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Problem Definition and Research Design

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Overview. The Research Proposal. Existing knowledge on topic & my contribution. Research design (survey/experiment/observation) Sample design. Data gathering – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Problem Definition and Research Design


1
Problem Definition and Research Design
2
Overview
  • The Research Proposal
  • Existing knowledge on topic my contribution
  • Research design (survey/experiment/observation)
  • Sample design
  • Data gathering
  • Data analysis
  • Report preparation

3
Theory
  • Theory- A set of propositions used to explain
    behaviors or phenomena to provide prediction and
    understanding

4
Theories are the nets cast to catch what we call
the world to rationalize, to explain and to
master it. We endeavor to make the mesh ever
finer and finer. -Karl R Popper.
5
The Role of Theory in Business Research
6
A Research Question
  • a question that can be answered directly through
    the analysis of data

7
Hypothesis
  • An unproven proposition or supposition that
    tentatively explains certain facts a proposition
    that is empirically testable.

8
Theories, Research Questions and Hypotheses
  • Hypotheses are generated from our theories.
    Research questions are often attempts to
    refute/validate theories with the hypothesis
    being the precise formulation of a testable
    research question.

9
Example
  • Theory The law of demand. Increases in price,
    reduces quantity demanded.
  • Research Question Will an increase in beer taxes
    lower consumption of beer?
  • Hypothesis An increase in the beer tax will
    lower beer consumption.

10
Two more examples
  • Research question How many students voted in the
    previous presidential election?
  •  
  • Matching hypothesis Sixty-five percent of
    undergraduate students voted in the previous
    presidential election.

11
Two more examples
  • Research question What do students feel is the
    most important political issue?
  • Matching hypothesis The most important
    political issue to students is funding for
    education.

12
Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
  • Deductive- the logical process of deriving a
    conclusion from a known premise
  • When it is hot out people eat ice cream, so
    next time it is hot out people will probably eat
    ice cream
  • Inductive- The process of establishing a general
    proposition from observation and generalization
  • When people are warm they attempt to cool their
    bodies in many ways. One way is by eating ice
    cream. So we would expect when its hot out more
    ice cream will be consumed

13
The Scientific Method
  • Assessment of relevant existing knowledge
    (Literature Review)
  • Formulation of concepts and propositions
  • Statement of hypothesis
  • Design the Research to test the hypothesis
  • Acquisition of meaningful empirical data
  • Analysis and evaluation of data
  • Provide explanation and state new problems raised
    by the research

14
Problem definition
  • The process of identifying the problem and
    formulating and narrowing a researchable question.

15
The Goal of Problem Definition
  • Are measurable--quantifiable/testable
  • Are well-defined--no ambiguous language
  • Are useful in decision-making or in answering the
    overall problem (What is the goal of business
    research?)
  • Are directly connected to one another--hypothesis
    is not only a plausible answer to the research
    question but also directly answers the research
    question
  • Encompass the full scope of the problem-- Have
    all the important or relevant questions been
    asked?

16
  • The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating
    the problem in a way that will allow a solution.
  • Bertrand Russell British author, mathematician,
    philosopher (1872 - 1970)

17
Far better an approximate answer to the right
question, which is often vague, than an exact
answer to the wrong question, which can always be
made precise." J. W. Tukey (1962)
18
Problem
  • What is the relationship between Alcohol
    consumption and GPA?

19
What is the unit of analysis?
  • Make sure to identify the target of the research
  • ie husband-wife, or head of household, business
    owner, customer, 3rd party payer, etc.

20
What are the relevant variables?
  • Variable- anything that may assume different
    numerical values
  • Categorical (discreet) Sex
  • Continuous (infinite number of values) Salary
  • Dependent variable (to be explained) endogenous
  • Independent variable (explanatory) exogenous

21
Mind Mapping
  • Visualizing ideas and relationships
  • http//bubbl.us/

22
Alcohol and College GPA Mind Map
23
Past Projects
  • Social Acceptance of Plastic Surgery
  • Whitney Dining Hours (optimal?)
  • Impact of Drinking on GPA
  • Consumer Sentiment Index and Voting Behavior
  • Smoking Bans and Bar Attendance
  • STD testing behavior

24
Background Research
25
Murphy Library web page
  • http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/

26
Catalog
  • You can search the librarys electronic card
    catalog for books or periodicals on the subject
    matter youre interested in.
  • http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/

27
Databases
  • You can also look for information using one of
    the databases Murphy has access to. These
    databases primarily index the articles in
    periodicals (academic journals, magazines,
    newspapers, etc). You can find the list of
    databases the library has access to at
  • http//libdata.uwlax.edu/page.phtml?page_id25
  • They provide titles and brief descriptions of the
    general subject area of the materials. For
    example ABI Inform indexes articles in the Wall
    Street Journal and the American Economic Review.
    Sometimes they even provide the full text of the
    document online. Other times, they simply
    provide the citation.

28
Web searches
  • Finally you may search the web. Be careful,
    there are many pages of highly suspicious
    quality. Examine the information with care.
    Look for related government web pages.
  • http//www.yahoo.com
  • http//scholar.google.com/

29
Prison Break and BitTorrent
30
Problem
  • How can UW-L attract 1,000 new students over the
    next several years?
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