1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND DATA ANALYSIS.
WEEK 3 & 4
 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
 The Components of the Theoretical Framework
BROAD PROBLEM AREA; The broad problem area refers to the entire situation where one sees a
possible need for research and problem solving. The specific issues that need to be researched within
this situation may not be identified at this stage. Such issues might relate to:
 Problems currently existing in an organizational setting that need to be solved,
 Areas that a manager believes need to be improved in the organization,
 A conceptual or theoretical issue that needs to be tightened up for the basic researcher to
understand certain phenomena, and
 Some research questions that a basic researcher wants to answer empirically.
Examples of broad problem areas
 Training programs are perhaps not as effective as anticipated.
 The sales volume of a product is not picking up.
 The daily balancing of accounting ledgers is becoming a continuing concern.
 The anticipated results of a recent merger have not been forthcoming.
 Inventory control is not effective.
 The installation of an MIS keeps getting stalled.
PRELIMINARY DATA COLLECTION; The nature of information needed by the researcher for the
purpose could be broadly classified under three headings:
 Background information of the organization—that is, the contextual factors.
 Managerial philosophy, company policies, and other structural aspects.
 Perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral responses of organizational members and client
systems (as applicable).
LITERATURE SURVEY

2.  Literature survey is the documentation of a comprehensive review of the published and
unpublished work from secondary sources of data in the areas of specific interest to the
researcher.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
 After the interviews and the literature review, the researcher is in a position to narrow down
the problem from its original broad base and define the issues of concern more clearly.
 A problem could simply indicate an interest in an issue where finding the right answers might
help to improve an existing situation. Thus, it is fruitful to define a problem as any situation
where a gap exists between the actual and the desired ideal states.
Examples
 Does expansion of international operations result in an enhancement of the firm‘s image and
value?
 What are the effects of downsizing on the long-range growth patterns of companies?
Theoretical Framework
 A theoretical framework is a conceptual model of how one theorizes or makes logical sense of
the relationships among the several factors that have been identified as important to the
problem.
 The theoretical framework discusses the interrelationships among the variables that are
deemed to be integral to the dynamics of the situation being investigated.
Basic features of Theoretical Framework; There are five basic features that should be
incorporated in any theoretical framework.
 The variables considered relevant to the study should be clearly identified and labeled in the
discussions.
 The discussions should state how two or more variables are related to one another. This
should be done for the important relationships that are theorized to exist among the
variables.
 If the nature and direction of the relationships can be theorized on the basis of the findings of
previous research, then there should be an indication in the discussions as to whether the
relationships would be positive or negative.
 There should be a clear explanation of why we would expect these relationships to exist. The
arguments could be drawn from the previous research findings.

3.  A schematic diagram of the theoretical framework should be given so that the reader can see
and easily comprehend the theorized relationships.
HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT: A hypothesis can be defined as a logically conjectured relationship
between two or more variables expressed in the form of a testable statement.
Statement of Hypotheses: Formats
Hypotheses can be set either as propositions or in the form of if–then statements. The two formats
can be seen in the following two examples.
Examples
o Employees who are more healthy will take sick leave less frequently.
o If employees are more healthy, then they will take sick leave less frequently.
Directional and No directional Hypotheses
If, in stating the relationship between two variables or comparing two groups, terms such as positive,
negative, more than, less than, and the like are used, then these hypotheses are directional
Example:
o The greater the stress experienced in the job, the lower the job satisfaction of employees.
o Women are more motivated than men.
Directional and Non directional Hypotheses Cont:
 On the other hand, non directional hypotheses are those that do postulate a relationship or
difference, but offer no indication of the direction of these relationships or differences.
 In other words, though it may be conjectured that there would be a significant relationship
between two variables, we may not be able to say whether the relationship would be positive
or negative.
 EXAMPLE: There is a relationship between age and job satisfaction.
Null and Alternate Hypotheses:
 The null hypothesis is a proposition that states a definitive, exact relationship between two
variables. That is, it states that the population correlation between two variables is equal to
zero or that the difference in the means of two groups in the population is equal to zero (or
some definite number).

4.  In general, the null statement is expressed as no (significant) relationship between two
variables or no (significant) difference between two groups,
The null hypothesis:
The alternate for the above example would statistically be set as follows:
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WEEK 5
 NEED OF DATA COLLECTING FOR QUANTITATIVE TECHNIQUES
 6. Research Design
 7. Data Collection, Data Processing, and Analysis
 8. Testing the Hypotheses; Answering the Research Questions
 9. Report Writing
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH DESIGN
 Scientific research is a systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation of hypothetical
propositions about the presume relations among natural phenomena.
 The main purpose is to design the research in a way that the requisite data can be
gathered and analyzed to arrive at a solution.
Components of Research Design
1) PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: (Exploratory, Descriptive, Hypothesis Testing Analysis)
2) TYPE OF INVESTIGATION: CASUAL VERSUS CORRELATIONAL

5.  The study in which the researcher wants to delineate the cause of one or more problems is
called a causal study. When the researcher is interested in delineating the important variables
associated with the problem, the study is called a co relational study.
A causal study question:
Does smoking cause cancer?
A co relational study question:
Are smoking and cancer related?
3) EXTENT OF RESEARCHER INTERFERENCE WITH THE STUDY
The extent of interference by the researcher with the normal flow of work at the workplace has a direct
bearing on whether the study undertaken is causal or co relational.
 Factors influencing training effectiveness (a co relational study)
 The influence of lighting on worker performance
4) STUDY SETTING: CONTRIVED AND NONCONTRIVED
Organizational research can be done in the natural environment where work proceeds normally (that is,
in no contrived settings) or in artificial, contrived settings.
5) UNIT OF ANALYSIS: INDIVIDUALS, DYADS, GROUPS, ORGANIZATIONS, CULTURES
The unit of analysis refers to the level of collection of the data collected during the data analysis stage.
 For instance, the problem statement focuses on how to raise the motivational levels of
employees in general, then we are interested in individual employees in the organization
 If the researcher is interested in studying two-person interactions, then several two-person
groups, also known as dyads,
 If the problem statement is related to group effectiveness, then the unit of analysis would be at
the group level.
6) TIME HORIZON: CROSS-SECTIONAL VERSUS LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
 Cross-Sectional Studies
A study can be done in which data are gathered just once, perhaps over a period of days or weeks or
months, in order to answer a research question. Such studies are called one-shot or cross-sectional
studies.

6.  Longitudinal Studies
In some cases, however, the researcher might want to study people or phenomena at more than one
point in time in order to answer the research question. For instance, the researcher might want to study
employees‘behavior before and after a change in the top management
7) DATA COLLECTION METHODS
Data can be collected in a variety of ways. Data collection methods include:
 Interviews—face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, computer-assisted interviews, and
interviews through the electronic media;
 Questionnaires that are either personally administered, sent through the mail, or electronically
administered;
 Observation of individuals and events with or without videotaping or audio recording.
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

7. Report Writing…
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