5 Research Methods in Business

Research Methods in
Business
AFRE4043-F23-BS-AF-F20-A
Course Instructor:
Sayyid Haider Mustafa Rizavi, MS Computing Research (UK), MCom. Finance
Past: Manager Business Intelligence (Askari Bank Ltd.) Current: Principal Lecturer (UCP Business School)
Defining and refining the problem
• A “problem” does not necessarily mean that

something is seriously wrong with a current
situation that needs to be rectified immediately.
• “Any situation where a gap exists between an
actual and a desired ideal state.”
Defining and refining the problem
Problems versus symptoms of problems
• It is very important that symptoms of problems are not defined as the real
problem.
• High employee turnover rate may merely be a symptom of the deep‐
rooted motivational problem and salary increments may not affect
employees intentions to switch.
• One way of determining that the problem, rather than the symptom, is
being addressed is a technique called “5 Whys” or “5 Times Why”
“5 Whys” or “5 Times Why”
My best employees are leaving the organization! WHY?
• Because they are not satisfied with their jobs.
• Because they do not find a challenge in their jobs.
• Because they do not have control over their work.
• Because they do not have a lot of influence over planning, executing, and
evaluating the work they do.
• Because we have been reluctant to delegate.
“The introduction of flexible work hours has
created more problems than it has solved”
• Lack of specificity and focus!
a) Making it more specific and precise
b) Setting clear boundaries.
c) Select a perspective from which we
investigate the subject
How the selection of an academic perspective
will help us to narrow down our research?
“ Long and frequent delays lead to much frustration among airline
passengers. These feelings may eventually lead to switching behavior,
negative word-of-mouth communication, and customer complaints .”
• Preliminary research suggests:
• service waiting times are typically controlled by two techniques: operations
management, to decrease actual, objective waiting times (perspective 1) and
management of perceptions, that will help service providers to manage the
customers' subjective waiting experience (perspective 2)
Three important first steps in the research
process
Preliminary Research
• Preliminary research should help the researcher to find answers to
questions such as: “What is the problem?”; “Why does the problem
exist?”; “Is the problem important?”; and “What are the benefits of
solving the problem?”
• Information needed may be broadly classified under two headings:
1. Information on the organization and its environment – that is, the
contextual factors.
2. Information on the topic of interest.
Nature of information to be gathered
• The contextual information mentioned may be obtained through various
primary and/or secondary data collection methods, such as interviews and
a review of company records and archives.
• Data gathered through existing sources are called secondary data.
• Secondary data are data that have been collected by others for another
purpose than the purpose of the current study.
• The nature and the value of secondary data should be carefully evaluated
before it is used.
• CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING SECONDARY DATA:
• Timeliness of the data.
• Accuracy of the data.
• Relevance of the data.
• Costs of the data.
• Such data that the researcher gathers first hand for the specific purpose of
the study are called Primary Data
• Four principal methods of primary data collection:
• Interviews
• Observations
• Questionnaires
• Experiments
DEFINING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
• What makes a good problem statement?

• A good problem statement includes:
• Research objective(s) (WHY)
• Research question(s). (WHAT)
DEFINING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
BUSINESS PROBLEM TRANSLATED
INTO PROBLEM STATEMENT
BUSINESS PROBLEM TRANSLATED
INTO PROBLEM STATEMENT
Class activity: Considering the given problem, formulate a problem statement.
Information Overload on company’s E-Commerce

website renders into obstructions among visitors, to
early abandoning, and to low return rate. These visitor
responses have negative effect on customer acquisition
and profitability.
Criteria to Assess Quality of Problem
Statement
• There are three key criteria to assess the quality of a problem
statement: it should be…
• Relevant: A problem statement is relevant if it is meaningful from a managerial
perspective, an academic perspective, or both.
• Feasible: A problem statement is feasible if you are able to answer the research
questions within the restrictions of the research project.
• Interesting.
Statement
• Relevant: A problem statement is relevant if it is meaningful from a
managerial perspective, an academic perspective, or both.
• Managerial perspective: research is relevant if it relates to:
1. Existing problem in organizational setting
2. An area that a manager believes needs to be improved in the
organization.
Statement
• Relevant: A problem statement is relevant if it is meaningful from a
managerial perspective, an academic perspective, or both.
• Academic perspective: research is relevant if:
1. Nothing known about the topic
2. Known knowledge is scattered and dis-integrated
3. Results of existing research are contradictory
4. Established relationships do not hold in certain situations.
Statement
• Feasible: A problem statement is feasible if you are able to answer the research
questions within the restrictions of the research project.
• Time , money, availability of respondents, researcher’s expertise
• Scope of the problem statement is too broad?. (How to consumers
behave?)
• Interesting: Researcher’s genuine involvement in the research
process
Basic types of questions: exploratory and
descriptive
• Exploratory research questions are typically developed when:
1. not much is known about a particular phenomenon
2. existing research results are unclear or suffer from serious limitations
3. the topic is highly complex;
4. there is not enough theory available to guide the development of a
theoretical framework
Exploratory research
Descriptive research questions
• The objective of a descriptive study is to obtain data that describes the topic of interest.
• Descriptive studies are often designed to collect data that describe characteristics of objects (such as
persons, organizations, products, or brands), events, or situations.
• Descriptive research is either quantitative or qualitative in nature.
• Descriptive studies may help the researcher to:
• 1. Understand the characteristics of a group in a given situation (for instance the profile of a specific segment in a
market).
• 2. Think systematically about aspects in a given situation (for instance, factors related to job satisfaction).
• 3. Offer ideas for further probing and research.
• 4. Help make certain (simple) decisions (such as decisions related to the use of specific communication channels
depending on the customer profile, opening hours, cost reductions, staff employment, and the like).

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Research Methods in

• A “problem” does not necessarily mean that

• What makes a good problem statement?

Information Overload on company’s E-Commerce

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