Research Method for Business chapter 6

3FIGURE 6.2Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

The Various Issues involved in the Research Design

Purpose of thestudy

ExplorationDescription

Hypothesis testing

Measurement and measures

Operational definitionItems (measure)Scaling CategorizingCoding

Study setting

ContrivedNoncontrived

Extent of researcherinterference

Minimal: Studying events as they normally occur Manipulation and/or control and/or simulation

Types of investigation

Establishing:Causal relationshipsCorrelationsGroup differences,ranks, etc.

MEASUREMENTDETAILS OF STUDY

Data collection method

ObservationInterviewQuestionnairePhysicalmeasurementUnobtrusive

TimeHorizon

One-shot(cross-sectional)

Longitudinal

SamplingDesign

Probability/nonprobabilitySample

size (n)

Unit of analysis(population to be

studied)

IndividualsDyadsGroupsOrganizations Machines

etc.

1. Feel fordata

2. Goodnessof data

3. Hypotheses

testing

DATAANALYSIS

PR

OB

LE

M S

TA

TE

ME

NT

Diagram 6.2: The research design.

Ch- 5 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

Step 6: Elements of Research Design

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Measurement of Variables:

Operational Definition

CHAPTER 6

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MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES

• OPERATIONAL DEFINITION

– Dimensions and Elements of Concepts

– What an Operational Definition is Not?

Measurement

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Easily measured variables: using appropriate measuring

instruments

Blood pressure, pulse rates, body temperature, height or

weight.

But people’s subjective feelings, attitudes, and perceptions,

the measurement of these factors or variables becomes

difficult.

Reduce the abstract notions, or concepts such as motivation,

involvement, satisfaction, buyer behavior, and the like, to

observable behavior and characteristics.

Reduction of abstract concepts to render them measureable in a

tangible way is called operationalizing the concepts.

Measurement of Variables:

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• MEASUREMENT

The assignment of numbers or other symbols to

characteristics of objects according to a pre-

specified set of rules.

Measurement

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• CHARACTERISTICS OF OBJECTS

• Objects;

– Include persons, strategic business units,

companies, countries, kitchen appliances,

restaurants, shampoo, yogurt and so on.

• Examples of characteristics of objects

– Achievement motivation, organizational

effectiveness, shopping enjoyment, length, weight,

service quality, taste.

Objects

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• MEASUREMENT OF VARIABLES

– In the theoretical framework MoV is an

important part and aspect of research design.

– Unless the variables are measured in some

way, we will not be able to test our hypotheses

and find answers to complex research issues.

Measurement

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• Two types of variables:

– Objective nature: could be measured

– Subjective nature: hard to be measured

• Objects that can be physically measured:

– The length and width of an office table

– The office floor area

– The demographic characteristics of the

employees: →

Measurement

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– The demographic characteristics of the employees:

1. How long have you been working in this

organization.

2. What is your job title.

3. What is your marital status?

4. The number of your children.

• The absenteeism of employees.

• The number of products produced.

Measurement

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• Objects that can’t be measured physically :

– The perceptions of individuals.

– Extent of authority given to the individual.

– How the supervisor treats the workers.

– Promotional opportunities.

– The degree of understanding.

Measurement

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• Technique to measure these variables

– Reduce the abstract notion (theoretical view) to observable behavior and characteristics.

– For instance, the concept of thirst is abstract; we cannot see thirst.

– We expect a thirsty person to drink water.

– We determine the thirst levels by measuring the quantity of water that a person drinks.

Measurement

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DIMENSIONS AND ELEMENTS

– Operational definition

– A statement of the specific dimensions (the main characteristics)

and elements (representative behavior) through which a concept will become measurable.

– Operationalizing

– Is done by looking at the behavioral dimensions, or properties denoted by the concept. These are then translated into observable and measurable elements.

– Operationally defining a concept involves a series of steps.


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Example: Operationalizing

The Concept of Achievement Motivation

• What behavioral dimensions or characteristics

would we expect to find in people with high

achievement motivation?

• The people who have high achievement motivation

would probably have the following five typical broad

characteristics, which we will call dimensions:


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Example (Cont.)

1. They would be driven by work

2. No mood to relax

3. Prefer to work on their own rather with others

4. They engage in challenging jobs rather than easy ones.

5. They like to get feedback from their superiors, colleagues, to know how they are progressing.


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Example (Cont.)

• Although, breaking the concept of Achievement Motivation into the five dimensions has reduced its level of abstraction, we have still not operationalized the concept into measurable elements of behavior.

• This could be done by breaking each dimensioninto its elements, in order to distinguish those who have high motivation from those with less.


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ELEMENTS OF DIMENSION NO. 1:

(They would be driven by work will)

1. Be at work all the time (hours per week)

2. Be reluctant to take time off from work (reasons)

3. Persevere even in the face of some setbacks

– These behaviors can be measured?

• All the above elements could be counted by asking a direct questions to the respondents through a questioners or an interviews.


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(No mood to relax)

• The degree of unwillingness to relax can be measured by asking such questions as:

1. How often do you think about work while you are away from the workplace?

2. What are your hobbies?

3. How do you spend your time when you are away from workplace?

– Who relax very well = ? Who relax very little = ?


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(Prefer to work on their own rather with others)

1. Individuals with high achievement motivation

have no patience with ineffective people and

does not like to work with others.


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(They engage in challenging jobs rather than easy

ones)

1. They don’t like routine jobs

2. They like to take moderate, rather than

overwhelming challenges

– Who prefer fairly routine jobs = ?

– Who prefer progressive challenging jobs = ?


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(They like to get feedback from their superiors,

colleagues, to know how they are progressing)

1. Ask for feedback on how the job has been

done, both negative and positive.

– Who seeks extensive feedback from all sources = ?

– Who never seek any feedback from any one any time = ?

– ( see Figure 1)


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DIMENSIONS AND ELEMENTS

• Operationally defining the concept is the best

way to measure it.

• We measure it by ask the respondents to report

their own behavior patterns by asking them

appropriate questions, which they can respond

to on some scale that we provide.


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Example: Answers to the following questions (about the

elements of the concept) would be one way of tapping the

level of achievement motivation

To what extent would you push yourself to get

the job done on time?

How difficult do you find it to continue to do

your work in the face of initial failures?

How often do you neglect personal matters

because you are preoccupied with your job?

How frequently do you think of your work when

you are at home?

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To what extent do you engage yourself in hobbies?

How disappointed would you feel if you did not reach the goals you had set for yourself?

How much do you concentrate on achieving your goals?

How annoyed do you get when you make mistakes?

To what extent would you prefer to work by yourself rather than with others?

Example: Answers to the following questions (about the

elements of the concept) would be one way of tapping the

level of achievement motivation

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To what extent would you prefer a job that is

difficult but challenging, to one that is easy and

routine?

During the past 3 months, how often have you

sought feedback from your superiors on how

well you are performing your job?

How often have you tried to obtain feedback on

your performance from your co-workers during

the past 3 months?

To what extent would it frustrate you if people

did not give you feedback on how you are

progressing?

Example: Answers to the following questions

(about the elements of the concept)

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What an Operational Definition Is Not?

• Important to understand what an operational definition is, equally important is to remember what it is not.

• An operational definition does not describe the correlates of the concept.

• The operational definition does not consist of;

– Delineating the reasons, antecedents and consequences

• It describes its observable characteristics in order to measure the concept.


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Example;

• Achievement motivation and performance and/or success may be highly correlated.

• But we cannot measure an individual’s level of motivation through success and/or performance.

• Performance and success could have been made possible as a consequence of achievement motivation, but in themselves, the two are not measures of it.

• For instance, a person with high achievement motivation may have failed for some reason, perhaps beyond his control, to perform the job successfully.


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If we judge the achievement motivation of this

person with performance as the yardstick, we

would have measured the wrong concept.

Instead of measuring achievement motivation

our variable of interest, we would have

measured performance, another variable we had

not intended to measure nor were interested in.


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Example;

Operationalizing the Concept of Learning

LEARNING;

An important concept in the educational

setting.

How could we measure the abstract concept

called learning?

First, we need to define the concept

operationally the (dimensions).

Second, break it down to observable and

measurable behaviors the (elements).

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The Dimensions of learning are: a student is “learning”

when the individual;

1. Understanding

Understands what is taught in the class room

2. Retention

Retains and remembers what is understood

3. Application

Applies whatever has been understood and

remembered

Example;


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• These terms still abstract, it is necessary to break

these three dimensions into elements so we can

measure the concept of learning.

• A schematic diagram of the operational definition

of the concept of learning is shown in Figure 2.

• The diagram will facilitate our understanding of

the discussion.

Example;


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What Is Not

an Operational Definition of Learning?

• Important to remember that learning is no

measure of the effort the teacher expends in

explaining, nor that put in by the student to

understand, though both of these naturally tend

to enhance understanding.

• Efforts of the teacher and the students, may be

correlated to learning they do not actually

measure it.

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A Measure of Student Learning

• An exam that measures learning in students would include the following questions (the particular dimensions tapped are shown in parentheses):

1. Define the concept of motivation (recall).

2. State the various theories of motivation and explain them, giving examples (understanding and recall).

3. What is your viewpoint of the manager’s role as motivator? (understanding and analysis).

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4. Describe three different situations in which a

manager of a work organization would use

equity theory, the expectancy theory, and job

designs to motivate employees (application).

5. How does motivation relate to leadership? How

are these concepts related to a manager’s job?

(understanding, retention, application).

A Measure of Student Learning

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EXERCISE NO. 1

• Schematically depict the operational definition of the

concept of stress and develop 10 questions that

would measure stress.

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Solution to Exercise 1

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Thanks

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Thank you

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Research Method for Business chapter 6

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