CHAPTER TWO

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

&

PROBLEM FORMULATION

1
 The research process

The research process is similar to undertaking

a journey.
For a research journey there are two important
decisions to make-
1) What you want to find out about or what
research questions (problems) you want to find
answers to;
2)How to go about finding their answers.
There are practical steps through which you
must pass in your research journey in order to
find answers to your research questions. The
path to finding answers to your research
questions constitutes research methodology.
At each operational step in the research
2
process you are required to choose from a
 continued…….
 It is the approach of capturing relevant information to
tackle a problem of interest through accomplishing an
appropriate research.
 A research process encompasses a number of stages/steps.
 However, research may not essentially pass through all the
stages sequentially.
 It all depends on the nature and purpose of the research
being conducted.
 The major steps in conducting business related research
are:-
 Identification of research topic
 Defining(formulating) the research problem
 Establish research objectives (general &specific)
 Planning a research methodology
 Planning a sample
 Collecting the data
 Analyzing the data
3  Formulating the conclusions and preparing the report
4
 1) Identification of a Research Topic
A topic is an area within a given field of study that
you would like to explore/investigate in your
research.
 It is the subject/matter discussed or to be
discussed.
To do a research, a topic must be identified.
In identifying topics for research, you may rely on:
 Personal experience/From your mind
 From reading
 Curiosity based on situation in the media: Ex:
watching TV program
 The state of knowledge in the field: your knowledge of
the field suggests a topic.
 Solving a problem: appropriate topics are those that
often begin with a problem that needs a solution
 Personal values: some people are highly committed to
5 a set of religious, political or social values.
 Choosing a topic
 Research starts by the selection of a topic, a ‘domain
phenomenon’ to be studied.
 Some points about topics for research:
Topics should not have yes/no answers.
Topics should not have obvious answers.
 When choosing a topic, it should not matter to you what you find
out – you must be unbiased and not expect a particular finding –
you may be wrong and will need to explain your results.
 Your topic should be do‐able in the time available, so the scope
needs to be carefully defined – not too big and not too small.
 The title should preferably not be more than 16 words.
 Your topic should add at least some value / new knowledge to what
is already known.
 Your topic should have a basis in business theory. Your topic should
be something you can get excited about, or at least are interested
in.
 Note: The research should be related to area of specialization as
much as possible(accounting, finance, leadership, business or
6 management science ).
 Importance of crafting your research topic
Without being clear about what you are going
to research, it is difficult to plan how you are
going to research it.
A favorite quote in Alice’s Adventures in the
Wonderland, part of Alice’s conversation with
Chesire cat:

7
 2) Formulating (Defining) a Research Problem
 Formulating a research problem is the first and most important
step in the research process. It is the heart of the research
process.
A research problem identifies your destination: it should tell you,
your research advisor and your readers what you intend to
research. The more specific and clear you are the better, as
everything that follows in the research process—study design,
measurement procedures, sampling strategy, frame of analysis
and the style of writing of your research report—is greatly
influenced by the way in which you formulate your research
problem.
It is extremely important to evaluate the research problem in the
light of the financial resources at your disposal, the time
available, and your own and your research advisors
(supervisor’s) expertise/skill and knowledge in the field of study.
It is equally important to identify any gaps in your knowledge of
relevant disciplines, such as statistics, required for analysis. Also,
ask yourself whether you have sufficient knowledge about
8 computers and software if you plan to use them.
9
 Important features to consider
You should be able to draw conclusions
related to the problem. The point of
asking a question is to find an answer. The
problem should be one to which the
research can offer some solution, or at
least the elimination of some false
‘solutions’.
You should be able to state the problem
clearly and concisely.
It should be delineated. Consider the time
you have to complete the work, and the
depth to which the problem will be
10
addressed.
 Considerations in selecting a
research problem
 These help to ensure that your study will remain manageable and that
you will remain motivated.
 Interest: a research endeavor is usually time consuming, and involves
hard work and possibly unforeseen problems. One should select topic
of great interest to sustain the required motivation.
 Magnitude: It is extremely important to select a topic that you can
manage within the time and resources at your disposal. Narrow the
topic down to something manageable, specific and clear.
 Measurement of concepts: Make sure that you are clear about the
indicators and measurement of concepts(if used)in your study.
 Level of expertise/skill: Make sure that you have adequate level of
expertise for the task you are proposing since you need to do the
work yourself.
 Relevance/rational: Ensure that your study adds to the existing body
of knowledge, bridges current gaps and is useful in policy formulation.
This will help you to sustain interest in the study.
 Availability of data: Before finalizing the topic, make sure that data are
available.
 Ethical issues: How ethical issues can affect the study population and
how ethical problems can be overcome should be thoroughly
11 examined at the problem formulating stage.
 What is a research problem
... Any situation where a gap exists between the
actual and the desired state. A problem does not
necessarily mean that something is seriously
wrong. It could simply indicate the desire to
improve an existing situation. Thus, problem
definitions can include both existing problems in
the current situation as well as goals to improve
the situation in the future.
 A problem is an academic question, that we
don’t know the answer
 An academic question is a question that is so
complex that we need theories and
methodologies to answer it
 An academic question relates to a lack or gap of
12
something in the theories and/or a complex
 Formulating statement of the problem:
Research problem refers to some difficulty, w/c
a researcher experiences in the context of
either a theoretical or a practical situation and
wants to obtain a solution for the problem.
 Research usually starts with a feeling of
difficulty.
 It takes place when there is a problematic
situation and a need to solve the problem.
 The identification of a research problem is a
difficult phase of the entire research process.
If the problem is well defined it helps the
researcher to:
 Discriminate relevant data from irrelevant ones
 To lay boundaries within which to study
13  To be on the right track
It forces the researcher to answer question
“Why do I conduct the research?”
Broadly speaking, any question that you
want to answer and any assumptions or
assertion that you want to challenge and
investigate can become a research problem or a
research topic for your study.
Potential research questions may occur to
us on a regular basis, but the process of
formulating them in a meaningful way is not
at all an easy task.
 Because it requires a considerable
knowledge of both the subject area and
research methodology.
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 Where do research idea(problem) come from
Research originates with a question or
problem. The world is filled with
unanswered questions, unresolved
problems.
Everywhere we look, we observe things
that cause us to wonder, to speculate, to
ask questions.
Look around you. Consider the unresolved
situations that evoke these questions:
Why? What's the cause of that? What does
it all mean? These are everyday questions.
With questions like these, research begins.
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16
 Some potential source of research problem:
a) Own personal and professional experience is the most
important source.
 In addition:
 contacts and discussions with research oriented people,
 attending conferences & seminars and
 listening to the learned speakers
b) Inferences from theory and professional(empirical)
literature:
 Research reports,
 bibliographies of books and articles,
 periodicals,
 research abstracts and research guides suggest areas that need
research.
 In general, a preliminary literature search is important to find
out:
 What other researchers have to say about the topic
 Ensure that no one else has already exhausted the questions that
you aim to examine
 See how the topic has been discussed within the computing
theoretical framework.
 Make sure there is enough material available for you to work with
17
productively.
 c) Technological and social change
New developments bring forth(out) new
development challenges for research.
New innovations and changes need to be
carefully evaluated through the research
process.

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 Determining whether a problem should be researched
 Not all questions are researchable, and not all RQ answerable. To
be researchable a question must be one for which observation or
other data collection in the real world can provide the answer.
 You need to ask the following questions:
 Can you study the problem?
Do you have access to the research site?
Do you have the time, resources, and skills to carry out the
research?
 Should you study the problem?
Does it advance knowledge?
Does it contribute to practice?
 Will your study fill a gap or void in the existing literature?
 Will your study replicate a past study but examine different
participants and different research sites?
 Will your study extend past research or examine the topic more
thoroughly?
 Will your study give voice to people not heard, silenced, or
19
rejected in society?
 Some points to be observed when selecting
a problem:
 Understand the nature of the problem more clearly:
 by discussing it with others more acquainted or
experienced people.
 Subject which is overdone and should be avoided
 Vague problems should be avoided
 The subject selected should be familiar and feasible
 The importance of the subjects
 The qualifications and training of the researcher
 The cost involved and the time factor
 Survey of the available literature:
 Find out what data are available for operational
purpose
 Find out if there is gaps in theories
 Find out whether the existing theory is
20 applicable to the problem under study.
 The Research Question:
 Usually the topics chosen are broad at first.
 It lacks focus for conducting research.
 Therefore, it should be narrowed properly and
focused into specific question
Techniques that help us to narrow a
research topic into research question:
 Examining of the past and present literature

 Discussing the idea with other people

 Applying the topic to specific context

(specific time period, society or geographical
unit, etc)
21  Defining the aim of the outcome.
 Objectives of the study:
It is the most important task in conducting
research.
Research can exactly determine what data is to
be collected.
Thus:

 Set an overall objective of the research

 Split the overall objectives in to smaller

segments known as sub-objectives
 State the sub-objectives clearly and
precisely/concisely

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 Research Hypothesis
Hypothesis is:
 a tentative intelligent guess postulating for the
purpose of directing the researcher towards the
solution of problem.
 a statement which predicts the relationship b/n two
or more variables.
 necessary link b/n theory and investigation, usually
stated after an extensive survey of the literature.
Null versus alternative hypothesis
 ACFN researches are accustomed to relational
hypotheses that are subject to statistical tests.
 In relational hypothesis, two competing hypotheses
are formulated namely:
 Null hypothesis and
 Alternative hypothesis.
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 a) Null Hypothesis:
 is a default position.
 It hypothesizes that there is no relationship
b/n two variables.
 It is usually labeled as H0.
If the collected data could not contradict
the null hypothesis for more than 95% of
the cases, then:
 the researcher do not have sufficient
reason to conclude that the null hypothesis
is “false”. or
If the collected data contradicts the null
hypothesis for only less than 5% of the
cases, then:
 the contradiction is considered
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insignificant hence the null hypothesis is
 b) Alternative hypothesis,
is alternative to the null hypothesis.

 It is usually labeled as HA.

 If the actually collected data contradict the

null hypothesis for more than 5% of the

cases then:
 the null hypothesis is considered as “false”

and hence rejected.

 If the null hypothesis is rejected then the

alternative hypothesis is accepted.

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 Importance of Hypothesis
 It provides direction to research.
 It defines what is relevant and what is irrelevant.
 Thus, it prevents irrelevant literature and the
collection useless or excess data.
 It sensitizes the investigator to certain aspects of
situations w/c are relevant from the stand point of the
problem in hand.
 It spells the difference b/n precision and
haphazardness, b/n fruitful and fruitless research.
 It is a guide to thinking process and the process of
discovery.
 It is the investigators’ eye i.e. it is guiding light in
the world of darkness.
 It places clear and specific goals before us.
 w/c provide the investigator with a basis for
selecting samples and research procedures to
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meet these goals.
 Characteristics of Good Hypothesis
A good hypothesis:

 should be empirically testable

 is in agreement with the observed facts.

 does not conflict with any law of nature w/c is

known to be true.
 is expert.

 must be conceptually clear.

 must be specific

 should be related to a body of theory or some

theoretical orientation.
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 Difficulties in the Formulation of
Hypothesis
Lack of knowledge and clarity of the
theoretical frame work of the area in which
the investigator chooses to work.
Lack of ability to make use of the theoretical

frame work logically.

Lack of acquaintance with available
research techniques.
 This result in failure of phrasing the
28 hypothesis properly.
 Research Methodology
It is a comprehensive plan of the sequence of
operations that a researcher intends to carry out to
achieve the research objectives.
 It involves selecting the most appropriate methods

and techniques to solve the problem under

investigation.
It is an action and blue print for collecting the
evidences, analyzing the evidences and reporting the
findings.”
A research design is a master plan specifying the

methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing

29
the needed data/information.
 Analogy of house construction to research
methodology
 Let us start with an analogy might help. When
constructing a building there is no point ordering
materials or setting critical dates for completion of
project stages until we know what sort of building is
being constructed.
The first decision is whether we need a high rise office
building, a factory for manufacturing machinery, a
school, a residential home or an apartment block.
Until this is done we cannot sketch a plan, obtain
permits, work out a work schedule or order materials.
Similarly, social research needs a design or a
structure before data collection or analysis can
commence.
A research design is not just a work plan. A work plan
details what has to be done to complete the project
30 but the work plan will follow from the project's
research design.
 “Begin with the end in mind.”
It is worth the time planning and testing
your plan.
“If you do not know where you are going,
you can wind up anywhere.”
It is hard to correct mistakes after the data
has been collected
 Remember: no amount of statistical
wizardry will correct planning mistakes.

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  Miller defined as : “Designed research:
 is the planned sequence of the entire process involved in
conducting a research study”
 Designing a particular research depends mainly on research
purpose.


 Wilkinson and Bhandarkar listed the following major research

design decisions:


 What the study is about and what are the types of

data needed?
 Why the study is being made?
 Where the data needed can be found?
 Where or in what area the study will be carried out?
 How much material or how many cases (samples) will
be needed?
 What bases of selection (sample) will be used?
 What techniques of gathering data will be adopted?
32  How will the data be analyzed?
 Characteristics of a good research design:
 objectivity,
 reliability(the degree to which a measure is consistent or dependable)
 validity( the best available approximation of the truth of a given
proposition, inference, or conclusion) and
 generalization.
 If the design is good all may go well.
 A well conceived research design will pay rich dividends
 a research design is not a rigid plan to be followed without change,
 The following are the additional features to support the
cause of a good research design.
 Flexibility
 Appropriateness
 Efficiency
 Economical
 Minimize bias and maximize the reliability of the data
 Smallest experimental error
 Yields maximum information and considers many
different aspects of the problem.
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 Research Method Vs Research
Methodology
Although often used
synonymously/interchangeably, the terms
convey/carry different meanings.
A method : is a particular research
technique/procedure or way to gather
information about a phenomenon.
Methods are specific tools/techniques we
use in research projects to gain fuller
understanding of phenomena.
E.g., a questionnaire, interviews, participant
observations, etc.
Methodology: describes “the theory of how
34 (inquiry/review) research should proceed”
 Three components involved in a
Design
According to Creswell, research design
involves the intersection of:
 Philosophy,
 Strategies of inquiry, and
 Specific methods .
A. Philosophical Worldviews
All research is based on assumption about

how the world is perceived and how we can

understand it.
 To understand the world, we need to know
35
the philosophy lies behind.
 Reasons why the exploration of philosophy may
be significant:
 it can help the researcher to refine and specify
the research methods to be used in a study, i.e.
to clarify the overall research strategy to be
used. This would include:
 the type of evidence gathered and its origin,
 the way in which such evidence is
interpreted, and
 how it helps to answer the research
questions posed.
 knowledge of research philosophy will enable and
assist the researcher to evaluate different
methodologies and methods
 it help the researcher to be creative and
innovative in either selection or adaptation of
36
methods that were previously outside his or her
experience.
 Preliminary steps in designing a research are:
 to assess the knowledge claims brought
to the study,
 to consider the strategy of inquiry that
will be used, and
to identify specific methods.
Knowledge claims: is researchers’
assumptions about:
 how they will learn and
 what they will learn during their inquiry;

37
These claims might be called:
 paradigms/models/examples
 philosophical assumptions,
 epistemologies, and
 ontologies; or
 worldview.
Philosophically, researchers make claims
about:
 what is knowledge (ontology),
 how we know it (epistemology),
 how we write about it (rhetoric) and
 the processes for studying it
38 (methodology).
 Research paradigm
 When researchers talk about different approaches to research,
they talk about “paradigms.”
 A paradigm is a “worldview” or a set of assumptions about how
things work.
 A lens through which to view nature :Implicit body of intertwined
theoretical and methodological belief that permits selection,
evaluation, and criticism(Kuhn,1970)
 Paradigms “shared understandings of reality” “Refers to the
progress of scientific practice based on people’s philosophies and
assumptions about the world and the nature of knowledge”.
 Paradigms offer a framework comprising an accepted set of
theories, methods, and ways of defining data.
 Represents a worldview that defines, for its holder, the nature of
the world, the individual’s place in it, and the range of possible
relationships to that world and its parts(Guba & Lincoln,1994).
 Quantitative and qualitative research methods involve very
different assumptions about how research should be conducted
and the role of the researcher.
39
 Continued…………….

40
 Paradigm choice is a reflection of:
 how the researcher views the world (ontology) and
 believes that knowledge is created (epistemology).

These beliefs, along with the researcher’s:

 disciplinary focus and past experiences,
 influence his or her philosophical approach to
research;

There are different worldviews / schools of

thought --knowledge claims. These includes:

 Post positivism,
 Constructivism, and
41
 Pragmatism.
1) Post-positivism
Post-positivists hold a deterministic philosophy
in which causes probably determine effects or
outcomes.
It reflects the need to identify and assess causes
that influence outcomes.
There are laws or theories that govern the world
and these need to be tested or verified and refined
so that we can understand the world.
The post positivist assumptions hold true more
for quantitative research than qualitative
research.
 It is adopted by those researchers who seek objectivity in
their explanation of social reality.
The knowledge that develops through a post
positivist is based on:
42  careful observation and
 measurement of the objective reality.
 It is reductionist (deductive) in that it
reduces ideas into a small, discrete set of
ideas to test hypotheses and answer
research questions.
Developing :
 numeric measures of objective observations
and
 studying the behaviour of individuals
becomes paramount for a post-positivist.
Key assumption of the Post
positivism
 Knowledge is tentative /conjectural (and anti
foundational) –
 absolute truth can never be found.
 Thus, evidence established in research is
43
always imperfect and fallible.
 Social Constructivist Worldview
 Social constructivism (often combined with interpretivism)

w/c is an approach to qualitative research.

 Interpretivism provides an understanding of social reality

that is based on the subjective interpretation.

 It does not provide a hard and fast explanation from

which causal relationships can be identified and

predictions made.
 The goal of the research is to rely on the participants’

views of the situation being studied.

 The participants can construct the meanings of a
situation being studied through discussions or
interactions with other persons.
44
Constructivist researchers: focus on the
specific contexts in which people live and
work to understand the historical and
cultural settings of the participants.
The researchers’ intent is to make sense of

(or interpret) the meanings others have

about the world.
 Rather than starting with a theory (as in

postpostivism), inquirers generate or

inductively develop a theory or pattern of
45
 Assumptions in Constructivism
 Meanings are constructed by human beings as they

engage with the world they are interpreting.

 Qualitative researchers tend to use open-ended
questions so that the participants can share their
views;
 Humans engage with their world and make sense of

it based on their historical and social perspectives.

 Thus, qualitative researchers seek to understand
the context.
 The basic generations of meaning is always social,

arising in and out of interaction with a human

46
community.
 The pragmatic/Practical/Realistic worldview
Instead of focusing on a particular approach (one

extreme):
 researchers emphasize the research problem and use

all approaches available to understand the problem.

Pragmatism is not committed to any one system of

philosophy and reality.

A pragmatist freely chooses the approaches that

best meet the needs and purposes of the research.

Pragmatism is apparent in mixed methods research

where the researcher draws from both quantitative

and qualitative assumptions.
47
Postpositivism Constructivism
o Determination o Understanding multiple
o Reductionism participant meanings
o Empirical observation and o Social and historical
measurement construction
o Theory verification o Theory generation

Pragmatism
o Consequences of actions
o Problem-centered
o Pluralistic
o Real-world practice
oriented

48
 Research Approach (Strategies of
Inquiry)
Researchers select the assumptions about
the nature of reality and the approach that
they follow.
The philosophical assumptions lead to the
strategies.
The research approaches are:
qualitative,
quantitative and
mixed methods
Often the distinction b/n qualitative and
quantitative research is framed in terms of:
 using words (qualitative) rather than
49 numbers (quantitative) or

 a) Qualitative Research Approach
The investigator often makes knowledge
claims based on the multiple meanings of:
individual experiences, and
 socially and historically constructed
meanings.
 It is a means of exploring and
understanding the meanings individuals or
groups to a social or human problem.
In qualitative research, the researcher seeks
to establish the meaning of a phenomenon
from the views of participants.
 Qualitative research is open and it enters
the field with no preconceived ideas or pre-
50 numbered models and patterns.

 Characteristics of qualitative approach:
 Natural setting
• Qualitative researchers tend to collect data at the site
where:
 participants experience the issue or problem under
study.
 They do not bring individuals into lab or
 they do not send instruments for individuals to
complete.
 Researcher as key instrument
 Qualitative researchers collect data themselves through:
 examining documents,
 observing behaviour or
 interviewing participants.
 They do not tend to rely on instruments developed by
others.
 Multiple sources of data
 Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of
51data, such as interviews, observations, and documents,
rather than rely on a single data source.
 Participants meanings

 The researcher keeps a focus on learning the meaning

that the participants hold about the problem or issue not

the meaning that the researchers bring to the research or
writers express in the literature
 Emergent design

 The initial plan for research cannot be tightly prescribed,

 All phases of the process may change or shift after the

researcher enters the field and begins to collect data

 A qualitative research approach uses strategies of inquiry
such as:
 ethnographies,
 grounded theory studies,
 case studies, or
 narratives
52
a) Ethnography:
The researcher studies a cultural group in a natural
setting over a prolonged period of time.
An ethnographer attempts to interpret and present
its findings from a cultural perspective
It is employed by anthropologists in studying
human society and culture.
b) Grounded theory:
The researcher derives:
 a general,
 abstract theory of a process,
 action or interaction grounded in the views of
participants.
 It is s designed to inductively build a substantive
theory regarding some aspects of practice.
 The end result of this type is a theory that emerges
53from, or is "grounded” in, the data.
a) Case study:
It explores in depth a program, an event or

one or more individuals.

The objective is to obtain multiple
perspectives of a single organization, at a
point in time or over a period of time.
Case study methodology often called a case

analysis or case write-up

54
 Sample size in qualitative studies
There are no fixed rules for sample size in
qualitative research, but generally the sample sizes
are small.
The size of the sample depends on:
 what you try to find out, and
 from what perspectives you try to find that
out.
You may start with two or four Focus Group
Discussions depending on the complexity of the
research objectives.
If the different data sets reconfirm each other you
may stop at that point;
otherwise you conduct one or two discussions more
till you reach the point of redundancy, i.e. no new
data comes up any more.
The sample size is usually estimated, but not
55
determined.
 Sample selection:
 Qualitative researchers purposefully select
participants or sites that will best help them
understand the problem and the research question.
 It involves non-probability sampling-where little
attempt is made to generate a representative
sample.
 For example:
 Purposive sampling
 Snowball sampling:.
 Convenience sampling:

Data collection methods in Qualitative Research

 observations,
 interviews,
 documents and
56  audio visual materials
 Quantitative Approach
Its is the post positivist worldview.
Quantitative strategies have involved
complex experiments with many variables
and treatments
 They elaborate structural equation models
that incorporate causal paths and the
identification of the collective strength of
multiple variables.
Mixed Methods Strategies

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