The document outlines the process of formulating a research design, emphasizing the importance of relevant and clear research questions. It discusses various research strategies such as experiments, case studies, and surveys, and highlights considerations like time horizons and ethical issues. Finally, it notes the significance of combining multiple research methods to enhance validity and reliability of findings.

1. Slide 1.1
Session 6 Formulating the research design

2. Slide 1.2
Review your research questions:
Good Questions Are:
Relevant.
Manageable in terms of research and in terms of
your own academic abilities.
Substantial and with original dimensions.
Consistent with the requirements of the assessment.
Clear and simple.
Interesting.
http://www.socscidiss.bham.ac.uk/s7.html

3. Slide 1.3
What is the relationship between launch strategy
and subsequent success and failure?
• define the four approaches to toy launch strategy
• define success & failure over a relevant time period
• classify the launch strategy for each new toy in one
year
• relate the four strategies to success and failure
• identify the factors within the strategies contributing
to success and failure

4. Slide 1.4
“Is technical leadership the principal driver of
project success in IT program management”?
Identify the five main drivers of project success in IT
program management.
What is relative importance of each of these drivers?
What is the relative importance of technical
leadership relative to the other drivers in the context
of IT program management.

5. Slide 1.5
Is the Compact Disc becoming a redundant
format for music consumption?
What is the proportion of CD sales to download sales and how has this
changed in recent years?
Are the main music suppliers (i.e. the major record labels) or the
consumers driving the change from CD to download?
What factors have limited the change from CD to download?
Can the product life-cycle model be applied to the CD?
What evidence is there from the past to hint at future trends?
 http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~accproj/resources/Accounting_Dissertation_Proposal-example_6.pdf

6. Slide 1.6
The Process of Research Design
Research choices
Research strategies
Time horizons

7. Slide 1.7
Research Design and Tactics
The research onion
Saunders et al, (2009)
Figure 5.1 The research ‘onion’

8. Slide 1.8
Research Design
The research design needs
Clear objectives derived from the research question
To specify sources of data collection
To consider constraints and ethical issues
Valid reasons for your choice of design

9. Slide 1.9
Classification of the research purpose
Exploratory research
Descriptive studies
Explanatory studies

10. Slide 1.10
Research Strategies
Experiment Action research
Grounded theory Survey
Ethnography Case study
Archival research

11. Slide 1.11
Research Strategies
An experiment will involve
Definition of a theoretical hypothesis
Selection of samples from know populations
Random allocation of samples
Introduction of planned intervention
Measurement on a small number of dependent variables
Control of all other variables

12. Slide 1.12
Research Strategies
A classic experiment strategy
Saunders et al, (2009)
Figure 5.2 A classic experiment strategy

13. Slide 1.13
Research Strategies
Survey: key features
Popular in business research
Perceived as authoritative
Allows collection of quantative data
Data can be analysed quantitatively
Samples need to be representative
Gives the researcher independence
Structured observation and interviews can be used

14. Slide 1.14
Research Strategies
Case Study: key features
Provides a rich understanding of a real life context
Uses and triangulates multiple sources of data
A case study can be categorised in four ways
and based on two dimensions:
single case v. multiple case
holistic case v. embedded case
Yin (2003)

15. Slide 1.15
Research Strategies
Action research: key features
Research IN action - not ON action
Involves practitioners in the research
The researcher becomes part of the organisation
Promotes change within the organisation
Can have two distinct focii (Schein, 1999) –
the aim of the research and the needs of the sponsor

16. Slide 1.16
Research Strategies
The action research spiral
Saunders et al, (2009)
Figure 5.3 The action research spiral

17. Slide 1.17
Research Strategies
Grounded theory: key features
Theory is built through induction and deduction
Helps to predict and explain behaviour
Develops theory from data generated by
observations
Is an interpretative process, not a logico-deductive one
Based on Suddaby (2006)

18. Slide 1.18
Research Strategies
Ethnography: key features
Aims to describe and explain the social world inhabited by
the researcher
Takes place over an extended time period
Is naturalistic
Involves extended participant observation

19. Slide 1.19
Research Strategies
Archival research: key features
Uses administrative records and documents as the
principal sources of data
Allows research questions focused on the past
Is constrained by the nature of the records and
documents

20. Slide 1.20
Research Strategies
The role of the practitioner-researcher
Key features
Research access is more easily available
The researcher knows the organisation
Has the disadvantage of familiarity
The researcher is likely to their own assumptions
and preconceptions
The dual role requires careful negotiation

21. Slide 1.21
Multiple research methods
Research choices
Saunders et al, (2009)
Figure 5.4 Research choices

22. Slide 1.22
Multiple research methods
Reasons for using mixed method designs:
(Table 5.1 )
Triangulation
Facilitation
Complementarity
Generality
Aid interpretation
Study different aspects
Solving a puzzle
Source: developed from Bryman (2006)

23. Slide 1.23
Time Horizons
Select the appropriate time horizon
Cross-sectional studies
Longitudinal studies

24. Slide 1.24
Credibility of research findings
Important considerations
Reliability
Validity
Generalisability
Logic leaps and false assumptions

25. Slide 1.25
Research design ethics
Remember
‘The research design should not subject the research
population to embarrassment, harm or other material
disadvantage’
Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)

26. Slide 1.26
Summary: Session 5
Research design turns a research question and objectives into
a project that considers
Strategies Choices Time horizons
Research projects can be categorised as
Exploratory Descriptive Explanatory
Research projects may be
Cross-sectional Longitudinal

27. Slide 1.27
Summary: Session 5
Important considerations
The main research strategies may combined in the same
project
The opportunities provided by using multiple methods
The validity and reliability of results
Access and ethical considerations