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Research Methods: MGT 817 - Fall 2019

The document provides an overview of research methods for a course. It outlines different research designs including experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study, and comparative designs. It also discusses criteria for assessing research quality, including reliability, replication, and validity. Measurement fundamentals and levels of measurement from nominal to ratio are also covered.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
54 views43 pages

Research Methods: MGT 817 - Fall 2019

The document provides an overview of research methods for a course. It outlines different research designs including experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study, and comparative designs. It also discusses criteria for assessing research quality, including reliability, replication, and validity. Measurement fundamentals and levels of measurement from nominal to ratio are also covered.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Research Methods

MGT 817 - Fall 2019

Dr Muhammad Naseer
Akhtar
Department of
Management and HR
NUST Business School
Learning Objectives
• Reliability, replication, and validity are presented as criteria
for assessing the quality of business research.
• Five prominent research designs are then outlined:
• experimental and related designs;
• cross-sectional design, the most common form of which is
social survey research;
• longitudinal design and its various forms, such as the panel
study and the cohort study;
• case study design;
• comparative design.
• Each research design is considered in terms of the criteria for
evaluating research findings.
MS HRM 2K16 NUST Business School – Fall 2016 2
Research designs and methods
• A Research Design • A Research Method is
provides a framework for simply a technique for
the collection and analysis collecting data. Choice of
of data. Choice of research research method reflects
design reflects decisions
about priorities given to the decisions about the type of
dimensions of the research instruments or techniques
process. to be used.
• Experimetnal
• Cross- sectional • Assessment Criteria
• Longitudinal • Reliability
• Case Study • Repliciability
• Comparative • Validity
Quality Criteria in Business
Research
Three of the most prominent criteria for the evaluation of business and
management are:

• Reliability
• Replication
• Validity
Types of validity
Validity is concerned with the integrity of the
conclusions that are generated from a piece of
research.

• Measurement (or construct) validity – do


measures reflect concepts?
• Internal validity – are causal relations between
variables real?
• External validity – can results be generalized
beyond the research setting?
• Ecological validity – are findings applicable to
everyday life?
Experimental design elements

• Random assignment of subjects to experimental and


control groups,
• Pre-testing of both groups,
• Independent variable manipulated; all other variables
held constant,
• Post-testing of both groups,
• Computation and analysis of group differences
• Manipulation: in order to conduct a true experiment, it
is necessary to manipulate the independent variable in
order to determine whether it does in fact have an
influence on the dependent variable.
Cross-sectional design
A cross-sectional design 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 (usually many more than two), which are then
examined to detect patterns of association.
Cross-sectional design is
- Mostly associated with survey method
- But can be used with other methods: structured
observation, content analysis, official statistics, and diaries
-Key principles
• More than just one case
• At a single point in time
• Quantitative or quantifiable data
• Patterns of association
…..and survey research?

Survey research comprises a cross-sectional design


in relation to which data are collected predominantly
by questionnaire or by structured interview 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 (usually many more than two),
which are then examined to detect patterns of
association.
Longitudinal design
• survey of the same sample on more than one
occasion
• typically used to map change in business and
management research
• in a panel study (e.g. WERS – Research in focus
2.14- same managers surveyed in 2011)
• or a cohort study (e.g– all graduates from a
business studies course in the same year)
Case study design
• Detailed and intensive analysis of one case
• e.g. a specific person, event, organization or
community
• Often involves qualitative research
• Case is the focus of interest in its own right -
location/setting just provides a background
• Types of case: critical, unique, extreme,
revelatory, exemplifying
Comparative design

• Using the same methods to compare two or


more meaningfully contrasting cases
• Can be qualitative or quantitative
• Often cross-cultural comparisons
– Hofstede’s (1984) study of IBM managers in
different countries
• Includes multiple case studies
• Problem of translating research instruments and
finding comparable samples
Bringing research strategy and
research design together
• Both quantitative and qualitative strategies can be
executed through any of the research designs
covered in this chapter – although experimentation
is rarely used in qualitative research.

• Use of comparative design (for example):


– quantitative: Brengman et al’s (2005) study of
Internet shoppers in the United States and
Belgium
– qualitative: Hyde et al’s (2006) evaluation study of
role design in the NHS
Key Points
• There is a distinction between a research method and a
research design.
• There are three key technical terms for evaluating
research: reliability, validity, and replicability
• There are five key research designs: experimental, cross-
sectional, longitudinal, case study, and comparative
• There are various potential threats to validity in non-
experimental research.
• Although the case study is often thought to be a single type
of research design, it has several forms. Key issues
concerned with the nature of case study evidence in
relation to issues such as external validity
(generalizability).
Topics

• Types of quantitative research


• Measurement Fundamentals
• Concepts and construct validity
• Levels of measurement
• Research Validity
Quantitative Research
1. Exploratory -- It is a good starting point to get
familiarized with some insights and ideas (e.g. identify
the dependent and independent variables)
2. Descriptive – “The mapping out of a circumstance,
situation, or set of events” (McNabb)
3. Causal—experimenting (statistically speaking) to asses
cause and effect. For example, whether or not a P.A.
program is achieving its objectives. Experiments in the
social science take place “naturally” (e.g. The
effectiveness of Homeland Security to respond to natural
or anthropogenic hazards).
Measurement Fundamentals

• A key difference is that normal science deals with concepts that


are well defined and to great extent standardized measures (e.g.
speed, distance, volume, weight, size, etc.)

• On the contrary the social science often uses concepts that are
ill defined and therefore the standardization in terms of how it
is measured varies or there is little agreement (e.g. social class,
development, poverty, etc.)
• Statistics cannot be used until we understand the “the
fundamental nature” of measurement (McNabb)
Measurement Fundamentals

• Thus, our goal is that our measurements of the different


concepts are valid or match as much as possible the “real”
world

• What is a concept?
• “A mental construct that represents phenomena in the real world”.
(Pollock 2005:7)
• The challenge is to transform concepts into concrete terms
(preferable that can be measured).
Pollock’s model

CONCEPT

CONCEPTUAL
DEFINITION

OPERATIONAL
DEFINITION

VARIABLE
(A STATE THAT TAKES
DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES
O VALUES)
Units of Analysis

• Individuals
• People
• Places
• Groups
• Institutions
• Nations
• Programs
Measurement
• If our studies do not allow us to measure variation
in the dependent variable (Y) as related to
variation in our X variables, then we cannot do
any scientific testing.
1. We measure whether certain variables are meaningful
– individually significant.
2. We measure the variation in our variables.
3. We also measure the significance and explanatory
power of our models and the relationships between
variables.
4. If it can be quantified, then you should do so.
Qualities of Variables

• Exhaustive -- Should include all possible answerable responses.


(Schooling: No Schooling, Elementary, Middle, HS, College)
• Mutually exclusive -- No respondent should be able to have two
attributes simultaneously (e.g. Female Male ).
How do we construct
variables?
• In order to “Operationalize” our variables we must first define them
and then select a means to construct them. We do this by connecting
concepts to observations.

• This requires choosing a level of measurement.


What Is Level of
Measurement?
The relationship of the values that are
assigned to the attributes for a variable

Variable Development

Attributes Low Medium High

Values 1 2 3

Relationship
The Levels of Measurement

• Nominal
• Ordinal
• Interval
• Ratio
Nominal Measurement

• The values “name” the attribute uniquely


(classification).

• The value does not imply any ordering of


the cases, for example, jersey numbers in
football and dates in a calendar.
Nominal continued
• Nominal: These variables consist of categories that are
non-ordered. For example, race or ethnicity is one
variable used to classify people.
• A simple categorical variable is binary or dichotomous (1/0 or
yes/no). For example, did a councilwomen vote for the
ordinance change or not?
• When used as an independent variable, it is often referred to
as a “dummy” variable.
• When used as a dependent variable, the outcome of some
phenomenon is either present or not.
Ordinal

• Ordinal: These variables are also categorical, but


we can say that some categories are higher than
others. For example, income tax brackets, social
class, levels of education etc.
• However, we cannot measure the distance between
categories, only which is higher or lower.
• Hence, we cannot say that someone is twice as
educated as someone else.
• Can also be used as a dependent variable.
Ordinal Measurement

When attributes can be rank-ordered…


• Distances between attributes do not have any meaning,
for example, code Educational Attainment as
0=less than H.S.
1=some H.S.
2=H.S. degree
3=some college
4=college degree
5=post college
Is the distance from 0 to 1 the same as 3 to 4?
Interval

• Interval: Variables of this type are called scalar or


index variables in the sense they provide a scale or
index that allows us to measure between levels.
We can not only measure which is higher or lower,
but how much so.
• Distance is measured between points on a scale with
even units.
• Good example is temperature based on Fahrenheit or
Celsius.
Interval Measurement

When distance between attributes has meaning, for example,


temperature (in Fahrenheit) -- distance from 30-40 is same as
distance from 70-80
• Note that ratios don’t make any sense -- 80 degrees is not twice as
hot as 40 degrees (although the attribute values are).
Ratio

• Ratio: Similar to interval level variables in that


it can measure the distance between two
points, but can do so in absolute terms.
• Ratio measures have a true zero, unlike interval
measures.
• For example, one can say that someone is twice
as rich as someone else based on the value of
their assets since to have no money is based on
a starting point of zero.
Ratio

• Has an absolute zero that is meaningful


• Can construct a meaningful ratio (fraction),
for example, number of clients in past six
months
• It is meaningful to say that “...we had twice as
many clients in this period as we did in the
previous six months.
Measurement Hierarchy

RATIO STRONGEST

INTERVAL

ORDINAL

NOMINAL
WEAKEST
Research Validity

• Construct * (Already explained)


• Internal
• External
• Statistical
Internal Validity

• Are there other causes for what I am observing?

• If so, a study will lack internal validity if it cannot rule out plausible
alternative explanations.
• Can the outcome (diminished corruption) be fully attributed to the
program in place (tougher sanctions)?
Internal Validity
The outcome
Our Cause (s) Results

X Y

•Alternative Explanations
•Rival Hypothesis
•Threats to validity

History, Maturation, Testing, Instrumentation, selection, mortality, etc.


External Validity

• How well does my study or sample relate to


the general population?

In other words, am I able to generalize to


other population, places, across time?
External Validity

The outcome
Our Cause (s)
Results

X Y

•Alternative Explanations
•Rival Hypothesis
•Threats to validity

Selection * treatment History * Treatment Settings & Treatment


Model Misspecification and Spuriousness

• Antecedent variable: A variable that indirectly affects


the relationship between two other variables.
• For example, College education increases income. (X
 Y)
• However, parents wealth and education (Z) plays a key
role. Thus, income of college graduates may not be
random.

Z X Y
Model Misspecification and Spuriousness

• Intervening Variable: These may be spuriously related


to another relationship.
• Drinking coffee causes cancer.

• Drinking coffee may not be the cause of cancer, but rather


the fact that smokers are also coffee drinkers.

X Z Y
Model Misspecification and Spuriousness

• Alternative Variables: We also want to control for variables


that would bias our results if omitted.
• In this case, the X variables in a model would produce biased
estimates, undermining their validity and producing error that
leads to inaccurate inferences.
• To forecast correctly the number of medals we need to know
something about institutions and sports culture of a country.
X Y

Z
Statistical Validity

• The level of measurement used to some extent


determines the type of statistical test used (Chi
squared is more appropriate to test association
between nominal variables)
• We use statistics to test the likelihood or probability
of being wrong in our conclusions
• The selection of an adequate statistical test is
important to quantitative research
• How do we know if the relationship that we found is
due to chance?
Research types and validity priorities
VALIDITY

RESEARCH INTERNAL EXTERNAL CONSTRUCT STATISTICAL


TYPE
DESCRIPTIVE

EXPLORATORY

EXPLANATORY

EVALUATION

PUBLIC
OPINION

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