BRM JAN 2014

QUESTION 1
B) Because literature survey is a time-consuming exercise, a good, in-depth
interview should suffice to develop a theoretical framework. Discuss this
statement.

Answer:
Literature survey is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary sources data in the areas of specific interest to the
researcher. For example,
A good
The library is a rich storage base for secondary data and researchers used to spend several
weeks and sometimes months going through books, journals, newspapers, magazines,
conference proceedings, doctoral dissertations, master's theses, government publications and
financial reports to find information on their research topic.

In-depth interview
A qualitative research technique that allows person to person discussion. It can lead to
increased insight into people thoughts, feelings, and behaviour on important issues. This type
of interview is often unstructured and therefore permits the interviewer to encourage an
informant (or respondent) to talk at length about the topic of interest. The in-depth interview
uses a flexible interview approach. It aims to ask questions to explain the reasons underlying
a problem or practice in a target group. It is the technique to gather ideas and to gather
information.




Literature survey and in-depth interview methods
Contributing one another in term of developing a theoretical framework. A
typical theoretical framework with the help of both literature survey and in-
depth interview approach provides a schematic description of relationships
between and among independent, dependent, moderator, control, and
extraneous variables so that a researcher can easily comprehend the theorized
relationships. Therefore, a theoretical framework is the conceptual model of
how one theorizes or makes logical sense of the relationships among the
several factors that have been identified as important to the problem. In depth
interview should suffice to develop a theoretical framework but literature
survey completes the flows from the documentation of previous research in the
problem by integrating logical beliefs with published research, taking into
consideration the boundaries and constraints governing both the situation.
The purpose of both in depth interview and literature survey is to ensure that
no important variable that has in the past been found repeatedly to have had
an impact on the problem is ignored. The variables considered relevant to the
study should be clearly identified and labelled. Finally, the relationship
between the literature survey and the in depth interview provides a solid
foundation for developing the theoretical framework. It is done through
interrelationships among the variables that are deemed to be integral to the
dynamics of the situation being investigated



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QUESTION 2
A) What are the basic research design issues? Describe them in some
detail.
There are six basic aspect of research design.
1. Purpose of study:

This is a method of solving problem, where the phenomena of study are understood digging
more information in that study. There are three nature of study, which are explanatory,
descriptive, or hypothesis testing. It is depends on the stage which knowledge about the
research topic. The purpose of study is the stage where we design the decisions, whether we
choose
Explanatory stage which we attempt to explore new areas of organizational research, or
Descriptive stage where we try to describe certain characteristics of the phenomena on
which main interest,
Hypothesis testing stage where we examine whether or not the conjectured relationships
have been substantiated and an answer to the research question has been obtained.

2. Type of investigation:

A researcher should determine whether a causal or a co-relational study is needed to find an
answer to the issue at hand. The former is done when it is necessary to establish a definitive
cause and effect relationship. However if all that the researcher wants is a mere identification
of the important factors associated with the problem then a correlation study is called for. In
the former case the researcher is keen on delineating one or more factors that are undoubtedly
causing a problem. In other words the intention of the researcher conducting a causal study is
to be able to state that variable X cause's variable Y. so when variable X is removed or
altered in some way, problem Y is solved.

Quite often however it is not just one or more variables that cause a problem in organizations.
Given the fact that most of the time there are multiple factors that influence one another and
the problem in a chainlike fashion, the researcher might be asked to identify the crucial
factors associated with the problem rather than establish a cause and effect relationship. The
study in which the researcher wants to delineate the cause of one or more problems is called a
casual study.

3. Extent of researcher interference:

This case is normal occurrence in normal working environment. There are two types of
interference; the study undertaken is either causal or correctional. Causal relationship means
the studies conducted is to establish the cause and effect relationship. This type of
relationship is where the researchers try to manipulate certain variables in order to study the
effects of such manipulation on the dependent variables of the study. The correlation study is
applied in the natural environment of the organization with the minimal interference by the
researcher with the normal flow of work. It can be said the correlation study is conducted in
initial stage of finding the interference of the researcher. Then, follow by the causal study
which is more details. The extent of researcher interference is determined by looking on
minimal, moderate and excessive interference.
Minimal interference is happen when the accurate solution could be determined. In this case,
beyond collecting the data sample, the researcher has not interfered with the normal activities
in other area. In other words, researcher interference has been minimal.
In moderate interference situation, the researcher is now not interest with finding a
correlation but wants to firmly establish a causal connection. Here, the researcher has
interfered more than minimally.
Excessive interference is when the normal environment becomes odds environment. Here, the
researcher has intervened maximally with the normal setting, the samples of studies and the
task given. Therefore, it will interrupt the result and the data collected maybe in errors.

4. Study setting:

A research can be done in the natural environment where work proceeds normally (that is, in
noncontrived settings) or in artificial (contrived settings). Correlational studies are invariably
conducted in noncontrived settings. Correctional studies done in organizational are called
field studies. Research here is done in a noncontrived setting with no interference with the
normal work routine.

Whereas most rigorous causal studies are done in organizational lab settings. Studies
conducted to establish causeand-effect relationship using the same natural environment in
which employees normally function are called field experiments. Different type of
manipulation will be done to the independent variables to see the cause and effect
relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Experiments done to establish a cause-and-effect relationship beyond the possibility of the
least doubt require the creation of an artificial, contrived environment in which all the
extraneous factors are strictly controlled. Similar subjects are chosen carefully to respond to
certain manipulated stimuli. These studies are referred to as lab experiment. In this case, the
research has create an artificial environment which is the self esteem factors has been
manipulated.

5. Unit of analysis:

It refers to the level of aggregation of the data collected during the subsequent data analysis
stage. The research question determines the unit of analysis. As the research question
addresses issues that move away from the individual to dyads, and to groups, organizations,
and even nations, so also the unit of analysis shift from individuals to dyads, groups,
organizations, and nations.

The characteristics of these levels of analysis are that the lower levels are subsumed within
the higher levels. For example, individual do not have the characteristics as groups (eg:
structure, cohesiveness), and groups do not have the same characteristics as individuals (eg:
IQ, stamina). There are variation in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of people in
different cultures. Hence, the nature of the data gathered, as well as the level at which the
data are aggregated for analysis, are integral to decision made on the choice of the unit of
analysis.

6. Time horizon

Cross-sectional studies is a study that can be undertaken in which data are gathered just once,
perhaps over the period of days or weeks or months, in order to answer a research question.
Such studies are called one-shot or cross-sectional studies.

Longitudinal studies, in some cases, however, the researcher might want to study people or
phenomena at more than one point in time in order to answer the research question. For
instance, the researcher might want to study employees behavior before and after a change in
the top management, so as to what effects the change accomplished. Here, because data are
gathered at two different points in time, the study is not cross-sectional or of the one kind
shot, but is carried longitudinally across a period of time. Such studies, as when data on the
dependent variable are gathered at two or more points in time to answer the research
questions, are called longitudinal studies.

Longitudinal studies take more time and effort and cost more than cross-sectional studies.
However, well-planned longitudinal studies can, among other things, help to identify cause
and effect relationship

B) Discuss the interrelationships among contrived and non-contrived
setting, the purpose of the study, type of investigation, researcher
interference and time horizon of the study.
~A non-contrived setting simply indicates that the research is conducted where the flow of
events normally takes place i.e. in the natural system. Such research could be either field
studies or field experiments. The purpose of the field study could be for exploration and
understanding of phenomena, for describing phenomena, or for hypothesis-testing. The field
study is a correlational study, and not usually initiated to explore cause and effect
relationships. Researcher interference in field studies is minimal. Field studies could be either
cross- sectional or longitudinal. Field experiments, on the other hand, are undertaken to
establish cause and effect relationships, are longitudinal in nature, and researcher interference
in field experiments is much more than in field studies, since the independent variable will
have to be manipulated. These are mostly hypothesis-testing studies, though they could be
exploratory in nature, as well.
~(Non-contrived setting means that the research can be done in natural environment where
the work proceeds normally, its relation to the purpose of study is that on the natural
environment, what are you going to achieve, the exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing
or the case study analysis which determine the purpose of study. Also determining of which
type of investigation will be conducted, to find the causal preferences or the correlational
between several variables. The interference of study also an important aspect to measure the
utilization of whether the minimal interference, moderate interference or even the excessive
interference. The time horizon of study is important to determine the period of data that will
be collected, in a longitudinal or the cross sectional, for the sake of effective data.) (ADA
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QUESTION 3
B) Whenever possible, it is advisable to use instruments that have
already been developed and repeatedly used in published studies,
rather than developing our own instruments for our studies. Do you
agree? Discuss the reasons for your answer.
It is always advisable to use well-validated instruments that have been repeatedly used in
published studies, rather than going through the cumbersome process of developing one's
own instruments and laboriously establishing their validity and reliability. However, simply
because an instrument is used in some published studies does not necessarily make it a good
instrument. It is always wise to examine the psychometric properties established for the
instrument before using it. In case this is not easily available, a pilot study can be conducted
to see if the measures have at least acceptable reliability.