Business Research Flashcards
Purpose Clearly Defined
statement of the decision problem should include its scope, limitations, and the precise meanings of all concepts, and variables significant to the research.
Research design thoroughly planned and executed
- should be clearly described and justified.
- procedures should be detailed and carefully followed to yield results that are as objective as possible
- researchers must avoid personal bias in selecting research and sampling designs and collecting and recording data. .
High ethical standards applied
- a research design must include safeguards against causing mental or physical harm, exploitation, invasion of privacy, and/ or loss of dignity to participants.
- procedures for ensuring data integrity are critical.
Adequate analysis for decision maker’s needs
- should use appropriate techniques
- insights should be limited to those for which the data provide an adequate basis.
Limitations frankly revealed
- the researcher should report with complete frankness, flaws in research design or design execution and estimate their effect on the findings.
. Findings reported unambiguously; insights and conclusions justified
research reports should reveal candidly the sources of data and the means by which data were obtained.
- presentation of insights and conclusions should be comprehensive , easily understood by the audience , and organized so that the relevant decision maker can readily locate critical information.
The management dilemma can also be triggered by an early sign of an opportunity or growing evidence that a fad may be gaining staying power, such as:
> The discovery of an expensive chemical compound that would increase the efficacy of a drug
The shift in job hunting to digital job boards
The rise in penetration of smartphone usage
Increasing numbers of firms mining data to develop digital dashboards.
Value and Budget the Research
- if research has value, then the manager obtains the resources budgeted for the project.
- if the process is fair, the manager with the best justification will earn the budget he /she needs.
Research design
- is the blue print for collecting data that fulfills objectives and answers questions.
Data
- are collective units of information( production defects, purchases or returns, a person’s attitudes, behaviors, motivations, attributes, photos, recorded comments, etc. ) from a subject or case ( people , events, machines, personnel records , etc. ) measured by a data collector ( person or a sensing device or machine, digital or mechanical) following consistent procedures
2 Classifications of Data
Primary data
Secondary data
Primary data
- are recorded directly,; they are raw or unprocessed.
- Focus of most business research studies.
Secondary data
- contain at least one level of interpretation.
- often used during exploration and are helpful in the interpretation of new primary data on similar subjects.
4 Types of data based on the type of measurement scale used to collect:
Nominal Data
Ordinal data
Ratio Data
Interval data
Nominal Data
- provide classification but no order, equal distance, or natural origin.
- In the classification, o group is more than or less than another
Ordinal data
- provide classification and order but no equal distance or natural origin.
Ratio Data
- offer classification, order, equal distance, and natural origin.
One writer suggests data also may be characterized by their:
by their abstractness, verifiability, elusiveness, and truthfulness ( closeness to the phenomenon).
Abstractness
- if what we measure is objective ( someone’s height) it is on one extreme of the abstractness continuum.
. Verifiability
- data are processed by our senses.
Elusivenness
- occur at a speed that may make measurement during occurence difficult.In these instances, we rely on video or audio recording of events or people’s memories.
Truthfulness
- is the data collected accurately reflects the phenomena being measured, they are considered truthful.
Data Collection Design
- selecting a data collection design is complicated by the availability of a large variety of methods, techniques, procedures, and protocols.
Sampling Design
- this subprocess answers the question: From whom or what ( target population) does the data need to be collected how and from how many (cases).
The steps in this subprocess include:
- Define the target population
- Define a case
- Define the number of cases needed
- Define the procedure for how each case will be recruited or selected.
Target Population
- first step in planning the sampling design.
- people, events or records that possess the desired information to answer the research question.
- each unit in that target population is a case. Each case possess the information on one or more variable that need to be measured.
Census
- requires that the researcher examines or counts every case in the target population
Sample
- requires examining a portion of the cases in the target population.
Collect and Prepare the data
2 subprocess
Actual collection of the data
Preparation of the analysis
Collect the data
Questionnaire
Standardized tests
Observation checklists
Event notes
Video or audio recordings
Photographs
Personal diaries
Instrument calibration logs
if research has value, then the manager obtains the resources budgeted for the project. T or F
True
- if the process is fair, the manager with the best justification will earn the budget he /she needs.
True
