Title: Problem Definition and Research Design
1Problem Definition and Research Design
2Overview
- The Research Proposal
- Existing knowledge on topic my contribution
- Research design (survey/experiment/observation)
- Sample design
- Data gathering
- Data analysis
- Report preparation
3Theory
- Theory- A set of propositions used to explain
behaviors or phenomena to provide prediction and
understanding -
-
-
4Theories 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.
5The Role of Theory in Business Research
6A Research Question
- a question that can be answered directly through
the analysis of data
7Hypothesis
- An unproven proposition or supposition that
tentatively explains certain facts a proposition
that is empirically testable.
8Theories, 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.
9Example
- 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.
10Two more examples
- Research question How many students voted in the
previous presidential election? - Â
- Matching hypothesis Sixty-five percent of
undergraduate students voted in the previous
presidential election.
11Two 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.
12Deductive 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
13The 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
14Problem definition
- The process of identifying the problem and
formulating and narrowing a researchable question.
15The 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)
17Far 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)
18Problem
- What is the relationship between Alcohol
consumption and GPA?
19What 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.
20What 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
21Mind Mapping
- Visualizing ideas and relationships
- http//bubbl.us/
22Alcohol and College GPA Mind Map
23Past 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
24Background Research
25Murphy Library web page
- http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/
26Catalog
- You can search the librarys electronic card
catalog for books or periodicals on the subject
matter youre interested in. - http//www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/
27Databases
- 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.
28Web 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/
29Prison Break and BitTorrent
30Problem
- How can UW-L attract 1,000 new students over the
next several years?