Page 25 - DMGT209_QUANTITATIVE_TECHNIQUES_II

Quantitative Techniques-II

Notes Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
 Know the meaning of research;

 Discuss the features of a good research study;
 Identify the goals, strategy and tactics of research;
 Explain the internal and external research suppliers.

Introduction

Research in management is particularly difficult because of its convergence with different
disciplines. As we know, management is not a particular discipline and in any study on
management we need to integrate the different approaches borrowing suitably from different
disciplines. Similarly, before we understand the complexity of research in commerce and
management, we need to define certain important concepts.
First is Variable. What exactly is a variable? Variable is the quantity, in which we are interested,
that varies in the course of the research or that has different variables for different samples in
our study. In one word, we can define variable as a factor whose change or difference we study.
Now, there are two types of variables. The first one is Dependent variable and the second is
Independent variable. Dependent variable is that quantity or aspect of nature whose change at
different stages the researcher wants to understand or explain. In cause and effect investigation,
the effect variable is the dependent variable.
Now, what exactly is an independent variable? Independent variable is a variable, whose effect
upon the dependent variable we try to understand. There may be several independent variables.
For instance, we may simultaneously investigate the effect of mother's cigarette smoking, mother's
exercise, parents' weights and other variables upon the weight of a baby. In this case, mother's
cigarette smoking, mother's exercise, parents' weights and other variables are independent variables,
which we want to study, upon the weight of the baby, which is dependent variable.

Now, there are certain other areas. One such area is Universe. We can define it as the total
population. It is the laboratory for the research. In our research we may have or we may take the
entire population of India. In that case, as it is obvious, no researcher can carry out research on
the entire population of India to find out the truth or to find out some areas of his research
interest. In some cases, Universe or population may be a particular group. To clarify this point
further, let us assume we want to study some effects on some particular group of people,
religions; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain, etc., or certain particular age-group, the age of 25 to
35. In that case our universe is getting limited to that particular religion or to that particular age-
group of people. Similarly even then we find that carrying out research on the universe, i.e., on
the entire population of that particular group may not be always possible because of the time
factor and the money involved. In that case, what we usually do is to take out samples selected
from the entire population. In selecting samples, we use the available sampling techniques to
draw from the total population. Apart from these, we need to clarify certain other concepts.

Did u know? What does the term empirical mean?
Empirical means the observations and propositions which are primarily based on some sense
experiments or derived from experience by methods of inductive logic including mathematics
and statistics. This technical definition is difficult to understand. To be clearer we can define

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