RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh

2. Lecturer Contact Information • Lecturer: Mogeeb Mosleh • Email:MogeebMosleh@Gmail.com • Tel: 737322252 • Web Address: taiz.edu.ye/MogeebMosleh

3. Course Description • Course Code: MBA 213 • Course Title: Research Methodology. • Course Type: Core Course for (Master of Business Administration) • Pre-request: None

4. Course Requirements - Recap

5. Course Resources • Uma Sekaran, and Roger B. (2010). Research methods for business : a skill-building approach. (5th) Edition. Wiley. •  C R Kothari. (2009). Research Methodology. 2nd Edition.  New Age.

6. Introduction to Research Ass. Prof. Dr. Mogeeb Mosleh

7. Issues... • Why are we interested in research? • What is research? • Key concepts and issues

8. Introduction • Industrial solution mostly would be lacking academically. • Academic Projects should provide evidence of deep (thought, arguments, ideas, and concepts) to understand (situations, problems, solutions, and events). • Research skill as degree student (Think), lead to innovation, and Contribution. • reasons to include project course: • Assessment across a number of disciplines. • develop new skills. • Work independently. • Make a contribution. A project is having beginning and end. (Time Frame – Purpose – Plan Activities) (Scope – Time – Cost)

9. Research Stakeholders • Your supervisor • Client(s) and user(s) • Examiners • Evaluators and testers

10. Research • What is research? • Research Definition: original investigation undertaken in order to gain knowledge and understanding’. (HECFE). • Originality: is doing something that has not been done before. • doing something someone has done before but using a different technique or approach. • producing or developing something that has not been produced before. • Originality area: • Tools, techniques, procedures and methods. • Exploring the unknown. • Exploring the unanticipated. • The use of data. • Gain/contribution • research should actually lead to a contribution to knowledge. • the results of your research are somewhat wasted ( if not Published)

11. Definitions of Research • The main goal of research is the gathering and interpreting of information to answer questions (Hyllegard, Mood, and Morrow, 1996). • Research is a systematic attempt to provide answers to questions (Tuckman, 1999). • Research may be defined as the systematic and objective analysis and recording of controlled observations that may lead to the development of generalizations, principles, or theories, resulting in prediction and possible control of events (Best and Kahn, 1998). • Research is a systematic way of asking questions, a systematic method of inquiry (Drew, Hardman, and Hart, 1996).

12. Knowledge and understanding • Data: Data are the realistic elements that describe objects or events. Ex. Radar Data • Information:Information represents processed data to be meaningful. Ex. Graphs, chart • Knowledge: higher-level to understand the realistic things. Ex. (what, & Why). • Wisdom: represents your ability to put your knowledge into practice. apply your skills and experiences to create new knowledge and adapt to different situations. Ex. Prediction • world knowledge: ??? • Summery: Research is a considered activity, which aims to make an original contribution to knowledge.

13. Research process Four common views of the research process (Blaxter et al. (2006: 8–9)): • Sequential: a series of activities are performed one after another as a ‘fixed, linear series of stages’.

14. Research process Four common views of the research process (Blaxter et al. (2006: 8–9)): • Generalized: • identical to the sequential process. • all stages are applicable and some steps can perform in different ways. • Nature of the research. • Circulatory: • research is part of a continuous cycle of discovery and investigation. • research process begin again by attempting to answer newfound questions. • revisit or reinterpret earlier stages of your work. • Evolutionary: • research must evolve and change over time. • outcomes of each evolution impact are effects research extent.

15. Research Classifying • Research classified from three different perspectives; • Its Field: enables groups of researchers with similar interests to be identified. Ex. A.I, S. E. ( can be Expanded to Sub-topic) • Its Approach: research methods employed as part of the research process. Ex. Case Study, Experiment, Survey. • Its Nature: identify three categories • Pure theory : developing theories • Descriptive studies: reviewing and evaluating existing theory. • Exploratory studies: exploring a situation or a problem • Explanatory studies: explaining or clarifying something • Causal studies: assessing the effects between variables • Resolving a problem: a novel solution and/or improving something • Developing or constructing novel.

16. Development of Research Skills • Learning how to conduct good research: • New skills (that many people do not have) • Better understanding and interpretation of the literature • Recognize new questions that need investigation • Objectivity is the key element of research

17. Search for Truth • Five sources of evidence in the pursuit of truth: • Custom and tradition • Authority • Personal experience • Deductive reasoning • Scientific inquiry

18. Intellectual discovery a complex process of inductive and deductive reasoning • Inductive reasoning: • start with (observations) of the world, come to (general conclusions) about it. • build (models and theories), based on (interpretation of the world). • Deductive reasoning: • start with (knowledge and understanding) of the world, and (predict the observations) within it. • affected by (theory of reality), (personal understanding), (assumptions about investigating). • Different people might deduce different things as their understanding differs from different way. Note : To solve complex problems you might need to follow a complex chain of inductive and deductive reasoning.

19. Why must we understand research? • help make informed decisions • need to produce research in career • evaluating research in the media • assist in classes

20. Why is research a valued source of knowledge? • Common ways of knowing… • personal experience/intuition • experts/traditions/authority • scientific method

21. What is Science, the Scientific Method, and Research? • Science… • a body of established knowledge • the observation, identification, investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomenon usually the ultimate goal is theory generation and verification

22. What is Science, the Scientific Method, and Research? • Theory… • a set of inter-related constructs and propositions that specify relations among variables to explain and predict phenomena • should be simple, consistent with observed relationships, tentative and verifiable

23. What is Science, the Scientific Method, and Research? • Scientific Method… • involves the principles and processes regarded as characteristic of or necessary for scientific investigation • process or approach to generating valid and trustworthy knowledge

24. What is Science, the Scientific Method, and Research? • Research… • the application of the scientific method • a systematic process of collecting and logically analyzing information (data) • Research Methods (Methodology)… • the ways one collects and analyzes data • methods developed for acquiring trustworthy knowledge via reliable and valid procedures

25. Characteristics of Research • objective • precise • verifiable • parsimonious • empirical • logical • probabilistic

26. Types of Research • Trochim’s Classifications… • descriptive • e.g., percentage of regular exercisers • relational • e.g., link between age and exercise • causal • e.g., effect of behavior change intervention on exercise participation

27. Types of Research • Other Common Classifications… • basic vs. applied vs. evaluation • experimental vs. non-experimental • analytical vs. descriptive vs. experimental vs. qualitative

28. Research methods • Two main classes (quantitative and qualitative) • Quantitative : measuring things on numeric scales • Qualitative: primarily concerned with increasing understanding of a substantive area. (more common within the field of information science and involve methods such as case studies and surveys). • Most common research methods: • Action research: carefully documented (and monitored) study of an attempt to actively solve a problem. • Experiment: investigation of causal relationships using tests controlled. • Case study: depth exploration of one situation – generate a large amount of subjective data –data that you must sift, analyse and interpret in order to produce meaningful, accurate and fair conclusions. • Survey: use of questionnaires or interviews. • Research methods can be classified according to time frame also: cross-sectional - longitudinal

29. Research techniques • Common techniques are interviews, questionnaires and observation. • Interviews: performed during a number of stages of your project. • a structured: a series of preset questions • Unstructured: open-ended questions • Conducting interviews: • Selecting interviewees. • Preparation. • Questionnaires. • Have an agenda for the interview. • Structured replies. • Note taking. • Confidentiality. • Logistics of the session. • Characterization. • Ethical issues.

30. Research techniques • Questionnaires: obtaining data from a large number of subjects. • The target audience • Medium • Response rate • Layout and size • Question types • Quantity or information. When did you join the company?--- • Classification. (male – female) • List or multiple choice • Scale. • Ranking. • Complex grid or table. • Open-ended. • Question order • Anonymity • Respondent details • Draft and redraft

31. Research techniques • Observation: involves the researcher in watching, recording and analysing events of interest. • Arrangements • Recording the observation. • Participation.