Ethics and Business Research

Ethics in business research refers to code of conduct or

expected societal norm of behaviour while conducting research.

Ethical conduct applies to the organisations and the

members that sponsor the research, researchers who undertake

research and the respondents who provide them with necessary

data.

Ethical behaviour pervades each step of the research

process – data collections, data analysis, reporting,

dissemination of information.

How the subject are treated and how confidential

information is safeguarded are all guided by business ethicis.

The Hall marks of Scientific Research

Purposiveness Rigor Testability Reliability Precision and confidence Objectivity Generalizability Parsimony

Some obstacles to conducting scientific research in the management area

• In management area, it is not always possible to conduct investigations that are 100% scientific i.e., result obtained will not be exact and error free.

• Difficulties due to data collection which are subjective in nature like feelings, emotions, attitudes and perceptions.

• Problems in attempting to quantify human behaviour• Difficulties in obtaining representative sample

restricting the generalizability of the findings. • Comparability, consistency and wide generalizabilily are

often difficult to obtain in management research.

DEDUCTION

Deduction is the process by which we arrive at a reasoned conclusion by

logical generalization of a known fact.

Eg: All high performers are highly proficient in their jobs. If John is a high

performer, we can conclude that he is highly proficient in his job.

INDUCTION

Induction is a process where we observe certain phenomena and on this

basis arrive at conclusions. We logically establish a general proposition

based on observed facts.

Eg: Production process are the prime features of factories or manufacturing

plant. Hence we conclude that factories exist for production purposes.

HYPOTHETICO DEDUCTIVE METHOD

The method of scientific investigation which

starts with a theoretical framework, formulating

hypothesis and logically deducting from the result of

the study is known as the hypothetico – deductive

method.

Eg: Researcher wants to test whether controlling

aversive noise in the environment increases the

performance of the individuals in solving mental

puzzles.

The investigator begins with the theory that noise adversely affects mental problem solving.•The hypothesis generated: If noise is controlled, mental puzzles can be solved more quickly and correctly.•A research project is derived to test the hypothesis•The result of the study help the researcher to deduce or conclude that controlling the aversive noises does help the participants to improve their performance on mental puzzles.

Seven step process in the Hypothetico Deductive method.

1) Observation2) Preliminary information gathering 3) Theory formulation4) Hypothesizing5) Further scientific data collection6) Data analysis7) Deduction

The Hypothetico-Deductive Method

Observation

–Observation is the first stage, in which one senses that certain changes are occurring or that some new behaviors, attitudes and feelings are surfacing in one’s environment (i.e., the work place).–How does one observe phenomena

and changes in the environment?

Preliminary Information Gathering:

– It involves the seeking of information in depth, of what is observed.

– This could be done by talking informally to several people in the work setting or to clients or to other relevant sources, thereby gathering information on what is happening and why. (Unstructured interviews)

– Then it is followed by structured interviews.– Additionally by doing library research or obtaining

information through other sources, the investigator would identify how such issues have been tackled in other situations.

Theory Formulation

– It is an attempt to integrate all the information in a logical manners, so that the factors responsible for the problem can be on conceptualized and tested.

– The theoretical framework formulated is often guided by experience and intuition.

– In this step the critical variables are identified and examined as to their contribution or influence in explaining why the problem occurs and how it can be solved.

Hypothesizing – It is the next logical step after theory formulation.– From the theorized network of associations

among the variables, certain testable hypotheses or educated conjectures can be generated.

– Hypothesis testing is called deductive research. Sometimes, hypotheses that were not originally formulated do get generated through the process of induction.

Further Specific Data Collection

–After the development of the hypotheses, data with respect to each variable in the hypotheses need to be obtained.–Further data are collected to

test the hypotheses that are generated in the study.

Data Analysis

–Data gathered are statistically analyzed to see if the hypotheses that were generated have been supported.–Co relational method will be used to

analyze and determine the relation ship of two or more factors in the hypotheses for example: stock availability and customer satisfaction.

Deduction–Deduction is the process of

arriving at conclusions by interpreting the meaning of results of the data analysis.

Other Types of Research

• Case studies and action research are sometimes used to study certain types of issues.

1. Case Studies2. Action Research

Case Studies

• Case studies involve in depth, contextual analyses of similar situations in the other organizations, where the nature and definition of the problem happen to be the same as experienced in the current situation.

• Case study, as a problem solving technique, is not often undertaken in organizations because such studies dealing with problems similar to the one experienced by a particular organization of a particular size and in a particular type of setting are difficult to come by.

Action Research

• The researcher begins with a problem that is already identified and gathers relevant data to provide a tentative problem solution.

• This solution is then implemented, with the knowledge that there may be unintended consequences following such implementation.

• The effects are then evaluated, defined and diagnosed and the research continues on an ongoing basis until the problem is fully resolved.