Research methods

1. Course Objectives:
1. Understand the concept / fundamentals of research and their
types.
2. Understand the practical application of various research
techniques.
3. Understand the importance of scaling & measurement
techniques and sampling techniques
4. Understand the importance of coding, editing, tabulation and
analysis in doing research.
5. Understanding and applying the concept of statistical analysis
which includes various parametric test and non-parametric test
and ANOVA technique and understand technique of report
writing.

2. Pedagogy:
Pedagogy includes the Power-point presentations with essential and
pertinent inputs from recent developments taking place in the area of
Business Research Methods.
Discussions, Case Studies and Presentations by students are part of
the teaching-learning process.
At the end of every unit, quiz will be conducted.

3. Textbooks and Books for reference
• 1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas
Publication 1e, 2014
• 2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson
Education 2e, 2019
• 3. research methodology by C. R Kothari, New Age International
Publishers, 2e, 2004

4. Unit 1
Learning Outcomes
• Understand the meaning & importance of research and
also fundamentals for different types of research.
• Understand latest trends in business research.
• Know the concept of scientific research.
• Study about the process of research and its application in
business.
• Understand research proposal and its elements.
• Understand how to draft research proposal.

5. Session 1
Learning objectives:
To understand about the concept of Research: – Definition,
Meaning, Importance and its types.
To understand the criteria of a good Research and its
application applications in functional areas of Business.

6. • BEFORE -----------------RESEARCH-------------AFTER

7. Business Research
• The systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis,
dissemination and use of information or business data for the
purpose of assisting management decision making.
• It provides help in identifying and giving solution to the
business problems.
• Systematic, scientific method, objective(free from biases),
• Find it tell it like it is…. No preconceived notions/ findings

8. Meaning, importance and types of
research
• Research is a tool that is building block and a sustaining pillar of
every discipline. Scientific or otherwise-that one knows of.
• Scientific research is a systematic, controlled and critical
investigation of propositions about various phenomena.

9. Steps involved in business research
• (a) clear identification of broad area in which the problem lies,
• (b) precise formulation, and hence, conceptualization of the
specific problem requiring solution, (c) collection of information
or data, having a bearing upon the problem,
• (d) analyses of data,
• (e) identification of all the possible solutions,
• (f) selection of the best from amongst all possible solutions,
• (g) formulation of the strategy to be adopted, and
• (h) implementation of the chosen strategy.

10. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new
insights into it. (exploratory research studies)
• To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation, or a group. (descriptive studies)
• To determine the frequency with which something occurs or the
frequency with which it is associated with something else.
(diagnostic research studies)
• To test a hypothesis
• To forecast or predict

11. • Information/Data Gaps
• Gap-Filling As the Objective of Research
• Nature and Types of Gaps in Knowledge
• Alternative Approaches to Research
• Gaps In Theory
• Divergence Between Facts And Theory
• Policy Gaps
• Methodological Gaps
• Pre-Testing
• Forecasting

12. Some examples of real- life situation
where research can be useful:
• A firm wants to produce and market a new product but first wants to ascertain if there is a
potential consumer demand for this product in markets x,y and z.
• A multinational firm wants to establish a production facility in another country after
determining its technical and economic feasibility.
• A government agency wants to ascertain the satisfaction level of its employees, the causes
for any possible discontent, and propose a scheme for enhancing this level.
• A financial institution wants to invest in commodities and commissions a study to
determine the past trends and forecast future returns in a portfolio of commodities.
• The CEO of a firm wants to undertake a SWOT-Analysis as part of his plan to redefine his
organization’s priorities .

13. Significance (Importance) of Research:
• Research promotes development of logical habits of
thinking
• Research provides basis for nearly all government policies
• Research is required to have a precise image of social and
economic structure
• Research Solves various problems related to business and
industry
• Research helps in studying social relationships and solving
social problems
• To Gather Necessary Information

14. Criteria of a good research
• Good Research is systematic
• Good Research is logical
• Good Research is Empirical
• Good research is replicable

15. Types of Research
• Basic research:
The context is vast and time period is flexible & applicable to the
entire business community.
• Applied research:
The study has limited relevance and be able to generate
knowledge specific to the problem situation. This would be of
practical knowledge to the specific organization.

16. • Exploratory Research
Loosely structured in design, flexible and investigative in
methodology, may not involve testing of hypotheses, findings
might be topic specific might not have much relevance outside the
researchers’ domain.
• Conclusive Research
Well structured in design, have a formal and definitive
methodology, that needs to be followed and tested, carried out to
test the formulated hypotheses and findings are significant as
they have theoretical and applied implication.

17. • Descriptive Research
It is undertaken to describe the situation, community, phenomena, outcome
or programme. Here the objective is to describe the data, characteristics
about what is being studied. It is contemporary, topical and time bound.
The findings of such study are largely of a diagnostic in nature ie, the studies
indicate the existing symptoms of a particular situation without establishing
the causality of the relationship.
• Causal Research
This is concerned with exploring the effect of one variable on another. It
requires a rigid sequential approach to sampling, data collection and data
analysis. To establish a reliable and testable relationship between two or
more constructs or variables, the other influencing variable must be
controlled so that their impact on the can be eliminated or minimized.
(impact of flexi hours on employee turnover, age, marital status, OC need to
controlled)

18. Cross-sectional Designs
• Involve the collection of information from any given
sample of population elements only once.
• In single cross-sectional designs, there is only one
sample of respondents and information is obtained from
this sample only once.
• In multiple cross-sectional designs, there are two or
more samples of respondents, and information from each
sample is obtained only once. Often, information from
different samples is obtained at different times.
• Cohort analysis consists of a series of surveys conducted
at appropriate time intervals, where the cohort serves as
the basic unit of analysis. A cohort is a group of
respondents who experience the same event within the
same time interval.

20. Research application in functional areas
of business
“Marketing”:
• Product identification
• Demand supply analysis
• Market segmentation
• Packaging
• Pricing
• Planning for sales force
• Buying behaviour

21. “Production”
Forecasting
Capacity Planning
Plant location
Inventory control
Materials requirement planning.

22. “Personnel”
Human Resource Planning
Performance Appraisal system
Conflict management system
Leadership Styles
Training Methods
Change Management

23. • “Finance”
• Break- even analysis
• Capital budgeting
• Ration analysis
• Portfolio management
• Balance of payments

24. References :
Text Book
1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas Publication 1e,
2014
2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson Education 2e, 2019
Reference Book
Marketing research, Naresh malhotra and Satyabhushan Dash, Pearson
publication, 201 7e, 2015

25. Session 2
Learning objectives:
To reveal the emerging trends in business research methods

26. Emerging trends in research
• Social media analytics
• Text analytics
• Mobile ethnography
• Research gamification
• Crowdsourcing

27. Social media analytics
• Social media analytics assesses the effectiveness of a post. A few
examples of what social media analytics can tell users is the
number of likes and shares, impressions (i.e. the amount of
people the post was shown to), and link clicks.
• What are people saying? Do they like it? What needs to be fixed?
Is the discussion positive or negative? Social sentiment
platforms track for big brands.

28. Text analysis
• Researchers use text analytics when analyzing open-ended
questions or text from respondents. Text analytics can refer to
word clouds, which makes words used more frequently larger,
but more in-depth text analytics refers to automated
categorization of text. Some platforms are more advanced than
others.

29. Mobile ethnography
• Mobile ethnography, a new emerging research methodology,
breaks down the barriers between the researcher and
participant. For these types of studies, a researcher observes the
actions of a participant over a period of time using their mobile
device. Results from these studies can be used to answer
questions of consumers' motivation, attitude, belief, and values.
• The process can involve various tasks for the participant such as
completing a daily online journal or recording video to answer
in-depth questions.

30. Sensory testing
• It refers the research of taste, sound, smell, feel, design/look,
etc. This type of research is most commonly used in the
development stage of a product.
• A hot cocoa company decides to create a new low calorie hot
cocoa, but wants it taste as close to the original product as
possible. Sensory testing would create a controlled environment
for several taste testers who provide feedback on each of the
new recipes so the company can proceed with the best choice.

31. Research Gamification
• Research gamification is a new emerging research methodology,
and it's also a pretty simple one. It refers to the process of
making survey questions "gamified". A really simple example of
this could be a matching game where respondents are asked to
drag words from a word bank and match them to various
brands. The results from research gamification can lead to a
higher survey complete rate and more engaged respondents.
• "If you were the person hired to market this new product and
you had a million dollar bonus if the product was successful,
how would you market this new product?"

32. Crowd sourcing
• In simple terms, crowdsourcing means a group of people are
asked to provide feedback. The idea is that there is a large,
relatively open group of people who are willing to answer
questions, but the key is to ask the right questions to meet your
objective.
• An example could be a cookie company releasing several new
flavors and asking consumers to buy, try, and rate online which
flavor they like best. A side benefit to research like this is driving
customers to the brand's website or social media pages which
further engages customers.

33. References :
Text Book
1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas Publication 1e,
2014
2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson Education 2e, 2019
Reference Book
Marketing research, Naresh malhotra and Satyabhushan Dash, Pearson
publication, 201 7e, 2015

34. Session 3
Learning objectives:
To explain the concept ‘Scientific Method’ and Characteristics of scientific
method

35. Research & the Scientific Method

36. Direct observation
Clearly defined variables
Clearly defined methods
Empirically testable
Elimination of alternatives
Statistical justification
Self-correcting process

37. References :
Text Book
1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas Publication 1e,
2014
2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson Education 2e, 2019
Reference Book
Marketing research, Naresh malhotra and Satyabhushan Dash, Pearson
publication, 201 7e, 2015

38. Session 4
Learning objectives:
Steps in Research Process Concept of Scientific Enquiry: – Formulation of
Research Problem Management Question research Question Investigation
Question

39. Research Process
Step 1: Defining the Problem
Step 2: Developing an Approach to the Problem
Step 3: Formulating a Research Design
Step 4: Doing Field Work or Collecting Data
Step 5: Preparing and Analyzing Data
Step 6: Preparing and Presenting the Report

40. Steps in research process
Step 1 : Problem Definition
Step 2 : Development of an Approach to the
Problem
Step 3 : Research Design Formulation
Step 4 : Fieldwork or Data Collection
Step 5 : Data Preparation and Analysis
Step 6 : Report Preparation and Presentation

41. Formulation of research problem
• Management question
• Research question
• Investigation question

42. Management Decision Problem Vs.
Business Research Problem
Management Decision Problem Business Research Problem
Should a new product be To determine consumer preferences
introduced? and purchase intentions for the
proposed new product.
Should the advertising To determine the
effectiveness
campaign be changed? of the current advertising
campaign.
Should the price of the To determine the price elasticity
brand be increased? of demand and the impact on sales
and profits of various levels
of price changes.

43. 43
Question for Discussion
• Discuss the management decision problem for which following
research problem might be useful
• Determine the number of tenants and their annual income in a
particular region
• Evaluate the effectiveness of commercial in a Mall

44. References :
Text Book
1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas Publication 1e,
2014
2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson Education 2e, 2019
Reference Book
Marketing research, Naresh malhotra and Satyabhushan Dash, Pearson
publication, 201 7e, 2015

45. Session 5 and 6
Learning objectives:
To study the process of designing research proposal.
To explain the steps of drafting a proposal.
To evaluate the research proposal.

46. 1-46
The Research
Process

47. Research proposal and its elements
• Type of research
• Purpose of research
• Time frame
• Scope
• Data collection design and Sampling design
• Research instrument
• Data collection process
• Analysis/
• Research Report writing
• Decision making

48. Evaluation of a research proposal
• Feasible or not????
• Cost and benefit analysis
• Data availability
• Resource availability
• Trained researchers

49. Session 7
Quiz and Tutorial conducted for unit 1

50. Session 9
Learning objectives:
MANAGING WORK LIFE BALANCE (Pg 634. Of Chawla and
Sondhi (Vikas publication)

51. Session 10
Learning objectives:
CLASS TEST of unit 1
THREE QUESTIONS FROM TUTORIAL.
Q1. Define research and its types.
Q2. Explain different types of research and its application.
Q3. Define the application of research problems in Human
Resource management.

52. References :
Text Book
1. Research Methodology, Deepak Chawla, Neena Sondhi, Vikas Publication 1e,
2014
2. Business Research Methods, Naval Bajpai, Pearson Education 2e, 2019
Reference Book
Marketing research, Naresh malhotra and Satyabhushan Dash, Pearson
publication, 201 7e, 2015