Chapter 4

The Research Process

1
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
The main steps in the research process includes
the following::
I. Broad Problem Area
The process begins with a researcher
selecting a topic – a general area of study or
issue such as:
Divorce,
Crime,
Aging,
Marketing, Or
Powerful Elites.
2
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Such issues might pertain to:
a) Problem currently existing in an organizational
setting that need to be solved (sexual harassment),
b) Areas that a manager believes need to be improved
in the organization (improving the existing
policies),
c) A conceptual or theoretical issue that needs to
tightened up for basic researcher or to understand
certain phenomenon (conceptual definition of
harassment), and
d) Some research questions that a basic researcher
wants to answer empirically (impact of harassment
on the performance of the workers).

3
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
ii) Preliminary Data Collection
• This step may be considered as part of the exploratory
research.
• An exploration typically begins with a search for
published data and studies.
• Such sources can provide secondary data which
becomes part of the background information (about
the organization, groups of people, context of the
issue).
• Some secondary sources of data are statistical bulletins,
government publications, information published or
unpublished, case studies, online data, web sites, and
the Internet.
4
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
iii) Problem Definition
• After having discussions with the professionals as
well as with the persons to whom the issue relates,
and the review of literature, the researcher is in a
position to narrow down from its original broad base
and define the issue clearly.
• Translate the broad issue into a research question.
• As part of the applied research convert the
management dilemma into a management question,
and then on to research question that fits the need
to resolve the dilemma.
• The symptoms of a problem might help tracing the
real problem.
5
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
…………………Problem Definition…………..ued
• To what extent has the new advertising campaign been
successful in creating the high quality, consumer-
centered corporate image that it was intended to
produce?
• Has the new organizational reform program brought
the intended objective?
• Will the day care centers affect the productivity of
female workers?
• Why the divorce rate is on the increase in Addis
Ababa?
• Why the employee turnover is becoming high in the
civil service sector?
• What could be the impact of tax reform on attracting
foreign direct investment? 6
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
iv)Theoretical Framework
• Consultations with the informants and professionals, and
the review of literature should have helped in the
identification of different factors that are considered to be
relevant to the topic.
• The researcher has to make logical relationship among
several factors identified earlier.
• This will help in the delineation of the theoretical
framework.
• The theoretical framework discusses the
interrelationships among the variables that are deemed
to be integral to the dynamics of the situation being
investigated.
• Developing such a conceptual framework helps to
postulate or hypothesize and test certain relationships.
7
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
v) Generation of Hypotheses
• Once we have identified the important
variables relevant to an issue and established
the logical reasoning in the theoretical
framework, we are in a position to test
whether the relationships that have been
theorized do in fact hold true.
• By testing these relationships scientifically,
we are in a position to obtain reliable
information to determine the relationship
among the variables.
8
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
vi) Research design
• Research design is a master plan specifying
the methods and procedures for collecting
and analyzing the needed information.
• It is a framework or the blueprint that
plans the action for research project.
• The objectives of the study determined
during the early stages of the research are
included in the design to ensure that the
information collected is appropriate for
solving the problem.
9
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
• The researcher must specify the sources of information,
and the research method or technique (survey or
experiment, for example) to be followed in the study.
• Broadly there are six basic research methods for
descriptive and causal research:
• Surveys,
• Experiments,
• Observation,
• Communication analysis (content analysis),
• Case study,
• focus group discussion.
• Use of secondary data may be another method where
the data may have been collected by using any of the
six basic methods listed earlier
10
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Vii) Data Collection, Data Processing, and Analysis
Data collection is determined by the research technique
selected for the project.
Data can be collected in a variety of ways, in different
settings – field or lab – and from different sources.
It could include:
 Interviews – face to face interviews, telephone
interviews, computer-assisted interviews, and
interviews through electronic media;
Questionnaires that either personally administered,
sent through mail, or electronically administered;
Observation of individuals and events which could
be participant or non-participant.
Once the fieldwork has been completed, the data must be
converted into a format that will answer the research
questions and or help testing the hypotheses.
11
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
Viii) Testing the Hypotheses; Answering the
Research Questions
• The analysis and interpretation of the data
shall be the means to testing the
formulated hypotheses as well as finding
answers to the research questions.
• In case of applied research, the research
should be helpful in finding solutions to the
problems of the organization or society.
• Making recommendations may also be part
of this process.
12
THE RESEARCH PROCESS
ix) Report Writing
• The research report should communicate the
research findings effectively.
• All too often the report is a complicated
statement of the study’s technical aspects and
sophisticated research methods.
• If the study has been conducted for a business
management, often the management is not
interested in detailed reporting of the research
design and statistical findings but wants only
the summary of the findings.

13
END OF CHAPTER 4

14