Page 26 - DMGT404 RESEARCH_METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology

Notes 9. Likelihood of publication.
10. Relationship to theories or accepted generalizations in the field.
11. Degree to which ethical problems are involved.
12. Degree to which research is unique or fills a notable gap in the literature.

13. Degree to which the research builds on and extends existing knowledge before the final
selection of a problem is done, a researcher must ask himself the following questions:
(a) Whether he is well equipped in terms of his background to carry out the research?

(b) Whether the study falls within the budget he can afford?
(c) Whether the necessary cooperation can be obtained from those who must participate
in research as subjects?

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:

4. A good topic should be small enough for a .......................... investigation.
5. A ......................... should always avoid selecting the first problem that he encounters.
6. The research problem undertaken for study must be ....................... selected.

2.3 Understanding the Problem

Once the problem has been selected, the same has to be understood thoroughly and then the
same has to be reframed into meaningful terms from an analytical point of view. The first step
in research is to formulate the problem. A company manufacturing television sets might think
that it is losing sales to a foreign company. A brief illustration aptly demonstrates how such
problem can be ill-conceived. The management of a company felt, a drop in sales was because of
the poor quality of product. Subsequently, research was undertaken with a view to improve the
quality of the product. But despite an improvement in quality, sales did not pick up. In this case,
we may say that the problem is ill-defined. The actual reason was ineffective sales promotion.
The problem thus needs to be carefully identified.

Did u know? Marketing problem which needs research can be classified into two categories:

1. Difficulty related problems
2. Opportunity related problems, while the first category produces negative results
such as, decline in market share or sales, the second category provides benefits.

Problem definition might refer to either a real-life situation or it may also refer to a set of
opportunities. Market research problems or opportunities will arise under the following
circumstances: (1) Unanticipated change (2) Planned change. Many factors in the environment
can create problems or opportunities. Thus, change in the demographics, technological and
legal changes affect the marketing function. Now the question is how the company responds to
new technology, or product introduced by the competitor or how to cope with the changes in
life-styles. It may be a problem and at the same time, it can also be viewed as an opportunity. In
order to conduct research, the problem must be defined accurately.

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