Chapter 2 Research designs

Question 1

Longitudinal research

Answer 1

Is case study research conducted over an extensive period of time. It often looks at the progression/changes to the item being researched.

Question 2

What is a research design? and factors to consider when choosing

Answer 2

A research design provides a framework for the collection and analysis of data. The choice of a research design is based on the priority given to e.g: expressing causal relationships, generalizing to larger groups, understanding behavior, etc.

Question 3

What is a research method?

Answer 3

Is simply a technique for COLLECTING DATA. It can be a wide variety of things e.g.: A self-completion questionnaire, structured interview, or participant observations.

Question 4

Give examples of different research designs:

Answer 4

Experimental design, cross-sectional or social survey design, Longitudinal, case study design, comparative design

Question 5

What is meant by reliability?

Answer 5

Reliability is concerned with the question of whether the results of a study are repeatable. “Are the results of a given experiment consistent when the experiment is repeated?”

Question 6

What is three prominent criteria for the evaluation of business and management research?

Answer 6

Reliability, replication, and validity

Question 7

What is meant by replicability?

Answer 7

A study is evaluated differently if it is replicable or not. It has to be stated how the procedure looked like when conducting the study in order for it to be replicable.

Question 8

What is meant by validity?

Answer 8

Validity is concerned with the integrity of the conclusions that are generated from a piece of research. It can be divided into measurement validity, internal validity, external validity, and ecological validity.

Question 9

Internal validity?

Answer 9

Is related to causality. Internal validity is concerned with the question of whether a conclusion that incorporates a causal relationship between two variables holds water.

Question 10

Independent variable

Answer 10

Tries to answer and determine if changes in an independent variable affect the dependent variable.

Question 11

Dependent variable

Answer 11

A variable that is hypothesized to be dependent on changes in one or more independent variables.

Question 12

Representative sample

Answer 12

A representative sample that is studied allows us to generalize conclusions from the study to the population/real world

Question 13

What is naturalism?

Answer 13

It has three different meanings explained in the books:
#1: Means viewing all objects of study -whether natural or social ones - as belonging to the same realm.
#2: Means being true to the nature of the phenomenon being investigated.
#3: Is a style of research that seeks to minimize the intrusion of artificial methods for data colection.

Question 14

Why is Experimental design rarely used in business and management research?

Answer 14

Because it is difficult to achieve the requisite level of control when dealing with organizational behavior. Control is important in experimental design.

Question 15

Why is experiemntal design a great research design?

Answer 15

Because the findings in experimental designs are often considered trustworthy and robust in their findings of causal relationships. Causal relationships can be hard to be sure of in other designs.

Question 16

What two groups are formed in a classical experimental design?

Answer 16

The experimental group that receives a certain stimulus. And the control group that does not receive any stimulus.

Question 17

How does the procedure look like when conducting an experimental design?

Answer 17

First, the two groups are measured and then one of them receive the experimental treatment and then the two groups are measured again to see the results of the treatment.

Question 18

Generalizability

Answer 18

Determines if the findings in research can be generalized to the whole population or the “outside world”

Question 19

What is the Hawthorne effect?

Answer 19

The Hawthorne effect is a type of reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.

Question 20

What is a quasi-experiment?

Answer 20

Has some of the characteristics of an experimental design but does not fulfill all the internal validity requirements. One example is natural experiments where full control of stimuli and coherent groups under investigation cannot be ensured but the findings are often compelling because they investigate “real life happenings”

Question 21

What is evaluation research?

Answer 21

As its name implies, it is concerned with the evaluation of such occurrences as organizational programs or interventions. The question asked is typically: “Has the intervention (e.g. new policy initiative or organizational change) achieved its anticipated goals? It is a form of quasi-experimental design since it often uses a control group that doesn’t get exposed to the treatment.

Question 22

What is a cross-sectional research design?

Answer 22

It entails the collection of data on more than one case (usually quite a lot more than one) and at a single point in time in order to collect a body of quantitative or quantifiable data in connection with two or more variables, which are then examined to detect patterns of association.

Question 23

What is structured observation

Answer 23

It is a methodology in which an event or series of events is observed in its natural setting and recorded by an independent researcher.

Question 24

What is content analysis

Answer 24

A research method used to determine the presence of certain words, themes, or concepts within some given qualitative data

Question 25

What is longitudinal design?

Answer 25

In a longitudinal design, a sample is surveyed and is then surveyed again on at least one further occasion.

Question 26

What is a case study design?

Answer 26

The basic case study design entails the detailed and intensive analysis of a single case. It is concerned with the complexity and particular nature of the case in question.

Question 27

What happens when you combine a case study with a longitudinal design?

Answer 27

You get a longitudinal case study:)

Question 28

What is random sampling?

Answer 28

In statistics, a simple random sample is a subset of individuals chosen from a larger set in which a subset of individuals are chosen randomly, all with the same probability. It is a process of selecting a sample in a random way.

Question 29

What is cross-cultural and international research?

Answer 29

Cross-cultural research entails the collection and analysis of data from two or more nations.

Question 30

What is meant by the level of analysis?

Answer 30

What is the primary unit of measurement and analysis? It can be individuals, groups, organizations, societies etc. Mixing different levels of analysis should be done with caution!

Question 31

What is ethnography

Answer 31

It is participant observation, a research method in which the researcher immerses him- or herself in a social setting for an extended period, observing behavior, listening to what is said in conversations both between others and with the fieldworker, and asking questions.