Research methods – Deductive / quantitative

1. Research methods – Deductive / quantitative

2. Structure • Deductive • Formulating a hypothesis • Testing the hypothesis • Quantitative • Survey design and sampling • Questionnaire design

3. Empirical vs theoretical research • Empirical research is based on the results of observation or experiment only • Theoretical studies the subject through the writings of others, reflects on these ideas and uses intellectual capabilities to construct a new explanation of the situation (a theory) • Empirical research is the dominant paradigm in business and management

4. Deductive Deduce theory / hypothesis Express hypothesis – variables and measurement Testing hypothesis – experiment or enquiry Examining outcome of enquiry Modifying / confirming theory Need for replication & reliability Generalisation Normally Quantitative Inductive Theory follows data Observation to understand and categorise phenomena Interpretation of complex social world Concerned with context in which events take place Normally Qualitative Deduction vs induction

5. Formulating a hypothesis • Read the literature and existing research • What are the variables? • What are the relationships? • How can they be measured? • What are your theories? • Formulate into hypotheses • Devise ways of testing hypotheses – collect empirical evidence • Experiment • Survey

6. Testing the hypothesis • Information gathering • Numerical evidence – sales figures, observations, responses • Direct evidence collection – researcher in direct contact • Indirect evidence collection – postal questionnaire, email

7. Survey • Widely used in business and management research • Associated with deductive approach • Often based on questionnaire • Requires sampling techniques • Interviews and observation can also be used

8. Sampling • Census – collection of data about / from every member of a group (population) • Sampling is used when survey of entire population is impracticable in terms of: • Size of population • Finance • Time

9. Population, sample and individual cases Population (full set of cases) Sample Case or element

10. Questionnaires • Used in surveys but can be part of experiment or case study • Can be part of structured interview • Alternatives are observation, semi structured interview • Poor for exploratory or highly qualitative research • Good for descriptive or explanatory research

11. Choice of questionnaire I • Influenced by: • Characteristics of respondents from whom you wish to collect data • Importance of reaching a particular respondent • Importance of respondents answers not being distorted • Types of questions you need to ask to collect your data • Number of questions you need to ask to collect your data

12. Choice of questionnaire II • Time available to complete data collection • Financial resources required for method • Availability of interviewers to assist • Ease of automating data entry

13. Determining what data to collect • To identify what data are relevant you must: • Review the literature • Discuss with tutors and friends • Determine whether research is: • Explanatory – requires data to test theories or • Descriptive – relevant data • The key data will relate to: • Variables • Independent – cause changes in dependent • Dependent – change in response to independent • Extraneous – cause changes in dependent variables but are external • Relationships – between variables

14. Variables • Four types of variables about which data can be collected through questionnaires: • Attitude – how respondents feel about something • Belief – what respondents believe is true or false • Behaviour – what respondents do • Attribute – details about respondents characteristics e.g. age, sex, income etc

15. Types of question • Closed – provide a number of choices from which the respondent can choose • Open – allow respondents to answer freely

16. Closed questions • Advantages • Simple and quick to answer • Allow easy comparison • Can often be quantified • Disadvantages • Poor for qualitative data • Do not give ‘rich’ data • Types • List – choose from list • Category – place into a category • Ranking – place in order • Scale – give value (e.g. Likert) • Quantity – number is given as answer • Grid – same scale used for a group of questions

17. Open • Used: • In semi-structured interviews • To gain ‘rich’ data • Disadvantages • Difficult to measure • Can be difficult to compare

18. General questionnaire design guidelines • Clear introduction – purpose, background • Clear layout • Ordering of questions • Grouping of questions • Coding of questions

19. Administering questionnaires • How to increase rate of response: • Incentives • Anonymity • Pre call • Follow-up calls • Personal collection

20. Summary • Remember surveys and questionnaires: • Can be used for deductive or inductive research • Can be used to gather quantitative or qualitative data