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Research Methods for Business & Managers

Requires not just identification of chosen techniques but a

meaningful discussion as to their suitability and, if possible, a
small discussion of the procedure involved in applying your
techniques. This section is heavily weighted in the overall
scheme of things so please pay due diligence thereto.

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Explanation through numbers

Explanation through words

Objective

Subjective

Deductive reasoning

Predefined variables and

measurement

Data collection before analysis

Cause and effect relationships

Inductive reasoning
Creativity, extraneous variables
Data collection and analysis
intertwined
Description, meaning

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Quantitative measures are typically referred to as variables.

A variable is anything that has different values eg numbers or

names

Any variable that is affected by or whose value is changed by

the occurrence of another variable is known as a dependent
(y) variable eg. If when pay is adjusted, performance changes
the performance is the dependent variable. Performance
can also be called the outcome.

Variables which are viewed as impacting upon the outcome,

are often referred to as independent (x) variables. So pay is
the independent variable.

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A nominal variable relates to a set of categories (such as ethnic groups,

political parties, gender )-which is not ordered or which cannot be
ranked/rated

An ordinal variable relates to a set of categories in which the categories

are ordered, (such as levels of educational qualification, organizational

rank, Likert scales)

An interval-level variable relates to a scale measure, (such as age or

income), that can be subjected to mathematical operations such as
averaging

Univariate analysis where a single variable is considered eg an analysis of

pay in a particular organization. Also known as simple statistics.

Bivariate analysis - where the relationship between two variables are

considered eg relationship between pay and performance. Also known as
effect or outcome statistics.

Multivariate analysis - where the aim is to explain why two variables are
related to other variable/s eg pay and working conditions impacting
performance and motivation. Also known as (multiple) effect or outcome
statistics.

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Descriptive or Simple Statistics

Summarize data

Effect Statistics:
Associational which measure connections
Inferential - which allows generalizations from samples to populations

Simple (or descriptive) statistics used for nominal and ordinal

variables

Usually

displayed

and

described

using

frequencies,

proportions or odds

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Frequency Distribution

Counts and Percentages - A simple table showing how many, or what percent, of the cases fall into each variable category.

Central Tendency or Location

The mode is the most common or frequently occurring number.

The median is the middle point and the 50th percentile.

The mean, the arithmetic average, is the most widely used measure of central tendency

Measuring Dispersion (Spread)

You can measure variation in three ways: range, percentile, and standard deviation.
Range consists of the largest and smallest scores
Percentiles tell us the score at a specific place within the distribution.
Standard deviation = a widely used measure of the variability of a variable that indicates the
average distance of cases from the mean value.
Z-scores = a standardized measure that allows comparisons of groups that differ in their means
and standard deviations.

Charts and graphs are suitable for presenting and

summarizing frequency data

Type of Charts
Bar Chart, Pie Chart
Histogram
Frequency Polygon

Type of Data

Bar Chart

Pie Chart

Nominal

Ordinal

Interval

Histogram

Frequency
Polygon

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Do you want to know how many individuals checked each answer?

Frequency

Do you want the proportion of people who answered in a certain way? Percentage
Do you want the average number or average score?

Mean

Do you want the middle value in a range of values or scores?

Median

Do you want to show the range in answers or scores?

Range

Do you want to compare one group to another?

Cross tab

Do you want to show the degree to which a response varies from the
mean?

Standard
deviation

Depend on the type of y and x variables. Main ones:

Y

Test

Shows

numeric

numeric

linear regression

slope, intercept,
correlation

numeric

nominal

t-test ;ANOVA

difference in mean

nominal

nominal

chi-square; contingency
table

differences in frequency
of ratio

nominal

numeric

categorical modeling

relative risk or odds ratio

ordinal

whatever

regression; t-test;

implies causal direction

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Measures of Association measures the strength of the

association between 2 variables
Covariation or correlation = When two or more variables go together
or are associated with one another.
Statistical Independence = The absence of an association or
covariation between two variables.

Quantitative Analysis Techniques - Examples of associational statistics

Method

Purpose

Examples of application

Cross-tabulations

Frequency distribution

A preference for a brand of

cereal based on gender

Scatter diagrams

Frequency distribution

Exploring the link between

car mileage and petrol
consumption

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Scattergrams
A graph on which you plot the value of each case or observation. Each
axis of the graph represents the values of one variable, and the graph
can reveal bivarate relations.

Bi-variate cross-tabulation = Placing two variables in a

table at the same time allow you to see how cases that
have values on one variable align with values on a second
variable for those same cases.
Multi-variate cross-tabulation a table with two or
more variables that has been cross-tabulated

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Gender * Promotions Crosstabulation

Promotions
Not Promoted Promoted

Gender

Male

Count
Expected Count
% within Gender
% within Promotions

Female

% within Gender
% within Promotions
Total

385

1197

800.8

396.2

1197.0

67.8%

32.2%

100.0%

95.9%

91.9%

94.5%

35

34

69

46.2

22.8

69.0

50.7%

49.3%

100.0%

4.1%

8.1%

5.5%

847

419

1266

847.0

419.0

1266.0

66.9%

33.1%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Count
Expected Count

Count
Expected Count
% within Gender
% within Promotions

Total

812

Contingency table = A table with two or more variables

that have been cross-tabulated.
Department

No. of Male
Managers

Salary Ranges

No. of Female
Managers

Salary Ranges

Production

16

$2500-$5500

22

$2000-$5000

Sales

11

$4000-$7000

16

$3500-$6500

Accounting

$4500-$7500

$4000-$7000

Human Resources

$4oo0-$7000

$4000-$7000

Marketing

$4000-$7000

$4000-$7000

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Involves using quantitative data collected from a sample to

draw conclusions about a complete population

Population includes the totality of observations that might

be made

Whereas, a sample comprises a subset of the population

where observations will be or have been made

Hypothesis testing
Confidence intervals
Time series analysis
Pearsons coefficient (P)
Spearmans coefficient of rank correlation (NP)
Students t-Test
Simple regression (P)
Multiple regression (P)

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Components
Data Reductions
Data Display

Conclusions &
Verification

Procedures
Coding
Categorisation
Abstraction
Comparison
Dimensionalisation
Integration
Interpretation

Outcomes
Description

Explanation/
Interpretation

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As the name implies, similar to grounded theory as described

in our look at research strategies

Given this reasoning, 3 key steps normally involved in this

type of analysis:
Open coding the initial attempt to develop categories which

illuminate the data

Axial coding saturation of categories and development of

subcategories
Selective coding - the process of integrating and refining categories

to form a larger theoretical scheme

Appropriate for data that are collected through narrative discourse

Where the data are analyzed by following the sequence of the narrative

to ensure that meaning and context are not lost

Usually follows a pattern:

What is the story about
What happened, to whom, where, and why
What were the consequences of this
What is the significance of these events
What was the final outcome

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Focuses on language as a social practice in its own right

and is concerned with how individuals use language in
specific social contexts

Enables researcher to gain an understanding of how and

why individuals use language to construct themselves
and the world around them

Many different branches most popular critical

discourse analysis

Involves analyzing images that may come from primary or

secondary findings

Used for example:

When you wish to analyze how many magazine ads used

celebrity endorsements
What is the most popular USP of ads

Although less time consuming that other methods, it is

more challenging to interpret data on the basis of visual
images

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Analysis of written documents

Developing categories of words and phrases

Looks at frequency of words, uses word counts

Used for historical trends

e.g. feminism in womens magazines over the last 10 years

e.g. number of centimetres devoted to sport in newspapers

Can be used to analyse interview texts

e.g. counting expressions of conflict

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