Research Methodology

Lecture No : 8
(Research Design-continue)

Recap
We covered some of the research design
elements
We talked about the research purpose
(exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing)

Type of investigation
(causal, correlations)

Extent of researcher's interference

(High,moderate,low)

Study Setting: Contrived and Noncontrived

Organizational research can be done in the
natural environment where work proceeds
normally (i.e., in non-contrived setting) or
in artificial, contrived settings.
Correlation studies are invariably
conducted in non-contrived settings,
whereas rigorous causal studies are done
in contrived lab setting

 Correlation studies done in organizations

are called field studies
( factors influencing in a call center its
employees turn over ).

 Studies to establish cause and effect

relationships using the same natural
environment in which employees normally
function are called field experiments
Example:
employees who have been given
recognition and employee who have not
been given recognition.

 Cause effect studies in contrived

environment in which The environment
extraneous factors are controlled are
termed as lab experiments.

 Example:
Select all new employees with the same
scores in the entry test and provide one
group training and the other no training
and controlling that they are not exposed
to any senior employee who could guide
them.)

Unit of Analysis: Individuals, Dyads,

Groups, Organizations, Cultures
The unit of analysis refers to the level of
aggregation of the data collected during
the subsequent data analysis stages.

 Individuals: If the problem statement

focuses on how to raise the motivational
levels of employees in general, then we
are interested in individual employees in
the organization and would like to find out
what we can do to raise their motivation.

 Here the unit of analysis is the individual.

(managers perception on the factors
which influence the success of the project)

 Dyads: If the researcher is interested in

studying two-person interactions, then
several two-person groups, is known as
dyads and will become unit of analysis.

 For example, analysis of husband-wife(are

they satisfied with the education provided
by the school) in families and mentormentee (perception on the benefit of
mentoring).

 Groups: If the problem statement is

related to group effectiveness, however,
then obviously the unit of analysis would
be at group level.

 For example, if we wish to study group

decision-making patterns, we would
probably examining such aspects as group
size, group structure, cohesiveness, and
the like, in trying to explain the variance in
group decision making.
In such cases the unit of analysis will be
groups.(use of I.T by the different
department)

 Organizations: If we compare different

departments in the organization, then the
data analysis will be done at the
departmental level - that is, the individuals
in the department will be treated as one
unit and comparison made treating the
department as the unit of analysis.
(Conservation of energy initiatives by
public and private organization)

 Cultures: If we want to study cultural

differences among nations, we will have to
collect data from different countries and
study the underlying patterns of culture in
each country, here the unit of analysis
used will be cultures.
(Moral values of Eastern vs Western
cultures)

Time Horizon: Cross-sectional versus

Longitudinal
Cross-Sectional Studies
A study can be done in which data are
gathered just once, perhaps over a period
of days or weeks or months, in order to
answer a research question. Such studies
are called one-shot or cross-sectional
studies.
(data collected from project managers and
their psychological well being between
October till December)

 Longitudinal Studies
In some cases, the researcher might
want to study people or phenomena at
more than one point in time in order to
answer the research question. For
example, the researcher might want to
study employees behavior before and
after a change in the top management,
to learn the effects of change.

 Or when data on the dependent variable

are gathered at two or more points in time
to answer the research question, are
called longitudinal studies. (use of
electricity by a city in summers and then
in winters)

Scenarios
Following are some scenarios , for each
indicate how researcher should proceed,
giving reasons:
1.Purpose of the study
2.Type of investigation
3.Researcher Interference
4.Study setting
5.Time Horizon
6.Unit of analysis

Recap

Research Design elements

Study setting
Time Horizon
Unit of analysis
Secnarios