total value 2.If>Rs250000
of home,car,
investments.
Effectiveness 1.No. of 1.No.of guests diff. in before
guests served in and after levels
Month/year
2.Changes 2.No. of excellent - do -
in Ratings per 100 feedback
a ) extent of
b) pattern of
___________________________________________________________
Types of measurement scales:
Measurement is central to any enquiry.
The greater the refinement in the unit of measurement of a variable, the greater the confidence, other things being equal, one can place in the findings.
S.S.Stevens has classified the different types of into four categories:
• Nominal or classificatory scale
• Ordinal or ranking scale
• Interval scale
• Ratio scale
The nominal or classificatory scale:
A nominal scale enables the classification of individuals, objects or responses into subgroups based on a common/shared property or characteristic.
A variable measured on a nominal scale may have one, two or more subcategories depending upon the extent of variation.
For example, ’water’ or ‘tree’ have only one subgroup, whereas the variable “gender” can be classified into two sub-categories: male and female. ‘Hotels’ can be classified into ---- sub-categories.
The sequence in which subgroups are listed makes no difference as there is no relationship among subgroups.
The ordinal or ranking scale:
Besides categorizing individuals, objects, responses or a property into subgroups on the basis of common characteristic, it ranks the subgroups in a certain order.
They are arranged either in ascending or descending order according to the extent a subcategory reflects the magnitude of variation in the variable.
For example, ‘income’ can be measured either quantitatively (in rupees and paise) or qualitatively using subcategories ‘above average’, ‘average’ and ‘below average’. The
‘distance’ between these subcategories are not equal as there is no quantitative unit of measurement.
‘Socioeconomic status’ and ‘attitude’ are other variables that can be measured on ordinal scale.
The interval scale:
An interval scale has all the characteristics of an ordinal scale. In addition, it uses a unit of measurement with an arbitrary starting and terminating points.
For example,
Celsius scale: 0*C to 100*C
Fahrenheit scale: 32*F to 212*F
Attitudinal scales: 10-20
21-30
31-40 etc
The ratio scale:
A ratio scale has all the properties of nominal, ordinal and interval scales plus its own Property :the zero point of a ratio scale is fixed, which means it has a fixed starting point. Since the difference between intervals is always measured from a zero point, this scale can be used for mathematical operations.
The measurement of variables like income, age, height and weight are examples of this scale. A person who is 40 year old is twice as old as one who is 20 year old.
Methods of Data Collection:
There are two types of data
Primary Data— collected for the first time
Secondary Data—those which have already been collected and analysed by someone else.
Methods of Primary Data Collection
OBSERVATION METHOD:
Commonly used in behavioural sciences
It is the gathering of primary data by investigator’s own direct observation of relevant people, actions and situations without asking from the respondent.
e.g.
• A hotel chain sends observers posing as guests into its coffee shop to check on cleanliness and customer service.
• A food service operator sends researchers into competing restaurants to learn menu items prices, check portion sizes and consistency and observe point-of-purchase merchandising.
• A restaurant evaluates possible new locations by checking out locations of competing restaurants, traffic patterns and neighborhood conditions.
Observation can yield information which people are normally unwilling or unable to provide.
e.g. Observing numerous plates containing uneaten portions the same menu items indicates that food is not satisfactory.
Types of Observation:
1. Structured – for descriptive research
2. Unstructured—for exploratory research
3. Participant Observation
4. Non- participant observation
5. Disguised observation
Limitations:
- feelings, beliefs and attitudes that motivate buying behaviour and infrequent behaviour cannot be observed.
- expensive method
Because of these limitations, researchers often supplement observation with survey research.
SURVEY METHOD
Approach most suited for gathering descriptive information.
Structured Surveys: use formal lists of questions asked of all respondents in the same way.
Unstructured Surveys: let the interviewer probe respondents and guide the interview according to their answers.
Survey research may be Direct or Indirect.
Direct Approach: The researcher asks direct questions about behaviours and thoughts. e.g. Why don’t you eat at MacDonalds?
Indirect Approach: The researcher might ask: “What kind of people eat at MacDonald’s?”
From the response, the researcher may be able to discover why the consumer avoids MacDonald’s. It may suggest factors of which the consumer is not consciously aware.
ADVANTAGES:
-can be used to collect many different kinds of information
-Quick and low cost as compared to observation and experimental method.
LIMITATIONS:
-Respondent’s reluctance to answer questions asked by unknown interviewers about things they consider private.
-Busy people may not want to take the time
-may try to help by giving pleasant answers
-unable to answer because they cannot remember or never gave a thought to what they do and why
-may answer in order to look smart or well informed.
CONTACT METHODS:
Information may be collected by
Mail
Telephone
Personal interview
Mail Questionnaires:
Advantages:
-can be used to collect large amounts of information at a low cost per respondent.
-respondents may give more honest answers to personal questions on a mail questionnaire
-no interviewer is involved to bias the respondent’s answers.
-convenient for respondent’s who can answer when they have time
- good way to reach people who often travel
Limitations:
-not flexible
-take longer to complete than telephone or personal interview
-response rate is often very low
- researcher has no control over who answers.
Telephone Interviewing:
- quick method
- more flexible as interviewer can explain questions not understood by the respondent
- depending on respondent’s answer they can skip some Qs and probe more on Others
- allows greater sample control
- response rate tends to be higher than mail
Drawbacks:
-Cost per respondent higher
-Some people may not want to discuss personal Qs with interviewer
-Interviewer’s manner of speaking may affect the respondent’s answers
-Different interviewers may interpret and record response in a variety of ways
-under time pressure ,data may be entered without actually interviewing
Personal Interviewing:
It is very flexible and can be used to collect large amounts of information.
Trained interviewers are can hold the respondent’s attention and are available to clarify difficult questions.
They can guide interviews, explore issues, and probe as the situation requires.
Personal interview can be used in any type of questionnaire and can be conducted fairly quickly.
Interviewers can also show actual products, advertisements, packages and observe and record their reactions and behaviour.
This takes two forms-
Individual- Intercept interviewing
Group - Focus Group Interviewing
Intercept interviewing:
Widely used in tourism research.
-allows researcher to reach known people in a short period of time.
- only method of reaching people whose names and addresses are unknown
-involves talking to people at homes, offices, on the street, or in shopping malls.
-interviewer must gain the interviewee’s cooperation
-time involved may range from a few minutes to several hours( for longer surveys compensation may be offered)
--involves the use of judgmental sampling i.e. interviewer has guidelines as to whom to “intercept”, such as 25% under age 20 and 75% over age 60
Drawbacks:
-Room for error and bias on the part of the interviewer who may not be able to correctly judge age, race etc.
-Interviewer may be uncomfortable talking to certain ethnic or age groups.
Focus Group Interviewing:
It is rapidly becoming one of the major research tool to understand people’s thoughts and feelings.
It is usually conducted by inviting six to ten people to gather for a few hours with a trained moderator to talk about a product, service or organization.The meeting is held in a pleasant place, and refreshments are served to create a relaxed environment.
The moderator needs objectivity, knowledge of the subject and industry, and some understanding of group and consumer behaviour.
The moderator starts with a broad question before moving to more specific issues, encouraging open and easy discussion to bring out true feelings and thoughts.
At the same time, the interviewer focuses the discussion, hence the name focus group interviewing.
-often held to help determine the subject areas on which questions should be asked in a later, large-scale, structured-direct interview
Comments are recorded through note taking or videotaped and studied later to understand consumer’ buying process.
This method is especially suited for managers of hotels and restaurants, who have easy access to their customers.
e.g. Some hotel managers often invite a group of hotel guests from a particular market segment to have a free breakfast with them. Managers get the chance to meet the guests and discuss what they like about the hotel and what the hotel could do to make their stay more enjoyable and comfortable.
The guests appreciate this recognition and the manager gets valuable information. Restaurant managers use the same approach by holding discussion meetings over lunch or dinner.
Drawbacks:
-Cost: may cost more than telephone survey
-Sampling: group interview studies keep small sample size to keep time and cost down, therefore it may be difficult to generalize from the results.
- Interviewer bias.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
Also called Empirical Research or Cause and Effect Method, it is a data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of being verified with observation or experiment.
Experimental research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain variables affect other variables in some way.
e.g.
-Tenderisers ( independent variable) affect cooking time and texture of meat( dependent variable) .
- The effect of substituting one ingredient in whole or in part for another such as soya flour to flour for making high protein bread.
-Develop recipes to use products.
Such research is characterised by the experimenter’s control over the variables under study and the deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its effects.
In such a research, it is necessary to get at facts first hand, at their source, and actively go about doing certain things to stimulate the production of desired information.
-Researcher must provide self with a working hypothesis or guess as to the probable results.
- Then work to get enough facts (data) to prove or disprove the hypothesis.
-He then sets up experimental designs which he thinks will manipulate the persons or the materials concerned so as to bring forth the desired information.
Evidence gathered through experimental or empirical studies today is considered to be the most powerful support possible for a given hypothesis.
TOOL FOR DATA COLLECTION (RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS)
The construction of a research instrument or tool for data collection is the most important asp of a research project because anything you say by way of findings or conclusions is based upto the type of information you collect, and the data you collect is entirely dependent upon the questions that you ask of your respondents. The famous saying about computers- “garbage in garbage out”- is also applicable for data collection. The research tool provides the input into a study and therefore the quality and validity of the output (the findings), are solely dependent o it.
Guidelines to Construct a Research Tool:
The underlying principle behind the guidelines suggested below is to ensure the validity of you instrument by making sure that your questions relat to the objectives of your study.
Step I: Clearly define and individually list all the specific objectives or research Questions for your study.
Step II: For each objective or research questions, list all the associated questions That you want to answer through your study.
Step III: Take each research question listed in step II and list the information required to answer it.
Step IV: Formulate question(s) to obtain this information.
The Questionnaire:
Structured surveys/ interviews employ the use of a questionnaire.
A questionnaire consists of a set of questions presented to a respondent for answers.
The respondents read the questions, interpret what is expected and then write down the answers themselves.
It is called an Interview Schedule when the researcher asks the questions (and if necessary, explain them) and record the respondent’s reply on the interview schedule.
Because there are many ways to ask questions, the questionnaire is very flexible. Questionnaire should be developed and tested carefully before being used on a large scale.
There are three basic types of questionnaire:
• Closed –ended
• Open-ended
• Combination of both
1.Closed –ended Questionnaire:
-Closed ended questions include all possible answers/prewritten response categories, and respondents are asked to choose among them.
-e.g. multiple choice questions, scale questions
- Type of questions used to generate statistics in quantitative research.
- As these follow a set format, and most responses can be entered easily into a computer for ease of analysis, greater numbers can be distributed.
2. Open-ended Questionnaire:
-Open-ended questions allow respondents to answer in their own words.
-Questionnaire does not contain boxes to tick but instead leaves a blank section for the respond to write in an answer.
-Whereas closed –ended questionnaires might be used to find out how many people use a serv open-ended questionnaire might be used to find out what people think about a service.
-As there are no standard answers to these questions, data analysis is more complex.
- As it is opinions which are sought rather than numbers, fewer questionnaires need to be distributed.
3. Combination of both:
-This way it is possible to find out how many people use a service and what they think of the service in the same form.
-Begins with a series of closed –ended questions, with boxes to tick or scales to rank, and then finish with a section of open-ended questions or more detailed response.
How to construct questionnaires:
• Deciding which questionnaire to use- - closed or open ended,
- self or interviewer administered
• Wording and structure of questions
- Questions should be kept short and simple--avoid double barreled i.e. two questions in one –ask two Qs rather than one.
- Avoid negative questionswhich have not in them as it is confusing for respondent to agree or disagree.
- Question should not contain Prestige Bias – causing embarrassment or forcing the respondent to give false answer in order to look good. Questions about educational qualification or income might elicit this type of response
- Use indirect questions for sensitive issues- in indirect questions respondents can relate their answer to other people .
- Using closed- ended questions- try to make sure that all possible answers are covered so that respondents are not constrained in their answer. “Don’t Know” category also needs to be added.
-Avoiding Leading Question: Don’t lead the respondent to answer in a certain way.
e.g. “How often do you wash your car?” assumes that respondent has a car and he washes his car. Instead, ask a filter question to find if he has a car, and then, ‘If you wash your car, how many times a year?’
• Length and ordering of the Questions:
- Keep the questionnaire as short as possible
-Ask easy Qs. Which respondents will enjoy answering
- If combined questionnaire, keep open ended Qs for the end.
-Make Qs as interesting as possible and easy to follow by varying type and length of question
- Group the qs. Into specific topic as this it makes it easier to understand and follow.
- Layout and spacing is important as cluttered Questionnaire is less likely to be answered.
Piloting the Questionnaire
Once you have constructed your questionnaire, you must pilot it.
This means that you must test it out to see if it is obtaining the result you require.
This is done by asking people to read it through and see if there are any ambiguities which you have not noticed.
They should also be asked to comment about the length, structure and wording of the questionnaire
Alter the questions accordingly
