CHINHOYI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS SCIENCES

GRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOL
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DATA ANALYTICS EXAMINATION

GROUP 1 ASSIGNMENT ONE

COURSE NAME : RESEARCH METHODS IN DATA ANALYTICS

COURSE CODE : MSCDA 621

GROUP MEMBERS

TAPIWANASHE MANYENGA C21143552R

EVELYN S MAPFUMO C21143696D
COURAGE KUNDODYIWA C21143689Y
EDWIN TATENDA MUSWERE C19136209G
TRUST MANDINYENYA C21143534S
SOUL MNAKANDAFA C21143693E
YEUKAI CHIVANDI C21143961R
CONSTANTINE MAKONYONGA C21143728N
KUDAKWASHE MOYO C21143709H
WESLEY KASAMBIRA C21143899S
CONSTANTINE MAKONYONGA C21143728NCONS
Title
The term impact used in the title makes it difficult for the author to answer the research questions based
on the title. The dilemma posed is how do you measure impact in this context. If indeed the study goes
on to prove that having female executives decreases over-investment in listed organization, where and
how do we start to measure the impact. The author also includes the term “investment efficiency” in
her title. The question will be how does one measure investment efficiency. Is it quantifiable in this
context? At what point can one say the investment has been efficient. What looks like an overinvestment
in a period of two years can turn out to be a good investment in ten years.
Problem statement
The journal’s problem statement section contains two paragraphs instead of one. The problem statement
should be a one paragraph simple expression. The author’s problem statement is not a simple
expression. The problem addressed is vague. In the problem statement it seems the author is trying to
solve two or more problems. The first one is the issue of over-investment in listed companies in
Shanghai. Here the author suggests that to solve the problem, entities should employ female executives.
The second problem the author seems to be trying to find solutions to is the specific aspects of the
impact of gender diversity of company boards on company’s performance. This creates a problem in
the research. Is the author looking at company performance in general or over-investments to be
specific?
Methodology
The Researcher did not adequately address topics such as Research Philosophy, Research Paradigm,
and Research Design in a way that lays a Research Methodology guideline that can be appreciated by
the reader. For example, concise explanation and sample size justification as can be adjudged from
recommendations that exist for numerical data in research design (Cohen et al., 2000).In data collection
the researcher also does not provide clear comparisons of data collected from the 2 sources mentioned
i.e., Wind database and CSMAR database. The reliability of the data sources should have been tested
with such a comparison. The data collection procedure should have been specifically highlighted for
reproducibility.
The Researcher also generalizes findings as applicable to other sectors but was not covered in the
research taking into consideration that the sample population is that of listed companies on the Shanghai
Stock Exchange which in essence could be blue chip companies representing a smaller proportion of
the company’s overall numbers in the Chinese whole. Data presentation and analysis falls short in
giving a clear perspective as to findings and model used. Pictorial presentation and statistical analysis
could have been made more elaborate for the appreciation of the reader. Only one bar graph and a few
tables do not justify the level of research and analysis of the topic. The researcher also shies away from
mentioning any ethical consideration in such a topic that could have impacted the Research especially
in a male dominated environment as the China context in proving the hypotheses.
Results and Findings
The Researcher could have used more visualisations for the reader to better understand the data used in
this study. It can be noted that the Author did not explain some of the abbreviations used, for example
VIF was not explained for the reader to fully follow the results. In terms of the results relating to the
original problem, the Author managed to show this using the Pearson correlation coefficient though
interpretation of the coefficients was not fully done. The Author did not mention the number of
companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Market so that an assessment on sufficiency of the sample size
can be made, no indication of the method used to determine the sample size was made. The Researcher
did not indicate any limitations faced during the study or areas that might need improvement to enhance
the models used in the study.
Data Analysis
Proper Data analysis is critical for any Journal to be authentic. From the data analysis the researchers
were able to determine the impact of female executive on investment efficiency of listed companies in
the Shanghai stock market. Kothari (2017) highlights that it is critical that any data analysis should be
able to answer the problem understudy. This view is further supported by Creswell (2013) who also
insisted that every data analysis should be able to answer the research questions. In addition the
available data was interpreted very well. Kothari (2017) highlights the importance of properly
interpreting findings in data analysis, for the data analysis process to be proper. However, the discussion
was very poor since there was no comparison of the findings which had been found with the available
literature. There was no comparison between the theoretical and empirical literature. For instance after
finding that the asset –liability ratio has a significant positive relationship with over investment , the
findings were not compared with what is already available in related literature or even with what
theories such as the behavioural finance theory state. This is an important characteristic of a proper data
analysis process. Basically the analysis was proper but there was need for the researcher to provide a
clear discussion of the findings.
Conclusion and recommendation
Whilst the research showed that males still occupy dominant position in senior management, the
research doesn’t show to what extent gender proportion have changed over time. Is women proportion
increasing or decreasing over the past 5 to 10 years? The research doesn’t show the descriptive analyses
of wholesale and retail industries, and social service industries being more suitable for female
personality traits and more suitable for female careers as it claims. There is no inference of gender
distribution across industrial sectors, thereby the research can’t conclude that these industries have
greater opportunities for women to enter the top levels and are more conducive to the development of
female careers.
Although the authors empirical research model showed that the presence of female top managers can
inhibit the occurrence of over-investment behaviours, the results biasness might come from companies
having different gender demographic structure, with wholesale and retail industries and social service
industries having more females.
Women are no longer compelled for the housewife roles/domestic duties in the modern world because
of women empowerment and gender equality. Moreover technological machines and maids have
reduces their domestic duties. Therefore women should not be restricted to choose a job from an
industry assumed conducive to female career development, but follow their passion. In order for both
men and women to engage equally in the labour markets, caring responsibilities have to be shared
equally.
References
Creswell, J., W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed methods Approaches,
(4th Ed.), London: Sage Publications
Kothari, C., R. (2017). Research methodology: Methods and Techniques. (New edition), New Delhi:
Willey Eastern Ltd.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education (5th ed.). London:
Routledge/Falmer.