Lecture 1 Flashcards
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What is academic versus non-academic research?
Academic research is a process that people undertake in a systematic way (data collection and interpretation) in order to find out things, thereby increasing their knowledge.
To find things out: clear purpose; describing, explaining, understanding, criticizing or analysis with a clear purpose
What are the 6 principles of academic research?
- Principle 1: Pose significant questions that can be investigated empirically.
- Principle 2: Link research to relevant theory.
- Principle 3: Use methodology that permits direct investigation of the question.
- Principle 4: Provide a coherent, explicit, and evidence-based chain of reasoning.
- Principle 5: Replicate and generalize across studies.
- Principle 6: Disclose research to encourage professional scrutiny, critique and peer review.
What is the purpose of basic research?
- Expand knowledge of processes of business and management
- Results in universal principles relating to the process and its relationship to outcomes
- Findings of significance and value to society in general
What is the purpose of applied research
• Improve understanding of particular business or management problem
• Results in solutions to problem
• New knowledge limited to problem
Findings of practical relevance and value to manager(s) in organisation(s)
What is the context of basic research?
• Undertaken by people based in universities
• Choice of topic and objectives determined by the researcher
Flexible time scales
What is the context of applied research?
• Undertaken by people based in a variety of settings including organisations and universities.
• Objectives negotiated with originator
Tight time scales
Approach of deductive research?
General to specific
Approach of inductive research?
Specific to general
Logic of deductive research?
When the premises are true, the conclusion must also be true
Logic of inductive research?
Known premises are used to generate untested conclusions
Deductive use of data
Data collection used to evaluate hypotheses related to an existing theory
Inductive use of data
Data collection is used to explore a phenomenon, identify themes and patterns and create a conceptual framework
Type of theory deductive?
Theory falsification or verification
Type of theory inductive?
Theory generation and building
Purpose of quantitative study?
To describe concepts numerically to answer specific research question using hypotheses
Purpose of qualitative research?
To provide rich narrative description of phenomena that enhance understanding
Research question with quantitative study
Specific, ‘To what extent?’, Static, Outcome oriented
Research question with qualitative study
General, ‘How?’, ‘Why?’, Evolving, Process oriented
Characteristics of quantitative study
Conceptual model, Concepts, variables, operationalization, hypotheses
Characteristics of quantitative study
Framing, Phenomena, No hypotheses
Research design quantitative study
Surveys, experiments
Research design qualitative research
Ethnopraphies, grounded theory, case study, narrative research
Data analysis quantitative study
Regressions (SPSS), Path models
Data analysis qualitative study
Tamplate analysis, matrix method
Steps the researcher takes in qualitative research
empirical patterns to theory
1. Gather information (e.g. interviews, observations)
2. Ask open-ended questions of participants or records field notes
3. Analyze data to form themes or categories
4. Looks for broad patterns, generalizations, or theories from themes or categories
Poses generalizations or theories
Steps the researcher takes in quantitative research
theory to empirical patterns
- Test or verifies a theory
- Tests hypotheses deducted from the theory
- Defines and operationalizes variables derived from the theory
- Measures or observes variables using an instrument to obtain scores (surveys)
Inductive research is
theory building, qualitative research, Richness of data
Deductive research is
theory testing, quantitative research, frequency of the data
What is theory?
“Theory is about the connections among phenomena, a story about why acts, events, structure, and thoughts occur. Theory emphasizes the nature of causal relationships, identifying what comes first as well as the timing of such events. Strong theory, in our view, delves into underlying processes so as to understand the systematic reasons for a particular occurrence or non-occurrence.”
Why is theory important?
- Organizing principle
- Enhances our understanding of various phenomena
- Enhances our understanding of relations between those phenomena
- Allows us to predict phenomena
What is a concept?
Concept is a general idea in our heads about a variable/notion included in our research. E.g., employees’ satisfaction with their job.
What is a construct?
Construct answers the questions “what is this concept of satisfaction with one’s job”? When the researcher defines what the concept means, (s)he constructs its meaning within the framework of the theory at hand. The concept is no longer a vague idea, but it is now more formally defined. E.g., job satisfaction: the extent to which an employee is happy with his job, including autonomy and supervision.
What is a phenomenon?
In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable. E.g., increased employees’ satisfaction with their job after (large) financial bonus is payed out; longevity of family businesses; new venture creation during the financial crisis.
What is a causality
Causality is the relationship between cause and effect. The casual relationship between two or more constructs: one construct (cause) is influencing other construct (effect). E.g., the size of bonus (cause) influences employees’ job satisfaction (effect).
What is a hypothesis?
Hypothesis is a conjectural (i.e. speculative) statement of the researcher’s expectations about how the concepts in the study are related. A hypothesis is the investigator’s prediction or expectation what the results will show. Hypothesis is thus testable proposition about the relationship between two or more events or concepts.
E.g., “Bonus size positively influences employees’ job satisfaction”.
What is logical reasoning?
Logical reasoning is process used in theory development to explain why relationships may exist based on what is already known. E.g., explanation why positive relationship between bonus size and employee job satisfaction exists, based on theoretical arguments and empirical evidence.
