1

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Research Methods in Business

E-mail: [email protected]
Password: rayauniversity
 Chapter Two
Formulating Research Problem
Objectives
• Define a research problem and explain its importance in a study.
• Identify criteria for deciding whether a problem can and should be
researched.
• Learn the elements in writing a “statement of the problem” section.
• Identify strategies useful in writing a “statement of the problem”
section
• Identify problem areas that are likely to be studied in organizations.
• Understand how to critically review a literature.
Practical approaches to a study

Knowledge
Important Ingredients for a Good Researcher

Consistency and Dedication and

patience commitment

Ingredients for a good

researcher
Written
communication
Creativity

Domain knowledge
Verbal communication
Definition and Selection of a Research Problem
• The first and important step in any research.
• A business research problem is;
▫ Any situation where a gap exists between an actual and a desired ideal
state.
▫ Difficulty which a researcher experiences in the context of either a theoretical
or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same.
▫ initiating force behind a research.
▫ are the business issues, controversies, or concerns that guide the need
for conducting a study.
• Problem definition is the process of defining and developing a decision
statement and the steps involved in translating it into more precise research
terminology.
 Examples of problems
1. Long and frequent delays lead to much frustration among customers.
▫ These feelings may eventually lead to switching behavior, negative word-of-mouth
communication, and customer complaints.
2. Staff turnover is higher than anticipated. 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.
3. The current instrument for the assessment of potential employees for
management positions is imperfect.
4. Young workers in the organization show low levels of commitment to the
organization.
 Example of translating business problem into problem statement
Problem statement
• Frequent and long delays may translate into much frustration among customers, to switching
behavior, and to negative word-of-mouth communication. These feelings and behaviors
eventually have negative effects on the performance and the profitability of the firm.
Problem Research objective
• The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to identify the factors that influence the customers’
waiting experience and (2) to investigate the possible impact of waiting on customer
satisfaction and service evaluations.
Research questions
• What are the factors that affect the perceived waiting experience of customers and to what
extent do these factors affect the perception of waiting times?
• What are the affective consequences of waiting and how does affect/ mediate the relationship
between waiting and service evaluations?
• How do situational variables (such as filled time) influence customer reactions to the waiting
experience?
 Conditions for a Research Problem
Individual or a group has some difficulty or the problem.
There must be objective(s)/outcome(s) to be attained.
There must be alternative methods/means for achieving
the objective(s).
There must be some doubt remain in the mind of the
researcher while selecting the alternatives.
There must be some environmental conditions, to which
the difficulty pertains.
 Characteristics of Problem Statement
• It should be based on Known fact which can be used to introduce the topic.
• It should identify gap from the current solution.
• Interest of the researcher should be preserved (Appealing).
• can be investigated through the collection and analysis of data (Exploratory).
• It should contribute for the improvement in the research subject
(Noteworthy).
• It should fit the researcher’s level of research skills, available resources, and
time restrictions (Feasible)
• Solution proposed should be ethical and should not harm anybody
• Problem statement should be challenging
• Problem statement should be clear cut defined.
N.B.
• A problem statement is relevant if it is meaningful from a managerial
perspective, an academic perspective, or both.
• From a managerial perspective, research is relevant if it relates to
▫ a problem that currently exists in an organizational setting or
▫ an area that a manager believes needs to be improved in the organization.
• From an academic perspective, research is relevant if:
▫ Nothing is known about a topic,
▫ Much is known about the topic, but the knowledge is scattered and not
integrated,
▫ Much research on the topic is available, but the results are (partly)
contradictory, or
▫ Established relationships do not hold in certain situations.
 Points to consider in selecting a research problem
1. Too narrow or too vague statements for the research problem should
be avoided.
 E.g. why is productivity in South Africa is much higher than Ethiopia?
2. Avoid the selection of controversial subjects for the research problem.
3. Avoid research subjects that are done by a number of researchers.
4. The research problem should be feasible for experimentation/
implementation- Relevance.
5. Sufficient numbers of publications/materials should be available for
finding the limitations/weaknesses of the subject- availability of data.
6. The researcher’s qualification, the importance of the subject, costs
involved for experimentation and time factors should be considered.
▫ Interest
▫ Ethical issues
 Defining the Research Problem
• Clearly defined research problem help researchers to be on the right
track,
• Whereas an ill-defined research problem may create many
difficulties and hurdles while pursuing the research work.
Statement of the problem section should include;
The topic
The research problem
A justification of the importance of the problem as found in the past
research and in practice.
The deficiencies in our existing knowledge about the problem.
The audiences that will benefit from a study of the problem.
 Clearly Defining the Problem
A clear and well-defined problem statement should bring the following
questions:
▫ What are the limitations/weaknesses in the existing research
subject?
▫ What is the database required?
▫ What are the characteristics of data, which are relevant and need to
be studied?
▫ What parameters need to be explored?
▫ What are the exiting methods/techniques available for this purpose?
Sequence for the Selection of Problem Statement
 Sources of a Research Problem
Aspects of a study About Study of

 Study Population People Individuals, organizations, groups, communities

 Subject area Problem Issues, situations, associations, needs, population

composition, profiles, etc.

Program Contents, structure, outcomes, attributes,

satisfaction, consumers, service providers, etc.

Phenomen Cause and effect relationships, the study of the

on phenomenon itself, etc.
 Where to Look for Potential Topics?
• Your own professional interests. What excites and energizes you? What
career goals could be enhanced by studying a particular topic?
• Faculty members, professional colleagues, and fellow students. Listen
to their suggestions about potential topics.
• Professional journals in your field. This is where you can find out the
hot topics of the day and for the near future.
• Theses and/dissertations. Review previously written theses.
• Oral defenses. Attend as many of these as you can. It opens your eyes to
what happens during a thesis defense.
• Current theories. Have any new theories come out in your field, or are
existing theories being questioned?
Cont’d

▫ The Internet.
▫ Conferences and seminars.
▫ Outside agencies or professional organizations that conduct
research.
▫ Leading scholars in your interest areas.
▫ Your current job setting. Are there problems that need solutions
in your workplace? Your boss might have a pet topic that could
enhance your career opportunities.
▫ References in your field. Many handbooks and bibliographies
exist in most subject areas.
Attributes of a Good Research Topic
 Literature Review
• Research is a mind-set. It requires calm, patient and
controlled mind, hard work by heart, logic by brain and
ability to tolerate hurdles by positive thinking to achieve
the required outcome.

• A literature review is a written summary of journal articles,

books, and other documents that describes the past and
current state of information on the topic of your research
study.
 Purposes of a literature review

• it provides a historical background for your research;

• it gives an overview of the contemporary debates, issues and
questions in the field;
• it introduces relevant terminology and provides definitions to clarify
how terms are being used in the context of your own work;
• it describes related research in the field and shows how your work
extends or challenges this, or addresses a gap in work in the field;
• it provides supporting evidence for a practical problem or issue
which your research is addressing, thereby underlining its
significance.
 Importance of Literature Review
▫ bring clarity and focus to your research problem;
▫ improve your research methodology;
▫ broaden your knowledge base in your research area;
and
▫ Contextualize your findings.
Searching the Literature should Answer These Questions:
What is already known about this area and what has
already been done in this area?
What concepts and theories are relevant?
What research methods and strategies have been used in
this area?
Are there any controversies?
Are there any inconsistencies in findings?
Are there unanswered questions?
 Types of Literature Review
1. An Evaluative Review
▫ Focuses on providing a discussion of the literature in terms of its coverage
and contribution to knowledge in a particular area.
2. An Exploratory Review
▫ Seeking to find out what actually exists in the academic literature in
terms of theory, empirical evidence and research methods as they pertain
to a specific research topic and its related wider subject area.
3. An Instrumental Review
▫ to identify the best way to carry out a research project without
reinventing the wheel and without incurring unnecessary and avoidable
costs.
While you are studying a literature review, keep in mind the following
questions;
• Is there a theoretical framework?
• If so, what is it and how does it fit into this topic?
• Does the work provide links to other work in the topic?
• Is there an empirical aspect to the work? If so, what is its basis?
• Does the work relate to a specific social group?
• Does it relate to a particular place?
• How applicable might it be outside the latter two?
• How old is the work?
• Is it still valid?
 CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• Look at the value of the evidence presented.
• Address inconsistent or incompatible evidence stemming from research
and seek to explain it.
• Weigh up the pros and cons of different positions, coming down on the
side of one argument if the quality of evidence favors it.
• Try to find original links between different sources or different strands
of an argument.
• Show originality by presenting new ideas or interpretations based upon
your own understanding of the material.
 Analysis Questions
• How…?
• Why…?
• What are the reasons for…?
• What are the functions of…?
• What is the process of…?
• What other examples of…?
• What are the causes/results of…?
• What is the relationship between…and…?
• How does…apply to…?
• What is (are) the problem(s) or conflict(s) or issue(s)…?
• What are possible solutions/resolutions to these problems or conflicts or issues…?
• What is the main argument or thesis of…?
• How is this argument developed…?
• What evidence or proof or support is offered?
• What are other theories or arguments from the authors?
 PLAGIARISM
• To “plagiarize” means to:
▫ Steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own
▫ Using other work or idea (another’s production) without crediting
them
▫ Commit literary theft.
▫ Present as new and original, an idea or product derived from an
existing source.
 Types of plagiarism
1. Plagiarism of Words: The writer copies every single word from the
source without use of quotation mark, citation, acknowledgment,
or attribution.
2. Stitching Sources (Potluck Plagiarism)
▫ The writer tries to fetch essential and appropriate content by copying
from several different sources.
3. Patchwork Plagiarism
▫ Suppose a student obtain four sources from where he/she copied one
sentence from A source, one sentence from B source, one sentence from
C source and one sentence from D source, and so on.
cont’d

4. Self-Plagiarism (the Self-Stealer)

▫ is the use of our own previous work in another new context without
citing that it was used previously.
5. Cyber-Digital Plagiarism
▫ the information posted by authors on the Web such as e-books, notes,
graphs, video, audio, music, images, online databases, questionnaires, and
electronic reserves and so on.
6. Accidental Plagiarism
▫ the ignorance of a person resulting in failure to properly paraphrase, quote
and cite their research.
7. Plagiarism of Authorship
▫ presenting the other author work with simple modification of sentence and
presenting as own work
 Techniques to avoid plagiarism
1. Referencing
▫ acknowledge the sources used, whether published or unpublished
▫ Giving credit to the work of other writers or contributors.
▫ It is the list of the sources explicitly used in completing the write-
up or the manuscript.
▫ Bibliography:
 a list of all the sources that are used in completion of the manuscript but
may have not been directly used in the contents of the
assignment/assignment.
Bibliographical Software Packages
 EndNote: http://www.endnote.com/
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2. Paraphrasing
• is expressing an already reported idea/contribution in your own choice of words or
text.
• Tools
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▫ https://paraphrase.online/
3. Quotations
• Used when the original words of the author are expressed so
concisely and convincingly that the student cannot improve on these
words.
• Used for documentation of a major argument where a footnote
would not suffice.
• Used when the student wishes to comment upon, refute, or analyze
ideas expressed by another writer.
• Used when changes, through paraphrasing might cause
misunderstanding or misinterpretation
• When citing mathematical, scientific, and other formulas.
 How to quote?
1. SHORT VERSUS LONG QUOTE
Short quotation (up to four lines)
 Incorporate the quotation into a sentence or paragraph framework, without
disrupting the flow of the text.
 Use double quotation marks at the beginning and the end of the quotation.
 Use the same spacing as the rest of the text (i.e. double line or one and half
spacing).
Long quotation (usually five or more lines
▫ Use no quotation marks at the beginning and end of the quotation.
▫ Use single line spacing
▫ Introduce the quotation appropriately
▫ Indent the quotation three spaces from the left margin.
2. Ellipses (…)

• To avoid long quotations that are not completely relevant, or to

extract critical sections from a long extract, it is possible to omit
part of a quotation.
• The ellipsis is indicated by three full stops with the space before
and after each full stop, in addition to between each full stop and
the next. An ellipsis can occur at the beginning or the end of a
quotation.
3. Brackets [ ]
• Is used if any words are added to a quote to make it intelligible out
of its original context, the additional words are enclosed in square
brackets i.e [ ].
•
3. Special quotations
Quote within quotes
• If a quotation occurs within a short extract, being quoted, the
usual procedure is to enclose the whole quotation within double
quotation marks and the internal quotation in single quotation
marks.
 Some Commonly Researched Areas in Business
 Employee behaviors such as performance, absenteeism, and turnover.
 Employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and organizational commitment.
 Supervisory performance, managerial leadership style, and performance appraisal systems.
 Employee selection, recruitment, training, and retention.
 Validation of performance appraisal systems.
 Human resource management choices and organizational strategy.
 Evaluation of assessment centers.
 The dynamics of rating and rating errors in the judgment of human performance.
 Strategy formulation and implementation.
 Just-in-time systems, continuous-improvement strategies, and production efficiencies.
 Updating policies and procedures in keeping with latest government regulations and
organizational changes.
 Organizational outcomes such as increased sales, market share, profits, growth, and
effectiveness.
Cont’d
Consumer decision making.
Customer relationship management.
Consumer satisfaction, complaints, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication.
Complaint handling.
Delivering and performing service.
Product life cycle, new product development, and product innovation.
Market segmentation, targeting, and positioning.
Product image, corporate image.
Cost of capital, valuation of firms, dividend policies, and investment decisions.
Risk assessment, exchange rate fluctuations, and foreign investment.
Tax implications of reorganization of firms or acquisition of companies.
Market efficiency.
Banking strategies.
Behavioral finance: overconfidence, bounded rationality, home-bias.
Cont’d
Executive compensation.
Mergers and acquisitions.
Portfolio and asset management.
Financial reporting.
Cash flow accounting.
Accounting standards.
Outsourcing of accounting.
Sustainability reporting.
The implications of social networks on the capital markets.
Corporate governance.
Development of effective cost accounting procedures.
Installation of effective management information systems.
Advanced manufacturing technologies and information systems.
Auditor behavior.
Cont’d

Approaches and techniques of auditing.

The use of technology in auditing.
Decision making in auditing.
Installation, adaptation, and updating of computer networks and
software suitable for creating effective information systems for
organizations.
Installation of an effective data warehouse and data mining system for
the organization.
The acceptance of new computer programs.
Tax audits.
Internal auditing.
Accounting fraud and auditor liability.
The quality of audit reports.
Thank you!!!