The document outlines the research process, focusing on identifying broad problem areas and defining precise problem statements for academic research. It discusses the importance of primary and secondary data collection, including methods for literature reviews and developing research proposals. Additionally, it emphasizes the criteria for constructing effective problem statements that are relevant, feasible, and interesting to ensure a successful research outcome.

1. 1
The Research Process: The broad
problem area and defining the
problem statement

2. 2
Chapter Objectives
1. Discuss how problem areas can be
identified.
2. State research problems clearly and
precisely.
3. Explain how primary and secondary data
help the researcher to develop a problem
statement.
4. Develop relevant and comprehensive
bibliographies for any research topic.
5. Write a literature review on any given topic.
6. Develop a research proposal.

3. 3
Broad Problem Area
 The broad problem area refers to the
entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and
problem solving. Such issues might
pertain to:
1. Problems currently existing in an
organizational setting that need to be
solved.

4. 4
Broad Problem Area
2. Areas that a manager believes needs
to be improved in the organization.
3. A conceptual or theoretical issue that
needs to be tightened up for the basic
researcher to understand certain
phenomena.
4. Some research questions that a basic
researcher wants to answer
empirically.

5. Describe Empirical Research
A "systematic approach for answering certain
types of questions."
Those questions are answered
”through the collection of evidence under
carefully defined and replicable conditions"
Calfee & Chambliss (2005) (p. 43).
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6. 6
Examples of Broad Problem Areas that
Could be Observed at the Work Place
 Training programs are perhaps not as
effective as anticipated.
 The sales volume of a product is not picking
up.
 Inventory control is not effective
 Some members in organization are not
advancing in their careers.
 The introduction of flexible work hours has
created more problems than it has solved in
many companies.

7. Define primary data in
research

Primary data refers to the first hand
data gathered by the researcher
himself.
7

8. 
Primary data is a type of data that is
collected by researchers directly from main
sources through interviews, surveys,
experiments, etc.

Primary data are usually collected from the
source—where the data originally originates
from and are regarded as the best kind of
data in research. 8
Preliminary Data Collection

9. •
Student Thesis

When conducting academic research or a
thesis experiment, students collect data from
the primary source. The kind of data collected
during this process may vary according to the
kind of research being performed—lab
experiments, statistical data gathering, etc.
9
Preliminary Data Collection

10. 
For example, a student carrying out a research
project to find out the effect of daily intake of
fruit juice on an individual’s weight will need to
take a sample population of 2 or more people,
feed them with fruit juice daily and record the
changes in their weight.

The data gathered throughout this process is
primary
10
Preliminary Data Collection

11. 11
Preliminary Data Collection
 The nature of data to be gathered could
be classified under three headings:
1. Background information of the organization
(the contextual factors).
2. Prevailing knowledge on the topic (relevant
findings from previous research).

12. 12
Preliminary Data Collection
 The background details of the company
can be obtained from available
published records, the web site of the
company.
 Company policies, procedures, and
rules can be obtained from the
organization’s records and documents.
 Data gathered through such existing
sources are called secondary data.

13. 13
Preliminary Data Collection
 Secondary data, are data that already
exist and do not have to be collected by the
researcher.
 Some secondary sources of data are
statistical bulletins, government publications,
information published or unpublished and
available from either within or outside the
organization, library records, data available
from previous research, online data, web
sites, and the Internet.

14. 14
Preliminary Data Collection
 Other types of information such as the
perceptions and attitudes of employees are
best obtained by talking to them; by
observing events, people, and objects; or by
administering questionnaires to individuals.
 Such data gathered for research from the
actual site of occurrence of events are called
primary data.

15. Prevailing knowledge on the topic
 A literature review should help the
researcher to identify and highlight the
important variables that are related to
the problem.
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16. 16
Literature Survey
 Literature survey is the
documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary
sources of data in the areas of specific
interest to the researcher.

17. 17
Literature Survey
 The library is a rich storage base for
secondary data through books, journals,
newspapers, magazines, conference
proceedings, doctoral dissertations,
master’s theses, government
publications, and financial marketing,
and other reports.

18. 18
Literature Survey
 The computerized databases
is now readily available and accessible,
which makes the literature search much
easier, and can be done without
entering the portals of a library
building.

19. 19
Reasons for the Literature Survey
1. Helps to find the important variables
that are likely to influence the problem
situation are not left out of the study.
2. Helps the development of the
theoretical framework and hypotheses
for testing.
3. The problem statement can be made
with precision and clarity.

20. Data Sources
 Textbooks
 Academic and professional journals
 Theses: phD theses and Master theses.
 Conference proceedings
 Unpublished manuscripts
 Reports
 Newspapers
 The internet
20

21. 21
Searching for literature
 There are three forms of
databases:
1. The bibliographic databases,
which display only the bibliographic
citations, that is, the name of the
author, the title of the article (book),
source of publication, year, volume,
and page numbers.

22. 22
Searching for Literature
2. The abstract databases, which in addition
provide an abstract or summary of the
articles.
3. The full-text databases, which provide
the full text of the article.
 Databases are also available for obtaining
statistics- marketing, financial, and so on.

23. 23
Writing Up the Literature
Review
 The documentation of the relevant
studies citing the author and the year of
the study is called literature review
or literature survey.
 The literature survey is a clear and
logical presentation of the relevant
research work done thus far in the area
of investigation.

24. 24
Writing Up the Literature
Review
 The purpose of the literature survey is:
 To identify and highlight the important
variables.
 To document the significant
findings from earlier research that
will serve as the foundation on which
the theoretical framework for the
current investigation can be built and
the hypotheses developed.

25. 25
Defining the Problem
Statement
 After the literature review, the researcher
is in position to narrow down the problem
from its original broad base and define the
issues of concern more clearly.

26. 26
What makes a good problem
statement?
 The problem statement introduces
the key problem that is addressed in
the research project.
 Problem statement is a clear,
precise, and short statement of the
specific issue that a researcher wishes
to investigate.

27. The three key criteria for
problem statement
 There are three key criteria to assess
the quality of the problem statement:
1. It should be relevant
2. It should be feasible
3. It should be interesting
27

28. From an academic perspective,
research is relevant if:
1. Nothing is known about the topic.
2. Much is known about the topic, but the
knowledge is scattered.
3. Much research on the topic is
available, but the results are
contradictory.
4. Established relationships do not hold in
certain situations.
28

29. A problem statement is feasible
 If you are able to answer the problem statement
within the restrictions of the research project.
 These restrictions are possibly related to time and
money and the expertise of the researcher (a
problem statement may be too difficult to answer).
 Thus, it is important that you develop a
narrowly defined question that can be
investigated with a reasonably amount of time
and efforts.
29

30. The problem statement is
interesting
 Because research is a time-
consuming process and you will go
through many ups and downs before
you present a final version of your
research report. It is therefore vital that
you are interested in the problem
statement that you are trying to
answer, so you can stay motivated
throughout the entire process.
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31. Examples of broad problem areas that a
manager could observe at the workplace:
 Training programs are not as effective as
anticipated.
 The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
 Minority group members are not advancing in their
careers.
 The newly installed information system is not
being used by the managers for whom it was
primarily designed.
 The introduction of flexible work hours has
created more problems than it has solved in many
companies.
31

32. Examples of Well-Defined
Problem Statements
 To what extent do the structure of the organization and type
of information systems installed account for the variance in
the perceived effectiveness of managerial decision making?
 To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high-quality, customer-centered
corporate image that it was intended to produce?
 How has the new packaging affected the sales of the
product?
 What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range
growth patterns of companies?
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33. 33
Example
 While Chrysler’s minivans, pickups, and
sports utilities take a big share at the
truck market, its cars trail behind those
of General Motors, Ford, Honda, and
Toyota. Quality problems include,
among other things water leaks and
defective parts
( Business Week, No.10, 2007).

34. 34
Example-cont.
1. Identify the broad problem area.
2. Define the problem?
3. Explain how you would proceed
further.

35. 35
Answers
1. The broad problem is that the Chrysler
cars are lagging in market share.
2. The problem statement: How can the
market share of Chrysler cars be
improved?

36. The research proposal
contains the following:
 Key elements:
 Purpose of the study
 Specific problem to be investigated.
 Scope of the study
 Relevance of the study
 Research design:
 Sampling design
 Data collection methods
 Data analysis
 Time frame
 Budget
 Selected Bibliography
36

37. Visit the following websites
 Intel http://www.intel.com
 Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com
write a paragraph on each of these
companies.
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