Slide 5.

Chapter 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

Underlying issues of data collection and

analysis

"Well begun is half done“

--Aristotle, quoting an old proverb

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

Underlying issues of data collection and

analysis

• Research design focuses upon

turning a research question and
objectives into a research project. It
considers:
• Research strategies
• Research choices and
• Time horizons
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.4

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 5.5

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 5.6

The Process of Research Design

• As you start thinking about your research

question(s) you will also be thinking of the
purpose of your research

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

Classification of the research purpose

• Exploratory research

• Descriptive studies

• Explanatory studies

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

Classification of the research purpose

• Exploratory research:
• Find out what is happening, to clarify your
understanding of a problem.
• 3 ways for conducting:
– A search of the literature
– Interview experts in the subject
– Conducting focus group interviews

Flexible and adaptable to change

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

Classification of the research purpose

• Descriptive studies:
• Its object is to portray an accurate profile of persons,
events or situations.

• Usually a research cannot be simply descriptive since

the reader’s reaction would be SO WHAT?

• So it is a means to an end, not an end in itself

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

Classification of the research purpose

• Explanatory studies:
• Studies that establish causal relationships
between 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

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 5.12

Research Strategies

An experiment will involve

• Definition of a theoretical hypothesis

• Selection of samples from known populations
• Random allocation of samples
• Introduction of planned intervention
• Measurement on a small number of dependent
variables
• Control group to control for all other variables

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.13

Research Strategies
A classic experiment strategy

Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.2 A classic experiment strategy

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.14

Research Strategies
Survey: key features

• Popular in business research

• Perceived as authoritative
• Allows collection of quantative 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 5.15

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 (more ability to generalize)

holistic case(choose 1 organization as a whole)
v. embedded case(some departments or activities)
Yin (2003)

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

Research Strategies
Action research: key features

• Research IN action - not ABOUT action focusing on the purpose

• Involvement of practitioners in the research
• The researcher becomes part of the organisation
• Promotes change within the organisation
• Can have two distinct focii (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 5.17

Research Strategies
The action research spiral

Saunders et al, (2009)

Figure 5.3 The action research spiral
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.18

Research Strategies
Grounded theory: key features
Inductive deductive approach

• 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

• It’s grounded in continual reference to the data.

Based on Suddaby (2006)
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.19

Research Strategies
Ethnography: key features
Inductive approach

• Aims to describe and explain the social world the

research subjects inhabit in the way in which they would
describe and explain it

• Takes place over an extended time period

• Is naturalistic

• Involves extended participant observation such as studying

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

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
• Example: historical research

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

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 5.22

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 5.23

Multiple research methods

Mono method
refers to an approach where either quantitative or qualitative
data collection techniques are used and is restricted within
that very (quantitative or qualitative) world view

Multiple method
refers to those combinations where we use more than one data
collection technique (survey, interview, case study etc.) but
restricted within either quantitative or qualitative world view .

Mixed method approach

Refers to an approach where both, quantitative and qualitative
data collection techniques are used.

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

Multiple research methods

Mixed-model research
In contrast, mixed-model research combines quantitative and
qualitative data collection techniques and analysis procedures
as well as combining quantitative and qualitative approaches at
other phases of the research such as research question
generation.
This means that you may take quantitative data and qualitise it, that
is, convert it into narrative that can be analyzed qualitatively.
Alternatively, you may quantitise your qualitative data, converting it
into to numerical codes so that it can be analyzed statistically.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.25

Multiple research methods

Reasons for using mixed method designs:

(Table 5.1 )
• 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 5.26

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.27

Time Horizons

Select the appropriate time horizon

• Cross-sectional studies the study of a phenomenon at

a particular time. Because of time restrictions

• Longitudinal studies it has the capacity to study change

and development

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.28

Credibility of research findings

Important considerations
– Will the evidence and my conclusions stand up to the closest
scrutiny?
– How do you know that the advertising campaign for a new product
has resulted in enhanced sales?
– How can you be sure that manual employees in an electronics
factory have more negative feelings towards their employer than
their clerical counterparts?
– You CAN’T!!!

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.29

Credibility of research findings

Important considerations
• Reliability extent to which your data collection techniques will yield
consistent finding
– Will the measures yield the same results on other occasions?
– Will similar observations be reached by other observers?
– Is there transparency in how sense was made from the raw data?
• Threats to reliability:
– Subject or participant error
• Asking questions for example on the wrong day or time of the day
– Subject or participant bias
• Interviewees saying what their authoritarian bosses want them to say
– Observer error
• 3 different interviewers eliciting answers in a different way
– Observer bias
• 3 different interviewers interpreting answers in a different way
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.30

Credibility of research findings

• Validity concerned with whether findings are really about what they
appear to be about. E.g. Is the relationship between two variables a causal
relationship?
• Threats to validity:
– History
• Impressions right after a product recall while studying customer opionios
about quality of that product
– Testing
• Interviewees might hide facts that they perceive might disadvantage them
– Instrumentation
• Interviewees might have received instructions which influence
interview/observation results
– Mortality
• This refers to participants dropping out of studies
– Maturation
• Other effects (than the studied ones) could be causing the observed changes
– Ambiguity about causal direction
Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.31

Credibility of research findings

Important considerations
• Generalisability whether findings may be equally applicable to other
research settings such as other organizations
– This is sometimes referred to as external validity

• Logic leaps and false assumptions your research design should have
a logical flow and assumptions that can be defended.

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.32

Credibility of research findings

Important considerations

Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, Research Methods for Business Students, 5th Edition, © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2009
Slide 5.33

Research design ethics

Remember

‘The research design should not subject the

research population to embarrassment, harm or
other material disadvantage’
*Some universities do not allow collecting data from population not
aware that it is subject of research

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 5.34

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 5.35

Summary: Chapter 5
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