Research Design

Inquiry
• An inquiry always starts with the formulation of a research question.

• A few examples are:

• What is the average cell phone bill per month for a boy/girl aged
between 10 and 16 years?

• What is the average switching time (in months) from one mobile
phone to another for an adult aged between 30 years and 40 years?

• How many hours on an average a college student spends in a day on

online social networking?

• On the average how many social media accounts a college in

Ahmedabad has?
 Inquiry
• Interface of an app to book a movie ticket is designed by two
designers. Which interface is more user friendly?

• A bank is to decide whether to offer a personal loan of Rs. 25,000

or Rs. 50,000 to all whose income are between Rs. 20 thousand to
Rs. 30000 per month on production of UIDAI card at 15% rate of
interest. The condition is to pay back the full amount in two years.
Which format will have more takers and which will have less
defaulters (or more bad loans)?

• To answer these questions, one needs to design a study for

collection of appropriate data either by conducting a survey or from
a secondary source or by conducting an experiment. This is the
design stage of an inquiry. In the design stage you need to decide
on the kind of data to be collected, method of collection, related
details and also the design of questionnaire.
 What is the Research Question?
Sam Efromovich & Co is a plant-based meat
company which offers a range of plant-based meat
products. To remain competitive in the plant-based
meat segment, Sam’s management wanted that
the average overall rating of each of their products
be above 3.5.

Sam’s management wanted to know whether their

Vegan Meat was the preferred choice of more than
1/3rd of the consumer population and whether the
average rating of their products is above 3.5.
 Research Questions

A research question is the hypothesis of choice

that best states the objective of the research
study. It is a more specific management question
that must be answered. It may be more than one
question, or just one.

The goal is to come up with a research process

that answers specific question(s) provides the
manager with the information necessary to make
a decision.
 Fine Tuning of Research Questions
• Fine-tuningcreates a clearer picture of the
management research questions.

• After a preliminary review of the literature, a brief

exploratory study, or both the project begins to
crystallize in one of two ways:

n It is apparent the question has been answered

and the process is finished.

n A question different from the one originally

addressed has appeared.
 Fine Tuning of Research Questions
The refined research questions will have better
focus and will move the research forward with more
clarity than the initially formulated questions.

§ Review the research questions with the intent

of breaking them down into specific second and
third level question.

§ If hypotheses are used, be certain they meet the

quality tests.
 Fine Tuning of Research Questions

• Determine what evidence must be collected to

answer the various questions and hypotheses.

• Set the scope of the study by stating what not

a part of the research question is. This will
establish a boundary to separate contiguous
problems from the primary objective.
 Questionnaire Quality and Design

Questions must meet basic criteria of relevance

and accuracy

• What should be asked?

• What should be the Questionnaire layout?
• How should the questions be phrased?
• In what sequence the questions be arranged?
 Possible Questions and Order:
Example
1. Have you heard about Plant Based Meat
Products? Multiple Choice (Y/N)
If Yes
• What should be asked?
• What should be the Questionnaire layout?
• How should the questions be phrased?
• In what sequence the questions be arranged?
 Investigative Questions:
Investigative questions are questions the researcher must answer to
satisfactorily arrive at a conclusion about the research question.
v To formulate them, the researcher takes a general research question
and breaks it into more specific questions about which to gather data.
v This fractionating process can continue down through several levels of
increasing specificity.
v Investigative questions should be included in the research proposal, for
they guide the development of the research design. They are the
foundation for creating the research data collection instrument.

In developing your list of investigative questions, include:

v Performance considerations (like the relative costs of the options,

the speed of packing serviced lap-tops and the condition of test

laptops packaged with different materials).
v Attitudinal issues (like perceived service quality),

v Behavioral issues (like employees’ ease of use in packing with

the considered materials).

 Measurement Questions
n Measurement questions should be outlined by completion of the project-
planning activities but usually await pilot testing for refinement.

n There are two types of measurement questions: predesigned,

pretested questions and custom-designed questions.

n Predesigned measurement questions are questions that have been

formulated and tested by previous researchers, are recorded in the
literature, and may be applied literally or be adapted for the project at
hand.

n Custom-tailored questions: The resources for this task will be the

collective insights from all the activities in the research process
completed to this point, particularly insights from exploration. Later,
during pilot testing of the data collection instrument(s) these custom-
designed questions will be refined.

n In surveys, measurement questions are the questions we actually ask

the respondents. They appear on the questionnaire. In an observation
study, measurement questions are the observations researchers must
record about each subject studied.
 Question Construction Issues:
Complexity
Avoid Complexity: Use Simple, Conversational Language.

Research Context: A shoe and belt producing company

wants to understand consumer perceptions about
sustainable products.

Question: How do you weigh the trade-offs between the

environmental impact, style and economic viability of shoes
and belts when making purchasing decisions?
 Question Construction Issues:
Complexity
Better Question may be:

One a scale of 1(Least Importance) – 5 (Maximum

Importance), rate how important is each of the following
when choosing food:

n Protecting the environment _______

n Style and Finishing of the item _____
n Item Price ________
 Question Construction Issues:
Leading and Loaded Questions
Avoid Leading and Loaded Questions: Leading and loaded questions
are a major source of bias in question wording.

A leading question suggests or implies certain answers.

A study of the dry cleaning industry asked this question:

n Many people are using dry cleaning less because of improved wash-
and-wear clothes. How do you feel wash-and-wear clothes have
affected your use of dry cleaning facilities in the past 4 years?

Use less No change Use more

It should be clear that this question leads the respondent to report lower
usage of dry cleaning.
Question Construction Issues: Leading and
Loaded Questions

A loaded question contain an assumption or bias, influencing the

respondent's answer. They can be intentionally used to manipulate
opinions or unintentionally included due to poor question design.

Question: "How can we improve our excellent customer service?"

(assumes excellent service)
Neutral version: "How would you rate our customer service?”
Question Construction Issues: Leading and
Loaded Questions

A question can be both leading and loaded.

Question: "Don't you agree that our company's environmentally friendly

practices are far superior to our competitors' harmful operations, making
us the clear choice for conscious consumers?"
• Leading: Suggests that the company's practices are superior without
providing evidence.
• Loaded: Uses emotionally charged language like "harmful operations"
and "conscious consumers.”
• Neutral Version: "How do you rate our company's environmental
practices compared to our competitors?"
Question Construction Issues:
Double-Barreled Items
Question: Do you feel our hospital emergency room waiting area is clean
and comfortable?

Issue: If the response is positive, we infer that our waiting area is clean
and comfortable.

If the response is negative, is it because the room is not clean or not

comfortable? Or both?

It is important for the manager to make improvements it is important to

know which elements needs attention.

When multiple questions are asked in one question, the result may be
difficult to interpret.
 Question Construction Issues:
Question Order
Question: What would be a better ordering and/or framing of these
questions?

a) “Is it appropriate for Bangladesh to apprehend Indian fishermen who

wander into waters within Bangladesh jurisdiction?”

b) “Should India apprehend anyone entering India by illegally crossing

the border from Bangladesh?”

c) “What in your opinion is the correct step to be taken by immigration of

a country when they encounter immigrants illegally entering the country
by crossing borders?
(a) Apprehend them and take action as per applicable law
(b) capture them and send them back into their country
(c) Any other suggestion (please specify) ”