Slide 5.

Formulating the research design

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.2

The Process of Research Design

• Research choices

• Research strategies

• Time horizons

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.3

Research Design and Tactics

The research onion

Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.1 The research ‘onion’
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.4

Research Design
The research design needs
• Clear objectives derived from the research
question

• To specify sources of data collection

• To consider constraints and ethical issues

• Valid reasons for your choice of design

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.5

Classification of the research purpose

Exploratory research:
is a valuable means of finding out ‘what is happening
to seek new insights; to ask questions and to assess
phenomena in a new light’. It is particularly useful if
you wish to clarify your understanding of a problem,
such as if you are unsure of precise nature of the
problem . It may well be that time is well spent on
exploratory research, as it may show that the research
is not worth pursuing!

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.6

Explanatory research

• Studies that establish causal relationships between

variables may be termed explanatory research. The
emphasis her is on studying a situation or a problem
in order to explain the relationship between variables.
For example, that a cursory analysis of quantitative
data on manufacturing scrap rates shows a
relationship between scrap rates and the age of
machine being operated

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.7

Explanatory

• There are three principal ways of conducting

explanatory research:
• A search of the literature;
• Interviewing ‘experts’ in the subject;
• Conducting focus group interviews.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.8

Descriptive studies

• The object of descriptive research is ‘ to

‘portray an accurate profile of persons, events
or situations’. This may be an extension of, or
a forerunner to a piece of exploratory research
or, more often, a piece of explanatory research.
It is necessary to have a clear picture of the
phenomena on which you wish to collect data
prior to collection of data.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.9

Research Strategies

Experiment Action research

Grounded theory Survey

Ethnography Case study

Archival research
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.10

Research Strategies

An experiment will involve

• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Selection of samples from know populations
• Random allocation of samples
• Introduction of planned intervention
• Measurement on a small number of dependent
variables
• Control of all other variables
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.11

Research Strategies
Survey: key features
• Popular in business research
• Perceived as authoritative
• Allows collection of quantitative data
• Data can be analysed quantitatively
• Samples need to be representative
• Gives the researcher independence
• Structured observation and interviews can be
used
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.12

Research Strategies
Case Study: key features
• Provides a rich understanding of a real life
context
• Uses and triangulates multiple sources of data

A case study can be categorised in four ways

and based on two dimensions:

single case v. multiple case

holistic case v. embedded case
Yin (2003)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.13

Research Strategies

Action research: key features

• Research IN action - not ON action
• Involves practitioners in the research
• The researcher becomes part of the
organisation
• Promotes change within the organisation
• Can have two distinct foci (Schein, 1999) –
the aim of the research and the needs of the
sponsor
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.14

Research Strategies
Grounded theory: key features
• Theory is built through induction and
deduction
• Helps to predict and explain behaviour
• Develops theory from data generated by
observations
• Is an interpretative process, not a logico-
deductive one

Based on Suddaby (2006)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.15

Research Strategies

Ethnography: key features

• Aims to describe and explain the social world

inhabited by the researcher

• Takes place over an extended time period

• Is naturalistic

• Involves extended participant observation

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.16

Research Strategies

Archival research: key features

• Uses administrative records and documents
as the principal sources of data

• Allows research questions focused on the

past

• Is constrained by the nature of the records

and documents
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.17

Research Strategies

The role of the practitioner-researcher

Key features
• Research access is more easily available
• The researcher knows the organisation
• Has the disadvantage of familiarity
• The researcher is likely to their own
assumptions
and preconceptions
• The dual role requires careful negotiation
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.18

Multiple research methods

Research choices

Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.4 Research choices
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.19

Multiple research methods

Reasons for using mixed method designs:
• Triangulation
• Facilitation
• Complementarity
• Generality
• Aid interpretation
• Study different aspects
• Solving a puzzle

Source: developed from Bryman (2006)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.20

Time Horizons

Select the appropriate time horizon

• Cross-sectional studies

• Longitudinal studies

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.21

Credibility of research findings

Important considerations

• Reliability

• Validity

• Generalisability

• Logic leaps and false assumptions

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.22

Research design ethics

Remember

‘The research design should not subject the research

population to embarrassment, harm or other
material disadvantage’

Adapted from Saunders et al, (2009)

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.23

Summary: Chapter 5

Research design turns a research question and

objectives into a project that considers

Strategies Choices Time horizons

Research projects can be categorised as

Exploratory Descriptive Explanatory

Research projects may be

Cross-sectional Longitudinal
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.24

Important considerations

• The main research strategies may combined in the

same project

• The opportunities provided by using multiple

methods

• The validity and reliability of results

• Access and ethical considerations

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009